Modern Language Association

Pynchon's Postmodern Sublime

Author(s): Marc W. Redfield
Source: PMLA, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Mar., 1989), pp. 152-162
Published by: Modern Language Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/462501
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 MARC W. REDFIELD

Sublime
Postmodern
Pynchon's

R ECENTLY THE DEBATE surrounding sublime,withinthe Romantictradition,always

thedefinition of "postmodern"culturehas closes witha consolation,and thattraditionin-
occasioned remarkably enthusiastic formsboththetoneand thestructure of Jameson's
appealstotheeighteenth-century aesthetic
category concludingremarkson thepostmodernsublime:
of thesublime.As a vehicleof culturalcritique,the
sublimehas usuallyremainedtheproperty of schol- . something elsedoestendtoemergeinthemostener-
arswhointerpret modernity as a late,ifnotbelated, geticpostmodern texts,and itis thesensethatbeyondall
versionof Romanticism(see, e.g., Weiskel,esp. thematics or contenttheworkseemssomehowto tapthe
3-12). Theoristsof thepostmodern,however, oc- networksof reproductive processand thereby to afford
cupiedbysemioticconcerns,haveoftenbypassed us some glimpse intoa post-modern or technological sub-
lime. . . I wantto suggestthatour faultyrepresenta-
thequestionsof interiority, empowerment, and af-
tionsof someimmensecommunicational and computer
fectthata notionlikethesublimecustomarily ad- networkare themselvesbut a distortedfigurationof
dresses.But at least one recentessayhas setitself somethingevendeeper,namelythewholeworldsystem
theambitiousprojectof theorizinga moreor less of present-day multinational capitalism.. . . It is there-
specificallypostmodernsublime.In an influential foreintermsof thatenormousand threatening, yetonly
study,FredricJamesoninvokesthe "fashionable dimlyperceivable,otherrealityof economicand social
current themeofthe'sublime"'to recoverforanal- institutionsthatin myopinionthepostmodernsublime
ysisan experience structurally compatiblewiththat can alone be adequatelytheorized. (79, 80)
recordedbyBurkeor Kantbutfundamentally con-
ditionedbythehistoricaleventof postmodernity. ' That thephenomenaspurring thissublimeshould
On theone hand,Jamesonsuggests,the"derealiz- derivefromeconomicrelationsratherthanfrom
ing" effectof postmodernrepresentations-their "Nature" or the mind itself is unexceptional
abilityto make the worldthreatento "become a enough. But the heightenedtone and totalizing
glossyskin,a stereoscopic illusion,a rushof filmic energy of Jameson's closingcadencesworktotrans-
imageswithoutdensity"(77)-seems to promisea forma conclusionintoa revelation.The economy
blendof terrorand exhilaration thatclassicalaes- of the Romantic sublime typicallyconsists in
thetictheoryis well equipped to explain.On the sacrificing perceptionin orderto producea super-
otherhand, theeuphoriathissublimeexperience sensorytruthstructuredlike a perception;and
producesis qualitativelydifferent fromKant's or Jameson'sprogressionfromthe chaos of those
Burke'spleasurablepain: in thedecenteredworld "networks ofreproductive processes"tothe"whole
of thepostmodern,"thereis no longera self . worldsystem,"and thento the"dimlyperceivable
to do thefeeling,"and affectitselfbecomes"free- otherreality"of a socioeconomictotality, bears
floatingand impersonal"(64). morethanaccidentalresemblance to Wordsworth's
In thisessay I take Jameson'ssuggestionseri- loss ofthe"lightof sense"withintheluminosity of
ously and testit at lengthagainstthe oeuvreof "a flashthathas revealed/ The invisibleworld"
ThomasPynchon:an authorwhosecitationinsuch (Prelude6.600-01).A sketchy oedipal dramarein-
a contextprobablyneedslittlejustification.Jame- forcesthisprogression: energetic postmodern texts
son's suggestion,however,would benefitfrom arefirstsaid to give"us" a "glimpse"intothesub-
closerexamination.It raisesproblemsthathisown lime;thena subsequentmovementintrojectsand
explanationsleave unexplored,in part because appropriatestheenergyof thosetexts:it is "our"
Jamesonhas littletimeto spare forthe complex faultyrepresentations thatprovidethosedistorted
topicof thesublime.But I wantto recallhisargu- but ultimately truthful figurations. I examinethe
mentin a littlemoredetail,sinceon a nonthematic logicof thesublimein greaterdetaillater,butper-
levelhistextcan delivera dramaticsenseofthesub- haps theseintroductory commentscan suggestthe
lime'scomplexities, insofaras itrepeatstherhetor- tenacityand the general trajectoryof sublime
ical patternsof theverydiscourseitexamines.The figures ofrecuperation, as wellas thecomplexity of

