MDMD[5] p. 155 (Clocks amd Time)

[Matthew P Wiener]

Sojourner writes:

>At 05:42 PM 8/3/97 -0700, barleydog at earthlink.net wrote:

>>         Pynchon does a strange thing to time in his novels.  M & D is
>>saturated with historical accuracy, and yet history is given a subtle patina
>>of the surreal.  He is able to warp time  partly by using terminology and
>>references that make sense both in the historical framework, but which carry
>>overtones of our own time. I'm thinking of terms like Black Hole (science)
>>or Simba (Disney).

>The word "Simba" means lion in Swahili.

>Do not credit the bastards at Disney for this one upon penalty of
>death (of your soul).

They are explicitly being denied credit.  As barleydog was saying, the
term fits in naturally in the 18th century, but the late 20th century
reader gets a wee bit more out of it then the characters in the novel
possibly could.

The modern meaning of "black hole" was invented by J A Wheeler in the
1960s, but the Black Hole of Calcutta was the 18th reference.

Also, several names seem natural enough sounding, but the modern reader
gets something more out "Cherrycoke" or "Lord Lepton".  And I'm sure that
Pynchon does not mind the subtle change in sense of "Cherrycoke" between
his minor GR character and his M&D narrator, thanks to the Coca-Cola Co.

I thus see every reason for Pynchon to use "Simba" instead of some other
term, just because Disney has recently made it popularly known.

(Personally, Simba reminds me of some cartoon from the 60s, but that may
well be Kimba.  It's been a while.)
--
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba at sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)