Pynchon's titles (was ...

[Michael J. Hußmann]

jbor at bigpond.com (jbor at bigpond.com) wrote:

> (i.e. "ends", as opposed to "means", is an alternate 
> meaning, in English at least, but in German too I'd guess

It used to be an alternate reading in German, so in 1789, Friedrich
Schiller could talk about "Was heißt und zu welchem Ende studiert man
Universalgeschichte?", but has been obsolete for quite some time. 

As Otto remarked, the parabola has no ends, strictly speaking, but then
the rocket's path has -- the launch site and the impact site.

> I'd assume 
> that most German readers would also be well aware of what the English 
> title was, and so the notion of "the end of the rainbow" gets factored 
> into the equation there as well.

I guess so. But then, at what end of the rainbow/parabola is the pot of
gold supposed to be -- at the impact site, where Slothrop finds (pre-
impact) his girls in London, or at the launch site, especially that of
the 000000?

> Should also have noted that there are several relevant meanings of 
> "lot" as well as of "crying".

The different meanings of "crying" (as those of "lot") are impossible to
capture in German, so the German translation of Lot49 leaves the reader
somewhat mystified as to why Oedipa is puzzled by the expression
("ausrufen" in German): "'Wir haben Glück. Heute wird Loren Passerine,
der beste Auktionator im Westen, ausrufen.' '_Was_ wird er?' 'Wir sagen,
ein Auktionator 'ruft ein Objekt aus'', sagte Cohen."

- Michael


Michael J. Hußmann

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