It's hard to believe Thomas Pynchon wrote a sentence as bad as this one

[Natália Maranca]

Pynchon's descriptions of sex vary a lot in style depending on the context.
Besides, it's not the first time he uses crude sexual violence to make a
point, it's all through GR. Here, by showing the wickedness of the two
killers, he is actually casting light in psychological problems of
Lakeherself, demonstrating how much of a masochist she is, and why she
should be
despised just as much as Deuce and Sloat. This is crucial for our
involvement in the novel, because we are following the story inside the
brothers' point of view, who clearly want their sister dead along with Vibe
and the hired guns. The scene is poorly written and sick, and it should be
this way. It should inspire a negative reaction, but directed at the
characters and not the writer. But then, the "reader, she bit him" piece, I
don't think I could defend it. I found it amusing, and that's all. Perhaps
of no literary value, but it fits in the whole of AtD...


On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 3:17 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> LOL
>
>
> --- On Mon, 7/28/08, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> > From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> > Subject: Re: It's hard to believe Thomas Pynchon wrote a sentence as bad
> as this one
> > To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> > Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 1:07 PM
> > The "Reader, she bit him" sequence on p. 666
> > evoked similarly negative reactions.  Was it a bad parody
> > of Jane Austen or just bad?  It's always possible to
> > ascribe complex motivations behind every sentence, every
> > decision TRP makes, but sometimes a Tatzelwurm is just a
> > Tatzelwurm.
> >
> > Laura
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > >From: Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> > >Sent: Jul 28, 2008 12:03 PM
> > >To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> > >Subject: It's hard to believe Thomas Pynchon wrote
> > a sentence as bad as this one
> > >
> > >27.7.08
> > >It's hard to believe Thomas Pynchon wrote a
> > sentence as bad as this one.
> > >
> > >"After she had given in to the notion of being
> > doubled up on, she
> > >found herself going out of the way looking for it,
> > usually one in her
> > >mouth, the other from behind, sometimes in her ass, so
> > she got quickly
> > >used to tasting her own fluids mixed with shit."
> > >
> > >There's more before and after that, mentions of
> > being chained to a bed
> > >with leather hobbles and an instance of "you dirty
> > fuckmouth whore"
> > >but that sentence is representative of the section of
> > "Against the
> > >Day" in question. I've seen it referred to as
> > the "Cowboy S+M"
> > >section; it's just one page but it's so poorly
> > written and oddly out
> > >of place that I've been puzzling about it on and
> > off since I read it.
> > >
> > >The rest of the book is excellent. Hugh Kenner wrote a
> > little piece
> > >about Joyce beginning "Ulysses" in naturalism
> > and ending it in parody
> > >and in "Against the Day" Pynchon seems so far
> > to take the opposite
> > >tack, the entire book opening firmly in a parody of
> > boy's adventure
> > >magazine (Doc Savage-type stuff) but becoming more
> > grounded in tone as
> > >the demands of reality intrude on the characters. So
> > there are the
> > >Chums of Chance and their airship The Inconvenience in
> > the
> > >aforementioned whiz-bang mode, Lew Basnight beginning
> > in a Kafkaesque
> > >version of Chicago (complete with unspecified sins and
> > surreal dive
> > >hotels) and proceeding through the American West to
> > England and a
> > >version of Blavatsky and Yeats's mysticisms, Merle
> > Rideout and his
> > >daughter Dahlia in an off-kilter version of "Paper
> > Moon" and so on,
> > >all at the turn of the century, and alternately
> > interacting and
> > >working at cross-purposes.
> > >
> > >The S+M scene is part of the Western revenge saga of
> > the Traverse
> > >family that takes up large parts of the book at a time
> > and which
> > >actually I frequently find the hardest sections to get
> > through, though
> > >I'm trying to reserve judgment until I actually
> > finish the whole
> > >thing. That particular scene makes sense as regards the
> > motifs of the
> > >book, the journeys of the characters involved, and
> > setting up a
> > >situation which will apparently be crucial to the
> > Traverse storyline
> > >but it's the execution of it that bugs me. Maybe
> > Pynchon was parodying
> > >cheap smut like Tijuana Bibles or Penthouse stories but
> > that's a
> > >stretch, it doesn't read as parody or homage in any
> > way . . . I
> > >respect Pynchon's writing ability, so it comes as
> > even more a
> > >surprise, especially in the middle of a work so
> > well-written and
> > >elsewise engaging.
> > >
> > >My only other experience with Pynchon is the first 30
> > or so pages of
> > >"Gravity's Rainbow" but I've read
> > about him and some miscellanea of
> > >his, letters, essays etc. and many of his pet interests
> > and issues
> > >show up in "Against the Day", some reviewers
> > having called it a sort
> > >of summation of his life's writing (guy is pretty
> > old by now). Ideas
> > >about capitalism, the use of anarchy as a way to oppose
> > >industrialization and its effect on worker's
> > rights, the acquisition
> > >of technology for profitable or military means, the
> > uses of theories
> > >and hypotheses otherwise marginalized by the mainstream
> > scientific
> > >community and, very interesting to me, the sense of a
> > fictive space
> > >(that term is used in reference to the Chums of Chance,
> > with Lew
> > >Basnight it's the Invisible Area, and to the
> > scientists it's the is
> > >it/isn't it existence of a substance called
> > Aether), a space where
> > >these characters can exist indefinitely, only half-seen
> > by the rest of
> > >society, but a space constantly threatened by the
> > encroachment of
> > >actual "reality", usually represented by the
> > needs of industrialists
> > >like Scarsdale Vibe or the shadowy Organization that
> > sends the Chums
> > >on their missions. An early example is the first
> > chapter, where the
> > >1893 Chicago World's Fair is described as wrapped
> > in fiction and
> > >wonder, but the moment the Chums leave it, they're
> > prey to regular
> > >human emotions and pettiness, reflected by a shift in
> > their dialogue
> > >and the narrative voice.
> > >
> > >Parallels can also be drawn to the current political
> > climate, if
> > >that's your thing. Blinded by their own arrogance
> > and confidence in
> > >their abilities, a scientific expedition brings a
> > horrible power to a
> > >large metropolis (never named, but clearly New York
> > City), initiating
> > >one cataclysmic night of flames where people flee giant
> > clouds of
> > >smoke that rush down the city streets, and clog transit
> > systems in a
> > >panic to escape. The city is afterward described as
> > forgetting the
> > >actual event, the nature and significance of the
> > attack, only
> > >remembering a vague injury to their superiority and
> > paying their
> > >respects to it by leaving the charred portion of the
> > city intact,
> > >establishing it as a memorial by erecting a gate with a
> > quote from
> > >Dante etched on the arch.
> > >
> > >All in all, an excellent book so far and one I
> > don't mind as my
> > >introduction to Pynchon, but I'd still like answers
> > about the cowboy
> > >threesome.
> > >
> > >
> http://phenoptosis.blogspot.com/2008/07/its-hard-to-believe-thomas-pynchon.html
> > >
> > >"No symbols where none intended." --Samuel
> > Beckett
>
>
>
>
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