V. ch. 2: uptown taking over the world

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
Interesting... I didn't make the connection with the underworld of
drugs, prostitution, violence, and certifiable nastiness that you did,
but I can see how that also follows. There were also of course other
races and ethnic groups living in various neighborhoods "uptown". And
prostitution just about everywhere. (Ask the Biddles! "Ha ha" indeed.)
Mark


--- Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Just another shot here, but Uptown taking over here could be an
> allusion
> to Prostitution. The daisy chain here is all very Platonic, very
> inanimate, very much a clock work bereft of any sexual intercourse. 
> Isn't it? This is a novel written at the end of the 50s and early
> sixties. One of young men is all points, sharply dressed, but is an
> angel face, baby under all that tough garb. This tough guy, bad guy,
> often with cross dressing--high-heeled shoes and leather jackets,
> stuff
> is all over the book and will, of course, be more interesting in
> Mondaugan's Story and in GR. Dave Monroe commented on the boy's
> rings,
> but I can't recall how he tied the ring motif to this guy. Anyway,
> the
> girls in the circle jerk are just parts, disposable, expendable.
> replaceable.  Stencil carries this image into Chapter 3, see the end
> of
> Part VI, where the Sun God vs. the Moon God is also at play. Uptown
> is
> taking over the world, the boys say. The girls don't like it. Hard to
> be
> a Virgin, a Dynamo, a Prostitute, a Mother, on the Streets of the
> 20th
> century. Inless you're Paola, that is. Parsonical disguises indeed. 
> 
> Mark Wright AIA wrote:
> > 
> > Howdy
> > I don't know of course, but I'll take a shot:
> > "Uptown" is Harlem, Jazz, and the Cool. And a lot of
> > empowered-yet-victimized Black Americans. And would that it _could_
> > have taken over the world, no? "Ha Ha, said one of the girls."
> > Mark
> > 
> > --- Prokopis Prokopidis <prokopis at ilsp.gr> wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > V., chapter 2. We are at the party in Mixolydian's appartment and
> ...
> > >
> > > > Stencil shrugged irritably, rose from the sink and found his
> coat.
> > > On the way out he touched a knot of six: Raoul, Slab, Melvin and
> > > three girls.
> > > > "Man," said Raoul.
> > > > "Scene," said Slab, waving his arm to indicate the unwinding
> party.
> > > > "Later," Stencil said and moved on out the door.
> > > > The girls stood silent. They were camp followers of a sort and
> > > expendable. Or at least could be replaced.
> > > > "Oh yes," said Melvin.
> > > > "Uptown," Slab said, "is taking over the world."
> > > > "Ha, ha," said one of the girls.
> > >
> > > Can someone provide some context to Slab's "joke"? Why is it that
> > > uptown
> > > is assuming control of the world? And why does this make Esther
> > > laugh?
> > >
> > > P.
> > 
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