Reader's Guide to Vineland

p. 90 "alphanumeric" = letters and numbers, like a typewriter keyboard.
p. 90 "It would take eight human lives and deaths just to form one character..." Computer reference:
eight bits, each of which can be either a one or a zero, make one byte (or alphanumeric character).
p. 90 "We are digits in God's computer...and the only thing we're good for, to be dead or to be living,
is the only thing He sees. What we cry, what we contend for, in our world of toil and blood, it all lies
beneath the notice of the hacker we call God." The life-and-death-as-ones-and-zeros conceit is concluded.
A beautiful, elegant, unbearable idea. The phrase "toil and blood" may be a tip of the hat to Bob Dylan (the
same words occur in "Shelter From the Storm"), or it may simply be a reference to Winston Churchill's famous
WW II speech.
CHAPTER 7
The Italian wedding, and an archetypal musician's nightmare about the worst possible gig -- complete with
heavies who'll kill you for not playing what you don't know how to play. This is primarily broad comedy until
Prairie, in front of the bathroom mirror, meets Frenesi's old pal DL. DL turns out (somewhat coincidentally) to
be Takeshi's partner -- only it's not coincidental at all. In paranoia (the base state of Pynchon's fiction--as well as
Dickens'), people and events are always linked. The whole world is a connected web, and the hero is the only
one who doesn't know it. It's either God's work (Dickens) or that of a sinister agency (Pynchon). It's also the
secret integration that makes all novels (but particularly Pynchon's) both possible and necessary.,
In any case, DL has some kind of electronic device that senses the presence of Takeshi's business card (a
slightly awkward and unbelievable detail here). The chapter concludes with DL singing "Floozy With an Uzi," a
perfect intro for her character, as well as a marvelous goof.
p. 92 "The Wayvone estate..." The description sets Wayvone's digs in Woodside or Atherton -- pricey
suburbs down the peninsula from San Francisco.
p. 93 "Gelsomina, the baby" Also the childlike heroine of Fellini's La Strada [1954].
p. 94 "Testa puntita" = pointed head.
p. 95 "Lugares Altos" = high places.
p. 95 "Mr. Wayvone's compliments" Two-Ton's deadpan delivery, and instructions to the band,
constitute perfect movie-Mafia schtick.
p. 97 "Italian Wedding Fake Book by Deleuze & Guattari" If this isn't real, it oughtta be.
p. 99 "Suddenly she saw another reflection, one that might've been there for a while" We'll soon
learn about DL's prowess at the ninja arts, including the one of not being seen unless she wants to be.
p. 99 "...wearing a green party dress...athletic, even warriorlike..." DL is described very much like
Artemis/Diana, the Greek/Roman goddess and virgin huntress -- whose color is green.
p. 100 "Darryl Louise Chastain" Even DL's last name, Chastain, is suggestive of chastity (as you'd
expect in a virgin huntress), but "stained," imperfect. She's a flawed avatar, a preterite goddess.
p. 100 "Dumbo with that feather..." The reference is to Disney's animated cartoon feature, Dumbo
[1941]. The feather was a security symbol that gave the little elephant the confidence to fly when he clutched it
in his trunk. (It is rumored that Dumbo is one of Pynchon's favorite movies.)
p. 101 "whatever story DL told...could never be the story she knew." The first ominous hint of the
events in Trasero County.
p. 101 "But DL only smiled back..." That is, DL doesn't tell Prairie that she's too young to be so
paranoid. In other words, paranoia is the correct response.
p. 102 "Shondra and the kids look wonderful" The first (easy to miss) inkling of a connection between
DL and Ralph Sr.
p. 103 "You think I'm one of those kids on Phil Donahue..." That is, The Phil Donahue Show. Prairie
(like most of America) is quick to define herself via a TV show.
p. 105 DL's car has features "not on the standard model." More Pynchonian mysterioso. And it's a
black Trans-Am! A b-a-a-d car, and the perfect ride for a would-be ninja.
p. 106 They depart "to the stately Neo-glasspack wind chorale, combustion shaped to music, varying