Prairie vs. Zoyd as Protagonist of Vineland

[Michael Bailey]

On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 9:18 AM, Dave Williams <daveuwilliams at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Maybe the term "protagonist" is the problem here.

I have a surmountable problem with that - as, it isn't classical
drama, doesn't observe the unities, and ends on a suspension rather
than a resolution, clearly and memorably for Zoyd, but also for
Prairie, not to mention the literal suspension of BV...but still, he's
prominent enough to qualify for the term...

it's the "vs." that I disagree with.   There isn't any contention
among Zoyd and Prairie, they're both incomplete and seeking...their
peregrinations complement each other...

>But I'll stick to my reading of VL as a novel about a girl named Prairie on a >quest.

special rider, quester, not that much difference

>Takeshi is also quite amusing and interesting. The role of the audience is >important. The older Zoyd-like reader described by John in the prior posts may >certainly identify with Zoyd and Frenesi.

you probably meant me, whom you may be thinking of as John Bailey...
I'm the other Bailey though...

> A younger reader may find Takeshi or DL or that relationship more interesting. > Not that I would ever discount a reader-response or role of the audience > >analysis,

maybe so, I really hadn't brung them into the discussion very much...
how about the Russian guitarist who found the tape in a bottle?
The basic trending is toward music and parties, and away from a
prosaic political tendency because political power comes out of the
barrel of a gun (and how 'bout that Weed, eh: PR3, an ad hoc state
BASED ON music - and when he's not too tired, Weed remembers to tell
people why not to rely on weaponry - not because the other side will
escalate (though that's true enough to propagate when he's dog-tired)
but because there's this OTHER THING going on...that's BETTER...)

so rather than using analysis as the commissars in town did, to notate
whose relatives to kidnap to make people fight as Trotsky did, and how
to best kill off the muzhiks and nationalize the farms, and justify it
by pointing to the evils of the old regime - which is really a
Squamuglian revenge ethic...

...DL and Takeshi utilize analysis to determine how people have
suffered injustice and how to make it up to them, which has a lot
better beat and is easier to dance to - so, heck yes, they're
fascinating...

>with narrative, so it may be difficult to find fault with what may be another >structural problem--that is, the Takeshi & DL story is not equal to the >Mad-knight with his Mexican side-kick and donkey show or functions as a >subplot or // plot but is longer than the plot propper. In any event, Prairie is the >solution to this apparent (to some, including me) problem in VL's structure.

it is not a question of which story is more compelling, is it, as much
as a question of how the tales interlap, overweave, ramify and
buttress (buttrify and mattress?) each other,

all around Prairie (or all around my hat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zzwbYyvWiU which I read was one of
those unavoidable songs for awhile in Britain...like Tie a Yellow
Ribbon or Tubthumping or You Light Up My Life)
if that makes the most sense...?