Zeroville: A Novel Read online




  Zeroville

  A Novel

  Steve Erickson

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 145

  Chapter 146

  Chapter 147

  Chapter 148

  Chapter 149

  Chapter 150

  Chapter 151

  Chapter 152

  Chapter 153

  Chapter 154

  Chapter 155

  Chapter 156

  Chapter 157

  Chapter 158

  Chapter 159

  Chapter 160

  Chapter 161

  Chapter 162

  Chapter 163

  Chapter 164

  Chapter 165

  Chapter 166

  Chapter 167

  Chapter 168

  Chapter 169

  Chapter 170

  Chapter 171

  Chapter 172

  Chapter 173

  Chapter 174

  Chapter 175

  Chapter 176

  Chapter 177

  Chapter 178

  Chapter 179

  Chapter 180

  Chapter 181

  Chapter 182

  Chapter 183

  Chapter 184

  Chapter 185

  Chapter 186

  Chapter 187

  Chapter 188

  Chapter 189

  Chapter 190

  Chapter 191

  Chapter 192

  Chapter 193

  Chapter 194

  Chapter 195

  Chapter 196

  Chapter 197

  Chapter 198

  Chapter 199

  Chapter 200

  Chapter 201

  Chapter 202

  Chapter 203

  Chapter 204

  Chapter 205

  Chapter 206

  Chapter 207

  Chapter 208

  Chapter 209

  Chapter 210

  Chapter 211

  Chapter 212

  Chapter 213

  Chapter 214

  Chapter 215

  Chapter 216

  Chapter 217

  Chapter 218

  Chapter 219

  Chapter 220

  Chapter 221

  Chapter 222

  Chapter 223

  Chapter 224

  Chapter 225

  Chapter 226

  Chapter 227

  Chapter 226

  Chapter 225

  Chapter 224

  Chapter 223

  Chapter 222

  Chapter 221

  Chapter 220

  Chapter 219

  Chapter 218

  Chapter 217

  Chapter 216

  Chapter 215

  Chapter 214

  Chapter 213

  Chapter 212

  Chapter 211

  Chapter 210

  Chapter 209

  Chapter 208

  Chapter 207

  Chapter 206

  Chapter 205

  Chapter 204

  Chapter 203

  Chapter 202

  Chapter 201

  Chapter 200

  Chapter 199

  Chapter 198

  Chapter 197

  Chapter 196

  Chapter 195

  Chapter 194

  Chapter 193

  Chapter 192

  Chapter 191

  Chapter 190

  Chapter 189

  Chapter 188

  Chapter 187

  Chapter 186

  Chapter 185

  Chapter 184

  Chapter 183

  Chapter 182

  Chapter 181

  Chapter 180

  Chapter 179

  Chapter 178

  Chapter 177

  Chapter 176

  Chapter 175

  Chapter 174

  Chapter 173 />
  Chapter 172

  Chapter 171

  Chapter 170

  Chapter 169

  Chapter 168

  Chapter 167

  Chapter 166

  Chapter 165

  Chapter 164

  Chapter 163

  Chapter 162

  Chapter 161

  Chapter 160

  Chapter 159

  Chapter 158

  Chapter 157

  Chapter 156

  Chapter 155

  Chapter 154

  Chapter 153

  Chapter 152

  Chapter 151

  Chapter 150

  Chapter 149

  Chapter 148

  Chapter 147

  Chapter 146

  Chapter 145

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 0

  Acknowledgments

  I believe that cinema was here

  from the beginning of the world.

  JOSEF VON STERNBERG

  1.

  On Vikar’s shaved head is tattooed the right and left lobes of his brain. One lobe is occupied by an extreme close-up of Elizabeth Taylor and the other by Montgomery Clift, their faces barely apart, lips barely apart, in each other’s arms on a terrace, the two most beautiful people in the history of the movies, she the female version of him, and he the male version of her.

  2.

  This is the summer of 1969, two days after Vikar’s twenty-fourth birthday, when everyone’s hair is long and no one shaves his head unless he’s a Buddhist monk, and no one has tattoos unless he’s a biker or in a circus.

  He’s been in Los Angeles an hour. He’s just gotten off a six-day bus trip from Philadelphia, riding day and night, and eating a French dip sandwich at Philippe’s a few blocks up from Olvera Street, the oldest road in the city.

  3.

  There in Philippe’s, a hippie nods at Vikar’s head and says, “Dig it, man. My favorite movie.”

  Vikar nods. “I believe it’s a very good movie.”

  “Love that scene at the end, man. There at the Planetarium.”

