history may let them rest (or even party) at last.
Happy Ending: Just Like In the Movies
It's extremely odd that Pynchon, one of the finest writers of the 20th Century, should have a problem with
endings -- but that's the fact, Jack. His best ending, the stupendously cinematic blackout in V *, is undercut by
36 pages of slow, intricate Epilogue that follow. The Crying of Lot 49 ends with a drawn-out reverie in which
Pynchon seems to have finally discerned what the book is about -- communication -- but now it's time to pay
the piper, finish quickly, and abandon the infant novel crying in its basket on the publisher's doorstep. And
while the ending in Gravity's Rainbow is structurally "correct" (the plot and all the characters atomize as the V-
2 explodes at the end of its parabola), it's maddeningly unsatisfying since the book ends without a resolution.
[*"Presently, sudden and in silence, all illumination in Valletta, houselight and streetlight, was extinguished.
Profane and Brenda continued to run through the abruptly absolute night, momentum alone carrying them
toward the edge of Malta, and the Mediterranean beyond."]
Given this grim history of bitter ends, it should come as no surprise that there is a problem with the ending
of Vineland. Vond is conveniently "faded out" (via a budget cut) in Chapter 15 to enable the Happy Ending. But
if the novel represents the real world (as we must assume it does, or it would be no more than a pointless
divertissement), what "real" event occurred in 1984 to justify Vond's withdrawal and defeat in the book? None,
we think. Did Vond (and the threat he represents -- a repressive and totalitarian government) fade out in 1984?
Hardly. The heaviest Federal/CAMP attack ever on Humboldt County marijuana growers occurred in August,
1990. Since Vond has clearly not faded away in real life, it's a cheat that he does so in the novel.
Pynchon's Songs
One of the most obvious (and charming) of Pynchon's stylistic trademarks is his frequent use of musical
references; in fact, he seems to have a musician's viewpoint. Musicians (particularly jazz musicians), are hip,
hep, preterite, and -- above all else -- cool. The jazzman on the bandstand observes the scene on the floor, but
remains uninvolved, and often unobserved himself, though of course his rhythm and melodies are making the
dancing happen -- a bit like Pynchon's role in his novels. But if jazzbos (and Pynchon) are preterites, they're
preterites who recognize and accept their unredeemability -- which frees them to create, for only we are
listening.
Song lyrics have appeared in Pynchon's work from the very beginning -- other people's songs at first, but,
increasingly, his own too. There's a revealing observation in one of Pynchon's earliest stories:
"...[Dennis Flange] would sing Cindy the Noel Coward song, half as an attempt to recall the first few
months they were together, half as a love song for the house:
'We'll be as happy and contented
As birds upon a tree,
High above the mountains and sea...
However Noel Coward songs often bear little relevance to reality--..."
--[Low-Lands, 1960]
By the time V appeared, Pynchon's penchant for song as a literary device was apparent; scarcely a chapter
can be found without at least one set of Pynchonian lyrics, and some "real" songs appear as well. This continued
with The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, and Vineland.
Some of the early songs come with helpful hints for guessing the tunes. For instance, most of page 203 of
the Ballantine paperback version of V is devoted to the 1956 phenom of Davy Crockett, going on to declare that
"the [Davy Crockett TV/Movie theme song] invited parody." Whereupon Pynchon gives it to us with both
barrels: nine verses of The Ballad of Rooney Winsome. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to
assign tunes to Pynchon's more recent lyrics. Given all the hints that Pynchon is, in fact, a musician, it's only
reasonable to assume that most of these songs are set to original melodies -- but until Little, Brown comes out
with The Authorized Thomas Pynchon Songbook, we're on our own.
In 1970, a folk-rock band called The Insect Trust (one of whose members, Robert Palmer, would go on to
fame and fortune as a music critic for The New York Times) issued an LP called Hoboken Saturday Night. It
included a version of one of Pynchon's loveliest lyrics from V, "The Eyes of a New York Woman." An
appropriately bluesy tune was provided by one Jeff Ogden -- not a member of the band. Surprisingly, Pynchon
was displeased with Insect Trust's initiative. A lawyer representing the writer contacted the band and told them
Pynchon wanted the LP withdrawn. After some negotiation, the band agreed to stop performing the song live,
and Pynchon withdrew his threat of legal action. As far as we know, this is the only time a Pynchon song has
been performed and/or recorded.
Pynchon's songs in Vineland are arguably his best. If only we knew the tunes!
Songs In Vineland
Little Grass Skirt ( 63)
Wacky Coconuts (66)
Floozy With an Uzi (104)
Just Like a William Powell (162)
Kick Out the Jambs (191)
Thanatoid World (224)
Another Cheap Romance (281)
Lawrence of Arabia (309)
Daughters of the Road (331)
The Tube (336-337)
Es Posible (356)
Like a Meat Loaf (363)
Movies in Vineland
Film and filmmaking was a major theme in Gravity's Rainbow -- and clearly, Pynchon's interest in the
cinema has not flagged. There are more explicit film references in Vineland than in any previous Pynchon
novel. This tends to underscore the possibility that the novel is, in fact, itself a movie. Some of the films are
imaginary "movies for TV" -- usually in the form of The Something-or-Other Story with Somebody-or-Other.
Real movies are invariably followed by a bracketed date -- probably a satirical takeoff on academic film
criticism.
Return of the Jedi [1983] (7)
The Clara Bow Story -- with Pia Zadora (14)
Friday the 13th [1980] (16)
Gidget [1959] (17)
The Frank Gorshin Story -- with Pat Sajak (48)
Hawaii [1966] (62)
The Hawaiians [1970] (62)
Gidget Goes Hawaiian [1961] (62)
Godzilla, King of the Monsters [1956] (65)
Mondo Cane [1963] (96)
Flight of the Phoenix [1966] (96)
2001: A Space Odyssey [1968] (178, 294)
Psycho [1960] (187)
Ghostbusters [1984] (190)
20,000 Years in Sing Sing [1933] (294)
Young Kissinger -- with Woody Allen (309)
The G. Gordon Liddy Story -- with Sean Connery (339)
The Bryant Gumbel Story -- with John Ritter (355)
The Robert Musil Story -- with Peewee Herman (370)
Magnificent Disaster -- an imaginary basketball movie for TV, with Sidney Poitier as K.C. Jones, Sean
Penn as Larry Bird, Paul McCartney as Kevin McHale, Lou Gossett, Jr., as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael
Douglas as Pat Riley, and Jack Nicholson (notorious round ball fan) as himself. (371, 377)
Cool Names
One of the greatest pleasures in reading Pynchon is his genius for creating outrageous/clever/amusing names