Blicero's sexuality

[jbor]

Otto

I disagree with many of your responses. In your model there is a privileging
of sexual activity which has procreation as (one of) its purpose over sexual
activity which does (or can) not. This privileging of one half of a
constructed binary automatically excludes homosexual relations (which is
exactly what Eddins is doing). Pynchon does not seem to me to be interested
in measuring the amount of "fun" or "social contact" which accrues to his
characters' participation in sexual activity.

Pudding's fantasy is explicitly related to his experiences in the trenches
in France during WWI. Is this similar to Hitler's?

Pointsman uses Katje to get what he wants from Pudding. The Dutch Resistance
use Katje to get what they want from Blicero. (exploit vb. 3. to make the
best use of).

I don't know that "polymorph perversity" does actually or necessarily equate
to "innocent children's games".

I have a lot of trouble seeing Blicero as a loyal or typical Nazi: he has
been gradually demoted; he is using the Reich's resources and technology for
personal ends; he shows little real interest in or dedication to the running
of the rocket battery etc. Psychologically, and in all the literature, that
distinction between S and M is nowhere near as clear-cut as you suggest, and
I think Pynchon plays on this false binary throughout the novel as well.

While I can see that Enzian and/or Gottfried have been indoctrinated or
"corrupted" to some extent (though I continue to disagree with you that
there is *any* evidence in the text to support your contention that the
Rhenish Missionaries raped Enzian, and the idea that Gottfried has been
"brainwashed" is patently absurd), I don't believe that this automatically
means that their behaviours, thoughts, statements don't count. And, what of
Weissmann's own indoctrination/corruption -- that "Christian ambience" and
those *Duino Elegies* -- which is described *in the text* on p. 99? If
Enzian and Gottfried (*and* Katje) have indeed been indoctrinated by
Blicero, then it is the *same* Christian, Rilkean indoctrination which he
has experienced in his upbringing. What's significant is that it's his
mother who places that first edition (?) copy of Rilke ("straight off the
presses") in his hand as he boards the ship (more problems here with dates,
too: the _Duino Elegies_ weren't written until 1923).

Of Katje, the text asks "How seriously is she playing?" (96.5), and I'm not
sure we can ever answer that question with certainty, even after she has
supposedly "quit the Game". Partly, I think, this is because she doesn't
even know herself. What is she doing with Pudding for Pointsman if not
engaging in another "Game"? And, that Counterforce, with all the Superman,
Floundering Four, Chase Music paraphernalia in that final section -- it's
just another "Game", isn't it?

Blicero knows he is Oven-bound from the start (see 96. 5 up, and the
reference to the inevitability of "his chimney departure" at 99.2: what's
ironic here, and what makes it hard to sympathise with Blicero *yet*, is
that this imagery resonates *for the reader* with the extermination of
Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps, and so the character's maudlin
self-pity, within the whole 'Oven-Game' analogy he and Katje have
constructed, is a vile hypocrisy.)

Gottfried is given a *choice* at the end. This is *so* crucial to the whole
novel and yet you consistently ignore it. Of course Gottfried "kneels, numb,
waiting", because he is absolutely comfortable in the role of subaltern
where the decisions are all made for him. Blicero has been much kinder to
him in this role than Gottfried's father, who "uttered only commands,
sentences, flat judgements" (721.33). But here, now, it is Blicero who is
waiting for *Gottfried's* response, Blicero who will "submit" to the boy's
choice. And, finally, the "decision" Gottfried has to make is *surely*
whether or not he will take his place in the 00000. Isn't it? "It all poises
here." This is the climax of the entire novel, and it is indeterminate:

    The scene itself must be read as a card: what is to come.

best