Frenesi

[David Jordan]

I always assumed that many readers of _Vineland_ knew that "frenesi," 
with an acute accent on the terminal 'i,' is simply Spanish for "frenzy"
or "madness," and that this datum had already entered the extended
discussion that is pynchon-l and public Pynchon appreciation in general. 
Maybe not.  My monolingual _Pequeno Larousse Ilustrado_ defines it more
broadly as "delirio," "locura," exaltacion,", or "entusiasmo."  "Locura"
means madness; the meanings in English of the other three words are pretty 
obvious. 

Another Spanish-language-oriented reference book I have gives it as the 
etymon of English "frenzy" through Middle English "frenesie."

Salman Rushdie pointed out in his review of _Vineland_ that "Frenesi" is
an anagram of "free sin" and had something (he mentioned in passing) to do
with TRP's concern with sin and free will.  Maybe, maybe not.  Rushdie may
just have been in the throes of a clever but unsupportable thought.  I
mean, why not "sin free," and what would that mean in a critical analysis
of _Vineland_? 

At the time, I was learning C and thought it would be clever to turn my PC
into an exhaustive anagram generator, but I didn't have the time and still
have many other unarguably more urgent things to do.  Also, I had a small
hard drive and the anagrams of too many personal names of even twelve or
fifteen letters would have taken way too much space.  But just think, one
could thereby look for hidden or multiple meanings in "Zoyd Wheeler,"
"Hector Zuniga," or many others.  For instance, "Zipi Pisk" looks like it
has possibilities. 

Actually, I've heard there's a Web site with an anagram generator.  Maybe
someone reading pynchon-l, with more time that I, could compile a complete
list of personal and place names, and any other expression that looks
interesting, run then through, and report back if anything interesting
turns up. 

Factoring in DiFilippo's suggestion below, it's possible that some 
combination of the above and the below stands behind of TRP's choice of 
that name for that character.  He is a polymath, after all.  I've heard a 
story about the way he acts in bookstores, but I probably shouldn't tell 
it in such a public forum.

Speaking for myself, I think, primarily, that he liked the sound of the
word (and it does have an attractive, feminine sound that would grace many
a female human) and knew its meaning in Spanish, with one or two other
strands of meaning, possibly the big band song title that DiFilippo
noticed, intersecting. 

David Jordan
littlcat at netcom.com


On Tue, 6 Aug 1996, Paul DiFilippo wrote:

> 
> I just had occasion to listen to the big band tune "Frenesi", and
> I wish there was some way of sending a soundbite of it to everyone
> on the list.  I venture to say that a few notes played to anyone
> over a certain age will immediately bring the whole tune to mind.
> For me, it conjures up the Forties, some mythical Latin America, 
> cartoons, lounge lizards, old movies, etc.  Now, here's my 
> observation:  What made TRP pick such an innocent, lilting,
> starry-eyed melody for the name of a majorly fucked-up gal?  It
> seems utterly incongruous.  The only strategy I can discern (and
> this might be a direct homage) is the way Terry Gilliam chose 
> a similarly "sweet" song, "Brazil", to apply to a black dystopia.
>