AtDDtA(15): F.I.C.O.T.T.

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

> 1) instances of the 3-party joke in Pynchon
> 2) possible diffusions of meaning in each vis-a-vis its surrounding text
> 3) possible intertextual references and byplay, including
> what meaning(s) this latest link in the signifying chain might be
> hinting at
>

not to let my own chance to offer some interpretation slip by...

In V., the sock tucker, cork soaker, coke sacker joke
actually saves a life by distracting a would-be suicide...
---- humor works where exhortation fails?

In M&D the joke is _so_ foul even sailors are staring
at Dixon -- this points up the awkwardness that Mason
and Dixon find between them because of their different
social strata, and one of their attempts to break the ice...

In AtD the joke is so incomprehensible as to require
a gloss just to frame the terms of it...perhaps
speaking to the fragmentation of society by the
development of jargon?

In each case the joke breaks off - pointing to
extratextual factors perhaps?