M & D Read

[Mark Kohut]

Joseph writes:
 "When Austra challenges his view of English marriage and compares it
to sex slavery.."

Pretty 'radical' idea for the time, yes?  Tougher turn of the screw on
the idea that marriage is
institutionalized prostitution.

Joseph also writes:
"Mason must have..."???....all we get is his quick retort that she
ought to marry an Englishman to see...no indication anywhere that
Austra's incredible analogy was felt at all.
.. FROM GOOGLE BOOKS: a woman who marries a man for his money "is
offering herself for sale." Marriage as prostitution -- this may be the
first time that feminist theme has been sounded by a woman, and it
resounds again and again in the writings of George Sand.

Marx and Engels got important traction on this concept. Then it became
pervasive, browsing in Google Books shows...

As I read it, I thought of second wave feminism in our time as another
of Pynchon's anachronous overlays, so to speak. Early Gloria Steinem
carried this banner, I think, as worst situation, as what to not let
marriage be.

Yes, Mason's 'inner life' is full of deep feeling....grief and loss..
so, maybe I chose this wrong phrase again....obviously he has an 'inner life'.
What I do not think is evident is much real 'self-awareness' about
many things...The concept of mirroring via mirror neurons, as well as
simply a looking glass as metaphor for seeing/knowing oneself---once
again, see Shakespeare--
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l