give Vineland some respect (& a lengthy hello)

[Bonnie Surfus (ENG)]

On Sat, 7 Jan 1995, Eric Dean Rasmussen wrote:

> First, hello all.  I'm Eric & I've been silently reading the list for a 
> couple months now, but finally feel compelled to throw my 49 cents worth 
> in after hearing Vineland get dogged on 1 too many times.
> 
> I feel a special affinity for the book.  It was actually the 1st Pynchon 
> I read (In an undergrad class 2yrs ago, in my jr. year).  I'd only 
> recently decided to major in English lit, but still hadn't fallen head 
> over heels for an author.  
> 
> Vineland was the seductress that really pulled me in, not only to 
> Pynchon's world, but to literature in general.   
> 
Eric mentions here something I'd brought up before --that for 1st timers, 
_Vineland_ is monumentally impressive.
NOt only that, but it DOES help readers who grapple with political, 
cultural and mainstream media trends--for those underprivileged, would-be 
hipsters that missed out on Vietnam and rollerskating in wild packs (an 
80's thing, I think, underrevision w/ contemp rollerblading--which is not 
so much a way to "come together" anymore, but gosh-darn-it, a great way 
to stay in shape, as any number of TV spokesmodels will tell you.)

> Not 
that it was love at 1st read.  When I started it, I must've had other 
> things on my mind.  I remember getting to the section where Zoyd is 
> abducted on the plane & realizing I didn't know what in the hell was 
> going on. My hunch is that I was trying to read it in the ridiculous  
> dissect a book before you're finished fashion so that you can BS your way through class 
> discussions w/out truly reading it.  Horrible, I know. Unfortunately 
> that's what many undergrad Eng. classes unintentionally encourage.  But 
> that's another topic.   
> 
> Anyway I started over, after we had finished the book in class, & 
> actually read Vineland for fun.  And fun it was.  I was overwhelmed.  I 
> particularly liked Pynchon's ability to explain to me what in the hell 
> happened from the late '60s to the '80s.  I was born in '72, so Raygun, 
> unfortunately, dominates my cultural memory.  I was also blown away by 
> Pynchon's way w/ words.  He could credibly convey that annoying (in most 
> cases, David Lowry of Camper Van Beehtoven & Cracker fame sings in it, 
> yet I find it eloquent, so maybe its the content & not the form which 
> bugs me usually) California slang which still hasn't overtaken Nebraska 
> (my homestate) but has reached Colorado.  
> 
> To condense by bio, I ended up reading all of Pynchon's books (GR 
> took me a few tries) & ended up doing my senior thesis at Coe College on 
> exemption in Vineland & Farina's Been Down So Long.  I think Farina's > novel surely must have influenced TP when writing Vineland. 
> REading the books together is a good idea.  Pynchon's is far 
> more satisfying, but its interesting to note how Farina's book 
> seems to predict the collapse of the political left in the US.  
> Someday, I hope to write on liberal politics & lit.  I still 
> refuse to believe that the good ol USA has become irrevocably 
> right wing.  And this is despite the fact that I'm living next 
> to the district responsible for electing that Newt.  
> 
> Maybe current affairs will prompt Pynchon to write another "V" 
> novel, a sequel to Vineland, perhaps, w/ the V for Victorian. In terms of 
> human compassion, we're living in a Doggy Dogg Social Darwin World, but 
> now the technology for a truly omnipresent Panopticon environment is all 
> but in place. 
> That's "V" "period" (_V._), as we've agreed (I think.)   and if you 
thinhk the panopticon is not altogether in place, I believ you are wrong. 
 Your e-mail is not secure.
 > I want TP to start publishing on the Net.  The 
world 
needs a  > renegade liberal voice on the Info highway & airwaves. I 
> nominate Pynchon.  Surely he could still maintain his privacy.  
>Surely, he could NOT.  I'm sorry to say it, but it's true.  anyone can 
find your identity, any meager hacker with the least bit of ability.
 Might 
not have the profile that Rush does, but few people 
could > succeed in being so disgustingly Jabbaesque, & the invisible 
> voice might just convert a few fundamentalists.
> 
> OK, OK, enough daydreaming... but it feels soooo good.  
> 
> Where was I?  Oh yeah, I've read Vineland countless times & still love it.  It might be my favorite, 
> actually. One reason is b/c I think the human relationships in the 
> Vineland are richer than the other books w/ the exception of GR.  In GR I 
> was most impressed by Pynchon's treatment of Roger & Jessica's relationship & 
> the German officer & the S. African slave girl--the latter was 
> horrifying (sorry can't remember names) yet somehow beautiful in the way 
> it played out.  I can't think of many writers who could pull such a topic 
> off, or would even try.  
> 
> I'm going to be rereading GR this semester for a > class & am really 
looking forward to it (I'm now a grad student in 
> English at Emory University).  Perhaps it will oust Vineland from my #1 
> slot (actually I hate having to pick favorites, but since Nebraska is 
> Natl. Champion I'm temporarily more accepting of hierarchies). 
> 
> This is becoming too narcissistic, so I'll close w/ a ?
> 
> Anyone know where I can get ahold of a hardcover copy of GR for myself?  
> 	I know I can't afford a 1st edition, but wasn't GR reissued in 
> the '80s.  A bookstore here in Atlanta is working on it for me, but so 
> far hasn't contacted me.  If you can point me in the right direction, I'd 
> appreciate it.
> Try a used book store, sorry to say. I'm not sure they're available.  I 
found mine fo $5.oo at a mall bookstore--rilly, i did.
> One last comment for disccusion -- I nominate Milos Forman (One Flew Over 
> the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Fireman's Ball, Loves of a Blond) to direct 
> the film (TV movie?) version of Vineland. Coming from Czecheslovakia, he 
> learned how to get "subversive" messages across on a # of levels, is 
> great at ridiculing bureaucracy, and can move from cartoon to tragic in a 
> flash.  Like Pynchon, he's received acclaim, but is still a figure the 
> mainstream dunno what to do with.
> I'm still convinced that Oliver Stone's Wild Palms was influenced by 
_Vineland_.  And it was a poor showing, but there it is.
 > Any remarks?  
Casting suggestions? Further support for Vineland? > 
> Talk to ya'all ril soon...
> 	
> 			Eric  
> 
Sorry, everyone, for my poor punctuation and all. I'm experimenting with 
insertin my text into someone else's (that's not meant to sound as 
obsene as it does, sorry.)

Bonnie>  > > 
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