V---2nd Pynchon theme?

[Richard Ryan]

On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 8:19 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> He satirizes (almost) everything, even most of the thinkers, ideas that fill his
>
> books, right?

Indeed.


>
> So, especially in V. and GR, he loads in some psychoanalytic ideas, Freudian,
> etc. and perhaps
> examples---all that sado-masochistic sex, say?---of psychoanalytically-studied
> perversions?

Pynchon (in V at least) has a horny young man's fascination with sex
in all its aspects.  Especially the perverse ones.

>
> An aphorism of karl kraus, savage satirist of the Austria/Germany/Vienna of his
> time
>
> especially of Freud(ianism), has stuck with me:
>
> "Psychoanalysis is another aspect of the disease it purports to cure"....

It's recognized by most literary interpreters of psychoanalytic
literature (e.g., Trilling, Burke, Bersani) that analysis is bound up
with the neurotic dysfunction itself.

>
> Would TRP agree?

As an anti-intentionalist, I would say this is not necessarily a
useful question...

>
> Another work I've always wanted to read---or see staged!---Last Days of Mankind,
> look
> it and Kraus up on wikipedia if interested.

http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleid=680

And there seems to be a Paul Scofield performance of it - must hear
this if it can be found!

http://scofieldsperformances.com/index.htm

-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The remedy for unpredictability, for the chaotic uncertainty
of the future, is contained in the faculty to make and keep promises.
    -- Hannah Arendt