152

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 Marc W Redfield
articulatingsuch figureswitha notionof imper-
sonal or "free-floating"affect.Jamesonis not
unawareof theseproblems.He takescare,forin-
stance,to remarkthat what we "glimpse" is a
mystification-atechnologicalsublimethat,as a
figureforcapital,requiresinterpretation. But his
perceptualmetaphorsare of a piecewiththelogic
of his essayas a whole: the finaltransparency of
capital'sfalsesignsenablesthesubject,ortheques-
tion of the subject,to meet capital's truth.Ap-
propriately hislastsentenceimpliesthatcapitalism
shouldbe somehowvisible,henceintuitable, as an
industrialistor a slummightbe.2
To discovertruthinthesublimeis to readthesub-
limesublimely, and itis convenient formypurposes
that Jameson's style and methodologygrant
genuinelysublimeurgencyto that hermeneutic
impasse.But thetwistin suchscenariosis thatthe
constitutionor recuperationof selfhoodis also
never,uniquelyor exhaustively, the self'sprivate
problem.Jameson'shighlypersonalizedstyleis
reaffirmedhere within a structureimpersonal
enoughto be animatedby sheerlyfigurative enti-
ties:one could, forinstance,constructa scenario
inwhichthesublimewouldlaborto domesticate the
postmodernconditionthatinspiredit. Jameson,
typicallyenough,grantsthatveryscenarioconsid-
erablerelevanceand pathos-thoughagainonlyby
implication.Vagueintuitions of "theendofthisor
that" marktheadventof thepostmodern,he an-
nouncesin his openingparagraph:"The enumer-
ation of what follows then at once becomes
empirical,chaotic,and heterogenous," and herehe
enumerates a thrillinglychaoticlistof postmodern
phenomena,a list that "mightbe extendedin-
definitely"(54). If thinking aboutthepostmodern
landedus rightawayinthesublimeand ifthinking
about the sublimeofferedone wayto repeatand
controlthatpredicament, thenwewouldbe ina po-
sitionto understand whycriticsof thepostmodern
mightbe interested in thesublime-wereitnotfor
an additionaltwist:itwouldbe partoftheproblem,
and rathernaiveas well,to imaginethattheterms
sublimeandpostmodernreferto entitiesor events
ontologicallystableenoughto supportsucha nar-
rative.The difficulty ofproducing"theory,"under
such conditions,lodges in theact of theorization
itself.
In Pynchon'sfictionthisclusterof problems-
theimperatives and limitsoftotalization, thecom-
mercebetweensubjectivity and impersonality, the
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153
economy of the sublime withina postmodern
condition-findsexpression on dramatic, thematic,
and rhetorical And in additionto period-
registers.
icallybringingimaginative forceto thesequestions,
Pynchon'sworklends itselfto criticalnarrative,
sinceitprovidesat leasttheillusionof progressive
complexity,from the short stories to V and
Gravity's Rainbow.Gravity's Rainbowseemsa log-
icalplaceto discovera postmodern sublime;butbe-
cause my focus of interestis the sublime's
dramatization of relationsbetweenauthorand text
or,moregenerally, betweennarrativeand discon-
tinuity,I devotemostof thisessayto stringing to-
getherpassagesfromPynchorn's lessovertly
earlier,
apocalypticfictions.
More than once, Pynchon'sshortstoriesalign
important narrativeorthematicarticulationswith
perceptualcrisessuffered bythemaincharacters.
In "The Small Rain," theprotagonist experiences
hisjourneyintoa macabrewastelandin termsset
by,or at leastsetoffby,the"peculiaratmospheric
effectof graysun on grayswamp,thewaytheair
felt and smelled" (Slow 47).3 In "Low-lands,"
DennisFlangereflectsat greaterlengthon a simi-
larreductionor potentialcollapseof differences
in
hisfieldof vision.Enteringa literalwasteland-a
citydump-he recallsanother,the"grayand glau-
cous desert"ofthesea, on which(whenin "a mood
conducive to metaphor") he has always been
temptedto tryto walk:
Anyone whohaslookedattheopensea undera special
kindof illumination or in a moodconducive to meta-
phorwilltellyouofthecuriousillusion thattheocean,
despiteitsmovement, hasa certain itbecomes
solidity;
a grayorglaucousdesert, a wastelandwhichstretches
awayto thehorizon.... [FlorFlangethatimmense
clouded-glass plainwasa kindoflow-land whichalmost
demanded a singlehumanfigure stridingacrossit for
completeness; anyarrival at sea levelwaslikefinding a
minimum anddimensionless point,a uniquecrossing of
parallelandmeridian, an assurance ofperfect,passion-
lessuniformity. . . . (Slow65-66)
That visionpromptsthefleeting recallof Flange's
shrewishwifeand an internalizingturn:"Whenever
he was awayfromCindyand couldthinkhe would
picturehislifeas a surfaceintheprocessof change,
154
Pynchon'sPostmodern
muchas the floorof the dumpwas in transition:
fromconcavityor inclosureto perhapsa flatness
liketheone he stoodon now."A fantasy ofexposed
vulnerability follows:"Whathe worriedaboutwas
anyeventualconvexity . . . so thathe wouldbe left
sticking outlikea projectedradius,unsheltered and
reeling"(66).
Pynchonis notreadon thestrength ofthesesto-
ries,butthispassageis a good earlyexampleof his
abilityto bindlibidinalenergy totheprojection and
dissolutionof spatialconfigurations. He generates
thatenergyin the mode of the "sublime,"in the
specificsense that the termobtains in Thomas
Weiskel'sanalysesofthe"negative"Romanticsub-
limeand in Neil Hertz'scharacterizations of sub-
lime"end-of-the-line" scenarios.A seductive,but
dangerous,dreamof power-walkingon water-
turnsalmostimmediately intosomething morelike
a hermeneutic Thoughthelowlandini-
difficulty.
tiallydemandsa humanfigurefor"completeness,"
itrapidlybecomesdenaturalized intoa "dimension-
less point," "an assuranceof perfect,passionless
uniformity." Neithera two-dimensional plainnor
the one-dimensional lineof a horizon would satisfy
thisdescription: thetext'slanguagehereis working
to resistvisualization,callingattentionto itsown
activitythroughassonanceand alliteration("per-
fect,passionless").Thatdensemomentthenyields
to intrasubjective drama,thelowlandsuggesting it-
selfas a figurefortheself("he wouldpicturehislife
as a surface"),and a moreviolentscenariofinally
refigures that"surface"as a threatened, "projected
radius."
Weiskelwouldhaveno troublerepresenting this
movementas the superimpositionof "the sec-
ondaryoedipal system"ontotheless focusedpre-
oedipalanxietiesheassociateswiththehermeneutic
or mathematical sublime(106).And intheseterms,
it mightbe noted,thispassage and the Jameson
paragraphswe consideredearlierare structurally
parallel.Bothmovefroma threatening diffusion of
signstowarda morestructured conflict,whichena-
bles a selfto propitselfup, so to speak,on itsown
anxiety, readingtheconfirmation of itsexistencein
theimageof itsthreateneddestruction.
Pynchon'snarrativecan bear closer reading,
though,and heretheworkof Neil Hertz-whose
rendering of Weiskel'sthoughtI havemoreor less
reproducedabove (Hertz49-53)-provides an in-
structiveset of signpostsforreadersinterested in
understanding the salienceof preoedipalanxiety
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Sublime
in such affectiveeconomies. In an end-of-the-
line scenario, a subject, threatenedby near-
indistinguishable differences,
empowers itself,orat
leastholdsontothepossibility ofitsowncoherence,
byinvokinga difference thatappearsminimalbut
ontologicallysound; sometimes,in addition,the
subjectturnsout of its attenuatedconditionby
scapegoatinga maternalfigure.The explanation
derivesfromJuliaKristeva's metapsychological in-
vestigations intotheoriginsof infantile
narcissism.
Not yetan "ego," theinfantmust"abject" whatis
notyetan "object"-the mother-togainthepos-
sibilityof acquiringlanguageand accedingto sub-
jectivity;itdoes thisby"identifying" withthegap,
thevide,betweenitselfand themother, whichalso
functions, forKristeva,as thegap betweensignifier
and signifiedthatmakeslanguagepossible.This
theoryappealsto Hertzbecauseofits"emphasison
therudimentary natureof both 'subject'and 'ob-
ject' in narcissistic
configurations" and in its "ac-
count of the vicissitudesof thisnonobject,"the
mother:
Weshouldnotice theequivocation
inherent
inthegesture
Kristeva
describes:thecastingoutof the"abject,"of
"thatwhichcouldhavebeena chaos"wouldseemtobe
themagical
complement ofthatidentification
witha gap,
withresidualdifference,
thatshetakesas enabling.
To
withthatgap,tolinkone'snarcissism
identify tothevide,
is,inKristeva's
account,to acknowledgedifference
by
defusing
itoftheterrorsofprimalseparation,byseem-
ingtochooseseparation,
as ifonemight
endorse "thear-
bitrary
natureofthesign." (Hertz232)4
I am settingout thismaterialin some detailbe-
cause I am specificallyconcernedwiththestatus
and gesturesof rudimentary subjectsand because
thedriftofKristeva's theoryservesto makeHertz's
moreresponsiveto Pynchon'stext.The end of the
lineis a momentpredicatedon a minimal,butlegi-
ble and consoling,difference-on"doubleness";
Flange'sdrama,incontrast, exploitssomething em-
phatically "a minimum
singular, and dimensionless
point," "the dead center,thesinglepoint" (Slow
66). One mighthave expectedhis musings,like
thoseof theprotagonistin "The Small Rain," to
turnon thenearindistinguishability of skyand wa-
ter,whereasthatis exactlythesortof naturalim-
agerythispassage leavesbehind,focusinginstead
on a less visualizablefantasyof a zero point-a
fantasy thatoccursrepeatedlyinPynchon'sfiction.
 Marc W Redfield
Butnarcissistic configurations achievevariouspos-
tures.One moretime,considerthemovement ofthe
