VLVL2 (1) warm-up: Dedication

[Tim Strzechowski]

Well ... seeing as I'm in the process of putting together research and materials for the opening weeks of VLVL2 (we're only two weeks away!), and just last night began working on the dedication section, I'll kinda throw this out there for some early discussion, since a few of us may be itchin' to start in on Vineland.  : )

The dedication in Vineland reads:

For my mother and father
 

What we know about these two folks is:
 
"Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr was born to Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Sr. and Katherine Frances Bennett Pynchon on May 8, 1937 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. They moved to East Norwich when Thomas, Jr was just a child. His father became town supervisor of Oyster Bay and later an industrial surveyor." [...]

from "The Straight Dope"
http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/facts.html


Is there a significance to this dedication?  Is the significance somehow related to the themes of family relationships that are prevalent throughout this novel?  How does this dedication compare with those Pynchon wrote for GR and M&D?

In more general, literary terms:

How much stock can/should readers put into considering the "dedication" of a novel?

Are there novels out there in which the dedication has thematic significance to the work itself?

Are dedications technically part of the "text" proper?  Why or why not?



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