V-2nd - 2: Who's your favorite Pynchonian character?

[Bekah]

Great start,  Laura -  thanks.

I think Prairie is the one on a quest in Vineland - and I really like  
her a lot.

There are several questers in AtD -  Basnight and the Traverse  
brothers for sure.   Maybe that's why I liked them so much.

Charles Mason &  Jeremiah Dixon have one major quest and several  
smaller ones.

Hmmmmmmmm -   I enjoy playing a little game called Avernum (I'm on  
Book 6) and there are lots of quests - big ones and little quests.    
No wonder I like it.  (heh)

Bekah




On Jun 28, 2010, at 12:46 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> We've spent all of Chapter One getting to know Benny, schlemiel and  
> human yo-yo.  Then he disappears from Chapter Two.  We get to know  
> first Rachel, then Stencil instead.  Who's the protagonist?  We find  
> out soon enough that there are dual protagonists - Benny and Stencil  
> - although Stencil's the more compelling because he's on a quest.
>
> I like Benny.  Do you?  He's young, hedonistic and self-centered,  
> like many or most of us were at that age, and he's trying to "find  
> himself."  But he's not on a Quest, and, ultimately, Pynchon will  
> outgrow him.
>
> I also like Rachel.  She's compassionate, and highly intelligent;  
> constantly asking questions.  There's that odd moment of girl-car  
> love when we first meet her, but that aspect of her is soon left  
> behind.  But she's not on a quest either.
>
> Oedipa is Rachel-on-a-Quest.  Slothrop's Benny-on-a-Quest.  Of all  
> TRP's characters, Oedipa and Slothrop are my favorites: intelligent  
> everywoman; hedonistic, slightly goofy everyman; both trying to get  
> to the heart of conspiracies that may affect all of us.
>
> These characters are gone from Pynchon's last four books.  Zoyd may  
> be goofy and endearing; he may be on a mission to protect his  
> daughter, but he's not on a quest.  Doc?  He's looking for Shasta  
> and Wolfmann, encountering the Golden Fang in the process; there's a  
> bit of a quest there, but it's all a little too pat.  Or maybe,  
> along with Pynchon, we've all gotten too jaded and/or too well- 
> informeed about everything that's connected.
>
> The trio of Reef-Yashmeen-Cyprian in ATD doesn't seem to be looking  
> for anything in particular; they're wandering amid the chaos.
>
> Is Cyprian (a spy searching for himself?) somewhat the heir of  
> Stencil?  We're going to get to know Stencil a lot better in this  
> chapter and later ones.  We may not identify with him as much as  
> with Benny, Rachel, Oedipa and Slothrop - he's an odd duck.  But if  
> there are echoes of him as late as Cyprian, maybe he's the  
> quintessential Pynchon character?
>
> Speak up, folks.  Favorite character?  Similar character?