IVIV Sportello

[rich]

i wonder why Pynchon didn't play up the snitch angle in Doc's history
in the book--it would go a long way in explaining his effort to help
folks like Coy and Hope, no?

On 8/19/09, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> We know that penance is a subtle theme stream in AtD....
> and we all remember Karmic Adjustment from Vineland.
>
> It is also clear from the video backstory that Doc is self-consciously
> aware of his past....he says that now, making less money, he
> has 'less karmic hassle' and "less guilt-tripping".....
>
> This set-up of Doc as Inherent Vice begins seems to matter. Doc's 'working
> both sides', betraying some folks for the cops, reminds me of the Pynchon
> leitmotif of spying, double agents, everywhere in his fiction. Human
> betrayal.
>
> But for a time now, that glorious period (?), Doc has NOT been that.
>
> --- On Wed, 8/19/09, John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: IVIV Chandler
>> To: "Doug Millison" <dougmillison at comcast.net>
>> Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 12:02 PM
>> >
>> >> He never hit anybody
>> >> up with that syringe, but he carried it and used
>> it as a threatening
>> >> visual aid.
>> >
>> > And that makes him a nice guy?  It makes him a
>> bully at best.
>>
>> No, I'm not saying it makes him nice. I'm saying, the video
>> seems to
>> fill in more background on Doc, some of it 'negative', eg.
>> helping
>> cops with shakedown schemes. That's already been pointed
>> out. My point
>> was, even without the video, we know Doc as some sort of
>> skip tracer,
>> which does not have overwhelmingly 'positive' connotations
>> in itself.
>>
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