SLSL Low-lands: sfacim, V., 7 years

[jbor]

on 6/1/03 4:48 PM, The Great Quail at quail at libyrinth.com wrote:

> Pg 55: "sfacim." From About.com: "sfa-CHEEM; Neapolitan slang for semen and
> equivalent to English slang such as spunk or gism. However, it's also widely
> used as a term of endearment, as in 'Hey, sfacim. Come over here and give
> your grandmother a kiss before I break your face.'"
> http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa092502a.htm

The term "sfacim" crops up in _V._ also, where Benny, hanging out with Angel
and Geronimo, says it's his name when they are cruising three young girls.

      "Benny Sfacim is really your name?" said the one in the street.
      "Sfacimento." In Italian it meant destruction or decay. "You didn't
    let me finish."

But the colloquial connotations come into play as well as Benny ponders the
deeper implications of the situation while he's chatting up one of the young
girls (Ch 6: 139-142).

> Pg 55: "Wasp and Winsome, Attorneys at Law" is the name of Flange's
> employer. Note the use of "Winsome," which will recur in "V." It seems
> unrelated here; perhaps Pynchon just likes the name?

Also NB the name "Geronimo", Pig, sea stories, the MG &c. It's _V._ which
this story seems to prefigure most.

> 1. Cindy is not portrayed very well in the story. She is described as
> "austere," generally depicted as cold and unfeeling, and Flange even
> suggests that he cannot think imaginatively when she is around. In fact, he
> says almost no positive things about her. So why has he remained married to
> her for seven years? Is it simple inertia? The delusion that one day they'll
> have a child? Or is she just a safe, secure mother-figure? What are some
> ways he tries to escape, alleviate, or re-imagine the relationship?

The "seven years" thing I think relates to the "seven-year itch" and there
are echoes of the Billy Wilder/Marilyn Monroe film in particular.

http://www.filmsite.org/seve.html

I think the implication is that it's Flange who manipulates the situation so
that Cindy will throw him out. He thus doesn't have to take responsibility
for going AWOL from the marriage, his job etc, which is what he does
actually want to do.

best