IV translation: spades

[Keith Davis]

Yes, good Laura.

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 10:41 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net>wrote:

> On 5/8/2012 6:06 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>
>> It's an example of the cornball, racist humor of that time, made
>> allowable by edgy (for their day) shows such as Rowan&  Martin's Laugh In
>> (1967) and All In the Family (1968).
>>
>> The basic trope:  An unhip white person deliberately or inadvertently
>> makes a racially charged comment ["black as a spade "- (a slang word for
>> black people); "use bleach - it makes everything whiter," etc.  Then the
>> hip black person they're addressing makes a snappy come-back, at which the
>> presumably hip white audience of the show laughs, somehow implying (to
>> themselves) that they're "good white people," in on the black person's
>> joke, at the expense of the "bad, unhip" white person who made the original
>> inept comment.
>>
>> So Tariq is taking the "humor" of these labored guilty-liberal jokes one
>> step further, by jokingly implying that it's white liberals who are
>> offended by casually racist comments.  But I think, Max, that you've found
>> another nuance that I didn't get when I read it:  that Tariq is, in fact,
>> also joking that P.I.'s are an oppressed group that don't want to be
>> typecast as "Sam Spades."  It's one of those triple entendres that Pynchon
>> loves.  Good catch!
>>
>> Laura
>>
>
>
> I think you've nailed it, Laura.
>
>
>
>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>
>>> From: Max Nemtsov<max.nemtsov at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: May 8, 2012 1:11 PM
>>> To: pynchon-l<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Subject: IV translation: spades
>>>
>>> colleagues, afraid i need yr advice here:
>>>
>>> IV, p. 34
>>> If Glen was a target, then so am I, I would say in spades, but you folks
>>> do get offended so easy
>>>
>>> this is what Tariq (black) says to Doc (white, of Italian descent). why
>>> should Doc be offended, technically he can't be called "spade"? or what
>>> am i missing here? unlikely that he means "you folks" as "PIs" with
>>> "spades" as a collective name, from Sam Spade
>>> i will appreciate your suggestions
>>> Mx
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>


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