Prairie vs. Zoyd as Protagonist of Vineland

[Joseph Tracy]

And I thought it was about surviving the civil war.   Seems like a  
lot of Pynchon is about the ongoing civil wars.
On Sep 9, 2010, at 11:19 AM, Robin Landseadel wrote:

> Dang!
>
> I thought it was about 1984.
>
> On Sep 9, 2010, at 8:12 AM, Dave Williams wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Hmmm. Well I didn't mention anything about age, I don't
>>> think. Either way, not sure the reader's age comes into it.
>>
>> OK, sorry, I crossed up the Johns here.
>>
>>
>>>> but a formal analysis of the text doesn't support
>>> either the Zoyd as protagonist or Takeshi as protagonist
>>> reading
>>>
>>> Depends whose 'formal analysis'.
>>
>> Sure does.
>>
>>>
>>>> my reading of VL as a novel about a girl named Prairie
>>> on a quest
>>>
>>> That's a much more contentious statement than merely
>>> suggesting that Prairie is the 'protagonist' or 'central
>>> character'. What about VL as a novel about America, or about
>>> the 1960s, or about how the Sixties became the Eighties, or
>>> about family... etc?
>>
>>
>> Or, a novel abour work?
>