VLVL: the Vietnam War in VL WAS Re: Absences in VL

[Doug Millison]

At 12:17 AM -0500 12/6/98, tak wrote:
>Having not yet begun to mingle with M&D, I was wondering, in the context of
>this discussion re: the absence of Vietnam in VL, whether or not TRP turns
>his attention to slavery?

Slavery in M&D?  Yes, throughout the novel -- in the Capetown episodes, and
in North America, especially George Washington's anachronistic Sammy Davis,
Jr. clone.  A climax of sorts -- a high point in Dixon's character arc, at
the very least -- occurs when Jeremiah Dixon, a Quaker, threatens physical
violence and rescues a group of slaves on their way to the auction block in
Baltimore.

I don't count myself among those who think Vietnam is in any way "absent"
from VL, however (or that the Holocaust is "absent" from GR, either). From
Thanatoid Vietnam veteran casualities, to Vato & Blood, to the object of
the Movement's protest, to justification for Brock Vond's prosecutorial
privilege, the Vietnam War motivates and saturates VL through and through.

-Doug