Vineland

[Ghetta Life]

Good post, Michael.  Almost you persuade me to believe.

All of the observations you list below are in the book to some degree, but 
they are mostly in shorthand/cartoon form.  They certainly represent 
Pynchon's "philosophy" of power relations, which is I think the whole 
exploratory point of Vineland.  He really does seem to see the workings of 
freedom vs fascism as some kind of extended time-frame dance between all 
participants:  "this long daisy chain of victimizers and victims, screwers 
and screwees" (V. p.49).  This dance surface most literally in the street 
fights between police and protesters in GR and VL:

117.30 - Frenesi dreamed of a mysterious people's oneness [...] achieved 
[...] in short, timeless bursts, all paths, human and projectile, true, the 
people in a single presence [...] to transcend, almost beyond will to move 
smoothly between baton and victim...

My biggest problem with Vineland is Frenesi.  She embodies some abstract 
dynamic, and Pynchon teases us with the hope of some character development, 
ans some scrutability,  but then he never delivers.  And Frenesi is only the 
most extreme example of this, what I'll call a fault, in Vineland.

Ghetta

>From: "Michael Bailey" <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
>
>thinking of Frenesi as symbol or representative, I think some of the labor 
>background, seguing into the counterculture, is important, ie Frenesi's 
>forebears
>
>going back to the beginning of the 20th century where her grandparents were 
>both staunch Wobblies at a time when the forces of the - oh, I don't want 
>to call it "the Left" but anyway that whole crowd of people who were 
>looking for the next step beyond the institutionalized feudalism that is 
>the seamy aspect of capitalism - were arrayed strongly and were actual 
>contenders before Woodrow "he kept us out of war" Wilson chopped them off 
>at the knees... before the stars of Gustavus Myers's "History of the Great 
>American Fortunes" had solidified their hegemony
>
>and that couple stood together and kept the faith, "didn't mourn, but 
>organized"
>
>and then Frenesi's mom kind of flew the coop, sang in a swing band and met 
>up with her Dad, whose desire to work with the new lighting equipment 
>finally drove him to switch to Reagan's scabrous union - so they had fallen 
>away to some extent
>
>by Frenesi's time, involving herself in a counterculture media project- and 
>a brave one - was the most happening thing she could do, but confronted 
>with the power and charm of Brock Vond, her underpinnings just weren't 
>solid enough to "just say no" -- I think of her acceding to his desire as 
>an instance of "Stockholm Syndrome"
>
>those who oppose an existing regime often face a circumstance where the 
>power is on the other side, and the labor movement/peace movement have seen 
>many such moments.  who can really blame Frenesi for giving up when it 
>seemed inevitable that the Reaction win and its personification "had use" 
>for her
>
>yet the Emerson quote at the family reunion points to a justice beyond such 
>"trials by combat" and note that her mom and dad never stopped loving her 
>either
>
>I sort of like to trace all the labor movement back to who was it, Pius 
>XIIIth had a bull about social justice...
>
>anyway, that's only one of the skeins in Vineland, it's an awesome book I 
>tell ye...
>

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