MDDM Ch. 42 Slavery -"a glamorous International Life"? (427.31)

[jbor]

on 20/3/02 10:13 PM, jbor at jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> And, like Andrew Dinn back in the previous group reading, I can't help
> wondering which of the characters - if indeed any - is actually narrating
> this episode. The summary of "Austra's" situation and lifestyle, and the
> rhetorical question which follows on from this (427.29-32), are very
> interesting in this regard.

Cf. also Mason's annoyance at the tips the slaves in the casino received -
it is an "Insult" and "Insupportable" to him that Lord Lepton and his
dealers had "toss[ed] their Expeditionary Funds as airy Gratuities to the
Slaves" (423.8) - as well as the depiction of the pampered favourite,
Gershom, at George and Martha's back in Ch. 28.

best

Btw, the point below was that the dealers *didn't* cheat at all, Mason
merely lost his dough, and that this was the obvious and logical
interpretation, though left unstated in the text.

> 423.4 "Damme, he owes us twenty pounds,-- more!" Even though Pynchon chose
> not to write about it explicitly in the text I believe that, considering the
> contextual details, it's safe to assume that Mason lost over twenty pounds
> at the gaming tables.