VLVL In ways more and less literal (2)

[jbor]

(cont.)

I'm not sure about the Christian references and the symbolism which attach
to Frenesi in the text: is her belief in "the hacker we call God" and her
obsession with "the light" meant to be a good thing or a bad thing?

Anyway, after Prairie goes to bed on page 115, the data "in the computer
library, in storage" becomes the source of narrative agency in the text. In
other words, it's a narratological device used by Pynchon. I'm not sure that
Prairie ever does access this information. She wants to find out about, and
find, her mom. As most of what is recounted from page 115 to page 128
relates to DL, I don't think Prairie would have been actively searching for
it on the computer. I'm not sure why the Sisters keep a file on Frenesi,
apart from the obvious reason: her connection with DL.

It's interesting that the basic puzzle of _Pale Fire_ (what is the "real"
story, and who's telling the story?) has been deliberately constructed by
Nabokov so that there can be no definitive answer. In _Vineland_, by
contrast, the narrative sources are always clearly demarcated by Pynchon.

best (resending this after quite a few unsuccessful attempts)