Traverse Machine

[ish mailian]

Pynchon interest in American Labor is there from the start. We see it
in the short stories and, of course, in his first novel, V..

So much has been written, here and elsewhere, about Benny Profane, but
this essay does a wonderful job of tying together the Work theme with
women and the inanimate.

Menachem Feuer

Schlemiels, Women & (In)animate Yo-Yos in Thomas Pynchon’s “V”

January 17, 2017

an excerpt here------>>>>>>>>

Rather, Pynchon suggests that the schlemiel’s relationship to work,
inanimate “things,” and the feminine provides the reader with an acute
sense of the schlemiel’s prominent space in Pynchon’s vision of
America.  While Updike’s schlemiel seems to be outside the ken of
salvation, Pynchon’s does not. But the salvation of Pynchon’s
schlemiel, Benny Profane, is comical not sacred. It is, like the comic
character, partial or better yet, double. Living a better life is his
salvation. But what makes the schlemiel’s path to life unique is that
it comes through a relationship to two women, which reflect his own
identity which is half-Catholic and half-Jewish. Both women take him
from being an inanimate yo-yo who dreads failure and wandering the
streets, alone, to an animated schlemiel with a temp job and a
(temporary) home.

Read the rest here----------------------------------->>>>

http://www.berfrois.com/2017/01/menachem-feuer-thomas-pynchon-schlemiel/

On Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 10:53 AM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
> 11 Revelations From Salman Rushdie’s Memoir, ‘Joseph Anton’
>
>
> 9. Pynchon Emerges Almost every major writer lent their support to
> Rushdie during the fatwa years (with the notable exception of John le
> Carré.) One of them, “another famous invisible man,” was Thomas
> Pynchon, and this gave Rushdie particular excitement. The two dined
> together during one of Rushdie’s New York trips, and Pynchon spoke at
> length about American labor history. They never met again after that.
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l