Re: SLPAD - 85 “see you around the quad”

[matthew cissell]

Hello Michael,

You wrote: "In keeping with the later Rachel/Benny dynamic in
_V._, and a few other “men are sort of pigs, but women love them anyway”
manifestations in early Pynchon, and - it just occurred to me - in keeping
with a later Pynchonian take on the visceral attraction of (some) women to
the violent potentials in (some) men - I think Levine’s met her criteria.
Not that he’s overtly violent, but the possibility isn’t precluded."

I also see this as an early theme in Pynchon's writing that grows and
evolves, so that this dynamic (girls that go for bad dudes) plays out
albeit quite differently in his later work like AtD or IV. It seems to run
alongside the cultural death infatuation found in his work. Of course, it
all appears to echo Wihelm Riech's words: "As painful and embarrassing as
it may be, the fact remains that we are confronted with a human structure
that has been shaped by thousands of years of mechanistic civilization and
is expressed in social helplessness and an intense desire for a führer.” We
see this playing out in the US and elsewhere (like Spain and Italy) where
there are men and women who want the Big Daddy to come and make things
right with the Law that is the Name of the Father. (A little Lacan-of-beans
for the Lacanites.)

Side note: I just finished "The Long Goodbye'' in which I found the word
"tessellate" which was  fondly used by TP; it's worth looking at an N-gram
graph of its use. And when does its use peak? Around 1958 - about 5yrs
after Chandler's novel came out.

keep cool
mc



On Thu, Aug 10, 2023 at 8:30 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From the Department of Can’t Let it Go:
> …still think blinded’s an odd word to use there, except I guess very simply
> they’re in the dark because the love shack wouldn’t have any lights, so
> they can’t see. Of there is already a textual hint: after he undressed,
> rather than seeing her on the mattress, “he heard her from the mattress,
> whimpering.”
>
>
> Moving forward -
>
> They drove back and at the truck Levine said, “See you around the quad.”
> She smiled
>                weakly. “Come on around and visit me when you get out,” she
> said and drove away. Picnic and Baxter were playing blackjack under the
> headlights. “Hey Levine,” Baxter said,
>                “I got laid tonight.”
>
>
>             “Ah,” Levine said. “Congratulations.”
>
>
> Levine’s night not so different from callow Baxter’s?
> Baxter’s mainly gotten his wish - while Levine’s mainly incurred a desire
> for more than that.
>
>
> Buttercup probably has a “walk of shame” to look forward to, not to mention
> a likely-peeved corduroy-coat-wearing boyfriend. It might even have been
> his car.
>
> The lack of enthusiasm in Levine’s obviously insincere sendoff doesn’t
> contribute much starch to her composure. Hence when she smiles, it’s
> “weakly.”
>
> Is her “Come on around and visit me when you get out,” equally insincere as
> Levine’s “see you around the quad?”
>
> I’m tending to think not. In keeping with the later Rachel/Benny dynamic in
> _V._, and a few other “men are sort of pigs, but women love them anyway”
> manifestations in early Pynchon, and - it just occurred to me - in keeping
> with a later Pynchonian take on the visceral attraction of (some) women to
> the violent potentials in (some) men - I think Levine’s met her criteria.
> Not that he’s overtly violent, but the possibility isn’t precluded.
>
> Rather than straight-up “lust for the fascist” I think Buttercup has seen
> Levine as capable of restraint while in possession of those violent
> resources, and envisions him as possibly even more desirable once he “gets
> out.”
>
> But this has yet to dawn on him.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>