VLVL2 (4) Off-stage

[Terrance]

Is it the novelist or the critic? 

An approach in these episodes, then, is one of refusal, of transgression
of the traditional ontological distinction, or, in Derrida’s terms, to
place the notions (Protagonist and narrative structure ... blah blah)
under ‘erasure’ (‘sous rature’).

McHale talks about self contradiction and self erasure. Anyway, Zoyd
goes to Vineland to disappear.  But, as his Mother-In-Law, the person
who tells him about Vineland,  says, you can't simply disappear.  And,
as he explains his understanding of the deal he thinks he made with
Hector and Brock, He can't. It's not part of the deal. He has to do
something publicly crazy so that DEA and DOJ (Zuniga and Vond) know
where he is. More important than his erasure from the text as some sort
of 19th century protagonist is the fact that he is separated from
Prairie, by Prairie, the Quester in this Quest novel about Work.
Prairie,  provides perfect cover for Zoyd all these years. Hey, isn't
that what Frenesi wanted? But Prairie wants a family. A triangle. And
she imagines that it is within her power to make one. But, she
understands that what  Zoyd tells her is true, that her tubal  fantasy
of a family with Zoyd as her Father and Frenesi as her Mother is not
going to happen on this planet.  She looks in the mirror to see her
mother's features, erasing Zoyd's from her own in the process. Prairie
is looking for lots of things along the way, mother, america, the '60's,
love, but not Zoyd. He doesn't have a part in the movie. 



Tim Strzechowski wrote:
> 
> Good post, Paul.
> 
> Likewise, as the focus in the novel now begins to shift from Zoyd to other
> characters, the entire notion of "Zoyd as protagonist" will be called into
> question.  This is seen most notably in _Gravity's Rainbow_, I would say,
> where the focus shifts repeatedly throughout the narrative, but we will also
> see it here.
> 
> And it's an important shift, too.  In a narrative that deals with
> double-crossings and snitching and paranoid situations with the gov't, etc.,
> one never knows if one can really trust anyone, least of all a narrator.
> 
> Tim
> 
> Quoth the Nightingale:
> 
> > As in Ch1 Zoyd's pov is both emphasised and, simultaneously, challenged
> > by important action happening off-stage in Ch4. The function of other
> > characters, then, is to tell him what he's missing. Moonpie tells him of
> > Hector at the Lost Nugget (41). He's excluded by the "funny looks" (42)
> > that (seem to) know more than he does. Then Blood's warning (45) is
> > followed by the business at the bank (46) and news from Elvissa, via
> > Blodwen, that cops have taken his pickup (expecting to find him in it -
> > 47). Trent provides more information (48-49) before Zoyd arrives at
> > Bodhi Dharma Pizza.
> >
> > The reader must still identify Zoyd as protagonist (although, whether
> > they identify with him, is another matter). In this, the central section
> > of Ch4 (40-49), Zoyd is himself turned into a reader gaining information
> > from a text (ie, the detail he accumulates from what he sees and hears).
> > Hence, the reader is gradually being educated to accept his removal from
> > the narrative (at the very least, at this stage, his marginalisation).
> >
> > Zoyd has been on-stage throughout. In this chapter the action finally
> > moves elsewhere. In this chapter, as we have seen, his recollection of
> > past events 'holds up' the narrative, which begins again on 40, and then
> > again on 42, after the flashback to his scene with Van Meter. In this
> > section, then, the point of his interaction with other characters is to
> > emphasise the break with routine, as signalled by the note following
> > Moonpie's comment about Hector: "Zoyd had only missed him that night by
> > not showing up at the Lost Nugget, his usual hangout ..." (41).
> >
> >
> >