passage. It beginsby drawingattentionnot just
to a perceptualillusion,a trickof the eye,but to
linguisticfiguration:'Anyonewho has looked at
the open sea . . . in a mood conduciveto meta-
phor willtellyou of the curiousillusionthatthe
ocean, despiteitsmovement, has a certainsolidity.
. " Thisis,of course,a dangerousillusion;but
as wehavenoted,thepassagerapidlylosesinterest
in providingphenomenalreferents, and itsanxiety
aboutdrowning or affronting a deityfinallymakes
sense only insofaras these worriesfunctionas
figuresforthepitfallsof figurative language.Call-
ingtheocean a "glaucous desert"or a "clouded-
glass plain" thus spurs the production of a
hypothetical literalunit,"a minimumand dimen-
sionless point," whichwould be somethinglike
difference "itself";and becausethat(non)unit,the
secondhalfof a simile,could notbe morefigura-
tive,thetextturnson Flange'swife,Cindy,before
itsettlesintothetermsofoedipalmelodrama.I am,
in otherwords,suggestingthat we thinkof this
minimumand dimensionlesspointas something
likeKristeva'svide.The burdenof thepassageis to
identifyin some sense withthat vide,to seemto
"endorse,"as Hertzputsit,theungrounded figura-
tivenessof language-an unending,potentially
chaotic figurativeness that only an "abject" can
bear away.("Wheneverhe was away fromCindy
and could think,he wouldpicturehislife.. . . ")
Pynchonis wellawareof theseductiveness and
potentialviolence of dramas of differential col-
lapse.Visionsof uniformity translate intothematic
termsin hismuchanthologizedstory"Entropy,"a
textthatlaboriouslyand self-consciously associates
semioticchaos witha reductionto zero and then
uses thatconjunctionas theoccasion foran apoc-
alypse.Whilea neighbor's partydownstairs teststhe
limitsof communication theory,Callisto,an early
versionof Stencilin V, dictatesthird-person auto-
biographicalruminations abouta "tendencyfrom
theleastto themostprobable,fromdifferentiation
to sameness,fromorderedindividuality to a kind
of chaos." The "adequate metaphor"of entropy,
as Callistocalls it,figuresthethreatof "a random
factorwhichpushedtheodds to someunutterable
and indeterminate ratio whichhe foundhimself
afraidto calculate" (Slow 88). This storypresents
forthefirsttimea versionof theepistemological
difficultythatPynchon'stextshavebecomefamous
fordramatizing, whichis in essencea difficulty of
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155
reading:a confrontation-likeOedipa Maas's or
TyroneSlothrop's,forinstance-withthepotential
illegibilityof overdeterminedsigns. At certain
chargedmoments,the thematizationof thisher-
meneuticimpassewilllend itselfto beingfigured
as a thematizationof thesublime.
One such momentoccurs at the end of "En-
Aubade,breaks
tropy."WhenCallisto'sgirlfriend,
the windowof theirhothouse apartment,ther-
modynamicequilibrium loomswithfugalsonority
and muchi-assonance:
Suddenly then,as ifseeingthesingleandunavoidable
tothewindow
swiftly be-
conclusion toallthisshemoved
foreCallistocouldspeak;toreawaythedrapesand
smashedouttheglasswithtwoexquisite handswhich
cameawaybleeding andglisteningwithsplinters;
and
turnedtofacethemanonthebedandwaitwithhimun-
tilthemoment of equilibriumwas reached,when37
degreesFarenheit shouldprevailbothoutsideandinside,
andforever, andthehovering, curiousdominant oftheir
separatelivesshouldresolveintoa tonicofdarknessand
thefinalabsenceofall motion. (Slow98)
The greatformalcarePynchonbringsto highlylu-
rid scenariosis worthnoting:such passages are
repeatingthematicimperatives on thelevelof style.
If Pynchon'scharacters, notto mentionhisreaders,
oftenfinditimpossibleto distinguish betweenover-
determination and randomness, thepatterned and
the patternless,the intendedand the accidental,
thenitfollowsthatat no pointshouldlanguagebe
morepainstakingly honedthanwhenit is used to
invoketheproximity of semioticchaos. In thepref-
ace Pynchonwroteforhisshort-story collectionin
1985,he commentedwithengagingseverity on the
"undergraduate mood" thisstoryserves(Slow 12);
buta certaininterrogation ofthatmood,ofitscosts
and consequences, is legibleinthemutualreinforce-
mentof thematic, dramatic,and stylistic elements.
Whatis beingmountedforinspection is thepathos
attendanton ambivalentsubjectiveagency.This
ambivalence takesdramaticformas Aubade'sblow,
which,bywayof affirming theinevitable, blursthe
differencebetween inevitabilityand choice.
Entropy-likethearbitrariness of thesign-would
not be a conditionone could, strictlyspeaking,
choose; and Aubade'smutilationsuggestsitselfas
a figureforthecostsof Wagnerianpathos.We are
nowina positiontounderstand whysuchapocalyp-
tic closuremightdistribute violencealong gender
lines,whileall otherdifferences fade.
156
Pynchon'sPostmodern
II
In "Entropy" the focus shiftsfromminimal
differences-or "difference"itself-ina character's
visualfieldto theremovalof thatscenariofroma
simplemimetic registerand itsencodingas a theme.
What had, in "Low-lands," been imaginedas a
character'sinternaldramais hereavailableas lan-
guage fornarrativeclosure("the finalabsenceof
all motion").The dramaticactionis manifestly fic-
tionalor figurative to thedegreethatit literalizes
the "adequate metaphorof entropy."Such em-
phaticfictionalitydoes notprevent affective invest-
ments, but it disturbs any simple model of
and Pynchon'ssubsequenttextsfur-
identification,
therinterrogate thatdisturbance.
I turnnow to Pynchon'sfirstnovel,V; though
I wantto recallbrieflysomeofitsthematic and nar-
rativecharacteristics,myobject is a passage that
closesthetext'sthirdchapter-a salientchapteron
severalcounts,givenPynchon'scareerto date.As
a reworkedversionof "Under the Rose," a story
publisheda year beforethe novel,it providesa
unique instanceof public or exposed revisionin
Pynchon'soeuvre.5Arguablyit also represents his
most schematicmetafictionalexperiment.The
chapter,whichdividesintoeightepisodesof vary-
is ventriloquized
inglegibility, byHerbertStencil,
theparodicauthorsurrogate whosequestforV. or-
ganizesthetext'smoreor lesspostmodernevacua-
tionofthecategoriesofidentity, signification, and
desire.An exemplarytwentieth-century narrator
("thecentury's child"[42]),healwaysrefers to him-
selfinthethirdperson,because"thishelped'Sten-
cil' appear as only one among a repertoireof
identities"(51). But though "Stencil" names a
parodyofprojectionand identification, a strangely
pathetic,almostpeevishremarkimmediately fol-
lowsthisburlesquemiseen abymeof theself:the
searchforV., we are told,demands"forcibledis-
locationof personality"intoa pastStencil"didn't
rememberand had no rightin, save the rightof
imaginativeanxietyor historicalcare, which is
recognizedbyno one" (51). The possibilityof sub-
stitutingPynchon'sname for a character'san-
nouncesitselfherewithatypicalinsistence; itis the
playof investments impliedbythismomentary lit-
tle quaverthatI wantto explore.
The chapter, and thenovelas a whole,thematizes
visionand "revision"inwaysthatwoulddiscourage
theuse of "UndertheRose" as a narrative guideto
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Sublime
Stencil'sconsiderablyless coherent"impersona-
tions."His subjectivity is notto be understoodas
simplydistorting objectivedata; thenovelgoes to
somelengthto disqualifybothtermsofthatoppo-
sition.His identityis supposedto consistin a pure
narrative or interrogative drivethatretellstalesby
impersonating voices("he wasquitepurelyHe Who
Looks forV. [and whateverimpersonations that
mightinvolve]"[210]),withthe charactercalled
"Stencil"beingin no wayprivileged butonly"one
amonga repertoire of identities."Thus itbecomes
difficultto tellwhenStencilstopsor startsnarrat-
ing,eventhoughwhatheretells undergoes"consid-
erablechange"inbeing"Stencilized"(211).As his
nameimplies,he figurestheembodimentof figu-
ration;thespatialandtemporalaxesofhisquestare
on one levelno morethan metaphorsfornarra-
tive.6This deconstructive allegoryinterestsus be-
cause thethirdchapterextendstheplayof Stencil
and narrator"outward" to include author and
reader.Stencilis "stencilizing"a coherent,omnis-
cientlynarratedshort storybearing Pynchon's
name, "rereading"and "rewriting" materialthat
Pynchon is visibly-publicly-reworking.The
reader,meanwhile, inthewordsof one critic,"tears
at thesurfaceof theseepisodes" (Schaub 79); the
chapteris oftencitedas exemplifying thewayPyn-
chon'stextsbothdemandand deferinterpretation,
thusmakinginterpreters feellikeStencil(forsimi-
lar observationssee Slade 55-59, Cowart65-74,
and Tanner153-80).An unstable,repeating pattern
of potentialsubstitutions attainsstrikingfocusand
elaboration.
The chapter'seight episodes-Stencil's eight
"impersonations"of characterswho mightor
mightnothavecaughta glimpseof V. in Egyptin
1899-degeneratemoreor less steadilyin theirin-
terrogativecapacity.Sevenoutofeightarenarrated
aroundtheconsciousnessesof namedcharacters,
mostof themservants("featuresof thetopogra-
phy,""automata" within"the Baedeckerworld"
[59]) whohavea marginalrelationto an espionage
drama that mighthave involvedV. and who ex-
periencethisplot as an intrusiveand not entirely
legibleoccurrence, a plotimportedbytourists. The
thematicand rhetoricalrecurrence of one of the
novel'scentralpreoccupations-reification-lends
a degreeof unityto theseperceptualfragments, as
does the increasingdisfigurement of the (sun-
burned)faceof theprincipalspy,Porpentine.The
chapter'stropologicalfield becomes organized
 Marc W Redfield 157

