This week in pointless trivia.

[Laura Kelber]

The men have complete control over the women, and, it's implied ( except for Katje) that the women love it. 

LK

On Oct 8, 2013, at 9:02 AM, Markekohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> And the men come off so much better, eh? 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On Oct 8, 2013, at 8:00 AM, Laura Kelber <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
>> I thought of the Plath poem when I first encountered the trope in VL. But I suspect it meant something much different to Plath than it does to Pynchon. He used it obliquely in GR, adding a Hansel and Gretel aspect. The woman fucks the fascist to bring him down. Plath's poem is pure rage and pain. In Pynchon's later books, the women are victims and weaklings held up for our contempt. The fascists might suffer harm, but not from these willing slaves. 
>> 
>> LK
>> 
>> On Oct 8, 2013, at 6:45 AM, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> As mentioned before, I think that this has to do with the catholic element in Pynchon. The lefty woman fucking the fascist is Pynchon's standard illustration of original sin (aka inherent vice). The sexism in this is - think Genesis 3 - a very traditional one. Could also imagine that Sylvia Plath' famous line "Every woman adores a Fascist" (from "Daddy") is another influence here.
>>> 
>>> On 06.10.2013 22:33, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>>>> I’m also getting pretty pissed off with Pynchon (who, otherwise, I consider one of the greatest authors of all time) for this Frenesi/Lake/Maxine/Tallis (and if the latter isn’t specifically fingered as Jewish, then why did he give her a Jewish name?) lefty-woman-who-fucks-fascists trope. Where does this come from? Where are the examples, and why does he keep portraying the daughters of the left this way? And why all the shopping and pole-dancing crap. Is this supposed to convince us that Pynchon understands women? It’s insulting and sexist. Enough already!
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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