Femmes Fatales in AtD, somewhat corrected

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Not every sexy or attractive woman is a femme fatale.  An FF implies a woman whose motivations for sex are mysterious and unknowable (to men, at any rate). The term implies a woman who's using sex for a specific purpose other than her own satisfaction.  Katje seems to qualify by this definition.  Strictly speaking, Yashmeen may be a woman of prodigious sexual appetite (bisexual, actually), but she doesn't have a hidden agenda where sex is concerned.  Femme, yes, but not fatale.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 17, 2008 6:36 PM
>To: Pynchon Liste <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: Femmes Fatales in AtD, somewhat corrected
>
>Mark Kohut wrote:
>> Belatedly, I've looked up Femmes Fatale and it seems to carry overtones
>> of danger, fatality, ensnarement in a plot/trap.
>>
>> I guess I alwys thought that was just one branch.
>>
>
>fatal, yes - but attractive
>(remember the guy in the Neal Stephenson book who
>was flattered to be called an attractive nuisance?)
>
>> So, how about goddesses of love in AtD?......"always him to her, that was
>> the pattern, best
>> to keep that in mind"-----Reef...863
>> Yashmeen
>> Ruperta Chirpingdon-Groin
>> Jacintha Drulove (it seems)
>>
>> nowhere else in his oeuvre, right?
>
>well, Frenesi...Prairie, to some extent...
>that Wiccan chick in Germany that Robin's always on about...
>Paola in V. - spirituo/sexual center of the book I still maintain
>the belated wife in M&D (bit of a stretch, but not terribly so)
>DL for those of us who appreciate the floozie with an Uzi
>
>and for Mexico, definitely Jessica!
>
>I will agree, not so many love interests in the short stories, though