CoL49(6): Humbert Humbert Cats

[Michael Bailey]

rich wrote:

> but why is this acceptable after his whining about sadly how much he
> was a james bond guy when he was young just by making 007 a woman--she
> has all the same traits--haughty, oversexed; just think the whole
> gender switcheroo thingy is a bit tiresome nowadays--sure u can use it
> in spots but if that's all u got, well...she was able to walk thru
> walls and shit--
> is Pynchon overcompensating
> nitpicking I know

hard to say.  when you put it like that...
there are few real sweethearts in AtD.  But it's still a good book.

>>> why do so many men hate women? answer that instead of spouting
>>> half-baked feminist crap

It's a problem.  Maybe not *the* problem in the Pynchon oeuvre, though?

> I should clarify--is Pynchon's remorse at being sexist whittled down
> to a grown men are little boys explanation? not what you'd expect from
> a guy who said why should things be easy
> nitpicking I know

Rachel Owlglass's romanticization of the "boy's road" and her
willingness to partner with Benny
don't demean her, and in fact she (along with Sphere and Paola) shine
enough hope to redeem what could have been a miserabilist - though
still entertaining - book.
Flange's turning away from the cosseting of his marriage more reflects
a disjunction between military and civilian life, his reflections on
the buyability of women on the street isn't a comment on the women as
much as a lament for their vulnerability to economic pressures.
Slothrop's "reflex" dalliances don't at all glorify the promiscuous
freedom of the soldier, but invoke pathos and (being reflex) feed into
the Pavlovian theme.
There are enough deconstructive perceptions around the female
characters in Vineland to make them more than reverse stereotypes.
Yashmeen's sexual exploits are shown as distractions from her math,
and are felt as tragic.

These are articles of faith, I guess, but there is textual evidence to
support them.

-- 
"My God, I am fully in favor of a little leeway or the damnable jig is
up! " - Seymour Glass