SLSL 'Low-lands': racist, sexist and fascist talk

[tess marek]

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> on 10/1/03 4:38 AM, tess marek at
> tessmarek at yahoo.com wrote:
> 
> > Part of P's problem as a young writer is his
> failure
> > to create a distance with a narrative voice.
> 
> Though there is a distance between the narrator and
> Levine in the earlier
> story (as Pynchon notes), in this story there isn't
> a distance between the
> narrative voice and Flange. Pynchon says as much
> when he apologises for the
> "smart-ass" aspect of the narrative voice in the
> 'Intro', and acknowledges
> it as his "own". It's clear from these comments that
> Pynchon's and Dennis's
> povs are in alignment. 

Agreed. 

In other words Dennis is the
> "filter", or source, of
> narrative agency in the story. 

I Agree. 

Pynchon perfects this
> technique in the
> novels, in _GR_ particularly (with, for example,
> Slothrop, but with many of
> the other characters also). 

Yup. 




I don't agree that it's
> a flaw or "failure".
> It's a technical aspect, part of the literary
> repertoire, and he uses it to
> good effect in all his mature works.

The use of the type of narrative  "filter" in
Low-Lands is not the flaw or the failure, it's the use
of it AND the failure to create distance that is the
problem. 



> 
> > I'm not
> > sure right now, but I recall reading that after
> > Hemingway, P started reading Conrad. At some
> point,
> > prior to or while writing V. he read Melville (at
> > least he read Moby-Dick). I think it is essntial
> for P
> > to create this distance and the Stencil (he may
> have
> > been reading Nabokov too and the idea to
> > Stencilize--Henry Adams & Graves etc--is a great
> big
> > giant step in P's development as an author. It's
> not a
> > matter of being above the average or ordinary
> > protagonist (not sure P manages to make Flange
> very
> > ordinary or if that is his objective?). P has the
> guys
> > sit around and spin yarns. This is good. However,
> the
> > "almost me" guy keeps intruding. And he's a
> smart-ass
> > with attitudes that put us off. They put off the
> > "Modern" reader not because they are not PC or not
> > what we expect from a postmodern
> > thinker like TRP. They put us off because they
> intrude
> > in an awkward manner because they are the
> attitudes of
> > an apprentice writer.
> 
> I disagree. Pynchon states that it's the "racist,
> sexist and proto-Fascist
> talk" in the story which will be off-putting. He
> notes that these were the
> attitudes of the generation, and that it's not just
> the characters' voices
> (he refers to Pig) but his "own at the time" as well
> (p. 11).


What are you disagreeing about here? Seems you are
agreeing with me.  

We agree that 

1. Pynchon states that it's the "racist,
sexist and proto-Fascist talk" in the story which will
be off-putting to Modern readers. 

2. That these were the attitudes of the generation.

3. That it's not just the characters' voices
(he refers to Pig) but his "own at the time" as well. 

Perhaps you disagree with my other two pints: 

1. I'm not offended because the tale is not PC. 


2. I'm not put off because I expect young Pynchon to
have a different attitude. 




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