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

[Mark Kohut]

As in my take on Zoyd, the satire is fierce and (almost) total I want to argue.

I'd say P might be saying this is one of the (few) steps up---the ladder to the America Dream---to immigrants in 1984 America. Be almost brutally exploited as a worker or "sell out"....




--- On Fri, 12/5/08, Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: VL-IV 1: The Cucumber Lounge, pgs 9/10
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Friday, December 5, 2008, 12:37 PM
> Good point, and I can think of lots of reasons why
> Hector's
> hispanic background plays into the story—none more
> important than
> "Carmen". I'll look into the story of that
> opera a bit more and get back to ya'll.
> Hector "selling out" also plays into the story,
> much as Zoyd's selling out.
> 
> A big mistake folks have perpetually made concerning
> "Vineland" is that
> TRP just tossed the thing off. But Pynchon's
> "harmless little intraterrestrial
> scherzo" shows plenty of signs of being written by the
> same mind what
> cooked up Gravity's Rainbow and imbued with the same
> density of cross-reference.
> Difference being that GR is projected on the big screen and
> VL on the small.
> Like the actor said "Dying is easy, comedy is
> hard."
> 
> On Dec 5, 2008, at 9:20 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> 
> > 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