Vineland

[Michael Bailey]

 Paul Mackin reminded me of the correct papal accreditation, Leo XIII
not Pius XIII - there wasn't really a joke on my part, although I like
"Pius" as a pope-name, simply because a Pope should be, well, pious...

I like Frenesi and Zoyd, and my first take on them isn't as symbols or
representatives, although given the symbol-manipulation talents of Mr
Pynchon, there's a lot there to explore

I'm the kind of goofball that speaks up in an English Lit class and
says, "symbols aren't really what makes me read and love a book; the
face value of the experience in the book, the conveying of an
imaginative reality, building a mental picture, and as a side benefit,
learning about some new things and new ways to talk about things,
these are the things that I read for"  -- and of course am politely
refuted, but mutter like Galileo. "still, that's what moves me"

Kenneth Rexroth made an interesting statement regarding Dada.  I'm not
well read enough to know if it was original with him, but he wrote
that the absurdities and outrages of Dadaistic art were coming from a
broken heart.

Until I had read that, I always thought that the Dadaists were just
being silly, but it does make sense.  Likewise, what sounds like
nitwitism on the part of the 24fps collective (eg Howie demurs on
killing pigs, mentioning that pigs are groovier than many people) is
perhaps a reflexive thing like the gum-chewing (mentioned somewhere in
GR) that people do to prevent tears.  The 24fps were covering the
stories that make you want to cry...their technical expertise is often
mentioned...I don't think they're as dumb as all that

Frenesi from an isolated masturbatory fantasy when we meet her, goes
through some changes that prepare her and eventuate in her making it
to the family reunion...her daughter gets to know her and to meet her
1/2 brother
moments like
getting excused "just this once" for going thru a picket line, by unanimous vote
this isn't moving?  (jeez, I cried, more than once, at that passage,
but I'm a tender-hearted dork)

pax vobiscum