belated End of CH 14 315-322

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Aside from being an amalgam of various places, maybe Vineland, like Shambhala, is also supposed to be a state of mind not found on any map.

great hosting job, Joseph!

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>Sent: Apr 4, 2009 7:22 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: belated End of CH 14 315-322
>
>Summary with personal comments
>
>Zoyd and Prairie ride the bus north.
>”headin for nothing but trees, fish, and fog, Slick, from here on in…
>…she looked at him with a wide smile ,“Fiss.”
>He wakes in the bus in the rain with Prairie talking to the giant  
>redwoods they pass . Soon a bunch of fellow travelers are playing  
>music from rock to Motown, folk, fifties stuff and finally a guitar &  
>harmonica playing the blues. ( There are some great radio stations  
>from Santa Rosa on and it was part of why  I always felt a lot better  
>driving north by the time I was getting close to Arcata. ) Zoyd  
>catches up toVan Meter in Eureka; VM is driving Z’s Dodge Dart. They  
>pick up Prairie and go to Vineland. The Journey is over and the  
>remainder of the chapter is about  the geography, and culture and  
>history  of Vineland.  I lived in Arcata for most of a decade and  
>paid closer attention this time to see if Vineland was a specific  
>place in this region . It isn’t. P borrows details from Eureka,  
>Arcata, Trinidad, Blue Lake, Mckinleyville,  and Crescent City and  
>blends them.  There are six rivers there and his Vineland is on the  
>7th. It is most like Eureka which has a long spit connected by an art  
>Deco bridge to the mainland, 101 passes through it  with regular  
>street traffic, and it has a community college called the College of  
>the redwoods, but it’s a blend.
>
>The swap meet is real, the land developers, the ornate victorians,  
>surfers,flower children, there were daffodil fields 300 yards down  
>the street from our house, the Finnish Country Hot Tub(Shangri La)  
>and Sauna is in Arcata, the Bigfoot stories, the L.A. people adapting  
>to the local economy, the live music and theater,the powerful  
>presence of the Yurok and Tolowa culture, spirit world and people,  
>the ghost towns and abandoned houses in the hill-country. He gets it  
>right along with the old school Logger lefties, grangers etc. Pynchon  
>obviously loved it and so did I. The beaches are beautiful and  
>uncrowded and the rivers are the greatest place in the world to white  
>water raft, the summers provide an endless supply of wild  
>blackberries, and the Redwoods surround you with the spirits of the  
>ancient Forest. I remember taking a 2 person inflatable Kayak along  
>part of the Trinity with my son  and  beaching for a while and  
>finding ripe concord grapes  on a wild vine. Vineland the good is  
>still real in some places.  Definitely shared that feeling with Zoyd  
>of having chosen right, for a change.
>
>  Stuff to talk about
>
>Thoughts on Van Meter?   Zoyd reminds me style wise of Ry Cooder, one  
>of my favorites, who once played with Don Van Vliet, aka Captain  
>Beefheart.
>
>I feel like the Thanatoids (along with some more metaphysical  
>implications)  in Ch 14 are a stand in for the invasion of suburbia.
>
>Anyone know anything about Elizabeth Claire Prophet? That’s who I  
>thought of with Cousin Claire the paranormal.
>
>Sorry about cutting this so close to the official beginning of CH  
>15 , tomorrow,  Robin. Am looking forward to the wild conclusion of  
>our literary ride.
>
>
>‘Preciate the chance to host  a chapter, and think about a good  
>book.   This chapter was personal, so kinda nice. This is the first  
>Pynchon novel I read, and it hooked me like a happy Fiss.
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