Vineland criticism

[Paul Mackin]

On Aug 31, 2006, at 11:47 AM, robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:

> I remember encountering U.C. Berkeley professors in the early 90's  
> who were all over themselves blasting "Vineland", saying things  
> like "the quality of he background research was worthless", unlike  
> GR and V. I suspect "scholars" avoided the book, as too many of the  
> book's references were pop-cult and of such recent vintage as to  
> still be controversial. I think you have to work backwards, and  
> follow the threads of the "Family" of the left in America depicted  
> in the time covered in Vineland.

Yeah there was huge disappointment but I think a lot  of it was in  
having waited (what was it) 17 years and getting something  
reminiscent of Lot 49 but without the virtue of being short. And it  
didn't have an Oedipa. Not all academics were disappointed of course.  
I remember one who had to call on three Theorists (Derrida, Lacan,  
and Boudrillard) to account for things adequately. The prominent non- 
academic publications were mostly negative also. One I remember said  
P couldn't have spent all the elapsed time on Vineland, must have  
been working on something else too, which I guess turned out to  have  
been the case.

As you say the looking back a  generation or two was more  
interesting. Don't know if it represented a great deal of research  
but at least the pop-cult was at a minimum. In my opinion for what it  
might be worth the content of  pop-cult  may be funny but it doesn't  
tell much about anything very interesting going on. The counter-cult  
holds more promise usually.


\
>
> Don't you want to shoot past Papa Wheeler to daughter Prairie and  
> her friends in the Vomitones? Try "Lipstick Traces"
>
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674535812/104-5467299-7458331? 
> v=glance&n=283155
>
> Don't you want to go back (as Pynchon does) to the "Blacklist" of  
> the Fifties in Hollywood? Here's some books on the subject.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&q=Blacklist&btnG=Google 
> +Search&sa=N&tab=wp
>
> In any case, there's always "Positively 4th Street" for Zoyd. "The  
> Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" might not be "Scholarly", but it's  
> packed with useful information.
>
> I haven't gotten into it yet, but my sister gave me "Screaming With  
> Joy---The Life Of Allen Ginsberg". The reviews I've seen aren't all  
> that favorable, but the photos will be very helpful in giving a  
> context.
>
> Here's some other books on the Beats:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?q=Beat+generation&btnG=Search 
> +Books&as_brr=0
>
> It would probably be helpful to look into KPFA, KPFK and their  
> umbrella foundation "Pacifica".
>
> http://books.google.com/books? 
> vid=ISBN0816631565&id=Cvy3wK4-5hIC&pg=PR9&lpg=PR9&dq=Pacifica&sig=SzD- 
> h7V-aq-2vnRXHFMXTxtw-IM
>
> And the DEA. Good luck on that one.
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "April Phillips" <apes1 at cox.net>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> I'm pretty new to this list and hoping you can help me.  I'm  
>> working on a
>> paper tracking the counterculture from Ginsberg to Zoyd, but I'm  
>> having a
>> hard time finding a lot of scholarly research on Vineland.  Any  
>> suggestions?
>>
>> I appreciate the help.
>>
>> April
>>
>>
>
>