ofthereadingsubjectandthe
aroundthereification fromhisbox to wrestlewiththemanwiththeblue
progressive
defacementofthetext.Thispatterncul- spectacles:
minatesin thechapter'seighthand finalepisode,
whichis narratedfromthepointof viewof an im- The manwiththewhite-blotched faceremoves theblue
personal"vantage": spectacles;snaps themin two and drops themon the
floor.The othershutshis eyestightly, triesto turnhis
Thecorridor runsbythecurtained entrancesto four head awayfromthelight.
boxes,locatedto audiencerightat thetoplevelof the Anotherhas beenstandingat theendof thecorridor.
summer theatre inEzbekiyeh Garden. Fromthisvantagehe appearsonlyas a shadow;thewin-
A manwearing bluespectacles
hurriesintothesecond dowis behindhim.The manwhoremovedthespectacles
boxfrom thestageendofthecorridor. Theredcurtains, nowcrouches,forcing theprostrate one'sheadtowardthe
heavyvelvet,swing toandfro,unsynchronized, afterhis light.The man at theend of thecorridormakesa small
passage.Theoscillationsoondampsoutbecauseofthe gesturewithhisrighthand.Thecrouching manlooksthat
weight.Theyhangstill.Tenminutes pass. wayand halfrises.A flameappears in the area of the
Twomenturnthecornerbytheallegorical statueof other'srighthand; anotherflame;another.The flames
Tragedy.Theirfeetcrushunicorns andpeacocksthatre- are coloreda brighterorangethanthesun.
peatdiamond-fashion theentirelengthofthecarpet.The Vision mustbe the last to go. Theremustalso be a
faceofoneishardly tobedistinguished beneathmasses nearlyimperceptiblelinebetweenan eyethatreflects and
of whitetissuewhichhaveobscured thefeatures,and an eyethatreceives.
changed slightlytheoutlines
oftheface.Theotherisfat. The half-crouched body collapses. The face and its
Theyenter theboxnexttotheonethemanwiththeblue massesof whiteskinloom evercloser.At resttheboyis
spectacles
isin.Lightfrom latesummer
outside, lightnow assumedexactlyintothespace of thisvantage.
fallsthrougha singlewindow,turning thestatueandthe (81-82)
figuredcarpetto a monochrome orange.Shadowsbe-
comemoreopaque.The airbetween seemsto thicken
withanindeterminate color,
though itisprobablyorange. Thatimplosionclosesthechapter.If wemap the
Thena girlina flowered dresscomesdownthehalland sceneonto theT-on-its-sidemodelof thesublime
enterstheboxoccupied bythetwomen.Minutes latershe thatHertzproposes,Pynchon'sself-consciousma-
emerges,tearsinhereyesandon herface.Thefatman nipulationof such a structurebecomes evident.
follows.Theypassoutofthefieldofvision. Repeated notationsof perceptualdifficulty(or-
ange, brighterorange)receivereflexivecomment
Let me breakthequotationhereand directatten- as thetextmediateson thedifferencebetweensee-
tionto someofitspeculiarities.Pynchon'shabitual ing and not seeing,a livingeyeand a dead one.
repertoireof stylesincludesnothingremotely akin Translating
Pynchon'stextintothetermsofHertz's
to these"reified"cadences;inthisfeature thestyle "end-of-the-line"diagram(217-39),weobtainthe
is repeatingStencilianself-dislocation,evenas it following:
mimesStencil'simpersonationof impersonality.
Whatevercharacteristic Pynchonprosemaybe, it
is notthis.And thetexthas beenworkingto trans- orange;
formthat observationinto a paradox, aligning reflectingeye
"Pynchon"and "Stencil"withina narrative perfor- [Pynchon/reader]-- --Stencil/vantage -
mance of selfas self-dislocation.Meanwhile,the brighter orange;
troubledlaborof seeingand theteasinghomogeni-
receivingeye
zation of thevisual fieldsuggestthatwe are back
withinthegripofthesublime.Once again,butthis
timewitha self-consciousness properto parody,a "The lureof (this)structure,"Hertzexplains,"is in
perceptualdramafiguresthedisfiguration of lan- itssuggestionthatthetwoaxes,thetwomodesof
guage,as an indefinitely coloredlight("probably difference, are notunrelated."The redoubledob-
orange") turns to "monochrome orange," a ject servesas "an emblemof thetensionsthatjoin
"figured"carpet,and an "allegorical"statue.Lan- and separatetheviewer[or author] . . . outside
guage once moreoutstripsitsmimeticfunctionas theframefromtheirsurrogateswithintheframe,
the scenebuildsto a surrealclose. The "red-and- as wellas fromthe'sceneitself"' (218). Pynchon's
white-faced man,"presumably Porpentine,emerges text,however, parodiesthatlurein itsfinalparaba-

