VV(7) (a bit from both parts)

[kevin at limits.org]

Re: the question of Bodine's Sartre usage, I think it's an absolutely
delicious pun, Bodine assuming the identity of a Rusty Spoon intellectual
by questioning the assumption of identities.  I also thought of "Prufock,"
RJ, but the line that jumped to my mind was "to prepare a face to meet the
faces that you meet."

As to whether Bodine participates in the joke, or if there's anything more
to it, gee, I'll have to re-read the chapter, I guess.

(I also think Bodine's ability to identify Ballantine's by the smell, and
moreover, Rachel's reaction to it, is a riot.)

Re: Stencil going west, I once spent the good part of an evening reading
and re-reading certain pages, calling friends who had _V._, and generally
gnashing my teeth and beating my breast, just trying to figure out if
Stencil got hit by, as our host says, a shotgun ricochet, or whether he
was, for some reason, dressed in an alligator costume.  Come to think of
it, maybe I shouldn't confess to this sort of thing in public, but has
anyone else ever been confused by this?

Kevin Troy