AtDDtA1: Darby Suckling

[Joseph Hutchison]

Speaking of Darby...one more idea concerning Darby Suckling¹s name: an
online ³Dictionary of Thieving Slang² lists ³Darby² as meaning ³ready money²
(http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/dict/D/DARBY.html), but the plural ³Darbies²
as meaning ³irons, shackles or fetters²
(http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/dict/D/DARBIES.html). The latter meaning was
applied by Melville in title of the poem that ends his short novel Billy
Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative), ³Billy in the Darbies.² There might be
correspondences between Billy Budd¹s story and AtD, but I haven¹t looked
into the possibilities. At any rate, it seems to me that the conflation of
money with shackles in Darby¹s name strikes a characteristic Pynchonian
note.

Joe


on 1/27/07 9:14 PM, Keith at keithsz at mac.com wrote:

> And there's Darby and Cope: Mason and Dixon impersonators and
> bumbling Chain-counters.
> 
>   --M&D (pp. 471-4)
> 
> 'Darby' and 'Cope' are not quite British names are they? (p. 474)
> 
> 
> 
> 


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