Vineland & Left is Right

[calbert at tiac.net]

Doug:

> It's interesting that he chooses to
> mention genetics but clearly the novel would seem to concern itself
> primarily with the way what Frenesi and the other major characters do
> in Vineland grows out of the way their families and the larger society
> (including media -- film and TV -- and politics) have shaped them. The
> genetics thing seems to pop in out of left field, like those aliens on
> the airplane. Which is not to say they're not important (Pynchon comes
> back to genetic engineering, if I remember correctly, in his Is It OK
> to be Luddite? essay which appeared about the time Vineland was
> published, same year anyway); certainly I've often argued in this
> forum that sometimes a thing takes on heightened significance in a
> Pynchon novel from the fact that it's mentioned only a single time, or
> left out altogether (the way M&D skips over the Revolution, as we
> discussed at length when we were reading and discussing that a few
> years ago).  I don't think a Vineland reader can argue, successfully,
> that Frenesi's attraction to men in uniform and her willingness to
> submit to same accrues from genetics alone -- the social, political,
> familial influences play a huge role.

Honestly, I think the genetics in this case constitute a "false 
lead"....as you make clear the emphasis is on the environmental 
effects....the DNA reference in that context, is, I think, a means to 
elaborate on just how remarkable that particular "trait" is, but the 
attentive reader has already been provided with enough reasons
to see how such a paradox is, in fact, a natural development.....

WOuld you agree that Pynchon's tone changes considerably as he 
switches from the tale of Jess and Eula to the one of Bud and 
Sasha? If so, why?

love,
cfa