VLVL (13) - Cesare Lombroso

[Carvill, John]

I know we want to avoid simplistic or reductive readings, but..... it
seems pretty 'obvious' to me, from the opening paragraphs of 'Vineland',
that Pynchon is overwhelmingly sympathetic to Zoyd. Yeah, the guy is
flawed, etc., but he seems basically good hearted, amiable, a bit dopey
(in 2 senses), but definitely one of the 'good guys'.

Whereas Brock Vond is pretty much 100% a cartoon villain, a nazi. Yeah,
he's portrayed as having a certain amount of a cartain type of dubious
'charm', which if a character falls for it can be taken as in indication
of flaws much more severe than anything exhibited by Zoyd.

Seems to me:

Zoyd = flawed (but who ain't?),
Frenesi = very flawed,
Vond = all flaw.




>From: Richard Ryan 
>Subject: Re: VLVL (13) - Cesare Lombroso

>>kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:  Pynchon clearly
>>prefers Zoyd and DL, say, to Vond, while Frenesi's more weak than
"evil."


>**** Ryan sez:  I agree that Frenesi is portrayed as flawed as opposed
to >"evil" - I'm not sure I'd agree that Pynchon "prefers" Zoyd and DL
(wildly >flawed personalities themselves) to Vond, or what grounds we'd
have for >making that assessment....