V2, Chap 15 (Sahha), I, p 461 - "Mene, mene tekel, upharsin"

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Another odd coincidence is that John Cheever had a story of that name published in the New Yorker in 1963.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1963/04/27/1963_04_27_038_TNY_CARDS_000272460

You need a subscription to read it.  

Laura


-----Original Message-----
>From: Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>
>Sent: Feb 8, 2011 6:33 AM
>To: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
>Cc: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: V2, Chap 15 (Sahha), I, p 461 - "Mene, mene tekel, upharsin"
>
>Really odd coincidence. I ran across this same phrase last night in
>reference to the fine structure constant or "alpha" in Sam Kean's "The
>Disappearing Spoon",
>
>
>
>On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 4:55 AM, Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com> wrote:
>> "On the wall was a sign:
>>
>>   I am heading for the Whitney.  Kisch mein tokus, Profane.
>>   'Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,' said Stencil.
>>   'Ho, hum, " said Profane, preparing to sack out on the floor."
>>
>> The "wall" has a sign (posted by Rachel) addressed to the "Rollicking
>> Boys" (Benny and Stencil, just returned from their 'night of
>> burglary') indicating she is doing something civilized in response to
>> the Boys' antics.  To which Stencil responds with the original
>> "writing on the wall":
>>
>> "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin."
>>
>> ...the mantic phrase from the Book of Daniel, in which these
>> mysteriously appearing words forecast the downfall of the king,
>> Belshazzar.  Note that Rachel self-consciously undercuts her own
>> somewhat pompous "I am heading for the Whitney" with a Yiddish-ism,
>> which is characteristic of her high-low mix. Note also that Stencil's
>> pretentious Aramaic is also characteristic. The young woman's "Kiss my
>> ass" is met with the paranoid's ominous and obscure: "It has been
>> counted and counted, weighed and divided."
>>
>> I'm unclear why the "tokus" in "Kisch mein tokus" is spelled this way;
>> it's not apparently an unknown transliteration of the Yiddish word for
>> "ass" but it seems to be an uncommon one - I can't find any online
>> citations for this phrase that don't come from "V."
>>
>> For a validation of Pynchon's spelling:
>> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tokus
>>
>> For a detailed, appropriately Talmudic analysis of the original Jewish
>> scripture Stencil quotes, see:
>> http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=459&letter=M
>>
>> For a look at one of Rembrandt's greatest narrative images,
>> illustrating this passage from Daniel:
>> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Rembrandt-Belsazar.jpg
>>
>> --
>> Richard Ryan
>> New York and the World
>> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>>