COL49 - Chap 1: Roseman

[Mark Kohut]

Oh, the wrinkles of meaning, the differing definitions are so hard to go back and forth on.....yes, the pre-feminist 60s, second wave feminism (of the 20th Century) but now in the 21st, What do we mean when we say feminism? (Y'all read Judith Thurman in The New Yorker on the Oxford Univ Press bio of Helen Gurley Brown, FEMINIST? )

After that preamble, I just want to see if this hits anyone: Yes, Oedipa goes man to satirized man hunting answers---only she and Remedios Varo are (kinda) pure....so, I see TRP as SO "feminist" in The Crying of Lot 49......the two women are presented without irony.....good qualities--Oedipa's kindness and compassion, open-ended quest; Varo's suffering art, etc......

I think TRP, as we see in V. and would come to see in GR, sees the Man-run world, patriarchy, old-boy interlocking networks of business and war-mongering as a big part of the Historical Problem. I would say, she must try to get answers from all the men who
are supposed to have the answers, but she gets nada from them. Purposely by OBA. 

(On the other hand, Oedipa has nothing but "gut fear and female cunning" to understand.   (Is 'female cunning" supposed to be a compliment, ya think?) 



----- Original Message ----
From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
To: kelber at mindspring.com
Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 7:38:13 PM
Subject: Re: COL49 - Chap 1: Roseman

> By the way, it's interesting that there are few (not one? - correct me, someone) named female characters outside of Oedipa (and Remedios Varo)in the book.  She journeys from man to man looking for answers.  Is there a reason for this, other than Pynchon falling into the easy sexism of the pre-feminist '60s?
>
> Laura
>
must be on the same wavelength--reviewing chapter 3 I noticed that,
too--i'll have some ideas (I think) about it when we get to that
section

rich