Back to AtD. Cyprian and his unconscious self-overcoming?

[rich]

Pynchon has problems with faggots in his fiction. let's admit that. they're
either flaming bufoons or some repressed Germanic militaristic american
beauty type of power control metaphor. it's all rather depressing.

rich

On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Cyprian is a self-absorbed kinda guy when we meet him in AtD. Seemingly
> superficial.
> His "gay" character seems masochistic-based, yes, that being beaten stuff?
> (Another of TRP's metaphoric use of
> homosexuality/bisexuality---as a putdown? as not a mature sexual being, in
> some sense? As....?).....
>
> Then we have his trip with Danilo. Brutal physically, long and difficult,
>  full of necessary self-denial (to
> simply survive) and some kind of soul-cleansing, soul-changing?
>
> Nietzsche speaks of the difficulty of self-overcoming but there are other
> perspectives too. Jungians?---And I was reminded of one of his aphorisms
> which went something like: chastity and sensuality are not mutually
> exclusive, which may be
> at least partly where Cyprian ends up? TRP clearly states that he goes
> beyond sex in some way when
> he has an orgasm without it, just from self-abnegation, losing his
> superficial ego in helping Danilo? (Buddhist-
> like too is another way to approach it?)
>
> Is Cyprian's early masochism transmogrified into non-sexual service to
> others? Is doing such Good related
> to masochsim---or is that now overcome? (might be since with Yashmeen now
> it is different)
>
> And/or is he now iable to love Yashmeen because his homosexuality has been
> worked off, so to speak?
>
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