Zeroville by Steve Erickson
Zeroville by Steve Erickson is what I would describe as a mood novel. The narrative, plot, description, imagery, structure and dialog all combine to produce a certain vibe, they strike an emotional chord that produces a general mood. I hear this happens a lot when people listen to jazz. I’m not a big jazz fan myself, but I can relate and would include OK Computer by Radiohead, the theme to Six Feet Under and anything by Ride as music that elicits a very specific mood.
It’s rare that this happens with books in my opinion. Yes, there are some that have a theme, that set a specific tone that you might immerse yourself in, but it’s not the same. What I’m talking about is the ability to create and influence the reader’s mindset. It’s like the ink is tinged with some sort of pathogen that infects you through the fingertips. Thus, every word you read is seen through this filter that the author has instilled in your brain. (That actually sounds like an interesting science-fiction plot don’t you think?)
One of my favorite passages from Zeroville relates to this concept:
It’s like the first time I heard the second Pere Ubu album and throught it just blew completely, I thought anyone who liked it must be stupid and full of shit - and then for about a year it was practically the only album I listened to. It was the only album that made any sense at all. So why does that happen? The music hasn’t changed. The movie hasn’t changed. It’s still the same exact movie, but it’s like it sets something in motion, some understanding you didn’t know you could understand, it’s like a virus that had to get inside you and take hold and maybe you shrug it off - but when you don’t , it kills you in a way, not necessarily in a bad way because maybe it kills something that’s been holding you down or back, because when you hear a really really great record or see a really great movie, you feel alive in a way you didn’t before, everything looks different, like what they say when you’re in love or something - though I wouldn’t know - but everything is new and it gets into your dreams.
Zeroville follows Vikar Jerome as he lands in Hollywood in 1969. He’s easy to spot, what with the tattoo of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on his shaved head. He’s prone to quick violence, particularly if you mistake Clift and Taylor for James Dean and Natalie Wood. Yes, Zeroville is about movies and if you’re even a little bit interested in movies it will make the story that much more fulfilling. Erickson often doesn’t come out and tell the reader what movie he’s referring to, encouraging you to piece together the reference.
Vikar’s love of movies leads him to work as an editor. That’s about the most ‘normal’ thing I can say about the plot, which pinballs from one strange situation to another, chopped up into over 400 ‘chapters’ that range in length from a word to a few pages. This is quintessential Erickson, weaving together the odd and bizarre into something that is entrancing. There are times when you may not fully understand what he’s driving at but it feels interesting and important.
In this city a person can hide from God for a long time.
He uses film as a metaphor for life, and editing as a mechanism to manipulate, or to make choices by showing the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ profile of an actor. I highly recommend Zeroville and any other Erickson for that matter. Simply be prepared to absorb the material on a different level and let the mood of his work take over.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[…] that we remove certain ARCs from the site. With that in mind I actually held off on my review of Zeroville until it was published. I’d purchased it as an ARC well before the release date, another […]