Thomas Pynchon's schlmiels

[David Kipen]

The schlemiel is the guy who spills the bongwater. The schlimazel is the guy he spills it on...

All finest,
David 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf Of Robin Landseadel
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:52 AM
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Thomas Pynchon's schlmiels

The shared term is not so much schlemiel/schlimazl as it is stoner— 
Slothrop, Zoyd and Doc are all dope smokers. Pynchon [from Gravity's  
Rainbow onward] can be read as a marijuana advocate. Pynchon's intent  
is to show how obviously bankrupt the drug war is, how it is a total  
scam. That is a major theme in Inherent Vice in particular. While  
anhedonic Alice will probably gore me for this, one easily scryes  
overt advocacy of the chronic in Mason & Dixon & Against the Day as  
well—this is an obvious leitmotiv from GR onwards.

Doc's parents will ask him for some weed sometime later in Inherent  
Vice—"Another World" seems to be much more interesting while stoned.  
This feels like an overlay of the current situation, where increasing  
demand for the legalization of marijuana is coming in part from aging  
boomers :

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123728/U.S.-Support-Legalizing-Marijuana-Reaches-New-High.aspx

In spite of being slaves to the demon weed, Slothrop, Zoyd and Doc are  
all competent enough. And they are all paranoid as well, their  
paranoia being boosted by marijuana—not so much due to the  
psychotropic action of the drug but from rational fear of getting  
busted for their habits. Proverbs for Paranoids #1, as I recall . . .

On Oct 21, 2009, at 6:09 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> Doc's a hero in the sense of "the hero of our tale" and in the sense  
> of his being on a quest (first for Shasta, then for the Golden  
> Fang).  I agree, though, he's no schlemiel (the classic definition  
> being:  a schlemiel is a person who spills his soup, and the  
> schlimazl is the person he spills it on).  He's way too competent at  
> everything he does.  Profane has more of the loser about him, making  
> him more the schlemiel.  Slothrop's  competent, but he does a good  
> job of hiding it (his costume choices are way more out there than  
> Doc's).
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Don Antenen <dantenen at yahoo.com>
>>
>>> "Profane was just the first in a line of schlmiel heroes of  
>>> Pynchons,
>>> heroes who, I think, are self-portraits. Not every book has one, but
>>> most do. Tyrone Slothrop of Gravity’s Rainbow; Zoyd Wheeler of
>>> Vineland; and now Doc Sportello of Inherent Vice."
>>
>>
>> Sportello is neither a hero (hero to whom?) nor a schlemiel.   
>> Sportello is a stoner, but he is no schlemiel.
>>
>> all the best,
>> Don
>
>
>