Prairie vs. Zoyd as Protagonist of Vineland

[David Morris]

Fun post, Mr. (Other) Bailey.

Except I couldn't follow the very last point, starting with "all
around Prairie."

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 8:25 AM, Michael Bailey
<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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...?
>