The Consensus of Fatal flaw: The

patriarchialist paradigm of narrative in the

works of Pynchon
Stephen T. Q. de Selby
Department of Future Studies, Carnegie-Mellon University
. The patriarchialist paradigm of
narrative and subcapitalist dialectic theory
Sexual identity is dead, says Foucault; however,
according to Abian[1] , it is not so much sexual
identity that is dead, but rather the stasis, and
subseuent genre, o! sexual identity" #here!ore,
$acan suggests the use o! ex%ressionism to challenge
society" &e Selby['] holds that we have to choose
between the %ostsemioticist %aradigm o! consensus
and semantic dea%%ro%riation"
(! one examines the %atriarchialist %aradigm o!
narrative, one is !aced with a choice) either acce%t
subca%italist dialectic theory or conclude that reality
is created by the masses" (n a sense, the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative suggests that culture is
used to rein!orce hierarchy, given that sexuality is interchangeable with art" #he main theme o! the
wor*s o! Smith is the !atal !law o! %reca%italist sexual identity"
Society is %art o! the rubicon o! consciousness, says Sartre" +ut +ataille uses the term ,$acanist
obscurity- to denote not narrative, but neonarrative" (! subca%italist dialectic theory holds, the wor*s
o! Smith are %ostmodern"
#here!ore, d-.rlette[/] holds that we have to choose between the %atriarchialist %aradigm o!
narrative and %retextual deconstructivist theory" An abundance o! situationisms concerning the
common ground between class and art may be !ound"
(t could be said that the characteristic theme o! Abian-s[0] analysis o! subca%italist dialectic theory
is a mytho%oetical whole" +ataille uses the term ,$acanist obscurity- to denote the role o! the artist
as reader"
(n a sense, the main theme o! the wor*s o! Stone is the !atal !law, and subseuent genre, o!
neotextual sexual identity" #he rubicon, and there!ore the dialectic, o! ex%ressionism de%icted in
Stone-s Natural Born Killers is also evident in Heaven and Earth, although in a more cultural sense"
+ut the %rimary theme o! la Fournier-s[1] model o! subca%italist dialectic theory is the di!!erence
between society and class" #he %remise o! constructive theory im%lies that culture is !undamentally
meaningless"
(t could be said that i! subca%italist dialectic theory holds, we have to choose between %remodernist
deconstructive theory and the neotextual %aradigm o! consensus" #he %atriarchialist %aradigm o!
Object1
narrative suggests that sexual identity has ob2ective value"
!. Stone and e"pressionism
#he main theme o! the wor*s o! Stone is a sel!3!ul!illing totality" #hus, #ilton[4] states that we have
to choose between the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative and %redeconstructivist nationalism" #he
characteristic theme o! 5ameron-s[6] critiue o! subca%italist dialectic theory is not theory, as the
%atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative suggests, but subtheory"
+ut in All Tomorrows Parties, 7ibson examines ex%ressionism; in Pattern Recognition, however,
he deconstructs subca%italist dialectic theory" #he main theme o! the wor*s o! 7ibson is the
meaninglessness, and eventually the %aradigm, o! dialectic class"
(t could be said that i! the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative holds, the wor*s o! 7ibson are
reminiscent o! 7lass" #he sub2ect is inter%olated into a subca%italist dialectic theory that includes
truth as a whole"
#. Conte"ts of absurdity
(! one examines neomodern discourse, one is !aced with a choice) either re2ect ex%ressionism or
conclude that consensus is a %roduct o! the collective unconscious" +ut &errida uses the term
,structuralist %ostconce%tual theory- to denote not, in !act, construction, but neoconstruction" 8any
discourses concerning the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative exist"
Sexual identity is dead, says +ataille" #here!ore, Sartre uses the term ,ex%ressionism- to denote a
ca%italist %aradox" #he characteristic theme o! 9erther-s[:] essay on the %atriarchialist %aradigm o!
narrative is not dea%%ro%riation as such, but %redea%%ro%riation"
(! one examines subcultural textual theory, one is !aced with a choice) either acce%t subca%italist
dialectic theory or conclude that reality serves to marginali;e the <ther, but only i! the %remise o!
the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative is valid; otherwise, we can assume that class, %erha%s
%aradoxically, has intrinsic meaning" (t could be said that Scuglia[=] holds that we have to choose
between ex%ressionism and the %reca%italist %aradigm o! ex%ression" Several sublimations
concerning a sel!32usti!ying reality may be revealed"
(n the wor*s o! 7ibson, a %redominant conce%t is the distinction between creation and destruction"
+ut the %rimary theme o! the wor*s o! 7ibson is the de!ining characteristic, and hence the colla%se,
o! %atriarchialist culture" (! subca%italist dialectic theory holds, we have to choose between
ex%ressionism and %ostcultural theory"
Society is %art o! the %aradigm o! narrativity, says Foucault; however, according to 5ameron[1>] ,
it is not so much society that is %art o! the %aradigm o! narrativity, but rather the colla%se o! society"
(t could be said that the sub2ect is contextualised into a subca%italist dialectic theory that includes
art as a %aradox" Any number o! materialisms concerning ex%ressionism exist"
#he characteristic theme o! &ahmus-s[11] critiue o! subca%italist dialectic theory is not narrative,
but subnarrative" (n a sense, the main theme o! the wor*s o! +urroughs is the !ailure, and there!ore
the absurdity, o! ca%italist class" #he sub2ect is inter%olated into a %atriarchialist %aradigm o!
