VLVL The deal

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 11:17 PM
Subject: Re: VLVL The deal


>
> Frenesi is quite a complex character -- much more complex and intelligent
> than she is being given credit for -- and she doesn't often let on her
true
> motivations to the other characters, nor does Pynchon explicitly reveal
them
> to the reader. "[S]teadfastly smiling" as she's led away by Brock after
> orchestrating the deal he makes with Zoyd, she is content in the knowledge
> that she's done as much as she can do for her daughter in the present
> circumstances (304).
>
> Btw, it's the cop, Ron, who stands "unobserved in the afternoon shade" --
> not Zoyd (304).
>
> best

I knew you would say that last "btw," been thinking about that possibility
too but decided after several re-readings and checking the German
translation that it's not the case. If only Ron is the one "unobserved" why
does the narrator is mentioning this at all? If Zoyd and the other cop are
visible why is it interesting for the reader to know that Ron is
"unobserved" -- invisible for whom?

"He didn't know if he'd share the final routine Brock had put him through."

The text says "Brock," not Frenesi is the mastermind behind this scene.

"Before he was to be cut loose, Zoyd had had to stand between two marshals,
one of them his assailant, Ron, unobserved in the afternoon shade (...)."
(304)

If this is ambiguous in the original text, the translation leaves no doubt:

"Bevor er endgültig auf freien Fuß gesetzt worden war, hatte Zoyd zwischen
zwei Marshals -- einer von ihnen war sein Sparringspartner Ron gewesen -- im
Dunkel zwischen des Nachmittagsschattens stehen müssen, während Brock die
unentwegt lächelnde Frenesi zum Parkplatz führte -- sie war die ganze Zeit
irgendwo hier gewesen, unter seiner Aufsicht." (379)

Otto