Danger Will Robinson! Danger! (Was warped . . .)

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 18 Jan 1999, Terrance F. Flaherty wrote:

> Fall for her? The ambivalence you speak of is not only evident in Prairie's
> response to her mother. Most of the characters in Vineland respond, behave,
> experience, counter, double, Frenesi’s ambivalence. In the chapter currently
> under discussion, we are told that Weed is “deeply confused about Frenesi, whom

Thanks to Charles, Meg and Terrance  for getting the discussion centered
on the half mad (frenzied) one. And the watchword for our little
troublemaker IS  "ambivalence." Ours toward her and hers toward her
situation.  What a fitting symbol of the "Sixties" is Frenesi!
Including the post-partum depression about to go on view--intergenerational
rivalry turned on its head. Continuing the ambivalence theme unabated.
The hated intrusion on her life so quickly clutched at as a source of
salvation, boring American motherhood as a hiding place, a cover for past
sins, mirroring ever so neatly Brock's acute observation about that secret
longing for order and authority. But nothing is permanent and nobody will
be saved.

Still I sing--who wouldn't say FreneSEE . . .

			P.