V.V. (8) Pynchon's Journalistic Journey 1 (Re: Problems ...

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

jbor schrieb:

>
> ----------
>
> >From: <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
> >
> > the Watts essay 
>
> In terms of "context" and where Pynchon's head was at during the early to
> mid-60s it might be a good time to have another look at that Watts essay,
> which was published in the _New York Times Magazine_ in July 1966
>
> http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/uncollected/watts.html
>
> Along with the Slow Learner 'Intro' it is perhaps the most forthcoming of
> all of Pynchon's published pieces in terms of his personal convictions. I
> think that it forms a nice pair with 'The Secret Integration' (rather than
> either _V._ or _Lot 49_) and have addressed it as such previously (in 1989),
> however, I think it germane to consider it in relation to both of those
> texts also. From the very first sentence to the last Pynchon's sympathies
> with the plight of the residents of the Watts enclave are made clear. As
> with 'TSI'
>
>     the issue tackled is racism in the United States, however, here Pynchon
>     relinquishes a literary mode in favour of standard journalistic
>     reportage and commentary. The article deals with the negro community of
>     Watts in Los Angeles just under a year after severe race ritoing in the
>     neighbourhood. Pynchon begins the article dramatically, detailing the
>     recent brutal shooting of a young negro by a Los Angeles policeman, then
>     delineates the various attitudes of and measures adopted by the factions
>     involved in the racial tension and turbulence of the community.
>
>     Though the article is not structured as fiction, and Pynchon is not
>     concerned with the perfection of technical aspects of the writing, nor
>     with the resolution of the problem of a suitable narrative agency,
>     Pynchon's absence as the active compiler of the information presented is
>     striking. Passive grammatical constructions abound throughout the
>     article, as in his fiction. As David Seed points out: "Intermittent
>     details ... suggest that Pynchon is locating his point of view among the
>     blacks; the coroner's verdict of accidental death comes 'to no-one's
>     surprise'." (Seed, _Fictional Labyrinths_, 152)
>
>     Pynchon's use of the "simple device of the pronoun 'you'", which Seed
>     identifies as "the main polemical thrust of the article", is actually a
>     rhetorical device which derives from Pynchon's need to objectify his
>     subject matter when proffering generalised statements or 'examples':
>     " ... how very often the cop does approach you with his revolver ready,
>     so that nothing he does with it can then really be accidental ... how,
>     especially at night, everything can suddenly reduce to a matter of
>     reflexes: your life trembling in the crook of a cop's finger because it
>     is dark." (p. 35)
>
>     It is a 'Realist' strategy of narrative ambiguity which here masks what
>     is essentially descriptive social commentary rather than journalism.
>     However, as Seed again observes, the technique "draws the reader into
>     the dramatic predicament of the blacks ... inviting the reader to
>     participate ... in these experiences, so as to understand black
>     frustration." (Seed 152-3) A fictive mode is here employed to sensitize
>     the reader's perceptions: to effect a 'suspension of disbelief' or,
>     rather, to achieve a bridge from the projected consciousness of a
>     generalised "mind of Watts" into the reader's consciousness.
>
>     However, Pynchon fails to modulate the tone of his writing, and the
>     opinions and assertions offered in the piece often appear as unsupported
>     and oratorical, patronising erudition rather than 'objective' reportage.
>     He is unable to avoid a tendency towards excessive or misplaced
>     'literariness' which detracts from the piece as socially-engaged
>     journalism. For example, he describes Watts as being on the flight path
>     into L.A. International Airport: "The jets hang what seems only a couple
>     of hundred feet up in the air; through the smog they show up more white
>     than silver, highlighted by the sun, hardly solid; only the ghosts or
>     possibilities of airplanes." (p. 78) The realities of noise and smog are
>     lost in the florid imagery. [ ... But the absolute unattainability of
>     'flight', both literal and metaphoric, for the Watts residents *is*
>     effectively alluded to by this passage ... ed.]
>
>     There are also moments when Pynchon falls victim to journalistic
>     doubletalk, or journalese: "But somehow nothing much has changed."
>     (p. 35) And there are other instances where Pynchon's prose becomes
>     blurred by bitterly emotive language or sensationalised generalities and
>     stereotypes: "But in the white culture outside, in that creepy world
>     full of pre-cardiac Mustang drivers who scream insults at one another
>     only when the windows are up ... it is next to impossible to understand
>     how Watts may truly feel about violence." (p. 84)
>
>     Yet, despite Pynchon's inexperienced exploitation of the journalistic
>     medium there is much that is forceful in 'A Journey Into the Mind of
>     Watts'. Typical themes from Pynchon's fiction appear as bitter asides in
>     the article: "While the white culture is concerned with various forms of
>     systematized folly -- the economy of the area in fact depending on it --
>     the black culture is stuck pretty much with the basic realities like
>     disease, like failure, violence and death, which the whites have mostly
>     chosen and can afford to ignore. The two cultures do not understand each
>     other, though white values are displayed without let-up on black
>     people's TV screens ... (p. 35, 78)
>
>                                                         [cont.]

> I have another commitment now but would be happy to type the other pertinent
> excerpts up later on if anyone is interested. Let me know ...


  myself i would like to read more of this stuff, and i'm sure this goes 
  for others too. thank you, kai