VLVL2 (4) Off-stage & On the Waterfront

[Terrance]

> 
> I don't see it as being a "'demonisation'" of Zoyd, I just don't think
> there's anywhere near total narratorial (let alone authorial) alignment with
> his pov, attitudes, behaviours etc in the novel. Though focal, there's
> consistently an ironic distance between the narrative agency and Zoyd, and
> his flaws, blind spots and misgivings are on continuous diplay. Despite this
> I think that he is presented sympathetically, and that a significant portion
> of the narrative concerns itself with him as a protagonist coming to terms,
> only a little perhaps, but enough, with "history" -- "history" both personal
> and societal -- and with the impossibility of keeping those two categories
> separate, which I think is what is at the root of his dilemma in the novel.
> And I also wanted to note the redeeming characteristics in the novel's
> depiction of Hector, not least of which is the camaraderie Zoyd feels, and
> occasionally shows, towards him.



Right on. Zoyd is satirized. And it is harsh. 
The man thinks he's a virgin.

Zoyd, is a Pynchon schlemiel. He "dates" jail bait. 

He's still in love with death, the man, the machine. At the novels end
he's still driving through the fog with the lights off hoping to run
into Brock Vond.  He hasn't really learned a GD thing. 
 
He should read Dostoyevsky or check out this fine PBS program on
blacklisting. 



go to pbs.org



"I have confessed myself! Is there no
good penitence but it be public?" 

		Miller, The Crucible