Mucho in Vineland

[RICHARD ROMEO]

Has the brief reappearance of Mucho Maas in _Vineland_ ever bothered
anyone besides me?  I've been at a loss myself to find any literary
justification for his reappearance there.  This gratuitous trotting-out 
or
re-cycling of old Mucho struck me (along with all the "cool cars") as
somehow typical of V-land's weakness.  Mucho's contribution to the story
seemed flimsy, to say the least.  Now I admit that these musings of mine 
are
not unconnected with the recent speculation over a "Thom Pynchon" at KEWB
(which I've contributed to, but did not start).  If there's a bit of
concealed autobiography in Mucho's repeat appearance in V-land, then 
maybe
that helps justify his presence there.    -j minnich
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Mr. M:  I don't agree.  Mucho plays the important (though I admit 
ambivalently) role of the consequences of the darker dise of the 
60s--that of drug abuse.  His little cornocopia of relics attributes to 
that fact.  Also, his idealism such that it was in 49 is shown to be in 
Vineland just as phony as Frenesi's and Zoyd's.  Not to belabor the point 
but he truly belongs in Vineland.  Characters or at least readers 
understanding responsibility for their actions of the past.  Now if Pig 
Bodine appeared, then we would have a case...hmmm?

 Richard Romeo
Coordinator of Cooperating Collections
The Foundation Center-NYC
212-807-2417
rromeo at fdncenter.org