Protagonists and points of view

[jbor]

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>From: Doug Millison <DMillison at ftmg.net>


> Pynchon certainly describes Blicero as a diseased monster and a travesty,

Well, no, this is totally inaccurate. So far it is Doug who has described
the character in these terms two or three times. The text certainly doesn't
describe him in this manner, "Pynchon" even less so.

> through the POV of one or another of his narrators or characters.

Blicero is described by many of the character-narrators: himself, Enzian,
Katje, Gottfried, Pokler, Greta, Thanatz, the 175s; as well as via a
detached narrative agency. In fact, the depictions which are generated from
this latter perspective are among the most sympathetic of all (see, for
example, 99.22, 724.12).

> And it's
> appropriate to question how a reader is to understand what Blicero says or
> does.

Putting aside for a moment the false implication here that there is a
single, prescribed reading of the (or any) text, equally, it's appropriate
to question what another character, such as Greta or Thanatz, says about
Blicero. Surely?

> Having a diseased Nazi monster comment about America and what
> America means, for example, won't carry the same charge as if Pynchon had a
> different character in a different situation make those same comments.

Is this meant as a legitimate argument? For starters, Blicero isn't depicted
as a "diseased Nazi monster". But, even if he was, it's still a fact that
some of the most profound historical insights in the novel are spoken
through him (722-23). To read this long monologue as nothing more than a
"comment about America" is simplistic, but to try to insist that it is less
significant simply because Blicero is saying it is patently absurd.

And, in fact, it's what Blicero says and does, and how the other characters
respond to him, which *makes* the characterisation. It is precisely this
accumulation of detail which demonstrates to the reader that the character
can't so simply be dismissed as a "diseased Nazi monster" at all.

snip

best