V---2nd Pynchon theme?

[Ian Livingston]

> then part of P's theme cuts deeper than 'literary interpreters' [maybe?],
> namely, to a vision
> of a non-psychotic, non-neurotic "normal" way of life that, lost, has bred a
> sick reaction
> to treat symptoms not the root of our lost humanity.

Something about this angle resonates in an interesting way in my mind
to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's thesis in Philosophy in the Flesh,
following Varela's thesis in the Embodied Mind, that body is the mind,
after a manner of speaking, i.e., mental activities are metaphors of
physical systems. As we in the west have labored for millennia to
disestablish the psyche's place in the body, we have divorced
ourselves quite literally from ourselves, and the monstrosities of our
personal and social systems are symptomatic of that divorce. I have
been wondering to what degree one might look at an author's
representations of characters' physical appearances and activities
might be representative of deformities at work in the world. I
certainly think of P's sexual perversions in this way. Beginning with
V. and reaching their most engrossing (to work a term for all its
potential) in the Nazi fetishes of GR. The sickness of a culture is
the sickness of the mind repressed and expressed as reversion to
chthonic, socially unappealing and denigrating behavior.


On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 3:13 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Richard Ryan writes:
> 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...
>
>
> Whereever one stands re intentionalism, I was just sorta suggesting by
> aksing that
>  if the Freudian/psychoanalytic-based satire in early Pynchon is what's on the
> page
> with all the sexual 'perversion' [that cost him the Pulitzer among those cramped
> mines]
>
> then part of P's theme cuts deeper than 'literary interpreters' [maybe?],
> namely, to a vision
> of a non-psychotic, non-neurotic "normal" way of life that, lost, has bred a
> sick reaction
> to treat symptoms not the root of our lost humanity.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
> To: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> Cc: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>; braden.andrews at gmail.com; Pete Cleland
> <pmcleland2003 at yahoo.com>; mark levine <leevyne at aol.com>
> Sent: Sat, March 12, 2011 2:22:40 PM
> Subject: Re: V---2nd Pynchon theme?
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
>



-- 
"Psyche pasa athantos." --Plato