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

[Richard Ryan]

I realized on reflection that I mis-stated the scenario here.  It's
*not* the case that Rachel's wall posting is addressed to the Boys -
it's directed at Benny specifically. Stencil's biblical quotation
interjects his own paranoid ends into an exchange meant to occur
between Benny and Rachel exclusively.   Kevin Finucane, in his
web-published notes on "V.",  observes that "Stencil is...perhaps
somewhat manipulatively, suggesting obliquely that Profane's
relationship with Rachel may have run its course."


Is this the point where "V." truly becomes a "buddy" novel?  With
Stencil's caustic and subversive Tom coaxing and cajoling Benny's Huck
back out on the road - the twist here being that Becky Thatcher is in
love with Huck....

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
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
>



-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The remedy for unpredictability, for the chaotic uncertainty
of the future, is contained in the faculty to make and keep promises.
    -- Hannah Arendt