Prairie vs. Zoyd as Protagonist of Vineland

[Robin Landseadel]

On Sep 10, 2010, at 6:49 AM, David Morris wrote:

> Fun post, Mr. (Other) Bailey.
>
> Except I couldn't follow the very last point, starting with "all
> around Prairie."

Me neither, and I'm a Maddy Prior fan.

I take Vineland real personal. My Mom lives in Vineland. The west  
coast Vineland is one of those "Great Lost Places" that we're losing,  
just check out the cover of Vineland for details. Vineland New Jersey  
is one of those end-of-the-line places. Vineland California is really  
the end of the line for Manifest Destiny, one of the last semi-wild  
places in California.

The Lot is crying, the land is crying. All along we ignored the extent  
that Pynchon was writing about the land as a living thing being  
conquered by developers. As clear as that notion is expressed in all  
his books, it's not a topic brought up so often. But this Gaiaian  
notion of the Earth being sentient is a major thread/theme in Vineland.