IVIV background: VL

[Doug Millison]

Rob Jackson:
> […] I'm inclined to the opinion, though, that part of Pynchon's
> purpose or message, insofar as VL is a "political novel", is to show
> that it's the weaknesses and complicity of the Zoyds and Frenesis of
> the world (i.e., all of us) that allow the "forces of Control" to
> prevail. That "daisy chain ... " And it's in this respect that the
> characters serve as "ciphers", or types.
>
> Having said that, both Zoyd's and Frenesi's mistakes and foibles as
> disclosed in the novel make them more human, more "real". As John
> Bailey pointed out not so long back: how many of us, how many of the
> people we meet, how many of those we share our lives with, are "fully-
> rounded and complete ... ? They're [we're ...] all Becomings". Sho'
> nuff. […]

Yes indeed we have been 'round and 'round on some of these questions  
and I find nothing to disagree with in these two paragraphs.