Berlin (GR 434)

[jbor]

Hi Albert, and welcome.

I think the "salt ache" is part of the metaphor of crying that is used to
describe the music. I think it adds effectively to the general feeling of
melancholy prevailing in the shattered city.

best


albert
> Thanks everyone, and have any of you ever emailed Pynchon?
> Anyway, still reading GR and have another question about something I also
> think I've seen in the text before. So when Slothrop leaves his room with
> Margherita to deliver the hashish the narr. describes night Berlin with,
> "The salt ache of accordian music cries on in back of them." (434)
> Now, I know the emotions of sweet, sour, and bitter-- but salt? I'd be an
> interesting emotion to add to a palate, but what is it?