end ch 9 begin 10

[John Bailey]

>>  The Thanatoids are like ghost images (subtext) on a TV screen, crying out
>> to be brought into focus.
>
> I like that. Kind of like the bodies and where they're buried in plain
> sight. Our real karmic issues, wandering, exiled and muddled in Tubeland.
>
Later in the novel we're explicitly told that Thanatoids are memories.
Seems like a clumsy metaphor but P does a lot more with them than just
that. It does tie in with the whole "historical consciousness" aspect
of Vineland - how are we to authentically engage with history without
turning it into a tacky or nostalgic simulation - a theme park etc?
Also ties in with the ambivalent status of the media - film and tv can
act as a kind of cultural memory bank, but can also distort or falsify
those remembrances. Some ghosts can't be trusted.