ATD sex (WAS ATD verdict?)

[Tim Strzechowski]

Well, what I originally suggested was that there was a more "erotic" quality 
to his earlier passages (the GR passage as one example) due, in part, to his 
word choice.  That erotic quality is lacking in the Four Corners episode. 
My original post was an inquiry as to what makes one passage more "erotic" 
than the other, and whether those differences are a sign of stylistic 
maturity.

I agree that sex is not necessarily "mere" sex in P's works because there is 
a subtext going on regarding a variety of dynamics.  I look forward to the 
group read in a few weeks so's we can begin to look more closely at the 
function of these scenes (as well as everything else).  We'll see if those 
scenes are indeed pat and predictable, or if there are more significant 
functions to the sex.  I'd like to think there are.





>
> I doubt this is what you intend, but the comments above seem to make sense 
> only if one takes the view that the sex in Pynchon's earlier writings is 
> "mere sex".
>
> I don't think this is so.  And the sex in ATD seems to me to be not 
> something more than mere sex, but something far less -- sex has become 
> mere (and often empty and pat and predictable) symbol.  In this respect 
> the complaints of some of the negative reviews that ATD is a parody of a 
> Pynchon novel hit home.
>
> Ray
>