IV Chapter 17 Thoughts

[Joseph Tracy]

It seems to me that people handle cannabis differently. I never could  
handle it, but have high tolerance for other substances I've tried.  
There is a fair amount of evidence that P was a heavy smoker at this  
time, but he managed to write one of the  greatest and most  
dauntingly layered novels of the century. For him to imagine a  
detective who functions competently and creatively while smoking a  
good deal of weed seems reasonable.
There is a moment near the end where Doc doubts everything he has  
found and ascribes this fogginess to the weed, to me that is just the  
self protective adoption of the dominant or straight view of drugs,  
but in my own experience I find no correlation between drugs and loss  
of memory.  Apart from physical disfunction, memory loss seems  
principally a function of time and use.
On Dec 10, 2009, at 5:13 AM, Carvill, John wrote:

> << Remember as well that Doc being constantly stoned-a wake 'n bake  
> type-
> ties in with his soul brother Philip Marlowe. As Raymond Chandler
> faces up to such considerations as alcoholic black-outs and simple
> mortality in "The Long Goodbye," so does Pynchon face up to some of
> the consequences of Ganja's candy-coated fog and simple mortality in
> "Inherent Vice." >>
>
> I know I'm in a minority in questioning the extent to which Doc  
> actually is debilitated by dope usage throughout the book. But even  
> if you assume Doc's constantly stoned, there is little similarity  
> between him and Marlowe, in that respect. Sure, Marlowe usually  
> carries a bottle of pretty good rye around with him, and often uses  
> it to lubricate potential informants, but he doesn't stumble about  
> drunk much of the time. Roger Wade, in The Long Goodbye, is an  
> alcoholic. Wade is, to some extent, a representation of, and/or  
> rumination on, some of Chandler's own traits. Marlowe is not an  
> alcoholic, not really even a heavy drinker. Marlowe likes a drink,  
> but is able to handle it.
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