AtD (37) p. 1055, Kafkaesque dream, guilt, paranoia, Where is LAPD?

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          Laura:
          Anyone up for a group read of Vineland next?

I'd be up for it, someone else recommends "V.", I  suggested 
CoL 49—all have tight connections to AtD.

Vineland is about surveillance reversed, turning the cameras on the finks.

Considering how much space the creation of modern-day spy networks  
takes up in AtD [GR, for that matter], Vineland offers up much relevant
material as regards spies, spying and the creation of a permanent police 
state in the good old U.S.A. Vineland is also connected to AtD via  the 
presence of Jesse Traverse and Frenesi"s taste for C.O.P.s.

If it turns out to be "V.", though, I'll have a chance at connecting with a 
book that has left me cold ever since I first had a crack at it twenty years 
ago. On the one hand, the characters in "V." are the thinest in any of 
TRP's novels—the cardboard cutouts in Against the Day usually have
something funny ha-ha to say, there's a greater amusement potential.
On the other, the time frame of "V."often matches Against the Day, 
obviously OBA needed to tie up a lot of loose ends.

I'll end by noting here, and probably later on, that  la Jarretière's
little entrance on p. 1066 is partially in the way of a belated apology for
la Jarretière's scene in "V.", an ugly compendium of slurs and clichés
on the arts scene. La Jarretière returns to assure us it was only an 
outrageous stunt, no cause for concern. Must have been what our boy 
was talkin' about when he said:

          "It is only fair to warn even the most kindly disposed of readers 
          that there are some mighty tiresome passages here, juvinile and
          deliquent too.  At the same time, my best hope is that, pretentious, 
          goofy and ill-considered as they get now and then, these stories 
          will still be of use with all their flaws intact, as illustrative of 
          typical problems in entry-level fiction, and cautionary about some 
          practices which younger writers might prefer to avoid.
          Slow Learner page 4