Fw: Atdtda29: Stock-jobbers of history, 826-829

[Mark Kohut]

Stockjobbers were institutions that acted as market makers in the London Stock Exchange. Prior to the "Big Bang" in 1986, every stock traded on the Exchange passed through a jobber's book....wikipedia


[edit] References
Philip Auger, The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism (Penguin: 2000) 

"History is a step-function"----V.

"What matters is a philosophy of history."---Flaubert


--- On Mon, 10/20/08, Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com> wrote:

> From: Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com>
> Subject: Atdtda29: Stock-jobbers of history, 826-829
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Monday, October 20, 2008, 12:10 AM
> Another café scene, and an “unspoken Law” insisting
> “that jabbering,
> regardless of topic, never pause” (827). However, the
> “jabbering” that opens
> the section on 826, fragments of unattributed speech, does
> stop once the
> “unspoken Law” is announced. An alternative to
> “jabbering” is offered with
> “... there would come an explosion” (827), as
> predictable, perhaps, as the
> earlier observation that “someone would be remarking on
> the Austrian
> outrage” (826). And then, as the section ends a couple of
> pages on, Bevis
> mentions the Black Hand, silence falling “like a
> drumbeat” (829).
> 
> Danilo is introduced as representative of his community
> (827): cf. Vlado on
> 818-819, the history lesson Danilo delivers on 828
> recalling Vlado’s
> lecture.
> 
> For Danilo there is conflict between family and “the
> usual trouble”; if
> Vlado is always part of the collective (underscored by the
> ambiguity
> surrounding “you”, and his response to Yashmeen:
> “Myself, personally? no” on
> 819), Danilo is quickly isolated, “his destiny” meaning
> “he [is] soon out on
> the street ...” etc (827). The café’s “unspoken
> Law” is echoed here in “the
> confusion of tongues” that Danilo must “move among”.
> Consequently, his
> discourse resembles that of the Cohen on 230-231: “Let us
> imagine a lateral
> world ...” etc. Cf. Danilo’s: “Now, imagine a history
> referred not to London
> ...” etc (828).
> 
> This lengthy speech is endured by Cyprian (“listen[ing]
> patiently”) before
> Bevis arrives. Unattributed speech follows, Cyprian taking
> the opportunity
> to change the subject as Danilo drinks. This passage ends
> with Bevis
> speaking, or at least his contribution acknowledged. The
> silence that greets
> his reference to the Black Hand returns the narrative to
> Cyprian’s pov, his
> fear that Bevis might be more than “a lower-level
> crypto” (829). On arrival,
> Bevis’ silence had been interpreted as “brooding, no
> doubt about his
> Anglo-Slavic ingenue” (828).

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