AtDDtA1: Darby Suckling

[Mark Kohut]

Especially with what he becomes in the book...a cynical lawyer.

Joseph Hutchison <joe at jhwriter.com> wrote:  Speaking of Darby...one more idea concerning Darby Suckling’s name: an online “Dictionary of Thieving Slang” lists “Darby” as meaning “ready money” (http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/dict/D/DARBY.html), but the plural “Darbies” as meaning “irons, shackles or fetters” (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), “Billy in the Darbies.” There might be correspondences between Billy Budd’s story and AtD, but I haven’t looked into the possibilities. At any rate, it seems to me that the conflation of money with shackles in Darby’s 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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