Idle Zoyd, Crappy Vineland?

[Mark Kohut]

Yes. Yes. 

I see Zoyd as in the tradition of Pynchon's schlemeils, the "whole sick crew", the young chums......loveable but (still)immature. 

To overidentify him with TRP himself is just wrong...(not least because we know from John Leonard's review that TRP had presented his BIG works-in-progress to grants committees before Vineland was even published....he always worked harder than his characters...)

And in this novel I think it does reflect on Zoyd and the book's themes
that he is still a bit like that at his age....that 'creeping fig' should have been cut back a bit which is all it needs to NOT invade through a window. 

Still disorganized, sleeping late regularly, hunting his smokes and eating sugary 'kids' cereal. 

Mark




--- On Wed, 12/3/08, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Idle Zoyd, Crappy Vineland?
> To: "Carvill John" <johncarvill at hotmail.com>
> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 8:47 AM
> On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 3:00 AM, Carvill John
> >
> > I note, with a shudder, that a certain old-time
> p-lister is back, and >dissing Zoyd, Vineland and Pynchon
> yet again. >Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
> 
> Come on, John.  Everyone's entitled to an opinion or
> two, even (maybe
> especially) if they're not popular ones.  A group of
> groupies and
> sycophants is a sure recipe for boredom.
> 
> > I don't see Zoyd as 'idle', and my
> instincts (and experience) tell me many other Pynchon fans
> share this view. In fact I'd go so far as to say that
> I'd bet most of us feel immediate affection for, and in
> more than a few cases, identification with Zoyd.  I think
> someone seeing Zoyd as idle marks that person out as being
> on the opposite side of the 'Culture Wars' from Zoyd
> and from Pynchon. I see that kind of person as being on the
> side of the Brock Vonds and Ronald Reagans of this world.
> 
> Well, Zoyd has been idle, but under an enforced contract to
> be so.
> Even so, he has done a fine job of raising his daughter and
> being a
> beloved part of this alternative community.  If he's
> been "sleeping,"
> it's because Brock gave him that poison pill.  Now
> he's to be awakened
> by a similar agent.  Like so many of Pynchon's
> Schlemeils, he gets
> pushed around alot, but we still love him like we love
> Benny Profane
> and Tyrone Slothrop.
> 
> That said, Vineland is my least favorite of Pynchon's
> novels.  But
> I've said that here before.
> 
> David Morris