Violence ON Demand

[Terrance]

jporter wrote:
> 
> > From: lorentzen-nicklaus at t-online.de (lorentzen-nicklaus)
> 
> > jody schrieb:
> >
> >> -If the myth of The Goddess is not a *genuine* myth, i.e., something spun
> >> out of anthropological wishfulfilment and the 20-20 hindsight of the
> >> nineteenth century, well after the end of irreversible Dreamtime, does that
> >> make it a myth of a myth? a "second order" myth in an attempt to "correct"
> >> certain psycho-social-cultural deficits perceived by a self-aware, and
> >> rapidly becoming, self-defining, elite? If so, is reading V. a third order
> >> embodiment?
> >
> > "yes", three times ... yet another question: is this third order embodiment
> > closer to the origin than that second order myth of a myth? kai
> 
> (Still officially signed off for a while, but since you asked...)
> 
> Good question! It probably depends on the reader, but "origin" is the real
> albino in this word pile. What/who is "the origin" of The Goddess Myth?
> Because of the uncertainty that there ever was an ancient Goddess Myth, it,
> like proto-Indo-European (but even more tenously) can only be inferred from
> the pieces and creative aggregation of same, and the whole issue is suspect.
> Forget about authorial intention, does the seeming presence of The Goddess
> in V. act as a corrective to those whose interests lie in finding evidence
> for The Goddess, irregardless of whether or not she reigned hegemonic in the
> distant past? Or, does her symbolic presence in V. merely lend support to
> the anthropological theory of her exisitence?

Posted by O' back in November when we were reading Chapter 2
part II: 

http://www.santafe.edu/~shalizi/reviews/ancient-goddesses/


> 
> I tend to think that, surprise, surprise, from the textual point of view, it
> doesn't make any difference. The *farcical* aspects of the text, e.g., The
> Playboys, Fina herself, undermine any serious interpretation of the overall
> symbolism. It's strictly jazz. No tune is sacred and all are available. Let
> the man blow!

Again, this is the postmodernist way of looking at those
*farcical* aspects. And that's a great way to read those
Pynchonian  texts, as McHale, Weisenburger, and many more
have, but the Playboys and St. Fina need not undermine or
subvert a serious interpretation of the symbolism, in fact,
we need to read these as not simply and only subversive, but
any overall, grandiose scheme flies in the face of critical
wisdom.
My reading of P says, that if we do not read these farcical
and surreal and parodic and fantastic elements of the text
as more than subversive, undermining any serious
interpretation of the text,  the novel collapses, as several
of P's best critics have demonstrated, and we are left with
less than flaccid satire.  

Sonny Boy blow! 

http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/lyrics/

Van the Man provides a lot of the notes that are in the wind
in these P texts. 

> 
> What allows the pynch to glide on a mirror of farce, it seems to me, is the
> *internal consistency* on the smallest scale, note to note, e.g., the
> decency (and grace) of Profane under pressure. His self-effacing
> self-awareness rings true. We're all schlemihls, but Benny is a mensch, as
> well. Oddly, his murdering of the gator, as it passively waited for him to
> pull the trigger, bothered me more than his reponse or lack of one w/r/t
> Fina,  who made her own choices. I'm not so sure Benny is innocent.
> 
> jody

Well, he has a contract,  not only with the Patrol,  to kill
alligators, but with the alligators, tit for tat. This is an
example of what I am talking about. When did Benny sign that
contract? The one he signed under the alligator paw print.
The moon is not working for him with Fina, well it almost
does, when she "turns the other cheek", but Benny needs a
passive (like the good doctor) lover, she can neither fight
back nor come on to him. When Fina presses her head against
Benny he gets a (no, not a hardon, he gets these by the moon
and with the mechanical brides only--Rachel at the job
placement, Lucile here sliding on her ball bearings)
headache. I wouldn't discount that symbolism, but again, I
might be paranoid.