Re: Zoyd’s progress

[Mark Kohut]

Hey guys, all and Jerky too,

Dare this Quixote ask for the Love, love is strange, of a new Group Read of
Vineland?

Vineland. America then...and how now?

America.

On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 9:27 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Well-thought writing, Raphael. Thank you.
>
> On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 2:51 AM Raphael Saltwood <
> PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > > On Apr 9, 2020, at 9:31 AM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com<
> >
> https://webmaila.juno.com/webmail/mobile/8?folder=Inbox&msgNum=0000LTW0:001UZnwn000034qb&block=1&msgNature=all&msgStatus=all&count=1586583144#
> >>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > This attachment to innocence and youth, is ubiquitous in american art,
> > > and with few exceptions (Henry James comes to mind) is at the heart of
> > > American prose fiction, in the so-called novel, and is not something
> > > america can grow up and out of  on this side of paradise. Zoyd, of
> > > course, is Slothroplike, childish and innocent,  but is, because it's
> > > 1984, though no Big Brother totalitarianism but rather Neoliberal
> > > torments him, a working class male trying to raise a daughter in his
> > > hippie hair and dress. Like Jim and Huck, naked on the raft, he floats
> > > past the flotsam of what is left in Gatsby's wake, avoiding the shore
> > > as the trees cleared for Gatsby's mansion are clear cut on the other
> > > side of Vinland the Good, Zoyd, a member of the Multitude (Spinozian),
> > > can only partake in the picnic of old lefties and young mutants.
> >
> > As one matures, if that actually happens,
> >
> > one still loves youth and innocence but gradually learns to love it in
> > others, protect it, nurture it.
> >
> > If Benny Profane's tale was an anti-Bildungsroman, not learning a g-d
> > thing,
> >
> >  and Slothrop's an anti-Odyssey, the wily voyager morphing beyond the
> > possibility of coming home,
> >
> > Vineland for me has always been Pynchon's first novel with a net positive
> > developmental theme for the protagonist (I could argue for CoL49 - the
> fact
> > that she goes to the auction means she’s beginning to cope...hmmm)
> >
> > (obviously there is much more to V and GR than the protagonist's outcome,
> > but still...)
> >
> > First action - Zoyd wakes up. Then Pynchon proceeds to build a community
> > around him.
> >
> > His daughter leaves home. With a band - a van load of friends and a
> > boyfriend.
> >
> >  Nobody’s saying he’s perfect, but this is not a failure outcome for a
> > parent.
> >
> > Not the way it happens here. Especially when music runs in the family.
> >
> > She confronts him with his inadequacies, which he ruefully acknowledges,
> > and they exchange affectionate benedictions.
> >
> > During the rest of the book he grapples with those inadequacies and we
> are
> > treated to the whole sordid history.
> >
> > But is it really so sordid?
> >
> > Zoyd’s flashbacks show a fairly honorable man, incapable of retrieving
> > Frenesi from Vond’s clutches, but otherwise not so terrible*
> >
> > He gave up his keyboard career in favor of supporting Prairie, his
> in-laws
> > trusted him with the baby (kudos), he works as a roofer and landscaper
> for
> > The Marquis de Sod, he gradually builds a home where Prairie can grow up
> > and bring friends.
> >
> > he does rely on the largesse of the federal government for a crazy-person
> > stipend, but in a sense
> >
> >  (a sense continually gainsaid by jingoistic  agitprop which justifies
> > huge payments to those involved in warmaking and disparages humanitarian
> > aid, but over the years hasn’t completely eliminated it - for example,
> the
> > paltry guilt money the loggers toss at Jess after his “accident”)
> >
> > ...in a sense, Zoyd’s pittance is a legitimate diversion from the
> national
> > treasure, especially considering that Vond’s government-financed
> > machinations took Frenesi away.
> >
> > Contrasting Zoyd and Frenesi with another couple in Vineland, RC and
> > Moonpie, it seems that the latter couple’s bond relies on RC’s warrior
> > puissance and a corresponding singleminded mate-for-life mentality on the
> > part of Moonpie.
> >
> > Another successful couple, the Marquis and Marquise (or Marchioness) de
> > Sod, share a theatrical past and run a business together.
> >
> > Zoyd and Frenesi lack these connections. He’s a lover, not a fighter,
> and,
> > literally and figuratively, they don’t work together.
> >
> > How does his action in the “present time” of the book constitute
> progress?
> >
> > 1) his progress in the flashbacks also counts
> >
> > 2) his penchant for friendly discourse gains him a network of friends -
> > and his network of friends links up with Frenesi’s in the person of the
> 3rd
> > successful couple, DL and Takeshi, which shelters and nurtures Prairie
> >
> > 3) he’s wise enough to let his daughter go when he learns of the looming
> > threat of Vond
> >
> > 4) unlike Huck, he doesn’t drift away; unlike Benny, he sets down roots;
> > unlike Slothrop, he stays in (star-crossed) love for years and years and
> > raises a kid - he doesn’t have to go searching for himself because he
> kind
> > of knows who he is. Not that who he is is all that, but he does
> accomplish
> > some things
> >
> > 5) like the end of _The Crying of Lot 49_ I got the sense that he’s
> > learned and grown enough to be a meaningful part of the upcoming action,
> > whatever it turns out to entail. Not that he’s perfect, or attained some
> > infallible vantage point, but that he’s become a more worthwhile person
> and
> > fulfilled some of his potential
> >
> >
> > * excepting Prairie’s mention of his scouting for bedmates among
> > vulnerable girls as young as she. Although this is indeed despicable, I
> > like to think her bringing it up is a reminder that she administered
> > corrective talk at the time and he listened - otherwise she would already
> > be gone.
> >
> > Can’t prove that from the text, though.
> >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>