V.

A troubled young English man, Stencil spends the novel on an almost mythic quest to find the identity of the titular V. The most significant moment in Stencil’s life is the death of his father, Sidney, who worked as a spy for British intelligence before and during WWI. After poring over his father’s journals and notes, Stencil began to focus on V., a mysterious figure present in many sections of his father’s biography. V. fascinates Stencil not only because she seemed to evolve and change over the course of many years, but because she played such a large role in his father’s life. He believes that to understand himself, he must understand his father, which, in turn, requires deciphering V.

Unlike many of the other characters, Stencil has purpose and motivation; however, the novel implies that his drive for answers leaves his life just as alienated and empty as those of the decadent wastrels of the Whole Sick Crew. Stencil is trying to uncover facts in a postmodern world where objective truth does not exist. The chapters in which Stencil narrates the past demonstrate the problem. He gathers subjective accounts and then tries to stitch them together into a single, cohesive narrative, trying to produce objectivity from subjectivity. But this is impossible: There are too many gaps in the story that he must fill in with his own assumptions and inventions, creating a filtered version that cannot be reality.

Eventually, the impossibility of identifying V. comes as a relief for Stencil, who sinks so deeply into the quest that his obsession becomes a possession—V. is the only identity he knows and a way to build himself a future.

The true identity of the title character of the novel remains shrouded, as our only clues emerge from the writings of Sidney Stencil, as interpreted by his son Herbert. At various times, V. is Victoria Wren, Veronica Manganese, and Vera Meroving, but whether these are incarnations of the same individual is unclear. Stencil believes that these women are all V., but his palimpsest version of the past also includes other possibilities: V. could be a country or the mysterious word “Vheissu” (possibly a fitting pun on the German phrase Wie heisst du, or “What is your name?”). The confusion is so pervasive that eventually every word that starts with the letter v becomes suspect—a key modality in Postmodern fiction. The unknowability of V. plays directly into the idea that there is no longer objectivity.

Still, certain qualities are consistently associated with every variant of V. One is the gradual replacement of organic body parts with prosthetics. Bad Priest, one possible V., has a body almost fully made of prosthetics. Similarly, another V. candidate explains to Sidney Stencil that the replacement of body parts with artificial versions allows someone to refine their identity, as flesh and blood are limitations. However, this attempt to radically redefine how identity is constructed ends in ironic failure, as V. stops being a person and becomes a process of unbecoming.

Profane’s sometime girlfriend Rachel comes closest to forming a relationship with the aimless young man out of the many women he attracts. Her inability to connect with Profane has a tragic valence. Rachel knew Profane in his youth, so her presence in his life has a nostalgic quality. Rachel is not just another woman, but a figure linking him to a more innocent past, when they allowed themselves to be happy.

Rachel’s relative wealth and privilege insulate her from many of the problems which afflict other characters. Her past is not as traumatized, her immediate challenges not so pronounced, and she retains a connection to society through her full-time job. She offers an alternative option to the alienation most of its characters experience, suggesting that those with higher social status can navigate the postwar world.

Rachel often has quasi-maternal bonds with her friends. She not only pays off Esther’s debts, but she confronts the surgeon who seems to have exploited her. She takes in the young, vulnerable Paola and offers her guidance. Roony seeks Rachel out for advice, and she is the only person that doesn’t simply suggest drinking more. Working in recruitment, Rachel is such a skilled facilitator that she even manages to find Profane a job; when he loses it, she optimistically states that she will help him find another. Profane rejects this help and he rejects Rachel. Ultimately, Rachel’s and Profane’s worldviews are too different.