Transgressive sexual depictions in literature

[Mark Kohut]

Laura says stodgy atonement here (maybe)

Robin writes:  
Later we have a depiction of a saintly, selfless and decidedly "Queer" character 
in "Against the Day." I take Cyprian as an attempt for the author to karmically 
atone for various uninformed depictions of the Third [Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? . . 
.] sex, particularly in his pre-Slow Learner novels.

I call ya both and raise ya this Cyprian is also even more than all 
that...remember when he moves beyond gender frisson sex?



----- Original Message ----
From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Wed, September 8, 2010 6:09:36 PM
Subject: Re: Transgressive sexual depictions in literature

On Sep 8, 2010, at 2:50 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

> I don't know - the baby piranha-filled glass dildo might have been a deliberate 
>attempt to evoke goshes.  The sex scenes in GR are all kind of campily decadent 
>and therefore entertaining.

I think that's a fine example of good writing v. bad writing. There's something 
decidedly Baroque and richly staged in the various couplings in Gravity's 
Rainbow, it's probably the author's most vivid and inspired writing as regards 
sex.

> I'd say the Esther and Dr. Schoenmaker sex scene is the closest analog in V..  
>The Fina and Lucille scenes come across as a fratboy's play for worldliness, 
>rather than anything as stylized as the GR orgy scene, etc.

Later we have a depiction of a saintly, selfless and decidedly "Queer" character 
in "Against the Day." I take Cyprian as an attempt for the author to karmically 
atone for various uninformed depictions of the Third [Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? . . 
.] sex, particularly in his pre-Slow Learner novels.