Bolingbroke Down in the Dumps

[tess marek]

--- The Great Quail <quail at libyrinth.com> wrote:
> 
> First of all, I do agree that Pynchon has never
> written a fully convincing
> American black character; he seems to load them with
> a deliberate but ironic
> stereotypical weight -- Washington's slaves, the
> Malcolm X crew from GR, and
> so on. It's not like you get the impression that
> Pynchon says, "Well, I'm
> going to really attempt to get inside the head of a
> impoverished black
> character." Which is fine for me, as Pynchon is an
> affluent white male. I
> don't expect Toni Morrison to crank out an Edith
> Wharton novel, either.
> 
> (This is not to say a good writer cannot stray from
> "what they know." Only
> that I don't expect them to, and it's not that
> easy.)

I agree, it's not easy, not simple, not expected, but 
young Pynchon tries nonetheless. He even goes out and
writes, then publishes, "a journey into the MIND (talk
about trying to get inside the head of...) Watts"
(1966). 



> 
> But to take some issue with Terrence's statement:
> 
> 1. I don't see much "unlearned" or inherently racist
> with Bolingbroke. So
> he's a black night watchman at a dump, wears a
> porkpie hat, drinks, and is
> paranoid about gypsies. How is that racist? It's not
> like guys like him
> don't exist. He might be a touch stereotypical, but
> so is Pig Bodine.

Of course he's stereotypical. What about the sea story
he tells? What do make of that story? And why odes
Bolingbroke tell it? Or, why does Pynchon give this
particular tale to Bolingbroke? Also, Bolingbroke?
What kind of name is that for a black man who guards a
dump? It must be an allusion to the Henry Plays of
Shakespeare, but how does it work? Also, why do you
think Flange wants so desperately to get out of
Jackson Hieghts? As you well know, JH is now one of
the most diverse communities in the world. It's a
beautiful town.But in late 1950, getting out of JH
menat more that simple flight to the suburbs where one
could be by the water and have a house with lots of
rooms. 



> 
> 2. Quaker Dixon punches a slave driver -- that's a
> historical fact, and I
> wouldn't single it out with any real anti-racist
> significance. To me, it
> says more about Dixon's character than about
> Pynchon's growth as an
> anti-racist writer. I think the scathing indictment
> of slavery in general in
> M&D speaks volumes more; and this stems from
> Pynchon's general sense of
> humanity rather than any overt attempt to grapple
> with black stereotypes....



Yes, I agree. I should have said Gershom. 
> 
> --Quail
> 
> PS: I have read some Derrida, but I prefer Lyotard
> and Foucault. Perhaps he
> suffers from translation, but I don't find "Of
> Grammatology" a very easy go.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
> http://www.TheModernWord.com
> 
> "All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard
> masks. But in each
> event -- in the living act, the undoubted deed --
> there, some unknown
> but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings
> of its features from
> behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike,
> strike through the mask!
> How can the prisoner reach outside except by
> thrusting through the wall?"
>      --Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"
> 
> 
> 


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