IVIV20: Gateway to the past, 351-352

[Paul Nightingale]

As Ch20's first paragraph ends the narrative segues into a discussion of
"what Sauncho's colleagues in marine insurance liked to call inherent vice"
(351). Temptation, indeed: that the novel's title is being explained finally
is easily swallowed.

However, before taking the bait, we might consider the context and
acknowledge the failure of interpretation: the "glittering mosaic of doubt"
is "[s]omething like ... inherent vice", and then "like original sin", or
even "[l]ike the San Andreas Fault". A few lines further Sauncho's "boat"
has become Doc's "ark", which is how, over the page on 352, Doc describes
California itself. Meaning is always elsewhere, and this explanation of the
novel's title provides little satisfaction if intended to provide closure.

Sauncho is, of course, absent, the scene taking place in Doc's head as,
seeking an overview, a 'big picture' that will make everything make sense,
he revisits a scene that took place a while back. The flashback afforded by
Farley's enlargements is followed by one courtesy of Doc's memory. Viewing
images he concludes "... it could've been anybody" (351), reminding us that
Sauncho appears for the first time, in flashback and then in person (26-29),
following Doc's arrest in Ch2.