ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Chris Broderick]

Or no less, IMO.  I'd submit that he has as much claim
as Frenesi Gates does to being a central character in
VL.  And the parallel I was trying to draw is that
both Webb & Frenesi are more defined by their absence
than their presence in their respective novels, and
that that absence leaves their characters to be
defined largely by other people's impressions. 
Frenesi has always struck me as one of Pynchon's most
richly drawn characters, and that's done mainly
through the reminisences of DL, Zoyd, Brock Vond, etc.
 Webb becomes a much richer character is largely
defined by the actions of his family (to whom he has
often been thought of as an archetypal absent father)
after his death.  Maybe this all is too banal for
words, but I have a soft spot for the banal.

-Chris


--- Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net> wrote:

> I was just trying to put a little distance between
> "the consequences of
> Webb's death (and of his character) are central to
> the book" -- which is
> inarguable -- and labeling Webb a central character.
> He has a better claim
> than Broderick Slothrop (or young Hamlet's dad), but
> IMO no more than Reef
> or Cyprian.


 
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