VLVL(4)(a) Chapter Summary

[Vincent A. Maeder]

	There's always time for a canned summary.  Here's Mssrs. Diebold
and Goodwin's version.

	"Lotsa action in this chapter. Zoyd goes off to harvest crawfish
at RC and Moonpie's. Then there's a flashback to his hippie wedding with
Frenesi -- followed by a flashforward to a short scene with Prairie.
Zoyd delivers crawfish to Vineland restaurants with funny names. He
meets his old pal Van Meter in a bar and they talk about Frenesi. Zuniga
is there too; he has, it seems, escaped from Dr. Deeply's Tubal Detox
clinic. In a flashsideways we meet Rick and Chick, Vato and Blood, and
the Marquis de Sod. 
	"Suddenly, maybe-the-cops (actually it's Brock Vond) seem to be
after Zoyd. (Why? Pynchon never explains this very well. It may have
something to do with Frenesi, Zoyd's ex-wife, and Vond's jealousy of her
-- despite the fact that she's got a new husband, hasn't seen Zoyd in
years, and is still in Vond's tight grasp. More likely, Vond is after
Prairie; his motivation is only suggested, but it's possible that he
wants to recreate his earlier sexual liaison with Frenesi. If (as Vond
later claims) he is really Prairie's father, this would be incest!) In
any case, men-in-uniform bust into Zoyd's car, which someone else is
driving, and break into his house. Suddenly, Zoyd is on the lam. He
calls Dr. Deeply to come get Zuniga, but before the Doc shows up Zuniga
identifies Brock Vond as the source of Zoyd's cop problems. Zuniga says
he wants Frenesi to make a movie. The Doc arrives and takes Zuniga away.
Zoyd and Prairie talk in bed (in a borrowed camper) about Frenesi. Zoyd
mentions "a deal." Prairie goes off with Isaiah."
http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter4.htm