ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[David Morris]

On 3/2/07, Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net> wrote:
> > Where in the text is the evidence of Lake's abuse?  Her complaint is neglect.  She is the unfathomable one, much like Frenesi in VL. Neither one makes much sense to me.  I think they both have something to do with Pynchon's view of Women.
>
> Umm.. at the very least, could you lowercase that capital "W"..?
>
> Nobody's ever explained to my satisfaction why Lake is more revealing of "Pynchon's view" than Yashmeen or Dally, Frenesi more so than DJ, Austra more so than Tenebrae.

Well, in VL we've got this three-generational tendency fairly
*explicitly* laid out in Sascha, Frenesi & Prarie.  These female
characters aren't written primarily to portray individual people, or
even an individual family.  They act as functions, demonstrating
something important in the dynamic that is VL (as do all the important
characters in most of Pynchon's fiction).  And the DNA reference clues
us in on the "built-in" nature (not nurture) of this relation to
power/authority in women in general, I contend.

And Lake has some similar perversity in her nature, I think.  But I
don't think she functions in exactly the same manner.  She is somehow
a reaction against Webb (her immediate authority figure) for someone
who is clearly a rebel who was only temporarily (and previous to
meeting Lake) a part of the Owner's power structure.

David Morris