V.V.(4): Notes, Comments, and Queries I

[Dedalus]

V.V.(4): Chapter Three's "Prologue" (pp. 57 - 59)
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~~ Notes:

57.01 --- "As spread thighs are to the libertine, flights of migratory
birds to the ornithologist, the working part of his tool bit to the
production machinist, so was the letter V to young Stencil":  visually,
each of the objects in this simile looks like a "V."

57.07 --- "in the tradition of _The Golden Bough_ or _The White
Goddess_": The former is a book on early cultures and their mythologies
written by Sir James George Frazer, published in 1922, described as
"essentially a transhistoric, comparative anthropology of folklore,
magic, and religion" (St. Martin's); the latter, written by Robert
Graves, explores the connection between the human poetic sensibility and
the ancient cult-ritual of the White Goddess.  Also see posts from the
week of 10/20/00 in the archives.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684826305/o/qid=971926053/sr=2-2/102-4694849-3060107

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374504938/o/qid=971926456/sr=2-1/102-4694849-3060107

57.11 --- "venery": sexual indulgence (cf. 59.08 as well).

57.16 --- Margravine di Chiave Lowenstein:  friend of Stencil's who
lives in a villa on the west coast of Majorca (island in the
Mediterranean) in 1946 [The title "Margravine" means "the wife of a
margrave," a margrave being a member of the German nobility
corresponding in rank to a British marquess].
http://www.arrakis.es/~chanches/talaweb.htm

57.19 --- "alcázar": a Spanish fortress or palace
http://www.castles.org/castles/Europe/Western_Europe/Spain/spain.htm

58.10 --- "Henry Adams in the _Education_":  A third-person account by
Henry Adams in which he recounts his development in thought, considered
by many an American classic.  Likewise, see posts from the week of
10/20/00 in the archives.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067964010X/o/qid=971926950/sr=2-2/102-4694849-3060107

c.f. Henry Adams: from "Entropy": Henry Adams, three generations before
his own, had stared aghast at Power; Callisto found himself now in much
the same state over Thermodynamics, the inner life of that power,
realizing like his predecessor that the Virgin and the dynamo stand as
much for love as for power; that the two are indeed identical; and that
love therefore not only makes the world go round but also makes the
boccie ball spin, the nebula process. (pp.84-85)
http://www.bartleby.com/people/Adams-He.html

58.29 --- Malta:  Island republic in the Mediterranean south of Sicily
comprised of five small islands. Malta's strategic position on the sea
lanes, providing a gateway from the Mediterranean to the Levant, Arabia
and Gulf, has made it so desired by major powers over the ages. Under
British control from 1800-1964; suffered constant aerial attacks from
Italian and German bombers in W.W.II; according to Baedeker's: "composed
of tertiary rock formation [the Maltese Islands] lie halfway between the
Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal."

59.02 --- "kilted Gordons":  According to _Cambridge Biographical
Dictionary_: "a Scottish family which takes its origin and name from the
lands of Gordon in Berwickshire and whose members became Lords of
Strathbogie from 1357, Earls of Huntly from 1445, Marquesses of Huntly
from 1599 and Dukes of Gordon from 1684 until 1836, when the title
became extinct. Its 157 branches include the Lochinvar line [...]"

59.17 --- "Schleswig-Holstein, Trieste, Sofia": Schleswig-Holstein is a
northernmost province of western Germany . . . Trieste is a province in
northeastern Italy. After World War II it was a debatable territory with
Yugoslavia; the UN constituted a Free Territory which included an
Italian zone in the north and a less populous Yugoslav zone in the
south; in 1954 it was partitioned by agreement . . . Sofia is the
capital of Bulgaria, located between the Rila Mountains and the Balkan
Mountains. In the course of its history it has been often plundered and
bombarded; during World War II it was occupied by Germany until 1944when
it fell to Soviet forces and a communist state was established.


