CoL49 (6) What She was Pregnant with

[Mark Kohut]

No one has ever remarked on that being addressed to female readers! 

Despite TRPs admitted early sexism [of some characters], and our discussion of related issues here, I would make the case, especially as revealed most in Against the Day, for OBAs ultimate visionary embrace of many values opposed, shall I say, to most stereotypes of 'masculinity'..


--- On Mon, 7/13/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
> Subject: RE: CoL49 (6) What She was Pregnant with
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 11:22 AM
> Struggling to catch up -- my
> husband's been home, sick with flu, and has commandeered my
> computer for work (money-earning) purposes.  Can't
> argue with that.
> 
> I'm surprised no one's focussed on the fact that the "your
> gynecologist" comment is addressed to the female
> reader(s).  Offhand, I can't think of any male novelist
> who assumes or pinpoints female readership.  Aside from
> being a genuine feminist impulse, wonder what Pynchon has in
> mind.  Aside from the gals at the opening tupperware
> party, Oedipa doesn't seem to have any female friends (at
> least no one she seeks guidance from after all the men have
> turned/been turned).  Possibly, the comment reflects
> her longing for female community at a moment when she's
> bereft of friendship, guidance, or support of any
> kind.  Or maybe she just wants her Mommy.
> 
> Laura  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: David Payne <dpayne1912 at hotmail.com>
> >Sent: Jul 12, 2009 10:40 PM
> >To: Pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >Subject: RE: CoL49 (6) What She was Pregnant with
> >
> >
> >Robin: "As I recall, there's a- couple-two-three
> examples [of a narrator addressing you] in GR."
> > 
> >Christ, I swear that book changes everytime I pick it
> up! But, yes of course, this frequently occurred in GR. Dave
> Monroe's example was short and sweet, but it sure did come
> from one weird paragraph:
> > 
> >"Of all her putative fathers—Max Schlepzig and masked
> extras on one side of the moving film, Franz Pokier and
> certainly other pairs of hands busy through trouser cloth,
> that Alpdrücken Night, on the other—Bianca is closest,
> this last possible moment below decks here behind the
> ravening jackal, closest to you who came in blinding color,
> slouched alone in your own seat, never threatened along any
> rookwise row or diagonal all night, you whose interdiction
> from her mother's water-white love is absolute, you, alone,
> saying sure I know them, omitted, chuckling count me in,
> unable, thinking probably some hooker . . . She favors you,
> most of all. You'll never get to see her. So somebody has to
> tell you."
> > 
> >As for the CoL49 example, "Your gynecologist has no
> test for what she was pregnant with" (p. 144, HP, 1999) ...
> > 
> >Dave Monroe: "But here I think 'your' is rather more
> prosaic, 'your gynecologist' being simply a colloquial way
> of saying 'gynecologists'." 
> > 
> >And Mark: "And the 'you' is everybody. ....[from early
> in L49 re 'She Loves You'.}'." 
> > 
> >I would've sworn there were 3,4,5 more examples in
> CoL49, but looking back I only found one: "'You remember
> everything,' Oedipa said, 'Jesus; even tourists. How is your
> CIA?' Standing not for the agency you think, but for a
> clandestine Mexican outfit known as the Conjuration de los
> Insurgentes Anarquis-tas, traceable back to the time of the
> Flores Mag6n brothers and later briefly allied with Zapata"
> (p. 96, HP, 1999).
> > 
> >Reading this quote after hearing from Dave and Mark, I
> reckon the "you think" could really just be "one would
> think" -- but in both cases I think Pynchon was consciously
> f-n' around with conventions, toying with having the
> narrator address the reader.
> > 
> >Anyhow, do *only* Col49 and GR have the narrator
> directly address the reader? Is this something Pynchon used
> and then dropped, or am I totally spacing out on something
> that happened in other novels?
> >
> > 
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. 
> >http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_BR_life_in_synch_062009
> 
> 
>