VL 'Stokely's dog' 49.1

[Michael Bailey]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:02 PM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> If the Wobblies had as big a role in Vineland as they do in your list, I'd be more inclined to love the book as much as you do.  The best parts of VL for me are the Traverse family recap and the 60s flashbacks to Frenesi and her betrayal of the collective.  But they're buried in a lot of stuff I like less:  The whole DL/Takeshi sequence and the the critique of pulp and TV pop culture just aren't all that interesting.  TRP's shooting at some pretty easy targets there, that have been picked pretty clean by critics and virtually anyone who's ever watched TV.  I kind of wish he'd carved the Traverse-Gates sequences from VL and ATD and shaped them into a separate book.  Although I enjoy his writing as much as ever, there's still a lesser density of asides and associations in this book that's disappointing compared to -- well, you know what I'm comparing it to.  I'm very willing to be convinced otherwise, though, by anyone who feels that all is for the best in the best of all poss!
>  ible Pynchon worlds.

The IWW is an important part of the dynamic in the book.
Zoyd's non-affiliation and snitch-virginity contrasts with Frenesi's
picket-line-rectitude

Ken Kesey's book (and film (1971)) _Sometimes a Great Notion_
juxtaposes nicely with Vineland.  The movie, eenhhyeh, not bad, but
Kesey could write like a mofo (imho) and there's a scene where the one
guy is smoking some weed and listening to Coltrane that really came
alive for me.

Anyway...in Sometimes, the doughty American individualist passes on
the opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with the union, and
humiliates the union rep.  A series of calamities ensues, none of
which were caused by the union.  I don't remember the union's playing
as big a part as in Vineland -- it's only one of a number of
beneficent influences that "the old booger" rejects in his crustiness.
 Anyway...

my point...umm...lessee, ummm, I think
a) church (truncated to the desire to get high), state - viz. Law,
Army and Police- , family (including Mob), and markets - all also
important in the book
b) the view of IWW includes substantial criticism as well as sympathy
c) that Blagojevich looks kinda like I picture Brock Vond looking but
it's hard to imagine confusing him with a Japanese guy
d) DL and Takeshi, well we shall see in this read
e) critiques of TV and popular culture, well, again we shell sea