ATDTDA (18): 493-494 "captivated by eyes"

[David Morris]

N.O. Browns acceptance (as opposed to Freud's "perversity" label) of
polymorphous (infantile, only because it is pre-repression) sexuality
is not, as you label it "non-genital."  But it is "whole-body."  And I
think his point is about trying to return to a pre-repression state,
before the "No!"  Or it is at least an (hopeful) exploration about
whether such a return is possible.  For Brown (as I see it), his
dilemma with Freud was whether neurosis/repression is an irredeemable
condition, either poorly or acceptably mediated in everyday life.  I
don't think Brown ever comes to a definitive conclusion over the
trilogy of his explorations of the subject, but the books are well
worth reading.

The 3-way marriage seems to me a idyllic presentation (just as
Pynchon's anarchist's village is shown as an idyllic hope), producing
a miracle baby (Ljubica - From the Slavic element "lub" meaning "love"
combined with a diminutive suffix), the product of a three-way love
making - significantly directed by the female and provoking in all
partners an expansion in their realms of sexual pleasure.  So I don't
agree that it is presented as a "falling away" as "V" portrays.  It
isn't "modern" either, unless one considers a liberated female
"modern."  I think your reference to the white goddess shows just the
opposite.

David Morris

On 9/27/07, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> David,
>
> I'm going to offer/expand some difference of opinion..... Venus comparison seems like a great found allusion, thanks to whomever...
>
> But....is not N.O.Brown's concept of polymorphous perversity in infantile sexuality about non-genital "sex/sensuality", pure whole body natural 'delight'?....in being fully alive in all the senses, so to speak?
>
> I might want to argue that the 3-way "marriage" in this section is presented by TRP as a falling away from whatever real Love is/was?.....(as "V." , who might also be Venus, the Virgin et al, has greatly fallen away from the original (positive) meanings in V.?)
>
> Maybe, I am floundering to express, this is TRP's take on all of the new sexual 'choices' that the modern world started to offer?...Particularly offer women, the feminine principle, the "white goddesses"?....