Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld PDF
Preview Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld
Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld Yoshinobu Hakutani General Editor Vol. 62 PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Evans Lansing Smith Thomas Pynchon and the Postmodern Mythology of the Underworld PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Evans Lansing. Thomas Pynchon and the postmodern mythology of the underworld / Evans Lansing Smith. p. cm. — (Modern American literature: new approaches; v. 62) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Pynchon, Thomas—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Voyages to the otherworld in literature. 3. Gnosticism in literature. 4. Mythology in literature. I. Title. PS3566.Y55Z884 813’.54—dc23 2012031428 ISBN 978-1-4331-2027-5 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4539-0951-5 (e-book) ISSN 1078-0521 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council of Library Resources. © 2012 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. Printed in Germany For my Beloved Cheryle: Belle Dame avec Merci Table of Contents Introduction: Necrotypes and Postmodernism................................................1 Chapter One: V................................................................................................7 Chapter Two: The Crying of Lot 49..............................................................45 Chapter Three: Gravity’s Rainbow...............................................................65 Chapter Four: Mason & Dixon....................................................................171 Chapter Five: Against the Day....................................................................215 Works Cited................................................................................................329 Index...........................................................................................................337 Introduction: Necrotypes and Postmodernism One of the most important metaphors of the High Classical Modernism of the first quarter of the 20th century combines the reduction of molecular compounds to their fundamental elements (reductio) with a return to origins (ricorso). An alchemical analogy is implied: the breakdown of molecules to those elements which may be recombined to create new forms. This meta- phor manifests itself in the archaeology (digs in Egypt, Crete, and Mesopo- tamia), science (nuclear and sub-atomic physics) and, linguistics (deep struc- tures, signifiers and signifieds), anthropology (myth and ritual theory), psy- chology (complexes and archetypes), painting (geometric abstraction) and literature (myth and folklore) of Modernism—for they all entail a search for elemental forms beneath the surface of things, in the underworld, as it were. For nearly all of the most important Modernists, myths were regarded as the fundamental building blocks of larger poetic, dramatic, and fictional struc- tures. Indeed, T.S. Eliot’s “mythical method” remains the most enduring leg- acy of the Modernists writing before World War II to the Postmodernists writing afterwards. I use the term Postmodernism historically, and culturally. Historically, it refers to literature written since the end of the World War II which employs the “mythical method” of Modernist literature written before it. Eliot’s famous method uses myth to confer “shape and significance” upon the “anarchy and futility” of history. The method involves a sustained paral- lel between the realistic details of daily life, and an undercurrent of mytho- logical symbolism. Modernism’s “mythical method” is Postmodernism’s point of departure. The most important myths in Modernism and Postmodernism include the labyrinth, the Great Goddess, the apocalypse, and various aspects of hermeticism (Kabbalah and alchemy). The single most important of these, however—whether modernist or postmodernist—is the nekyia, a Homeric term for the descent to the underworld. The variations on the myth are stag- gering: there is not a single major figure of the 20th century who does not at some point refer to the myth in one or more major works. The Modern and Postmodernist underworld can be conceived as a man- sion with four chambers: crypt, inferno, temenos, and cornucopia. As a
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