Zuniga Zoyd

Richard Ryan richardryannyc at yahoo.com
Wed Mar 25 22:06:56 CDT 2009


Ah very interesting indeed:but note that the original Hector was fighting in the defense of his city and NOT in the service of his STATE.  The Hector of Vineland no longer believes in his cause; and consequently has to swaddle his ego and self-image in the tacky polyester of 70's cop shows. HZ is one of the most irretrievably lost of all the lost souls in this diseased and dis-easing book.  

--- On Wed, 3/25/09, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:

> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> Subject: Re: Zuniga Zoyd
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 5:14 PM
> 
> On Mar 25, 2009, at 2:09 PM, Joseph Tracy wrote:
> 
> > fascist avoidance, genocide aversion, vowel exclusion
> its all good but on the theory that some are working their
> way through chapter 14. perhaps spome thoughts on the Zuniga
> Zoyd games ,several of which play out in the early part of
> Ch  14.  Why por exemplo are we at the end of the
> alphabet?
> 
> Okay Tracy, let me make a little
> suggestion.   I always start with Names in
> Pynchon. Hector Zuniga. Hector is the great warrior defender
> of Troy against the invading Greeks; the fight is all about
> a woman. He fights with Ajax kills many , gets killed by
> Achilles. Gods watch led by Zeus changing sides and making
> side bets. Zuniga is a lieutenant in Carmen,  hot for
> Carmen and trying to vex the love of Carmen and Jose and
> move in himself, he moves the plot forward at several
> points..Carmen's love, of course is not exactly reliable.
> 
> So a lot of this applies to our little story. Small battle
> for woman reflects big battle for soul of America, that free
> and easy babe with the magic honeypot. Hector Zuniga is both
> a little and a big player. The whole Reagan... program
> relies on carrying out orders without regard for petty
> constitutional restraint, on a fair amount of Job
> insecurity. Hector  does the Job. He is also a true
> believer and lives to keep alive the great cop show
> tradition in which the good guys are winning and the nasty
> druggies and reds don't stand a chance of corrupting
> America's youth. He likes Zoyd, would like to see him fit
> into the American Dream but the light in his eyes is going
> out, his TV dreams are hollowing him out, turning him into a
> cartoon crazy.
> 
> Zoyd seems to many within th story like a bit player, But
> again and again he is the one on the field of battle, and he
> has something that he found out in those dark forays into
> the tule fog, into the California Rock and roll nights, the
> wild surf,  the travels into the city and the woods,
> the jails and the ecstasy . He has discovered his own
> immortality and has taken a little of the soul of America in
> his daughter out of the battle and into the wilds of
> freedom.  It isn't safe secure or without dark corners,
> but it isn't the Suburbs either.
> 
> Kinda funny that right now we are watching the foundations
> shake. It's like they brought blind Samson into the temple
> and are now surprised to see the stones are falling, Its
> like Vond went a little too far and found himself in a dark
> hole with his bones removed.  It isn't funny or happy,
> but it kinda looks like the longhairs and visionaries of the
> 60's, the Tofflers and the Snyders and the Dylans saw much
> that was real.
> 
> 


      




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