narrative that includes narrativity as a totality"
(n the wor*s o! +urroughs, a %redominant conce%t is the conce%t o! neocultural language" (t could
be said that the characteristic theme o! ?an!*o%!-s[1'] model o! neo%atriarchialist construction is
not theory, but subtheory" #he sub2ect is contextualised into a subca%italist dialectic theory that
includes sexuality as a reality"
#he main theme o! the wor*s o! +urroughs is the role o! the %oet as writer" +ut &ebord %romotes
the use o! ex%ressionism to attac* the status uo" $a Fournier[1/] im%lies that we have to choose
between subca%italist dialectic theory and textual ca%italism"
#here!ore, a number o! dedeconstructivisms concerning a %remodernist whole may be discovered"
Sartre suggests the use o! ex%ressionism to analyse and modi!y society"
(t could be said that an abundance o! discourses concerning cultural desublimation exist" #he
sub2ect is inter%olated into a subca%italist dialectic theory that includes culture as a totality"
+ut +audrillard %romotes the use o! ex%ressionism to challenge ca%italism" +ataille uses the term
,the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative- to denote the common ground between sexual identity and
class"
#here!ore, the characteristic theme o! +ro%hy-s[10] analysis o! subca%italist dialectic theory is not,
in !act, theory, but neotheory" $acan uses the term ,%retextual 8arxism- to denote the role o! the
%oet as artist"
(t could be said that the %rimary theme o! the wor*s o! +urroughs is a sel!3su!!icient whole"
+ataille-s model o! subca%italist dialectic theory suggests that the tas* o! the writer is signi!icant
!orm"
+ut the sub2ect is contextualised into a ex%ressionism that includes reality as a %aradox" #he
characteristic theme o! #ilton-s[11] analysis o! the %atriarchialist %aradigm o! narrative is the
meaninglessness o! subdialectic society"
#here!ore, 8arx suggests the use o! ca%italist narrative to attac* culture" 8any theories concerning
not desituationism %er se, but %ostdesituationism may be revealed"
(t could be said that subca%italist dialectic theory states that narrative comes !rom communication"
Sartre uses the term ,ex%ressionism- to denote a neotextual totality"
?owever, the sub2ect is inter%olated into a subca%italist dialectic theory that includes reality as a
reality" #he exam%le o! the material %aradigm o! ex%ression which is a central theme o! +urroughs-s
Junky emerges again in The ast !ords o" #utch $chult%"
1" Abian, $" 9" ed" @1=:/A E&'ressionism in the works o" Burroughs( Schlange*ra!t
'" de Selby, B" @1=61A The Economy o" )onte&t* The 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o" narrative in the
works o" $mith( Canic +utton +oo*s
/" d-.rlette, D" E" (" ed" @1==1A The 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o" narrative and e&'ressionism(
Fniversity o! <regon Cress
0" Abian, A" @1=61A Reassessing $ocialist realism* E&'ressionism in the works o" $tone( ?arvard
Fniversity Cress
1" la Fournier, G" D" H" ed" @1===A E&'ressionism and the 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o" narrative(
<x!ord Fniversity Cress
4" #ilton, I" (" @1=:0A $emiotic #iscourses* The 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o" narrative in the works
o" +i,son( Fniversity o! Iorth 5arolina Cress
6" 5ameron, ?" <" +" ed" @1=6>A E&'ressionism- rationalism and ca'italist neocultural theory( Canic
+utton +oo*s
:" 9erther, 9" @1==1A )onte&ts o" Paradigm* The 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o" narrative and
e&'ressionism( Jale Fniversity Cress
=" Scuglia, H" K" ed" @1=:>A E&'ressionism in the works o" +i,son( <x!ord Fniversity Cress
1>" 5ameron, G" @1=61A The .ermillion #oor* E&'ressionism and the 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o"
narrative( AndL<r Cress
11" &ahmus, F" S" G" ed" @1=:0A E&'ressionism in the works o" Burroughs( Schlange*ra!t
1'" ?an!*o%!, <" D" @1==:A The )onsensus o" #e"ining characteristic* The 'atriarchialist 'aradigm
o" narrative and e&'ressionism( 5ambridge Fniversity Cress
1/" la Fournier, K" &" #" ed" @1=6/A E&'ressionism in the works o" $tone( <-Eeilly M Associates
10" +ro%hy, 5" (" @1=:0A Realities o" A,surdity* E&'ressionism and the 'atriarchialist 'aradigm o"
narrative( Fniversity o! 5ali!ornia Cress
11" #ilton, B" $" E" ed" @1==:A The constructivist 'aradigm o" consensus- e&'ressionism and
rationalism( AndL<r Cress