VLVL2 (12): "Wackiness" Summary and Annotations (part 2)

[Tim Strzechowski]

Continuing:

DL returns to Berkeley and reunites with the 24fps survivors. They drive off to rescue Frenesi. DL uses Ninjette techniques to sneak into the camp and break Frenesi out. After dropping the 24fps people in Berkeley, she and Frenesi drive to Mexico, where Frenesi confesses to DL. DL is disgusted. She drives Frenesi back across the border and drops her in Las Suegras -- where, presumably, Frenesi is about to meet Zoyd. It was (says DL, narrating the end of the flashback in present tense at Ditzah's) the last time she ever saw Frenesi. There's some astrological stuff, the main thrust of which is that bad as things are they're about to get worse. (Generally a safe prediction.) There's also an alarming message from Zipi (Ditzah's sister) that several of the old 24fps members have recently disappeared. DL searches for (and finds) a bug. Then Ditzah, Prairie, Takeshi and DL pile in the Ninjamobile and head for cover.



p. 218 "up over the passes and out long desert arterials, out past the seed and feed houses and country music bars and Mexican joints with Happy Hours featuring 99 cent margaritas out of a hose, under the smog, the dribbling rain, the toxic lens of sky..."   Mr. Pynchon, meet Mr. Chandler.

p. 219 "What an evening"    Thanatoid Roast '84 is the "tenth annual get-together" -- which means there have been thanatoids since '75. So what happened in 1974-1975? Patty Hearst kidnapped by SLA. Nixon is impeached over Watergate, and resigns. Motion picture ratings system created. US Bicentenial celebration. Vietnam War ends; last 1,000 Americans evacuated from South Vietnam. 

p. 220 "Willis Chunko"    Nice name.

p. 221 "Kommandant Karl Bopp"   Ditto.

p. 221 "pacified territory"    Growers discuss CAMP progress in Vietnam-like terms.

p. 222-223 "All right, you parrots, listen up!"   Parrot sale and shared dreams: Magic realism, gorgeous and surreal; tropical colors and flashy imagery.

p. 223 "can't shit, can't get a hardon"    The Thanatoid Roast rendered from Van Meter's POV; his paranoia is expressed in terms familiar from GR.

p. 225 "old-time Combo-Ork arrangements"    There's that lingo again.

p. 225 "rallentando"    A typically obscure Pynchon word, this musical term means exactly the same as ritardando: played with decreasing pace. Perfect for the Thanatoid gig.

p. 226 "Larry Elasmo"    Cool name. Plasticman? But what the fuck is he doing at the Thanatoid Roast? Pynchon is pushing the outside of the coincidence envelope.


Continued . . . 


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