AtD (37) pp.1040 ff. Thoughts on Lew Basnight, detective.

[kelber at mindspring.com]

At this point, we're in LA in the film era.  This segment feels different than the other Lew Basnight segments.  The others my have been in the Detective Fiction genre, but this one's solidly in the film noir genre (by way of Hammett's and Channdler's crime fiction).
  
Laura 
-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Jul 20, 2008 10:40 AM
>To: robinlandseadel at comcast.net
>Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: AtD (37) pp.1040 ff. Thoughts on Lew Basnight, detective.
>
>I vote for more Lew Archer resonances in Lew [!] Basnight than the others,
>although of course, all of them resonate ala Pynchon's shimmering, layered way. 
>
>Lew Archer because of 1) the name 2) the 'sensitive' detective 3) his mystery solutions are Freudian family dramas, Oedipal in many instances.
>4) Very hot--reviewed on front page on NY Times by Eudora Welty when OBA
>was inhaling many of his intellectual sources.  
>
>
>--- On Sun, 7/20/08, robinlandseadel at comcast.net <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>> Subject: Re: AtD (37) pp.1040 ff. Thoughts on Lew Basnight, detective.
>> To: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Date: Sunday, July 20, 2008, 10:12 AM
>> Against the Day is a meta-fiction, a fiction concerned with
>> fictions. 
>> There are many parodies of genres that first saw the light
>> of day 
>> in the era of Against the Day. The Crime Novel or Mystery
>> is a 
>> genre that blossomed during the era of Against the Day,
>> Sherlock 
>> Holmes being but the most obvious example. Dashiell
>> Hammett,
>> an ex-Pinkerton, is more of the Hard-boiled Dick found in
>> the 
>> States and closer to the mark for Lew. And of course,
>> don't 
>> forget the previously cited Lew Archer:
>> 
>>           Profile
>> 
>>           Initially, Lew Archer was similar to (if not
>> completely derivative 
>>           of) Philip Marlowe. However, he eventually broke
>> from that 
>>           mold, though some similarities remain.
>> Archer's principal 
>>           difference is that he is much more openly
>> sensitive and 
>>           empathetic than the tough Marlowe. He also serves
>> a 
>>           different function than Marlowe. Raymond
>> Chandler's books 
>>           were studies of Marlowe's character and code
>> of honor, while 
>>           Macdonald used Archer as a lens to explore the
>> relationships of 
>>           the other characters in the novels.
>> 
>>           Archer's name is an homage to Dashiell
>> Hammett: "Miles 
>>           Archer" was the name of Sam Spade's
>> murdered partner in 
>>           The Maltese Falcon.
>> 
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Archer
>> 
>> I keep turning back to The Crying of Lot 49 as something of
>> a coda 
>> for Against the Day, Oedipa looking backwards at the
>> detritus of a 
>> scene that manages to continue in darkness, a scene
>> displayed 
>> in full daylight in AtD. Raymond Chandler's sense of
>> place and the crude
>> mechanics of local political power infuse The Crying of Lot
>> 49. In AtD the 
>> character of Lew ties together the central thread of the
>> story---Scarsdale 
>> Vibe's "hit" on Webb and the family's
>> response to to Webb's execution. 
>> The loose ends of that story are all tied up thanks to some
>> smooth
>> teamwork between the psychic detective and the alchemical
>> photographer.
>
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