ATD sex (WAS ATD verdict?)

[Tim Strzechowski]

Well, I'll assume for a moment that your term "focus" relates to the mood of 
the passages in question, and there are different moods an author can evoke 
when writing sexually charges passages.  The mood of, say, Slothrop and 
Bianca's sex (GR, 468-70) is obviously different from that of the Domina 
Nocturna scene (GR, 232-36).

In terms of mood, I would somewhat equate ATD's Four Corners scene (268-69) 
with the "angry sex" between Slothrop and Katje (GR, 221-22), mainly because 
both scenes have a heterosexual coupling that maintains a fetishistic tone. 
However, the diction in the GR episode conveys a certain erotic quality that 
the ATD passage lacks.

[...] "[Slothrop] swerves now, grabs her by the hair and twists an arm 
behind her, pushing her, face-down, on the bed.  Her skirt is up over her 
ass, her thighs squirming underneath him, penis in terrific erection [...] 
pulls down her underwear, takes her by the hip and penetrates her from 
behind, reaching under to pinch nipples, paw her clitoris, rake his nails 
inside her thighs" (221-22).

"They took her down to the Four Corners and put her so one of her knees was 
in Utah, one in Colorado, one elbow in Arizona and the other in New 
Mexico -- with the point of insertion exactly above the mythical crosshairs 
itself.  Then rotated her all four different ways.  Her small features 
pressed into the dirt, the blood-red dirt" (269).

In the GR passage, a younger Pynchon seems to delight in the savory details 
of the act itself as well as its significance to the whole work (which we 
obviously don't get in the limits of what I've quoted).  But the smaller 
details -- the positioning of the movements, the uses of verbs -- enhance 
the eroticism here.

In the ATD passage I don't see those details.  The focus here is on the 
significance of the act itself rather than the details of that act -- the 
positioning of the movements, the uses of verbs here lean more toward the 
overall significance of the act (i.e., symbolism) rather than delighting in 
its savory details.

Maybe it's a sign of Pynchon's having matured as a writer.  His erotic 
passages as a younger man gloried in the fleshly details, whereas now sex 
is, well ... something other than mere sex.



> This comment seems related to my earlier observation that the many
> instances of poetic descriptions seem unfocused and lacking a certain
> level of energy.  But then again I can't help thinking about GR
> either.
>