VL-IV 1: The Cucumber Lounge, pgs 9/10

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Anyone have any theories as to why the Narc is Hispanic?   Given that the UFW was fighting to organize the mostly Hispanic farm-workers in the general region, it seems an odd choice to have The Man portrayed as Hispanic.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>Sent: Dec 5, 2008 11:40 AM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: VL-IV 1: The Cucumber Lounge, pgs 9/10
>
>The Cucumber Lounge echos the Echo Courts, simultaneously pushing up  
>to the edges of sexual taboo while being throughly commercial at the  
>same time.  The details of place and time—
>
>	“ . . Dwarfed and overshadowed by the towering dim red trees
>	were two dozen motel cabins, with woodstoves, porches,
>	barbecues, waterbeds, and cable TV. . .”
>
>— are spot-on. When thinking of “Vineland” the image of snaking cable  
>in a Television studio also comes to mind. All the small details of  
>preparations at the Cucumber Lounge echo Hollywood and Hollywood deal  
>making as well. The unpaved parking lot is covered in gullies from the  
>local—frequently rainy— weather, also echoing visuals of the paths of  
>creeping vines. If this place we live in is “Vineland” it is by virtue  
>of the creeping network of cables and other webbed infrastructures  
>that make up the “information/entertainment ["infotainment?"]  
>industry.” Van Meter—a name filled with multiple possible  
>interpretations as regards Zoyd and Van’s “Rock & Roll Lifestyle”—is  
>still stage-managing the SSI scam of Zoyd’s upcoming annual act of  
>transfenestration.
>
>But Van's worried demeanor has everything to do with the presence of  
>Zoyd’s ole frenemy DEA field agent Hector Zuniga. Going back to the  
>1998 VLVL p-list archives starting in September of 1998 [once the page  
>is loaded, it’s about 2/3’s the way down]:
>
>http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9809&sort=thread
>
>
>. . . I found some fine pointers about Hector Zuniga. In the opera  
>“Carmen”, Zuniga, Captain of the Dragoons (bass) is obsessed with the  
>bohemian and untamable protagonist of the tale, much like Hector’s  
>obsession with the “technical virgin” Zoyd. “Hector”, of course, means  
>to harass. And Zoyd [as we soon find out] has been plenty harassed by  
>oily Tubaholic Hector:
>
>	“ Zoyd went sweaty and had one of those gotta-shit
>	throbs of fear. Was it ESP, was he only reacting to
>	something in his friend's voice? Somehow he knew
>	who it would be.”