ATD sex (WAS ATD verdict?)

[Paul Mackin]

On Dec 29, 2006, at 9:05 AM, Ray Easton wrote:

>
> On Thursday, Dec 28, 2006, at 15:54 US/Central, Tim Strzechowski  
> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> 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
>

Aren't good writers today tending more and more to avoid explicit sex  
descriptions? For some reason Pynchon preferred to buck the trend.

I certainly had the feeling of self parody.

To carry on with the math imagery, much of the time, including in  
the  sex scenes, AtD seemed to me like Pynchon raised to some power.  
(exponentiated)

I was soon feeling a little all-pynchoned-out.

AtD is a book for people who can't get too much Pynchon.

With it they got their moneys-worth.

So, bless him for that.