pynchon-l-digest V1 #617

[Michael D. Benedetti]

At 01:36 PM 6/5/97 -0400, JULIUS RAPER wrote:
>I haven't been keeping up with list-mail and you've likely gone over this:
>my copy of M&D when jacketed and closed reads:
>
>				SON
>
>				 &
>
>				XON
>
>I read this has "Son and Hon" as though translating the Greek X into the
>English approximate, H.

I find this "translation" difficult to swallow. I think a more reasonable
adaptation would come from saying it out loud:
              SON AND X-ON -> SON AND EXXON

suggesting that the novel recounts the beginning of the exploitation of
this beautiful land, and that the story also has relevance to the children
of that early America, ie us and our own children.

Mike