ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Paul Mackin]

On Mar 2, 2007, at 5:31 AM, Monte Davis 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.
>

Doubt if any such explanation will be forthcoming.

I suppose it's natural to attribute slightly puzzling things, even  
troubling things, about Pynchon's female characters to Pynchon's  
attitude toward that  sex.  "Pynchon view of women" has come up here  
fairly frequently over the years and pretty much always with a  
negative connotation attached to  it.  The assumption seems to be  
made that since Pynchon grew up in a slightly less enlightened era  
than the present, and because women in his  novels  sometimes have  
seemed less than fully developed characters and are treated in many  
cases roughly or as inconsequential that he himself doesn't  value  
women very highly or doesn't understand female psychology very well.

Does this have much justification or is it possibly the case that the  
way P portrays his female characters has little to do with any kind  
of incorrect attitude on his  part.

I'd say the latter possibility is more likely. My assessment  would  
be  that when Pynchon's women puzzle  us or are put to use in ways we  
may  feel disturbed by that these puzzling or disturbing things are  
almost invariably puzzling and disturbing in interesting and thought  
provoking ways. Obviously everyone has to decide for themselves  
whether this is the  case.

Pynchon is so knowledgeable. How could he not be knowledgeable about  
women. No THAT is a dumb thing for me to have said.

Seriously I'm convinced he creates his women they way they are for  
fully understood purposes, just like everything else in his books.  
Faulty knowledge isn't likely to be a problem.

In any event we should judge him consistently.

For example, nobody ever would say that   the neat way AtD resolves  
itself--all the relationships falling precisely into place--reflects  
Pynchon's  erroneous view of Reality or of Life.

Still don't know the answer to Monte's question.

P