Pynchon's titles (was ...

[Otto]

jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

>>> Also, the pluralisation ("die enden") opens up additional meanings, 
>>> possibilities (i.e. "ends", as opposed to "means", is an alternate 
>>> meaning, in English at least, but in German too I'd guess, but the 
>>> idea that there is more than one "end", or final point, provides 
>>> scope for those subjunctive hopes and dreams Pynchon is so fond of). 
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Should also have noted that there are several relevant meanings of 
>>> "lot" as well as of "crying".
>>
>
> On 21/08/2005, at 2:37 PM, Otto wrote:
>
>>
>> The mathematical parable has no "end(s)".
>>
>> In the fairytale world at the end of a rainbow you'll find a big 
>> treasure.
>
>
> There's also _The Wizard of Oz_ tie-in: 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' 
> ... "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more. . . . " 
> (279) etc.

Yes, that wonderful movie starting in b/w and then changing to colour. 
Like an acid trip which is why that quote became so famous in the 
sixties . . .

> Several meanings of "lot": these of course get lost in the translation.
>
> Do they? Mucho's used car lot. A person's "lot", as in their 
> apportioned share of something. Or "lot", as in "a lot" ... many, much 
> (mucho?)

Pattern recognition. Counting and looking up the different meanings of 
"lot" and "49" was the first thing I did when I first read the novel. A 
new experience back then to discover that authors of novels are indeed 
working with the dictionary of their mother tongue (a sort of 
corroborating their data: words) while composing their texts.

(9)   car lot - Autohof (11)
(15) autolots- Autofriedhöfe (20)
(16) Oedipa pulled into a lot - Parkplatz (22)
(17) we watch English movies a lot - Wir gehn viel in englische Filme 
(22) (why it's 'gehn' instead of 'gehen' I don't know, maybe a typo)
(29) about to be broken up into lots - für irgendeine Auktion in Nummern 
aufgeteilt zu werden. (37)
(34) lots in the heart of downtown LA - Damals  hätten Sie während der 
Hochkonjunktur mitten in der Innenstadt von L.A. Bauparzellen für 63 
Cent das Stück kaufen können. (43)

What I did not find in the novel was an example of lot as "Schicksal" or 
"Geschick".

>
> There's also that Pentecost thing with the number 49 (the arguments 
> for which I've never found to be a particularly persuasive).
>
> best

"Passerine spread his arms in a gesture that seemed to belong to the 
priesthood of some remote culture, perhaps a descending angel." (127)

Acts.2
[1] And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one 
accord in one place.
[2] And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty 
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
[3] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it 
sat upon each of them.
[4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak 
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

But the Pentecost wonder won't occur. In a secular world, if God's truly 
dead, one cannot expect 'true' revelations anymore!

Otto

	

	
		
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