VLVL2(8) Thickets of Alders I

[Michael Joseph]

Seems I recall Pynchon referencing Robert's White Goddess in _V_. Do you
think Sasha/Frenesi/Prairie represent his triparite goddess:
crone/nymph|mother/maiden, and that Zoyd/BVon. the lover/consort and his
tsanist weird? Course Vineland would suggest Dionysian revelry, and hence
a matriarchal vision (according to RG). If the exhumation of Frenesi
corresponds to the recovery of Persephone, though in reverse--it is
Demeter being recovered by her daughter--then, perhaps, it can be seen to
correspond to a lunar mystery, the waxing of the moon, which is believed
to have an effect upon grapes. So, for example,

"The passage of the moon through the different constellations exerts four
distinct elemental influences on the vineyard, namely water, earth, air
and fire, which are shown through the leaves, the roots, the fruit and the
flower, respectively. A rising moon affects or heightens the vitality,
smell or colour of the plant. A lowering moon influences the internal
liquids of the plant (the sap) which descend, so this is a good time to
prune, repiquer, labourer or cueillir les plantes medicinales. 'La
Perigee' occurs when the moon is close to the earth (waxing); 'L'Apogee'
occurs when the moon is far from earth (waning). The fourth lunar quarter
is a time of resting for the soil -- 'monthly period of sleep' -- so it is
best to avoid the application of life stimulating preps at this time."

Of course, the central thesis of _TWG_ is poetical and linguistic, that
poetry as such is a survival of ancient, female-centered (matrifocal) ways
of knowing involved with the seasons, vegetation, the heavens, and other
terrestrial phenomena, which the independent-minded poet taps into under
the influence of true love--a love that lays upon him the onerus debt of
self-sacrifice. Perhaps the linguistic range of _VL,_ which on one end
consists of a colloquial mimesis, and, on the other, a richly symbolic
poetry, might reflect the Gravesian contrast between dull, abstracted,
ordinary (male) consciousness, and the exalted, intuitive, (female)
consciousness. Certainly both Zoyd and BV embody the zeal of the
narrator of Graves's dedicatory poem, who possesses "so huge a sense/Of
her nakedly worn magnificence/That we forget all love and past
betrayal/Heedless of where the next bright bolt may fall." (fn: revised
version; in orig. read "That I..." and "Careless of...")

Paul's take on the opposition to patriarchy in chapter 7, and elsewhere,
in _VL_ would lend credence to your hypothesis of the intwining of the
roots of _VL_ in _TWG._



Michael





Tue, 21 Oct 2003, pfm2 wrote:

> Well, since nobody asked, I'd better answer.
>
> The reason I thought it appropriate to post the Graves
> stuff here is that it's an example of how P jangles mythical/cultural
> nerves
> so effortlessly. I think we can assume that P has read Graves but even
> if we
> don't make that assumption, what Graves has written here captures the
> nature of the "nerve jangling" that goes on when such icons are
> introduced.
>
> Hence, we can be sure that anyone who has been immersed in the European
> culture
> recognises these things without ever having read Graves. So, immediately
> on
> reading the passage:
>
> "They had rounded a curve, and under the bright moon the forest fell
> away and the land went sloping down in pastures and then thickets of
> alder"
>
> we're subsconciously aware of ideas of battle, fighting and bounding.
>
> pfm
>
>