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

[J L]

dedalus:
>Stencil ponders how "disguise [was employed] not out of any professional 
>necessity but only as a trick, simply to involve him less in the chase" 
>(58.05).
  ... [ s n i p ] ...
>the three Impersonations are best viewed as sections of a dream sequence in 
>which Stencil himself enters the "action" of Porpentine's adventures in 
>Egypt.

So does he adopt these points-of-view by choice, I wonder?

You might detect some patronising guilt in his empathy with
the natives' plight.  But how does MacBurgess fit?
I don't disagree with jbor's comparison with _Under The Rose_
but I'd be a bit more cautious in inferring a new 'post-colonial
perspective'.  As far as I can see P is just using the same
tale for a different purpose: it's a character portrait, something
he is often accused of avoiding.  Sure, the narrative is clouded,
but ambiguity is the norm here and hey, it can look after itself.
I reckon Pynchon believes that you can learn a lot about someone
by the characters they create.

The Impersonations' observer-status (in the "action", of course
they have their own agendas) says most about Herbert's opinion
of himself.  The quick-change artist finds it easier to adopt
a peripheral role.

t.s.e. :
-  No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
-  Am an attendant Lord, one that will do
-  To swell a progress, start a scene or two

JL
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