Badasses

[Eric Rosenbloom]

jbor wrote:
> 
> Yes, even the outlaw analogy in the _Stone Junction_ intro Otto quoted from
> creates problems: Rob Roy and Jesse James aren't your typical "heroes". I'm
> not sure how much "karmic readjustment" these two did manage (or intend?) to
> achieve in their actual careers of plundering and murderousness, and I'm not
> really sure you could say that Rob Roy was in fact a member of the
> "preterite" either (freebooter, landowner, blackmailer, in cahoots with the
> Duke of Argyll ... ) But, to go back to the 'Luddite' essay, the very first
> distinction Pynchon makes in his construction of the Badass "identity" is
> between Ned Ludd the man (about whom very little is known) and the legend of
> King Ludd which the Luddites invoked. Likewise, I think that with Rob Roy
> you've got ready-made legendary status in Scott's novel; and with James (and
> Dillinger) the urban myths and Hollywoodisations have certainly been
> widespread enough. And, that "fictional" creations such as Shelley's
> Monster, Walpole's Alfonso and King Kong score a cap as well makes me think
> that Pynchon *is* in fact talking about a "mythical" identity rather than
> historical personages and their acts. That someone or something so
> ostensibly "terrible" or "mad" or "evil" becomes a popular hero seems to be
> a *process* which Pynchon is interested in. And so, more and more this
> proposition that Weissmann/Blicero falls into the category, and that Pynchon
> did indeed *intend* him to fall into the category, becomes a credible one.

This is right, I think. The bad (little "b") things, the "historical"
things, about the Badass are easily overlooked in the psychological need
for the Bad (Big "B") thing.

Pynchon makes it clear that literature has an important role -- duty,
even -- to provide Badasses, so we might view all of his "big"
characters as participating in the author's larger Badass program . . .

--
Eric R



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