IVIV20: Looks real enough, 361-363

[Mark Kohut]

Casino capitalism? Luck not the results, not the work get Doc paid?

As in the casino theme in AtD?

--- On Mon, 1/25/10, Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com> wrote:

> From: Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com>
> Subject: IVIV20: Looks real enough, 361-363
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:08 AM
> Returning to his office means Doc
> will first discover the casino's cheque;
> he seems suspicious, not quite believing his eyes (361).
> Then he will take
> the call from Hope and hear her say: "... I don't know what
> to believe"
> (362). Doc for one might have done better: "... the betting
> lines at certain
> other casinos to the south of here would have provided a
> vastly more
> lucrative payoff" (361).
> 
> The section, and the chapter, ends with the brief exchange
> between Doc and
> Coy, the latter clinging on: "You saved my life ..." etc
> (363). Doc wants
> none of it. Up the page: "There were sounds, annoying after
> a while, of
> prolonged kissing ...". Embarrassment? Perhaps. Forced to
> witness/eavesdrop
> on a private moment, he has to deal with his exclusion from
> the narratives
> of others. And this follows the news that he missed "the
> massive Surfadelic
> Freak-In" (362), a public experience, one that can never be
> recovered:
> "Scott's gonna be so pissed-off" (363).
> 
> Here, Doc hangs up on Coy. At the end of Ch19: "Bigfoot's
> not my brother
> ..." etc (350). Or leaving Sauncho in 20.3: "You're
> probably in a mood to
> celebrate ... but I should look in at the office" (359).
> 
> The exchange with Coy returns us to Doc's dream. Flying to
> Hawaii might be a
> nod at both technological advance and VL, but it brings
> distance from the
> Golden Fang. Burke Stodger has also been redeemed,
> perhaps.
> 
>