VLVL2 (4) Erasing the past (still a Finesi romance)

[Paul Nightingale]

Ch4 can be divided into three phases. In the first, Zoyd sets off for,
and arrives at, Phantom Creek (35-40). The second phase (40-49) features
post-Hector changes to Zoyd's routine. Important action happens, so to
speak, off-stage. The final phase (49-55) sees Zoyd meet Prairie and
Hector at the Bodhi Dharma. This third phase perhaps includes a coda
(54-55) in which, for the first time, the narrative looks ahead and
anticipates action to come (hinting at the way Zoyd will be sidelined as
a protagonist).

Narrative in the first phase takes the form of a journey 'interrupted'
by a series of flashbacks. This is confirmed when, at the end of the
brief exchange between Zoyd and Prairie at breakfast, both journey and
chapter recommence (40). As in Ch1 Zoyd is trying to keep up, giving
Moonpie "a post-dated check he'd still have to scramble, this day
already so advanced, to cover" (41).

The flashbacks here introduce RC and Moonpie (35-36); then Zoyd's life
when Frenesi entered it "like a whole gang of outlaws" (37); then the
wedding and a fast-forward to the break-up (38-40); then finally,
breakfast with Prairie "this very morning" (40 - which of course
echoes/rewrites the opening scene of Ch1 as well as their TV meal in
Ch2).

It's interesting that, for RC and Moonpie, the past has been "erased"
(35). That is, whatever happened to them in the past is now 'lost'. This
might mean 'forgotten'; it might mean 'of no relevance whatsoever to
their lives today'. In fact, their lifestyle invokes nothing so much as
another kind of (pre-industrial) past, when families worked as a unit
and the modern state didn't exist. Of course, this work services yuppie
restaurants: here, the novel, as so often will connect primary and
tertiary sectors of the economy. The crawfish sideline is made possible
by current socio-economic developments, just as the tertiary/service
sector as a whole can only be sustained with the low-wage employment of
teen-workers like Prairie.

The paragraph on 36 that describes Zoyd's meeting with RC and Moonpie
(a) suggests that Moonpie ("just the ticket") might have been a
substitute for Frenesi, and then (b) indicates that RC (his "mortally
cautious bearing") is scarred by whatever experiences he'd rather
forget. Perhaps, in this "longhairs' saloon", he even feels threatened.
Whatever, Zoyd is unable to replace Frenesi, with Moonpie or anyone
else.

Hence the text juxtaposes one case of successful erasure (RC and
Moonpie) to another case of failed erasure (Zoyd). It is now apparent
that Frenesi's function as a character, more often than not absent, is
to be the means by which the novel addresses 'the past' and what
characters might understand by it.

The flashback passage dealing with Frenesi twice likens Zoyd to "a
schoolmarm" (top of 37, mid-39). These two references to Zoyd's
(apparent) innocence/naivety bracket the description of his lifestyle at
the time, one hardly free of incident. Subsequently, his confession to
Prairie tells her "he must feel a need for [Frenesi] as intense as
Prairie's own" (40). If RC's memories are suppressed, Zoyd's feelings
can't be repressed: even if, in narrative terms, this means he is about
to lose his status as a protagonist.