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158 Pynchon'sPostmodern
Sublime
sis,deforming
thetropologyofthesublimebycol-
lapsingthebody intothevantage,and theviewer
intothe frame.
Stencil/vantage
(=0)
[Pynchon/reader]--
---Stencil/vantage
body
The vibratory powerofthoseclosingsentenceshas
partlyto do withthewaytheysolicitbutincapaci-
tatemimeticcorrelatives. The allegoricaldelinea-
tion of characterthat marked the closure of
"Entropy"herebecomesnonhuman,and finally
nonreferential, figuration:onlyifa vantageand a
bodywereimpossiblyidenticalin shape could the
body be "assumed" to fitwithoutresidue.The
theologicalecho enrichesthe paradox of subject
and object,narratorand story,signifier and signi-
fied,meeting"exactly"in a "space" thatis botha
parodyand a chargedrefiguration of thoseearlier
zero pointsin Pynchon'sfiction.7If his imagina-
tionhas fueleditselfon a fantasyof theproximity
of a versionofKristeva's
vide,hereheproducesthat
fantasyas the ironictelos of a decenteredself-
portrait.The clencheddramabetweenrudimentary
agentsor subjectsthatmarksthenarcissistic sce-
narioattainstheatrical reenactment as thepossibil-
ityor conditionof Stencil's"narcissism," which,in
thelogicof thisfiction,is thepossibilityor condi-
tionof fictionitself.
In accountingfortheinsistence of parody,then,
I am notmerelyaccountingfora frame,or a separ-
able voiceor tendency;Pynchonhas "reified"the
sublime,thoughtheconceptof reification has be-
comeinadequatetotheextent thatthetext'sclosure
can no longerbe understoodthroughreference to
a worldof things.The wordparodymaynot best
describethispredicament, butat leastitsuggests the
simultaneously self-conscious and washed-outtex-
tureof thepassage.8It mayseemdifficult to decide
whether or nota selfis genuinelyat stakehere,even
thoughPynchonhas mappedoutthetermsof self-
representation carefullyenoughto investa short
storyin thegame. And the scene is certainlynot
withoutimaginative force,evenviolence-a subject
I returnto below.At thispoint,however, I wantto
examinea littlelongerthe tenorof the passage's
self-consciousness, itsdouble insistenceon flashy
technicalcontroland asceticimpersonality. Pyn-
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chonpunson hiswordforStencil'shermeneutic ac-
tivityand makesthat pun stick:his own powers
underwrite theencrypting of the"impersonal"in
theactivityof "impersonation." And ifthepathos
earliercommandedby thisreductionto zero has
beenelidedor,as Jamesonwouldhaveit,in some
wayemptiedout,weneedto pursuefurther theim-
plicationsof "impersonality."That notion has
sufficientforce in Pynchon'stext to recall its
deploymentin textsby Maurice Blanchot.From
most perspectivesPynchonand Blanchotwould
havelittleincommon,butat thisjuncture
certainly
the relevanceof Blanchot'sthematizationof the
"impersonal"goesbeyonda simplecoincidencein
terminology.
Consider a passage fromL'amitie in which
Blanchot is concerned not-or at least not
immediately-with theterrorof impersonality or
neutrality
butwithwhatseemsliketheopposite:the
"terrorof identification"
(all translations
aremine
unlessotherwiseindicated):
Hereisthepointofdeparture: theprofound,constantter-
rorofbeingidentifiedbyanother withanI thathascome
from another[autruil,therefusal, forfearofadhering
tothisstrange
I, ofanyI; thentherejection
ofallcharac-
ter,theobjectionto all affective
preference....
(241)
and finallya constant, highlyintellectualized
effort
to "se desidentifier." Blanchot,engagedin a po-
lemic against Sartre,is characterizing a text-a
memoirbyan Austrianrefugee-thatwouldbear
comparisonwithV in onlyhighlyschematicways;
yetwithinthose limitationsthe comparisonbe-
comessuggestive. The economyofself-preservation
Blanchotidentifies is similarinitslogicto theones
we havebeen considering:a selfthreatened byits
own radical inauthenticity would pretendto en-
dorseor choose impersonality. The ascesisof the
vantage,thereification of thesublime,wouldthus
emergeas themostdesperateof defenses-butfor
Blanchotthereis moreto thestory.Thoughthein-
tellectualized,self-conscious assumptionof imper-
sonalityis indeed a defense,it is a profoundly
inadequateone, respondingas it does, in a Blan-
chotiannarrative, to an earlierand evenmorerad-
ical loss of self. The choice of impersonality is
inauthenticbecause impersonality cannot be af-
firmed; at thesametime,accordingto Blanchot,in-
authenticityis exactly what is proper to the
impersonal, the"neutre,"whichincessantly speaks
throughliterature.The affirmationconceals a
 Marc W Redfield 159

