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

[Mark Kohut]

Looking up 'tokus' , we can see it is an older usage, @1910-15 it sez.....
evidently largely overtaken by different spellings..........

Which is one reason the old use is not very findable on Google, I'm sure and 
also
reminds me that TRP often likes older meanings, especially in V. maybe.  

(some examples in the early chapters on the wiki)


----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com>
To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tue, February 8, 2011 4:55:35 AM
Subject: V2, Chap 15 (Sahha), I, p 461 - "Mene, mene tekel, upharsin"

"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
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