~~ Comments:

Much of what drives this opening section of Chapter Three revolves
around appearances, around objects and situations not being what they
seem. From the opening simile, to the traditional tools that are
"somehow in [Stencil's] hands . . . always employed toward mean ends"
(58.02), to the "veiled references to Porpentine in the journals"
(59.20), Stencil's world is a phantasmal collection of images and
situations, populated by characters as slippery and elusive as his own
"repertoire of identities."  Consequently, Herbert Stencil functions as
the antithesis to Benny Profane:  whereas Benny's yo-yoing places him in

a context of the immediate and concrete, a world filled with inanimate
objects that exist "as is," Stencil is a character more in a context of
the ambiguous and abstract, a world of illusion and metaphor.

Also note that this Prologue begins with Stencil awakening from dreams
of his pursuit of V., and concludes with his dozing on a couch and
returning to dreams.

This section of Chapter Three has subtle parallels to _Hamlet_ regarding
the father-son relationship: although the Danish prince respects the
memory of his father and proclaims the King "a man, take him for all in
all" (I,ii,187), Hamlet still permits the Ghost to influence his actions
and state-of-mind.  Similarly, Stencil retains the picture-postcard, his
"one souvenir of whatever old Sidney's Maltese adventure had been"
(58.34) and "realiz[es] that neither of them had communicated since the
picture-postcard" (59.10), yet he is drawn to the quest for the identity
of V. through "apostolic succession."  Of course, unlike Hamlet, who at
least has a Ghost as guide, Stencil has "only the veiled references to
Porpentine in the journals," and this is what he must use as a basis for
his quest for knowledge.

Structurally, the "Prologue" to Chapter Three bears similarities to Act
II of _Hamlet_ as well.  Recall, for instance, that much of Act II
centers around people trying to obtain information (i.e. seek forbidden
knowledge) through duplicitous means: Polonius sends his man Reynaldo to
France to "spy" on his son Laertes; Claudius directs the ill-fated
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to hang with Hamlet and discover the cause
of what troubles his "much changed son";  and Hamlet determines to
set-up Claudius by arranging the performance of "The Murder of
Gonzago."  Pynchon, in turn, gives us Stencil, who arrives in Mallorca
seeking V., "asking questions, gathering useless memorabilia," and
assuring people that "it isn't espionage"; he employs the instruments of
spying, yet they are always used "toward mean ends"; his "forcible
dislocation of personality" enables him to exercise his "repertoire of
identities" ("impersonations"); and his only true lead --- Sidney's
journal --- leaves him with only "impersonation and dream" to pursue the
knowledge he seeks.  In both _Hamlet_ Act II and this section of the
Pynchon text, there are lots of appearances and deceptions, all in the
name of obtaining information and forbidden knowledge.

Stencil's search for V. likewise aligns him firmly with the typical
Pynchon "quest" hero, just as Slothrop and Oedipa and Prairie seek some
sort of knowledge that proves elusive. Slothrop breaks apart, Oedipa
will remain forever in doubt, and Prairie may potentially suffer the
same fate as Frenesi.  As we continue our group reading of this novel, I
invite all of us to watch closely how / if Stencil will obtain the
knowledge he seeks, or suffer a frustrated resolution similar to other
Pynchon heroes.


~~ Queries:

1.  Comment on Pynchon's use of "sleep" as a recurring motif throughout
the novel thus far, as well as in this chapter in particular.  Do sleep
/ dreaming seem to serve a particular narrative purpose here?  Do they
serve a purpose throughout the Pynchon canon?

2.  Stencil's tendency to refer to himself in the third person is what
he calls a "[f]orcible dislocation of personality" --- i.e. a
manipulation of identity.  Is Stencil the only character who does this?
How is this significant to the "identity" theme of the whole novel?

3.  For those of you familiar with GR: how do the eight impersonations
of Stencil parallel or reflect the eight identity changes /
impersonations of Slothrop throughout GR?  Is there a significance to
the number "eight" (other than its being TRP's birthday)?

4.  How is Stencil similar to other literary figures who seek
information in a world of illusions, abstractions, metaphors (e.g.
Hamlet, Odysseus, Alice, Ahab, etc.)?  Do we see parallels between
Stencil and any other such characters?

5.  Reread the first two paragraphs of this section.  Why is it
important that this preoccupation with V. is a dream within a dream?
Does this factor add irony to the pursuit of V?  Does it enhance the
_Hamlet_ parallels by recalling the "play within a play" situation?