AtD 146 lines /p.821-spoiler

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Pynchon uses the phrase again on p. 821, in the context of increasing, not decreasing, possibilities:












"... beginning the moment all lines are singled up, an unloosening of fate as the unknown and perhaps the uncreated begins to make its appearance ahead and astern, port and starboard, everywhere an expanding of possibility ..."

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ande <andekgrahn at olympus.net>

>
>'Single up all lines'--is a common command on very large ships (I am 
>only familiar with the sailing variety not the Navy type)  and it means 
>to prepare lines to cast off--not to actually cast off---and you could 
>(and sometime do) say Single Aft Lines especially if you were going to 
>spring the ship (manually turning it around a fixed point using the 
>ships lines)--also, this is a command that comes several minutes prior 
>to actually casting off....it is a 15 minute warning...
>
>
>Paul Mackin wrote:
>
>>
>> Should have mentioned something a little puzzling. Isn't the more  
>> usual phrase "single up lines" rather than (the illogical)  "single
>> up ALL lines?'
>>
>> You don't do anything to ALL lines.
>>
>> You do something to the state the  boat (or airship) is in.
>>
>> The state of its attachment to land.
>>
>> What's Pynchon trying to convey?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 30, 2006, at 3:11 PM, Paul Mackin wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Nov 30, 2006, at 2:26 PM, Ray Easton wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thursday, Nov 30, 2006, at 13:10 US/Central,  
>>>> robinlandseadel at comcast.net wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> What the first line says is "Now single up all lines", a statement
>>>>> devoid of context to the non-nautical or aeronautical.
>>>>> Multiple readings can and will occur, and one of those
>>>>> readings would be that the narrative lines from the
>>>>> author's books would be singled up.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But what would it mean to "single up" the narrative lines from the  
>>>> author's books?  There is no expression like this in English, as  
>>>> far as I know, except for the one actually in the book.  And  
>>>> reading this expression as meaning something like "tie things  
>>>> together" seems to me especially odd (Iceland Spar or no!), since  
>>>> the literal meaning is nearly the opposite of this (removing  
>>>> connections, not making them; untying, not tying).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It means removing all connections but (a single) one in preparation  
>>> for leaving the pier. I never use that command on my sailboat  
>>> because no one
>>> would know what I was talking about. Instead I yell cast off lines  
>>> (there are six of them) and the crew generally knows enough not to  
>>> touch the final one needed to keep the boat in place until we're  
>>> actually moving out.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Doesn't reading it this way (and I admit I'm tempted to read it  
>>>> this way myself) have little if anything to do with the text  
>>>> itself, and everything to do with the expectations we bring to the  
>>>> text?
>>>
>>>
>>> I think you are correct.
>>>
>>> P
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>