defensivegesture that,despiteitself,exacerbates the modernnovelist'spaymentforthepowerful, fluid,

approachof theOther. multipleidentifications makingup the kind of
Blanchot's counter-Heideggerian vocabulary bleak,intoxicated"sublime"writingthatpropels
does not encouragepsychologism, but neitherdo V.'s South-WestAfrican scenes or much of
elementsin psychoanalytic inquirieslikeKristeva's, Gravity'sRainbow-for theright,as itwere,to be
and hertheorization of narcissisticdisorderwould a Stencilin good faith.In this highlyfigurative
arguablyremainpertinent here.Describingone of sense,then,Stencilis a portrait
and V's thirdchap-
herexemplary patients(whosesymptoms included teris a signature,
recording theblankagonyof its
a senseof "falseself,"fragmented speech,and an ownachievement. The curiously,evendeliberately
obsessionwiththeplayofthesignifier), Kristeva re- naivehumanismthatguidesPynchon'sevaluation
marksthathe gavethe impression,"afterhaving of his own workin theprefaceto Slow Learneris
livedso muchand talkedso much,of beingempty bestreadas thatsignature's complement, marking
[vide]" ("L'abjet" 27). One mightthinkof such theloss of self-knowledge thatenablesthatsigna-
emptinessas a mourningfor the loss of affect ture'sinscription."'
itself-foran emotionone couldproperly call one's
own. Mourningis inadequate because what one III
mourns,finally, is theloss of theabilityto mourn.9
One shouldnotminimizethecostof accommodat- If,as I haveargued,thesublimeoperatesto con-
ingtheapproachof suchanxiety.Blanchot'snext sole and empowera subjectthreatened withbeing
paragraphin fact,reflects on hisAustrianauthor's decentered, a postmodernsublimewouldimplya
needto escape "le funesteobjetmaternel"'thedis- double gestureof illusionand demystification or,
astrousmaternalobject,' source of all those in- perhapsbetter, a doubleaffirmation of inevitabil-
authenticidentities(242); and of coursea similar ity:theinevitability of bothtotalizingpatternand
flightis written all over V, playedout bothin the its failure.My readingof V proposesitselfas an
narrativeand, lessdirectly,inscenessuchas theone account of such a sublime.The double gesture
wehavebeenexamining. The formalizing drivethat exacerbates notonlythecoercionsofspecularstruc-
we havetracedthroughPynchon'searlyworkhas turesof identification but also the rudimentary
eliminatedmanifestgendercodingfromthethird quality of the scene's participants,forcingthem
chapter'sferociousparodyof closure,apart from pastthepossibilitiesof representational language.
the fleetingappearanceof "a girl"with"tearsin The dynamicsofidentification pursuetheircourse,
hereyesand on her face," a pale avatarof V. in- leavingus toconfront purelylinguisticentities. Pyn-
vokedand rapidlyejectedfromthesceneof male chon'soeuvreperforms thatgesture persistently and
combatthatshemayor maynothaveinspired.Less deliberately, returning repeatedlyto a zero-point
easilydismissed,however, is theV composingand fantasythat growsincreasingly more theatrical,
forestallingthevide-the V posed inor bythevan- moremanifestly figurative,
withoutsacrificing the
tagethatframesand figures, cropsintoreifiedlines libidinalor linguistic energy thattermslikethesub-
of sightand fetishizesthe unnameable,ambiva- limeseekto describe.Whether thatenergy is indeed
lentlysexed,butinsistently feminine objectof quest libidinalor simplylinguisticis anotherwayto for-
"V.," tropedhereas the uncannyapproach of a mulatethequestionthesescenespose. Butin their
defacedface. Whilethatquest is not best under- tenaciousassimilationof thelanguageof subjec-
stoodas a "psychological"problem,itis a signify- tivityto languageabout languagetheysuggestthe
inginsistencethatcarrieslibidinaland ideological impossibility of eitherignoringor resolving sucha
freight.10 question:iflinguistic patterns emergeas irreducible
But howeverdubious V's ethicalcontroloverits to thereferential taskof rendering subjectivity, the
owninterrogation of suchissues,thetext'sgesture illusionofthisreferentiality is nonetheless builtinto
herecan and shouldbe readas somethingconsid- language.The pathosimplicitindiscovering a "de-
erablymorecomplexthana meredefense.Blanchot personalization"of affectin suchscenesis an ap-
is mostvaluableto readersof Pynchonin fostering propriate, as wellas an erroneous, responseto their
an appreciationof whatis beinggained:not self- power.We rejoinJameson'sremarkson thepost-
coherenceso muchas thetransformation of a cer- modern'saffective structurebywayof formulations
tainloss of selfintoa mode of literary power.One thatwouldgiveJamesonlittlepleasurebutthatat
could imaginethattransactionas entailinga post- leasthavethemeritofdescribing thetechnicaloper-

