GR translation: hep to the jive

[David Morris]

Right.

He's going back and forth with the idea:

1.  First he laments her leaving as being (nearly) equal to death (so
who cares where the rockets will then fall).

2.  But he has internalized a cosmic, erotic rocket idea:  "But the
coincidence of maps, girls, and rocketfalls has entered him silently,
silent as ice, and Quisling molecules have shifted in latticelike ways
to freeze him."

3.  Then he fantasizes, " if it happened when they were together."

4.  But he immediately counters that fantasy with, "in another time
that might have sounded romantic, but in a culture of death, certain
situations are just more hep to the jive than others"

5.  Then he immediately falls back to his lament (and maybe toying
with romantic death again), "but they’re apart so much. . . ."

It's sort of a vicious mental cycle he's in.

David Morris

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 4:08 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
> On 12/2/2011 3:11 PM, David Morris wrote:
>>
>> Are You Hep to the Jive? is one of Cab Calloway’s best known songs.
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgW3RxKdN0Q
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> hep (n.) — aware, up-to-date, in-the-know
>>  jive (n.) — jargon of speech to mislead unwanted attention
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Literally "hep to the jive" would mean "able to see through the
>> bullshit."  Less literally it would mean "cool," as in just "hep,"
>> aware.  So in this context it would mean seeing through the romantic
>> bullshit of death.
>
>
> well, I don't know if Roger thinks the idea IS bullshit (only one meaning of
> jive)
>
> maybe dying together would be preferable to her dying alone
>
> the thrust of the paragraph is that Jessica's leaving would also be death
> for Roger (same as mortality)
>
> the next paragraph is a further turn of the screw--even if the rocket
> doesn't get her, she may return to Beaver
>
> Roger's got it bad and that ain't good ( as another song of the time goes)
>
>
> P
>
>
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 12:36 PM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>
>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On 12/2/2011 12:12 PM, Mike Jing wrote:
>>>>
>>>> P179.29-39  It has begun to reveal itself: how easily she might go. For
>>>> the first time he understands why this is the same as mortality, and why he
>>>> will cry when she leaves. He is learning to recognize the times when nothing
>>>> really holds her but his skinny, 20-pushup arms. .
>>>> . . If she leaves, then it ceases to matter how the rockets fall. But
>>>> the coincidence of maps, girls, and rocketfalls has entered him silently,
>>>> silent as ice, and Quisling molecules have shifted in latticelike ways to
>>>> freeze him. If he could be with her more . . . if it happened when they were
>>>> together— in another time that might have sounded romantic, but in a culture
>>>> of death, certain situations are just more hep to the jive than others—but
>>>> they’re apart so much. . . .
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "if it happened when they were together—"  If what happened?
>>>>
>>>> And what exactly is the meaning of "hep to the jive" here?
>>>>
>>> sounds like "it" might be death
>>>
>>> even in peace time dying together sounds romantic
>>>
>>> but in wartime it's even more hep to the jive, more appropriate,  easier
>>> to dig
>
>