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

[Mark Kohut]

Laura gave us such a long questioning post and asked: 

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?

I suggest he is the first and quintessential quester for the meaning of......whatever happened? Who or more What V. was, as it sez early. A spy in the house of history to spin an Anais Nin novel title. 

The books are full of other questers but,to me, not Cyprian. yes, he was a spy but he self-overcomes that in AtD with tough, unwanted experience that changes him. He means something major about how to live in TRPs vision, I'd say, beyond spying, a compromised necessity to move beyond?


 >--- On Mon, 6/28/10, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
>> Subject: V-2nd - 2:  Who's your favorite Pynchonian character?
>> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 3:46 PM
>> 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?
>> 
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