VLVL2 (4) Off-stage & On the Waterfront

[Richard Fiero]

Terrance wrote:
. . .
>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.
>. . .

I find it difficult to think of Zoyd as a schlemiel since a 
schlimazel should be close by and I can't find one.
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http://www2.dokkyo.ac.jp/~esemi006/schlml1.htm

Q: What is the schlemiel?

A: That is a very good question. Let me quote Ruth R. Wisse 
from her The Schlemiel as Modern Hero. She defines the 
schlemiel and the schlimazel (i.e. schlimmazzel) as follows:

The American distinction between the schlemiel and the 
schlimazel, summarized in the rule of thumb that says the 
former spills the soup, the latter is the one into whose lap it 
falls, provides a helpful basis for definition. The schlemiel 
is the active disseminator of bad luck, and the schlimazel its 
passive victim. Or, more sharply defined, the schlimazel 
happens upon mischance, he has a penchant for lucklessness, but 
the unhappy circumstances remain outside him, and always 
suggest the slapstick quality of surprise. The schlemiel's 
misfortune is his character. It is not accidental, but 
essential. Whereas comedy involving the schlimazel tends to be 
situational, the schlemiel's comedy is existential, deriving 
from his very nature in its confrontation with reality.
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Could Zoyd be both? He's paired with Flash and not just through 
what's-her-name. That pairing is nothing of the schlemiel.

Hector and Ralph Wavyone -- that's not an essential pairing. 
Both just happen to be thugs and entirely dependent on an 
illicit cash flow. They share a few other qualities.