IVIV: Zomes

[John Bailey]

Not the only IV instance of a disembodied female voice speaking over
an intercom... cf Blatnoyd's mysterious detaining at the house with
the moat. Might not mean anything though.

Sloane addresses Luz as "mi hijita" - does that mean little daughter?
Or is it just colloquial?

Anyway: the tie collection.

My first thought when reading this scene was "where would anyone wear
such a thing? How ridiculous." Wrong question, of course, since we're
not dealing with a realist writer.

The ties objectify Wolfmann's 'girlfriends' - reduce them to
two-dimensional porn images. There are other such dimensional
reductions in the chapter, including the artfully shot photo of
Sloane, the Vegas stage effects which render showgirls "fairly much
alike", the Jimmy Wong Howe lighting that turns Sloane into an old
movie image, her description as a 'society page superstar'... all of
these are vaguely sinister, like the neckties, which take it to the
extreme.

On the other hand, Mickey's brief spell of hippie rebirthing - his
repentance and aborted redemption - is tied to the dimension-expanding
zomes. It was all about building spaces which don't flatten but
increase spatial possibility. This is not what They want, and so They
take (lots of) action. Which, in a roundabout manner, ties (hurr hurr)
the pornographic neckties to the whole system of control that is the
book's real villain. It's a minor, personal expression of the same
kind of violence and objectification.

So there. The ties are not a good thing. Though Doc, not surprisingly,
is drawn to them.

On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 11:29 AM, Robin Landseadel
<robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
> Riggs Warbling, guzzling away at the margarita jug, corners Doc on the
> subject of "Zomes":
>
>        Zomes are geometric volumes composed of lozenges arranged in
>        a double spiral. This family of shapes, of which one find traces in
>        sacred architecture, has a relationship with the laws that govern
>        the living world.
>
>        We find these shapes in numerous natural forms such as crystals,
>        honeycombs, and certain plants (pineapples, pine cones,
>        artichokes, etc...).
>
>        This biodynamic structure in double spiral, one that we also find
>        in the double helix of D.N.A, characterizes the zome. The zome
>        creates a phenomena of resonance capable of modifying the
>        vibratory quality of the space inside and outside of these shapes.
>        These frequencies permit the reactivation of new arrangements of
>        our D.N.A, with the goal of reconnecting us to our true nature. . .
>
> http://www.zomes-concept.com/EJaccueil.htm
>
> Turns out that Riggs was working out at Arrepentimiento:
>
>        Spanish: n. repentance, penitence, contrition--all concepts
>        important to Inherent Vice. There's also a cool trilingual pun here:
>        "pentimento" (now an English word, but from the Italian for
>        'repent') refers to an image in a painting that was painted over but
>        then, with time, begins to show through the top layer of
>        represented images. Lots of ways to connect this multi-level word
>        to the plot and themes of Inherent Vice.
>
> http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5
>
>        Uh, huh. "You've been working for Mickey Wolfmann?"
>
>        ''At Arrepentimiento-that's a longtime dream project of his, near
>        Las Vegas. Maybe you saw the piece on it in Architectural
>        Digest?"
>
>        "Missed it." Actually, the only magazine Doc read with any
>        regularity was Naked Teen Nymphos, which he subscribed to, or
>        at least used to till he began to find the few copies that made it to
>        his mailbox opened already and with pages stuck together. But
>        he decided not to mention this.
>
> Good thinking, Doc. Doc's thinking gets even more overheated as the nubile
> young co-conspirator Sloan hands Doc the Wolfmann's joint bank account
> number. Fortunately Luz emerges to show Doc out before Riggs checks out any
> of Doc's checking out of Sloan. Doc claims he needs to use the bathroom
> before leaving, Luz leads him upstairs
>
>        Doc located the door to a palatial bathroom and, guessing it was
>        Mickey's, went in, and then on into the adjoining bedroom.
>
> This leads to a very kinky collection of neck-ties, all pornographically
> explicit paintings of what Doc supposes is Mickey's inventory of
> girlfriends. Something tells me someone else might be better prepared to
> handle this particular scene. I'm sure someone better versed in such things
> as Postmodern Philosophy and other kinky thought processes can process this
> scene into some sort of viable literary commentary, but if you don't mind,
> I'll pass. One thing to note, however, is that there is a missing tie and
> that the missing tie is Shasta's. Eventually the missing tie turns up in one
> of those noir junctures, right next to a cliffhanger or two. Thus, the
> missing tie becomes a Mcguffin. Luz re-appears, arms wrapping around the
> startled but more than willing Doc just before he notes the absence of
> Shasta's tie. Luz points out to Doc that she never did get to fuck on the
> bed as Mickey always used the shower. Before any of this hanky can turn into
> any real panky, Luz is called down by Sloane and Doc finally goes out.
>