VLVL 4: War, politics and love

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrance" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: VLVL 4: War, politics and love
> >
> > I think from the information given it's undecidable if RC was a
> > Vietnam-vet
> >

Checking the German translation I take that back -- Dirk van Gunsteren has
translated "bush vet" with "Vietnamveteran" (Rowohlt, Reinbek 1993, p. 46).

> > but this illegal (according to US-law) war itself was the major reason
> > of the 60s youth to oppose the "establishment" -- and not only in
> > the US but in Europe too. RC and Moonpie surely had their reasons
> > to change their names.
> > Maybe they had done things that were considered as illegal, maybe
> > they have their own "Hector" still looking for them.
>
> Maybe they changed their names for business purposes. Kinda catchy.
>
> Ain't it?
>

Well, one thing in which the 60s - Love&Peace - "Revolution" failed was
turning American capitalism into some kind of democratic socialism, so when
the summer of love was over people were forced to look for what they could
do for a living.

> RC & Moonpie.
>

RC may be the initials of his real name, maybe Robert Cartwright, and
Moonpie may be a description of her round face, or maybe she's of Native
Indian or even of Asian (Vietnamese) origin?

> Sounds to me like they named themselves after a very successful business
> partnership.
>
> We know the names of two of their children, they are Morning, the
> biggest and Lotus the baby.
>

Two other "victims" of that Hippie-habit of giving strange names to their
kids (poor Isaiah 2.4). I know similar cases over here too.

> So, maybe RC is an Australian Vietnam Vet.
>
> Who knows?
>
>
> One things for certain, we know what they do for work. This novel always
> tells us what people do for work and for money.
>
> Check out the Checks.
>
> The novel opens with Zoyd's dreaming about his disability check. Zoyd
> gives the cashier in the More Is Less store a "rubber" check.  He goes
> to lunch with Hector and the check ends up in the mayo. He writes
> Moonpie a check for the craw dads. He goes down to the Hobb's Lawn Care
> business to get cash.
>

It's obvious that his disability check doesn't cover all his & Prairies'
expenses, so that over the years he has developed a system of several
different activities to make money, so he won't be forced to look for a
steady job. A regular thing in post-hippie counterculture.

> war,

Yes, the war as focalising point of the counterculture.

> politics,

Hippies and Yippies, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman.

>and love?
>

Contrary to the prude, puritan America of the fifties & early sixties.

> more like lawyers, work, and money

Lawyers? Yes, lawyers seem to be the biggest American problem next to the
gun laws. A good lawyer can keep you out of jail even if you're guilty and a
good state attorney can put you into a prison cell even if you're innocent.

Zoyd's story is a good example that US-justice is a joke. Gaddis' "A Frolic
of His Own" is my favorite on this topic.

Otto