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160 Pynchon'sPostmodern
Sublime

ationsof one novelist'simpersonality. ing," bothnaturalizesthescreamas an effectand

Pynchon'sattention to theexigenciesand exhila- denaturalizestheeffectas a metalepticmetonymy.
rationsof closureis so acutein Gravity'sRainbow Audible only afterit has fallen,the supersonic
that a briefconsiderationof the novel's famous rocketprecedesits screamaccordingto the nar-
openingparagraphs maybe useful,despitethetext's rative'sreferential code but followsit in thetext's
extraordinary complexity and mass. Probablyfew rhetorical organization. The referential code under-
scenesdelivermorepersuasivelyor economically writesthenarrative inversion of cause and effect by
thesenseof a postmodernsublime: assimilating thatinversion to theworldofphenom-
ena: since thisrocketcan only be perceivedas a
A screaming comesacrossthesky.Ithashappened be- scream,thetextwillopen underthesignof a phe-
fore,butthereis nothing to compareitto now. nomenaleffectthatis "too late." Itselfunpresent-
Itistoolate.TheEvacuation stillproceeds, butit'sall able, the rocketas referentmakes presentation
theatre.Therearenolights insidethecars.No lightany- possible.Butthepresenceofthis"screaming" is not
where. Abovehimliftgirders oldas an ironqueen,and onlyrecodedas phenomenalillusion.Since,in its
glasssomewhere farabovethatwouldletthelight ofday
mostrigorousinstantiation, theRocketis aimedat
through. Butit'snight.He's afraidofthewaytheglass
willfall-soon-it willbe a spectacle: thefallofa crys- us, we hear the screaming only whenwearealready
talpalace.Butcomingdownintotalblackout, without dead. The narrative's referentialcode thusbecomes
oneglintoflight,onlygreatinvisible crashing. (3) legibleonlyas figuration thatinsistson itsownmis-
readingas phenomenality. The Rocketbecomesthe
The experienceof overload to whichPynchon's forceproducingfiguration and itserror.Certainly,
readersoftentestifyarises fromthe interference and inevitably, nothing could be moresublimethan
between the propulsivedriftof this narrative such an allegory of the sublime. Pynchondoes not
"Evacuation"-here, the "screaming"dissolving needto freezetheRocket'sfalltheatrically on the
into a threatof fallingglass-and the rhetorical novel'slastpageto confirm thedelusiveness ofthat
difficultiesthat retardor check comprehension. allegory;butin generating thisfinal,magicalspace
The screaming, an apocalypticrendering of earlier of closure, his text, I think,is payingone moretrib-
zeropoints,promisesa transcendence of tropolog- ute to the dense imagery controlling Stencil'smore
ical substitutions ("thereis nothingto compareit modestapocalypse:
to now"),butitis disturbingly sandwichedbetween
competingtemporalmarkers ("It has happenedbe- Thescreen is a dimpagespreadbefore us,whiteand
fore"; "It is too late"). As the difficulty of that silent. ... And inthedarkness andawfulexpanseof
figuralclusteryieldsto narrative, thescreaming at- screen something haskepton,a filmwehavenotlearned
tosee . . . itis nowa closeupoftheface,a faceweall
tainsrepresentation as a problemofperception, and
know-
a minimalsubjectemergesto relaythe fetishistic Anditisjusthere,justat thisdarkandsilentframe,
anxietiesthatproblemspurs:glassinthedarkmay thatthepointed tipoftheRocket, fallingnearlya mile
fall-a menaceof double invisibility, yeta narrat- persecond, absolutely andforever without sound,reaches
ablemenacenonetheless. Wemightqualifythissub- itslastunmeasurable gapabovetheroofofthisoldthe-
limescenarioas affectively postmodern on thebasis atre,thelastdelta-t. (760)
ofthetext'shyperbolic mobility ofperspective. Nar-
rativeitselfbecomesa palpableforceanimating the "Therecan stillbe a silentextinctionbeyondthe
voices and viewpointsit deploys,grantingthose zero,"Pynchon'snovelquotesthrough themedium
briefnaturalizations ofthesourceof itsaffecta de- of a suitablyuntrustworthy character("Italics are
personalizedvacancy. Mr.Pointsman's"[85]).The fictionalspaceopened
If we can say that this postmodernsublime forclosurebythe"lastdelta-t"is an ironicconclud-
presents narrative itselfas itssourceortruth, weare ingtributeto thelinguisticpredicament thatsuch
in factrepeatingin different termsJameson'sdis- zerosdramatizeand evade.And to takethisfiction
coveryofthe"wholeworldsystem"intheheartof seriouslyis to affirmthatthethreatposed bysuch
thesublime.ButthelogicofPynchon'smodeofex- a Rocketis notanyless realforbeing,in a certain
penditure, as wellas thestructure of thistext,sug- sense,imaginary.
gestsa finalqualification. Narrative submitsinturn
to allegorization throughtheV-2Rocket,which,in University ofGeneva
providinga referent forthetext'sinitial"scream- Geneva,Switzerland

