spoiler? 200 to be safe

[Unknown User]

Jeremy Osner wrote:
> 
> spoiler warning: Ye who would not learn of the contents of M&D,
> SCROLL NO FURTHER!
> 
> Thomas Vieth wrote:
> >
> > At one point Dixon says: "I am no fucking Jesuit". Being no native speaker this
> > still somehow struck me as anachronistic, since I always thought that this type
> > of expression was fairly contemporary. But I don't know. BTW, "damme" occurs on
> > almost every page.
> > Thomas
> >
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> 
> two points regarding "damme":
> 
> At one point in the novel (around page 200, I'm not sure of the exact
> location), it is spelled "damn". I can't remember who's speaking there.
> 
> I have only seen it bleeped-out once, when Maskelyne is speaking. In the
> next sentence he says something on the order of Pardon my French. Maybe
> this is reflective of his puritanism?
> 
> Jeremy
2 cents:
remember that m&d is a story about someone(s) telling a story (i realize
how oversimplified this is). perhaps this (partially) explains the
shifts in language, diction, etc. there's a narrative slide that
includes (partial list here) the rev, m & d (from within the rev's
frame?), another narrator (author-type narrator), plus whoever happens
to be telling a story w/in cherrycoke's tale (armand, for example). keep
in mind that the rev needs to keep the twins amused/out of trouble (p 6)
in order to stay on with the family (and since the whole 'family' is
listening, he needs to keep them all entertained). it's clear right away
that his story is not based entirely (or indeed much at all) on first
hand material, and i doubt if he got much info from m & d either, since
they don't seem to like him much. what i'm getting at, sloppily, is that
the rev is making tons of shit up, ad-libbing & etc, anything to keep it
interesting (though from the little research i've done online, the
'factual' stuff seems accurate). consider also (in terms of the language
discrepancies) that the time set of the novel is one of rapid change in
all respects (sound familiar?), ie language has probably changed
somewhat by the time cherrycoke tells the story. it's amazing to me that
with all of this narrative movement (p.o.v., time, etc.), the novel is
so readable--the book flow is smooth enough to gloss over the various
shifts (compare these sorts of shifts to those in vineland ie complete
scene shifts--m&d's shifts seem to me to be of a much more subtle,
sophisticated sort). the more i think about this, the more impressed i
am with the book, and the more i am convinced that it will demand
multiple readings. i keep hearing things (on line and off) like "random
capitalization," but i'm increasingly convinced that tp has it all
worked out--fortunately, the book is enjoyable even if i can't figure
out some of these 'smaller' mysteries as of yet.
ramable ramble ramble,
ray