Gothicism in Postmodern Anglo-American Narratives and Media

[jbor at bigpond.com]

>> The translator told the guy who wrote the article that
>> he found the title _Gravity's Rainbow_ somewhat meaningless. There's
>> nothing there about convincing Pynchon that the title was meaningless.

On 21/08/2005, at 12:31 AM, Michael J. Hußmann wrote:

> The translator needed Pynchon's approval, so he must have approved of
> the change. But then, the translator might have given him another
> explanation of why he opted for a different title.

I'm not so sure that it has ever been a requirement that Pynchon 
approve (as in allow) translations of his work, or that he simply 
approved of (liked) it. There's a difference.

> On the other hand, I think the literal translation "Der Regenbogen der
> Schwerkraft"

"The Rainbow of Gravity". Yuk.

> wouldn't have been that bad, and I never liked "Die Enden
> der Parabel" that much. Of course, the parabola is implicit in the
> original title: just as sunlight creates the rainbow as a visible arch
> in the sky, gravity creates its own, parabolic and invisible arch, the
> path of a ballistic missile.

Yes. In English there is also the idea of "gravity" (seriousness), 
gravitas, grave (and that word's various denotations) etc. (There is 
also the rhetorical trope of "parabola", or "resemblance mystickal", 
which the German title picks up on.)

I think that several possible titles were suggested before "V." and 
"Gravity's Rainbow" were chosen, and I think that "The Crying of Lot 
49" is a great title, because the reader has no idea what it literally 
refers to until the very last page of the novel, and there are a range 
of meaning possibilities for the word "crying" (and the phrase) which 
are pertinent to the novel. "A Journey Into the Mind of Watts" was spot 
on, and the titles of his other op. ed. pieces are clever in a smug 
sort of way. "Vineland" is apt, so is "Mason & Dixon" (and that 
ampersand is absolutely freighted with significance.)

I like the German interpretation/translation of the _Slow learner_ 
title, which captures precisely the sense of Pynchon's English title.

best

> Come to think of it, Pynchon's own titles aren't the most creative part
> of his work, are they? Calling a novel "V" after its central, enigmatic
> character, or "Mason & Dixon", which is, quite surprisingly, about the
> life of Mason and Dixon -- or "The Cying of Lot 49", which is explained
> only on the very last page of the novel, and isn't terribly significant
> in itself. "Gravity's Rainbow" is probably the best of the lot, because
> of its richness in connotations and because it does relate to central
> themes of the novel. I get the impression that Pynchon generally 
> doesn't
> care that much about titles (which is perfectly OK with me).
>
> - Michael
>
>
> Michael J. Hußmann
>
> E-mail: michael at michael-hussmann.de
> WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
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>
>