  Vikar stands and in one motion brings the food tray flying up, roast beef and au jus spraying the restaurant—

  —and brings the tray crashing down on the blasphemer across the table from him. He manages to catch the napkin floating down like a parachute, in time to wipe his mouth.

  Oh, mother, he thinks. “A Place in the Sun, George Stevens,” he says to the fallen man, pointing at his own head, “NOT Rebel Without a Cause,” and strides out.

  4.

  Tattooed under Vikar’s left eye is a red teardrop.

  5.

  Is it possible he’s traveled three thousand miles to the Movie Capital of the World only to find people who don’t know the difference between Montgomery Clift and James Dean, who don’t know the difference between Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood? A few blocks north of Philippe’s, the city starts to run out and Vikar turns back. He asks a girl with straight blond hair in a diaphanous granny dress where Hollywood is. Soon he notices that all the girls in Los Angeles have straight blond hair and diaphanous granny dresses.

  6.

  She gives him a ride, staring at his head. She seems odd to him; he wants her to watch the road. I believe perhaps she’s been taking illicit narcotics, he thinks to himself.

  “Uh,” she finally starts to say, and he can see it right there in her eyes: James Dean, Natalie Wood … What will he do? She’s driving and, besides, she’s a girl. You can’t smash a girl over the head with a food tray.

  “Montgomery Clift,” he heads off her blunder, “Elizabeth Taylor.”

  “Elizabeth Taylor,” she nods. “I’ve heard of her …” pondering it a moment. “Far out.”

  He realizes she has no idea who Montgomery Clift is. “You can let me off here,” he says, and she drops him where Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards fork, at a small theater—

  7.

  —where he goes to the movies.

  A silent European film from the late twenties, it’s the worst print Vikar has seen—less a movie than a patchwork of celluloid—but he’s spellbound. In the late Middle Ages a young
woman, identified in the credits only as “Mlle Falconetti,” is interrogated and hounded by a room of monks. The woman doesn’t give a performance, as such; Vikar has never seen acting that seemed less to be acting. It’s more an inhabitation. The movie is shot completely in close-ups, including the unbearable ending, when the young woman is burned at the stake.

  8.

  Afterward, he makes his way farther west along Sunset before cutting up to Hollywood Boulevard. Where once was the Moulin Rouge nightclub at the corner of Vine is now a psychedelic club called the Kaleidoscope. Vikar really has no idea what a psychedelic club is. Along Hollywood Boulevard are shabby old jewelry shops, used bookstores, souvenir stands, porn theaters. He’s startled there are no movie stars walking down the street. Still hungry from having sacrificed his French dip sandwich at Philippe’s, he orders a chicken pot pie at Musso & Frank, where Billy Wilder used to lunch with Raymond Chandler while they were writing Double Indemnity, both drinking heavily because they couldn’t stand each other.

  9.

  He spends a few minutes looking at the footprints outside the Chinese Theatre. He can find neither Elizabeth Taylor nor Montgomery Clift. At the box office he buys a ticket and goes inside to watch the movie.

  As Vikar traveled on what seemed an endless bus to Hollywood, the Traveler hurtles through space toward infinity. Dimensions fall away from the Traveler faster and faster until, by the end of the movie, he’s an old man in a white room where a black monolith appears to him at the moment of death. He becomes an embryonic, perhaps divine Starchild. Vikar has come to Los Angeles as a kind of starchild as well, a product of no parentage he acknowledges, vestiges of an earlier childhood falling away from him like dimensions. Vikar tells himself, I’ve found a place where God does not kill children but is a Child Himself.

  He’s now seen two movies, one of the Middle Ages and one of the future, in his first seven hours in Los Angeles. Vikar crosses Hollywood Boulevard to the Roosevelt Hotel, built by Louis B. Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in the year the movies discovered sound.

  10.

  Vikar walks through the Roosevelt lobby, which has a statue of Charlie Chaplin. With its stone arches and palm fronds, it’s slightly seedy; the first Academy Awards were held here forty years before. At the front desk, he asks for room 928.

  The young clerk behind the front desk says, “That room’s not available.” His long hair is tucked into his collar beneath his coat and tie.

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yes.”

  “Seventeen years ago,” Vikar says, “Montgomery Clift lived in that room.”

  “Who?”

  Vikar restrains the urge to pick up the small bell from the desk and lodge it in the philistine’s forehead. For a moment he considers the image of the clerk having a bell for a third eye, like a cyclops. People could walk up and ring it, and every time they did, this infidel would remember Montgomery Clift. “Montgomery Clift,” Vikar says, “lived here after making A Place in the Sun, when he was filming From Here to Eternity.”

  11.

  The clerk says, “Hey, man, have you seen Easy Rider? I usually don’t go to movies. I’m into the Music.”