V.V.(9) Chapter Seven, part 1 - Vheissu, part 1

[Michael Perez]

     The question of what Vheissu might be and how it relates to the
book as a whole has received surprisingly little Pynchcrit coverage. 
Tony Tanner in his “Caries and Cabals” section of _City of
Words_ devotes a couple paragraphs to it, Molly Hite in  _Ideas of
Order in the Novels of TP_  mentions it a few times, David Cowart
in _TP:  The Art of Illusion_ (thanks to Dave Monroe for providing
me with a sizable relevant passage from this book) goes into where
ideas for it may have come from, Deborah Madsen in _The
Postmodern Allegories of TP_ does go into some of the issues its
place in the book reveals, and one article from _Pynchon Notes_
by Hanjo Barressem (“Godolphin - Goodolphin - Goodol’hin -
Good ol’ Pyn - Good ol’ Pym:  A Question of Integration,” _PN
#10_, p. 3-17) is devoted to it and its probable Poe origins almost
in its entirety.  Grant’s _Companion_ gathers together many of
these and other scant references in order to provide a basis to
understand how it relates to Stencil’s character and to who or what
V. and _V._ may be.
     I must admit Vheissu has haunted me as a reader as much as it
has old Captain Hugh in the book.  Even though it does not occupy
a sizable part of the book, it does bring together many of the
preoccupations with which most of the other characters in the book
suffer.  It provides yet another layer of intrigue that by its very
nature is destined to be invisible, even if it did prove to be “real”
in the sense that it was not the creation or delusion, for whatever
reason, of Hugh Godolphin or either of the Mssrs. Stencil.
     The first thing that must be clear is that all the instances where
Vheissu appears in the text are within stories by Herbert Stencil. 
They may be, at least partially, directly conveyed from Sidney’s
journals, but they also may Herbert’s own fabrications, as
Eigenvalue seems to suspect.  At any rate, all that we know about
Vheissu has been Stencilized.  Beyond that, all that Sidney or any
of his contemporaries (even Evan) would have known about
Vheissu could only have come from Hugh Godolphin, the only
arguably coherent survivor of the alleged expedition there.  The
other imperial exploits of Captain Hugh may be able to be
corroborated and, according to Herbert’s story, Victoria was
familiar with some of his legacy through news reports and the like. 
Even his try for the South Pole would have been newsworthy, but
not, perhaps, his reasons for attempting it or what he might have
found there.  The Vheissu stories, however, have been filtered at
least three times before they are told to Eigenvalue.
     All of that being said, what could Vheissu have been?  Was it a
lost world?  A remote undiscovered primitive enclave?  An
alternate universe?  The gateway to hell?  We can glean very little
from what we are told Godolphin says of it, since his memory
seems to have been overwhelmed by the sheer barrage of
sensations that he is able to recall.  The descriptions of Vheissu are
fantastic, yet seem to be of interest to other parties within the story
and certainly should be to the reader.
     We might be able to discern some of the reasons for its place in
the book by examining some of the possible influences to which
Pynchon himself might have succumbed in order to create these
passages.  The author most often mentioned in connection with
Vheissu is Joseph Conrad.  There are quite a few descriptions that
resemble those in “Heart of Darkness” and even a couple from
_Lord Jim_, as Grant points out in the _Companion_ (see p.93-94). 
The Vheissu sections also resemble the style and events in Edgar
Allan Poe’s _The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket_. 
Others, notably Madsen, are reminded of Dante.   In addition,
Jonathan Swift, Jorge Luis Borges, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice
Burroughs have also been mentioned.


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