Gnossos and the Normal Family

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

The lack of almost any "normal" family units: parents and 
children in relatively stable situations- in the works of Pynchon 
is noteworthy. Even in the more character-driven M&D- the
framing narrative notwithstanding- there are no real portrayals 
of the basic family unit. Families, such as they are portrayed 
in Pynchon's writings, are not clearly defined or demarcated, 
i.e, their boundaries- emotional and physical- are only vaguely 
delineated- often violated. There are a few glimpses of the 
"typical" family here and there, but for the most part, Pynchon 
has studiously avoided portraying anything like the traditional 
family unit, even in his short stories.
 
This avoidance of the basic unit of social reality is even more 
glaring when one considers Farina's only novel, which, for all its 
supposed focus on sex/drugs/rock 'n' roll and other puerile aspects 
of college existence, manages to include two clearly demarcated 
and well drawn examples of the family unit- the Gruens and the 
Blacknessses- as well as, three examples of married or  marrying 
couples: Motherball & wife(s), Mojo & Watson-May and Oeuf & 
McCleod- all integral to plot and theme.
 
Glaring, as well, because Pynchon has otherwise, to be polite, 
made like Willie Sutton with respect to Farina's novel. To be fair, 
much of whatever interest there is nowadays in Farina's novel is 
due to GR's dedication to Farina, and, to Pynchon's  dorky  
introduction to the Peguin edition of BDSL. That, however, was 
not always the case. Back in the day, worn copies of BDSL made 
the rounds in the dorms and the off-campus apts, and yes, the 
Greek houses like so many well-rolled joints, but never, like its
"academic" twin of  the times, Giles Goat-boy- in the lecture  halls.
That was not only because, as Pynchon declares, BDSL wasn't 
"a typical college novel, exactly," but because it was intentionally 
an "off-campus" novel, designed to undermine the academy. Many 
of Farina's target audience were living in frats and sorority  houses, 
and, unlike GGb, BDSL was widely read for pleasure. A Trojan Horse 
analogy comes to mind, and Gnossos's condom tampering late in the 
story suggests a self-conscious, if stealthy, technique by the  author.
 
Farina, as a multi-talented performer, was more conscious of his 
transitional role in the rapidly evolving sixties. He recognized his 
debt to the beats, but, at least in BDSL, he sought to undermine 
academia from within, while avoiding the certainty of death by
syllabus.
 
At the heart of Farina's target was the real and implied (in loco 
parentis) family- both the families he portrays and the "normal 
family" his characters carry around in their heads- by which they 
gage their progress, or lack there of, throughout the story. Even 
Gnossos- especially Gnossos- desires to be mated and married. 
Love is real and drives the plot. This is quite unlike anything in 
Pynchon. 
 
 
Bandwraith
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20050724/2b092a8c/attachment.html>