VV(11): Fugue Your Buddy

[Judy]

I absolutely agree that fugue is a multi-layered pun, and I enjoy the ride
with each layer. I do think, though, that right now I am tending to focus
more upon the mind's ability to divide consciousness into parts. For me,
it's an interesting take on Profane's not recognizing Rachel. After all, the
last time we saw Profane in chapter six, he had survived a close-call with
an alligator and lots of blood and guts, and viewing the aftermath of Fina's
gang-rape and Angel's beating of her. That would be enough to get anyone
fuguing. We also leave him with this: "He [Profane] had to come back to the
surface, the dream-street" (p157) and then Rachel wonders "Damn,
damn,...,what have I brought him to, what have I brought him back to?"
(p236).

I find I am more and more captivated by Pynchon's characters, even though,
as Terrance points out,  "thinness of character" is a criticism made by
many. There is such a myriad of characters that I find myself moving between
viewing the many characters as individuals and/or seeing the characters as
parts of the divided consciousness of other characters. If they are or not
really doesn't concern me. What I read Pynchon for is the ample opportunity
I have of moving between the possibilities. Consequently, reading everyone's
comments here has also been a real treat.

Judy

jbor writes:
> It's a very layered pun in Pynchon's text I think. On the one hand, there
is
> the euphemistic use of "fugue" in place of "fuck", a common slang idiom.
> This  latter usage exemplifies those typically anti-social gestures of 60s
> counter-culture: gratuitous obscenity, thumbing one's nose at High Art
etc.
> Of course, the musical denotation of the term is apt as well in the
context
> of McLintic's sublime composition and playing. But, insofar as a "fugue"
is
> also a state of oblivion, specifically, a psychological condition
> characterised by "loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with
> disappearance from one's usual environment" (Ayst. Oxf.) and, more
> specifically, a type of Freudian dream-state, the connotations of flight
and
> psychic disintegration alluded to below are brought into play in the novel
> as well. Music as distraction, escape ... music as a drug ... music as the
> antidote to rational thought, stable identity etc.
>
> Interestingly, Plato inveighs weightily against music as a force or source
> of irrationality in the world. This is perhaps where the two derivations
of
> the term have a common ancestry. In one sense, then, McLintic, with his
> music, will both "fugue" (i.e. play music to) and "fuck" (up ... the mind
of
> ... ) his "buddy" by performing the piece. I think it's extremely
> interesting the way that these anti-Platonic, anti-rationalist sentiments
> creep into Pynchon's texts, both subtly, as here, and rather less so
> elsewhere.
>
> best