FW: VLVL2 (1) "More Is Less"�

[Dave Monroe]

>From David Thoreen, "The Economy of Consumption: The
Entropy of Leisure in Pynchon's Vineland," Pynchon
Notes 30-31 (Spring-Fall 1992): 53-62 ...

   "The only true revolutionary, the only really
dangerous insurgent, inb teh consumption economy is
the non-participant.  From this persepective, Zoyd is
teh ehro of Vineland.  It is Zoyd whose life provides
an alternative to the official economy, Zoyd who is
the real enemy of the state.  'Starting witha small
used trailer,' Zoyd has built his own house, 'working
by himeslf or with friends, using lumber found washed
up on the beaches, scavenged off the docks, brought
home from old barns he helped take down' (358).  He
supplements his income with 'a sideline in crawfish
witha  bbushe vet and his family' (35).  True, Zoyd's
business as hunter/gatherer of crawfish is tied to
consumer culture and the yuppies who create the demand
for tehse 'Vineland Losbster,' but taht does not
negate the fact that, by one scheme or another, Zoyd
is self-sufficient and, since moving to Vineland, has
been able to 'put together a full day's work, piece by
piece' (319).
   "Although Zoyd's heroism would also appera to be
tempered by his dependence on federal disability
checks, we never know the extent to which he actually
depends on that money and the extenet to which he
transfenestrates simply to fulfill his part of the
bargain with Brock.  Ranged aaginst his acceptance of
the efderal disability checks is his participation in
another sector of the unofficial economy, the
marijuana cash crop...." (pp. 60-1)

--- Bandwraith at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Given the little self-parody in the opening of
> the "Sloth" essay- with it's denial of guilt and
> rationalization of writer's sloth, not to mention
> the aspersions cast in the direction of the proto-
> typical workaholic, Ben Franklin, I can't help but
> believe that TRP is poking fun at himself, as well
> as, my man/dog, Zoyd.
> 
> I may as well warn yuz all early that I'm not
> buying any of what I'm sure some of yuz are loadin'
> up for, namely, that VL is somehow goin' to enoble
> the Labor Movement- you know, the foax that brought
> us the weekend- at the expense of the free-loadin'
> sixties revolutinaries ....

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