IVIV20: Moving faster than Doc had ever seen him, 354-357

[kelber at mindspring.com]

I'm not sure what to make of Sauncho's lust to own the GF boat.  This being Pynchon, it has that dark, everything's connected connotation -- in this case, we get from maritime lawyers to drug dealers to dentists in several easy jumps.  Still, it's hard not to take the notion of goofy, quasi-counter-cultural Sauncho taking ownership of the boat as part of a formulaically cute, Coy-like happy ending.  One almost expects a final scene where Doc, Denis, Sauncho and assorted babes are partying on the GF.  Thank god TRP didn't go that way, opting instead for the lost-in-the-fog sequence.

I think this issue is indicative of why this book has been so polarizing for us fan-boys-n-girls.  Is the book's dark, chocolatey core of sufficient quality to justify the effort of getting through the sickeningly-sweet outer candy layer?

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>
>
>On Jan 15, 2010, at 12:15 AM, Paul Nightingale wrote:

>> Doc-&-Sauncho is offered as an alternative to Doc-&-Bigfoot; when  
>> Doc is
>> arrested in Ch2, Sauncho appears in counterpoint to Bigfoot. The  
>> Golden Fang
>> is associated with Sauncho after his "strangely evasive" response  
>> to Doc's
>> question on 89; a couple of pages later he tells Doc "his firm ...  
>> ha[s]
>> been keenly, almost desperately, curious about the Golden Fang for  
>> a while
>> now" (91), which might explain why, relating the boat's history, he  
>> can tie
>> Mickey Wolfmann to it (93). Sauncho's first appearance (26-29)  
>> might lead us
>> to question his competence; viewed from Doc's pov he might appear as
>> threatening as Bigfoot. Subsequent reference to The Golden Fang  
>> (89-91)
>> introduces a note of mystery, again from Doc's pov. Moreoever, his
>> "fantasies" (91) echo Doc's own yearning for status.
>Agreed, though he does seem more completely mesmerized by the GF boat  
>fantasy than Doc by his Private Eye fantasy. The maritime law firm's  
>interest in the GF seems to point at the relation between the legal  
>profession and predatory capitalism. Justice vs profit, and law as an  
>arena for the balance of powers, but still with money as the all  
>pervasive motive.
>
>One reason I like Sauncho is his Charly the Tuna rant. He may dream  
>of owning a yacht , may even by implication secretly want a part of  
>the GF action, but he hates the idea of accepting a low status on the  
>food chain, does not accept the aspiration to be canned and marketed  
>by corporate interests. Is the rule of law still a revolutionary goal?
>>