VL-IV Rota Fortunae

[bandwraith at aol.com]

In a more general vein, methinks it the inversion: Pynchon,
in his art, has captured a certain nuance of the tiimes- 1984,
through the reunion of Zoyd and Hector. The Reagan
Revolution, defunding of government, Reaganomics, the
whole conservative agenda, if you will, are juxtaposed to the
period of hippiedom, flower power and other tubal orthodoxies
of the 60-70's. Zoyd and Hector are psychologically
"invested" in both eras, somewhat trapped in their roles,
and are caught, here, trying to update their mutually
co-dependent relationship, during a time of rapid change.

By the 90's, when the book came out, GW was already heavily
involved in presidential politics, planning a run for the governorship
of Texas and rubbing shoulders with all the majority of the
ideologues who would form his own presidential team in 2000,
including those who would help him steal that election.

So, yes, echoes and more, especially generational, but Zoyd
comes out way ahead, he's from the other side of the claass
divide. He's always had to work, union or not. He's no star, as
Prairie is first to point out, but neither is he as feckless as
Hector tries to paint him in Hector's own desparate attempt
to re-define himself as a viable "player" in the new world of
Reaganomics, in 1984.

All these aspects reverberate for me as I re-read the Vineland
Lanes luncheon scene, but given the current state of collapse,
they take on a whole new meaning. Reaganomics came back
like a bad sequel with GW, and now we are seeing the
hideous consequences of that approach to government, as
well as, our own inability to prevent it. Did Pynchon scry the
return of Reaganism and the spectactular collapse we are
currently witnessing? I don't know, but it's probably fair to
say that one measure of great art is its timelessness and ability
to inform in new ways, as the wheel of fortune turns.



.............Original Message..............
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:51:35 +1100
From: "John Bailey" <sundayjb@[omitted]>
To: pynchon-l@[omitted]
Subject: Re: VL-IV Rota Fortunae


"Has anyone mentioned the "Z Dubya" echo of "G Dubya"? I've got no idea
of the political situation in the States during the time, but Vineland
was released when Bush Snr was in power, right? Was the younger fella
on the radar? Was Zoyd's useless slacker status similar to GW Bush's
itinerant early days?

Not that I'd *ever* put loveable Zoyd in a room with that destroyer of 
worlds."