VLVL2 Preliminary: The Epigraph

[jbor]

on 10/7/03 11:30 AM, Tim Strzechowski at dedalus204 at comcast.net wrote:
> 
> jbor sed:
> 
>> I guess the question is, who is the "dog"? (My money's on Zoyd.)
> 
> Vineland opens with two characters who parallel each other in subtle ways --
> Zoyd and Desmond.

I'm inclined to take the epigraph a little less literally, though the
departure and return of Desmond do bookend the narrative. In my dictionary
of proverbs under "Every dog has his day" it says, as well as tracing the
saying back to Plutarch's _Moralia: Terrestrial Comparisons_ (c. AD 95 "Even
a dog gets his revenge") via Erasmus's _Adagia_ (1536: Erasmus connects the
proverb to the story that Toby mentioned about Euripides being mauled to
death by a pack of dogs loosed upon him by Arrhidaeus and Crateuas, two
rival poets), that "[t]he meaning nowadays is that a person will have one
day of success or happiness in a lifetime", which is certainly the way I
understand it. (Cf. also the use of the term "dog" or "dogg" in African
American/rap slang.)

Under 'Usage' the entry continues: "It is possible to use the proverb to
someone encouragingly; alternatively it can be used in surprise at the
achievement of a no-hoper. In this case it is patronising and superior."
There seems to be a bit of each resonating in the portrayal of Zoyd.

I think that Zoyd had his first "success" when he married Frenesi and
fathered Prairie. I think that his "second" day comes at the end of the
novel when he has managed to ensure Prairie's safety, to reunite her with
Frenesi, and to consolidate the family bonds. Zoyd is a bumbling duffer,
dopehead and sell-out, much like Benny and Slothrop before him. However, I
have no doubt that Zoyd, for all his flaws, was meant to be a sympathetic
character.

best


> Our first encounter with Desmond is with him "hanging
> around," and we learn that he is being victimized by the flock of blue jays
> who descend to steal his food.  Although Zoyd helps us realize that Desmond
> nonetheless is still fed by Prairie -- noting the chocolate crumbs on his face
> -- Desmond's easy-going response ("tail going back and forth to show no hard
> feelings") and lumbering gait as he returns to the house are comically
> suggestive of Zoyd's slapstick experiences to follow in the rest of the
> chapter as he, too, is robbed of his chance at "proper" media coverage of his
> antic disposition.
> 
> In canine fashion, Zoyd's entrance into the Log Jam is marked by how
> "everything, from the cooking to the clientele, smelled different" (5), and
> when he arrives at the Cucumber Lounge, we experience it through a description
> of the woodsmoke, the "austere fragrance of the trees," and the "all-day
> neighborhood smell of cooking in the air" (9).  Throughout the chapter, the
> overall characterization of Zoyd is that of a lazy, easy-going, somewhat
> passive ex-hippie who, despite the challenges faced him in this opening
> section, kinda moves passively and doggedly from event to event without any
> real animosity toward a community and a System whose changes and circumstances
> are out of his control.
> 
> Does Pynchon do this man/animal parallel elsewhere in his works?  I seem to
> recall a LOT of dogs throughout GR, with an obvious Slothrop/dog conditioning
> parallel via Pointsman.  But is this a common thing in P's works?
> 
> What significance does a dog possess in the context of this comparison?  Why
> this animal?
> 
> 
> And when discussing dogs and aging hippies in drag:
> http://www3.sympatico.ca/ross.fraser/Richard7.htm
> 
>