Fwd: IVIV (13) scene one question

[Peter Petto]

I haven't ever tried to figure out "which one is Pynchon" in any of  
the books. I do spend a lot of time (in most any book) thinking "is  
that like me?" I guess I'm a self-centered 'merkin.

But I do have the sense that over the course of Pynchon's books it's  
becoming less us against them...or more apparent that them is our own  
construction.

Or maybe it's taken me a while to get the point.



On Nov 5, 2009, at 6:17 AM, John Bailey wrote:

> I think one difference is that Hector literally hectors Zoyd - he's an
> annoying chump who gets a lot more out of their relationship than Zoyd
> does. Zoyd might imagine that he would be happy if people like Hector
> stopped hectoring him and let him live the peaceful stoner lifestyle;
> although from the get-go this fantasy is troubled by his reliance on
> the State as a source of income.
>
> Doc has a more syncretic relationship with Bigfoot, whereby both lives
> benefit and are made more difficult by the other's. Locard's
> Principle.
>
> This is why I think Doc is a less 'sympathetic' character than Zoyd -
> or less of a stand-in for Pynchon... because he is *much* more
> implicated in the things he is ostensibly against. It also makes him a
> more developed character, and in a way more of a stand-in for Pynchon
> because he is more true to life.
>
> But it's fiction and I think it's a fool's game to try to read P into
> his novels. He is a clever chap.