MDDM: Martha & George & Xanthippe

[Doug Millison]

Pynchon opens quite a window with Martha, doesn't he.  Some readers might
question how the comparison to Xanthippe actual "operates" in Pynchon's
text, but it seems clear enough that here -- as in several other such
references to married life in M&D -- he alludes to a long literary
tradition.

Linked from the url that Terrance provides:
http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/rogers1.html

The Troublesome Helpmate:
A History of Misogyny in Literature
Katherine M. Rogers
University of Washington Press, 1966
After discussing misogyny in Western writers from Aristotle to Hemingway,
Rogers concludes with a nice summary of the male psychology of patriarchy.
In her conclusion, she discusses why men become misogynists and she
emphasizes that men fear that if women are ever freed from their
restrictions, women will become men's master.



http://home.pacbell.net/zadekia/xanthippe.html