Fred Astaire in 1941 (public domain photo).
By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger
Another tai chi reference on page 264: I started doing t’ai chi ten years ago, and I have not reread this book during that time. This morning I heard a bit of a review of the Sex and the City sequel on television, and while reading the scene of Frenesi and DL talking in Mexico, I imagined Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Catrall playing them. (They could take turns playing the parts, the way some actors take turns playing Iago and Othello.)
I put an asterisk in the upper right hand corner of page. 265, probably back in 2006 when I taught this novel in a community college English class. I don’t remember doing it, and I don’t remember why, but I find this paragraph ominous in 2025:
“Then again, it’s the whole Reagan program, isn’t it – dismantle the New Deal, reverse the effects of World War II, restore fascism at home and around the world, flee into the past, can’t you feel it, all the dangerous childish stupidity - ‘I don’t like the way it came out, I want it to me be my way.’ If the President can act like that, why not Brock?”
The reference to Fred and Ginger on the next page makes me think of David Thomson’s idea of casting Fred Astaire as Dr. Jekyll and Jimmy Cagney as Mr. Hyde. Fred would have made a great Brock Vond.
2 comments:
I took the week off from Vineland to re-read the Catcher in the Rye. I got a copy for my son and thought I should refresh my memory. Funny to read something so straight forward that you can get through in just a few sittings.
The way things usually work I'll pick Vineland back up and there'll be some reference to Holden Caulfield or something waiting for me. Though I suppose there's already a connection via Pynchon and Salinger's shared reclusion.
Planning to finish Vineland before seeing One Battle After Another next weekend.
I read an interview with PTA where he says he got Pynchon's blessing to just steal the bits he liked from Vineland, because a straight adaptation would be too difficult. The buzz is that it's a quite a good movie though!
Bobby, I think I saw the same article, will do a blog post soon!
Post a Comment