FW: AtD 224 Spoiler (?)

[Nick Halliwell]

Oh yes, this is Pynchon's defence of the recent - and, as he points out,
absurd - controversy over Ian MacEwan making (credited) use of a nurse's
memoirs in Atonement. 

 

We usually refer to "Cockney rhyming slang" and examples include "apples"
(meaning: stairs; via: "apples and pears") or "trouble" (meaning: wife; via:
"trouble and strife"), "frog" (meaning: road; via: "frog and toad").
However, this isn't peculiar to the English. The French have "le verlant"
which consists of inverting the syllables of a word (the name comes from
inverting à l'envers, meaning "the other way around"). On the other hand
this is a far more recent phenomenon than Cockney rhyming slang which
certainly was in use at the time when ATD is set. And it was brought into
French by North African immigrants, who referred to themselves as beurs
(i.e. arabes backwards). 

 

The next bit refers to cryptic crosswords
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword>  - these are something I've
not come across in other languages. I believe these have been tried in
America on occasion but have never really caught on. In the UK and certain
other countries (such as India) they're an institution. All of the British
quality press publish them every day, the one in The Times being probably
the most famous. The point, as Pynchon says, is that they use codes and yes,
the British have always been rather fond of codes of various kinds. We even
built a class system on them. 

 

The cryptic crossword works through reliance on certain conventions and
cultural references. If anyone fancies a go then a number are available
online. The Times one seems to be subscription-based, although a free trial
is available here <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,252,00.html> . Or
there's The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/crossword/free/interactive>
crossword. To offer examples of the two easiest clues I can see in the
latter, 25 across reads:

 

"One way to live cheaply and without tears (4, 4)" 

 

So that's two words, four letters each. The answer is "rent-free". "rent"
having the dual meaning of a payment made in return for accommodation and a
tear (and yes, we have a play on the 2 ways of pronouncing "tear", i.e.
"something you cry" and "rip"). Or 2 down:

 

"Firm with little work is shut up (4)"

 

OK, "firm" is crossword shorthand for "co" (company) and work for "op"
(opus). So just put them together and the answer is "coop" (to shut up). 

 

Oh and do please say if this is too much information. :-)

 

Nick

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Dave Monroe
Sent: 10 December 2006 15:51
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: AtD 224 Spoiler (?)

 

   "'On this island,' she went on, 'as you will have

begun to notice, no one ever speaks plainly.  Whether

it's Cockney rhyming codes or the crosswords in the

newspapers--all English, spoken or written, is looked

down on as no more than strings of text cleverly

encrypted....'" (AtD, Pt. II, p. 224)

 

Cf. ...

 

   "Given the British genius for coded utterance ...."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2006/12/05/nwriter06big.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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