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 Marc W Redfield 161

Notes
1In part Jamesonis respondingto Lyotard'scounterhis- Logicallyeverywordin Pynchon'stextwouldshowtheeffects
toricaland explicitlyKantianuse of the "sublime"to qualify of being"Stencilized."No literalquotationmarksframeSten-
the"postmodern." Severalcriticshavebeendrawntoputthesub- cil's narratives;Stencil,who is always(wrongly)"quoting" a
limeintotouchwithnuclear,ifnotspecifically withpostmodern, priornarrativeand who in his quest forV. figurestheproduc-
culture:see Fergusonand, mostrecently, Schwenger. tionof V, thusputsquotationmarksaroundthenovel.Prag-
2 Relateddisturbances afflictJameson'sbrief,idiosyncratic matically, of course,thingsare lessdire.But theidentity of the
accountof thesublime'seighteenth-century geneology. In Kant's text'snarrative voiceis repeatedly ambiguous.See, forinstance,
CritiqueofJudgment, sublimity resultsfromtheimagination's Slade: referring to chapter7, he remarks parentheticallythat"it
failureto delivera representation adequateto reason'sdemand is notevenclearwho recountsthetale,Stencilor thenarrator"
fora totality:painfully butblissfully, themindthenyieldsto the (59), and thoughhe identifies a narrative voiceforchapter14,
recognitionof itsown sovereignty. Naturalobjectstriggerthe considerablegroundsfordoubtremain.A surrealistic section
sublime,butthesublimeitselfexists"onlyin [the]mind"(Kant of chapter9 also posespracticalproblemsofthissort(see Slade
104).The difficulties or evencontradictions afflicting Kant'sar- 65-67).
gumentat thispointneed notconcernus (forone challenging 7 A similarblendof parodyand gravity markstherebuslike
study,see de Man); I only wish to note how oddly Jameson playon zerosin Gravity'sRainbow.One criticclaimsthat"ap-
renderswhatcanonicalcriticsliketo call Kant's"subjectivism" proachesto zeroaremetaphorsthroughout Gravity'sRainbow
(Monk 4). JamesoncontendsthatKant "refined"Burke'sem- forapproachinga destiny"(Friedman74). In a sensemyessay
piricistmodel byaccountingfor"the limitsof figuration and is a gloss on thatsentence.
theincapacity ofthehumanmindto giverepresentations to such 8 Jameson prefersthetermpastiche:"Pasticheis,likeparody,
enormousforces,"as thoughthoseforceshad uncomplicated theimitation ofa peculiarmask,speechina dead language:but
empiricalexistence (77). I wouldsuggestthat,inempiricizing the itis a neutralpracticeof suchmimicry, withoutanyof parody's
Kantiansublime,Jamesonis tempting us to enjoyitspowers:the ulteriormotives.. . . Pasticheis thusblankparody"(65). For
suppressionof Kant's transcendental economy(or "subjecti- a different articulationbetweenparodyand thepostmodern, see
vism") readslikea slightlydisplaced,and overcoded,defense Hutcheon.
againstthepotentialwillfulness of theempirical, Burkeanmodel 9 Or, in Emerson'swords,"I grievethatgriefcan teachme
of thesublimethatJamesonis workingto preserve. nothing"(29).
3 Slow Learnerincludesalmostall Pynchon'searlyfiction: 10For a moresustainedand thematically attentiveexamina-
"The Small Rain," 1959; "Low-lands" and "Entropy,"1960; tionof V's genderpolitics,seeStimpson.PerhapsI shouldstress
"Under the Rose," 1961;and "The SecretIntegration,"1964, thatmyargument doesnotlenditselfreadilytothesortofethical
Pynchon'slast shortstoryto date and theonlyone published judgmentthatwouldconvictor acquit "Thomas Pynchon"of
afterV He chosenottoincludeinthiscollectionone ofhisearli- "being"a "misogynist"; all thosetermsarein question.Yetthe
eststories,"Mortalityand Mercyin Vienna,"publishedinEp- lastthingsuchquestioning impliesis thatconsciousor thematic
och 9 (Spring1959). materialis simply irrelevant. In disqualifying the"psychologi-
4 For Kristeva'sownaccount,see "L'abjetd'amour";see also cal," I am directing attentionto a structure thatis not simply
herPowersof Horror(esp. 32-55). Pynchon'sand also, givenitssemioticdimension,notsimplya
5Pynchon excerpted sectionsfromThe CryingofLot 49 for lawofthemind;suchimpersonality, however, envelopsand ena-
prepublication as "The World(ThisOne),theFlesh(MrsOedipa blesthe"personal,"ratherthanexcludesit.The "sublime"de-
Maas), and the Testamentof PierceInverarity," Esquire Dec. fense against this predicamentconsists in presentingthe
1965,and as "The ShrinkFlips,"CavalierMar.1966,butwithout conscious,ethicalsubjectas the hapless playthingof occult
makinganysubstantialchanges."UndertheRose" is theonly forces.The arguments beingpursuedhere,however, wouldsug-
publishedtexthe reworked intheproductionofanothertext.In gestthatnotionssuchas "will" and "consciousness"needto be
turningthestoryintochapter3 of V, he slightly modifiedthe resituatedand rethought insteadof beingabandonedto an ul-
eventsand utterly transformed thepresentation: theomnisciently timately recuperative dramatization of helplessness.In thiscon-
narratedshortstoryis fragmented intotheperceptions ofcharac- text,Stimpson'sethicalvalorization of Gravity'sRainbowat the
terswho,iftheyappearat all in "UndertheRose," do so as im- expenseof V, whileopen to argumenton itsownterms,is per-
personaland minimalnarrativefunctions(e.g., "the waiter"). fectly plausibleand wouldin factfindconsiderable indirectsup-
Onlyone of theshortstory'sparagraphsreappearsmoreor less portfromourheuristic premisethatPynchon'sworkhas grown
intact(cf. V 54 and "Under the Rose," Slow 106). progressively moreradicalin its self-interrogation.
6 Accordingto the OED, a "stencil"signifies (1) theperfo- 11"It is simplywrongto beginwitha theme,to forcecharac-
ratedsheet,(2) thecoloringmatter, (3) theletteror designthat tersand eventsto conformto it"; "gettoo conceptual,too re-
is produced.A stencilresultsfromstencilbeingbrushedover mote,and yourcharacters die on thepage" (Pynchon,Slow 12,
a stencil.For a conveniently symmetrical Romanticepigram, 13).Such practicaladviceis remarkable foritsalmostironicba-
consider Shelley's account of humanist representation- nalityand itsdistancefromthestylistic and structuralpriorities
representation, thatis,composedas humankind'sreflection on of Pynchon'smaturework,butevenmorecuriousare theaes-
itself:"language,gesture, and theimitative arts,becomeat once theticjudgmentsitat leastpretends to underwrite.Consider,for
therepresentation and themedium,thepenciland thepicture, example,theexplanation Pynchonoffers forregarding hisSatur-
thechiseland thestatue,thechordand theharmony"(481). dayEveningPost story, "The SecretIntegration," as hisfirstsig-

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162 Sublime
Pynchon'sPostmodern
nificantfictionaleffort:"forthefirsttimeI believeI was also
beginningto shutup and listento theAmericanvoicesaround
me,evento shiftmyeyesawayfromprintedsourcesand takea
look at Americannonverbalreality.. . The nextstoryI wrote
was 'The Cryingof Lot 49,' whichwasmarketed as a 'novel,'and
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