LA explained (who's he kidding?)

[Paul Mackin]

On Fri, 29 Dec 1995 Jhildt at aol.com wrote:

> Now listen up in the back  of the room, I've had a flash.  (And if this is
> old news to all you long-time Pynchoneers, it's still new news to me.)  
>       
>           Re. "rocket" and "City of Angels"
> 
> Richard M. Zhlubb drives "the black Managerial Volkswagen" (755, courtesy
> Pynchon News Service).
> 
> "1995 marks the fortieth anniversary of Volkswagen of America, Inc. ... The
> first Beetle arrived in the US in 1949 ... But, without someone to explain
> its idiosyncrasies and present its strengths, the odd insect-shaped car
> didn't make much of an impression in America. Just two Beetles were purchased
> in that first year, and only a few hundred in the next. By 1955, more and
> more Americans had begun to hear of the odd little Beetle."  (Museum  of VW
> History @www.volkswagen.com)
> 
> and:
> 
> "Allied attempts to revive the West German auto industry after the war
> centered on the Volkswagen, and _in little more than a decade_ the company
> was producing half of West Germany's motor vehicles. ... because of the
>  car's small size, unusual rounded appearance, and historical connections
> with Nazi Germany, sales in the United States were originally slow. This
> changed in 1959, when an American advertising agency, Doyle Dane Bernbach,
> began a landmark advertising campaign, dubbing the car the Beetle because of
> its shape, and pointing to its size as an advantage to the consumer." (E.B.)
> 
> So. . . , what does this tell us about the "LA Scene," huh?  It ain't
> contemporary with Herr Gottfried's launch, that's what.
> 
> And how do I choose to take that?  My guess is that it's a first jerk to the
> present, P.'s own present as he wrote - or thereabouts, and a nifty setup for
> the final pulling of our collective chain, "us, old fans who've always been
> at the movies (haven't we)" by sending old 00000 right back at the reader in
> a cloud of ambiguity.  Gotcha!  (And he did, didn't he?)
> 
> Any takers?
> 
>                                      Jeffrey (still at the movies)


I read it, like most I think, that the rocket (now maybe generalized) is 
about to land on the Orpheus Theatre (on Melrose) as the book ends. 
Don't remember its being brought up before on the P-list, but I haven't 
been on very long either. The close textual juxtaposition of the events (among 
other clues, I think) just seems to outweigh the _timing_ problems 
(seventies vs forties). I guess I figured that if characters, rockets
and plotlines were coalescing right and left, why not _time_.

As to what is all "means", I haven't a clue. Your ideas seems as good
as any.

>From past experience, I feel that if I read it all over again I might come
up with different (perhaps radically different) interpretations. But, hey,
that's Pynchon. Far too layered, complex, what have you, to pin down.
For me, anyway.
				
Hope others will be heard from on this.


					P.