VLVL(12) pgs 226-238

[Michael Bailey]

 Bekah  wrote
>
> Who is Dr. Elasmo and what does he want with Atman?   Why does Atman become
> so disoriented on seeing Elasmo - is it his televised image he's seeing
> being projected around?   This is widely considered to be similar to Kafka's
> The Trial (or some other work)  -  in what way?    And Atman's paranoia sets
> in directly afterward - what has Elasmo done to Atman with all that strange,
> apparently pain inducing,  equipment at day-long sessions?   Does Elasmo
> know Vond, what is there relationship,  and have they conspired to use
> Frenesi to get Weed?  - (something like that)?

we have it from Vond that he does...I forget just where...

Eigenvalue the dentist in V. was famous for deprecating conspiracies
in favor of random caries; Elasmo the dentist in Vineland is working
for Vond, surely a somewhat paranoid formulation -- like Ditzah Pisk
progresses people's astrological charts, Pynchon has progressed the
dentist into an agent of Cointelpro.  With ready access to subjects
and neurological agents, a dental chair is a potent locus of
brainwashing and terror (Marathon Man, wasn't it? and also, the
In-Laws - Peter Falk the CIA agent finds that he can fairly easily
co-opt Alan Arkin the dentist out of civilian status into agentry)