ATD sex (WAS ATD verdict?)

[rich]

spoiler.....


















the kinkiest thing is how Yashmeen gets pregnant. the narrator of the
Chum-less scenes reminds me of the Sam Elliot character who narrates parts
of The Big Lebowski--he doesn't like all the cussing and such. if memory
serves, later in AtD an upcoming coitus is anticipated by the narrator who
breaks off description of said act.

rich


On 12/28/06, Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> 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.
> >
>
>
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