Bodine origins

Max Nemtsov max.nemtsov at gmail.com
Thu Jul 11 10:44:27 CDT 2013


dear colleagues,

could anyone point me in the right direction, please? has anyone written 
on the origins of Pig Bodine's name extensively?

while working on GR russian translation, we looked at several versions 
and theories, including the ones cited in Patrick Hurley's Pynchon 
Character Names dictionary, and Charles Hollander's advise was certainly 
instrumental to us in the work, too, but recently i've found an 
interesting parallel with Joyce's Ulysses, and i haven't been able to 
locate if it'd been covered by anyone before (or, maybe, i'm "inventing 
the bicycle" here)

to wit: in episode 16 of Ulysses (Eumaeus) , when Bloom and Stephen 
spend some time in cabmen's shelter, they strike a conversation with one 
of the characters there, a redbearded sailor named D.B. Murphy of 
Carrigaloe, who seems to be fond of telling tall tales and seafaring 
yarns. at some point (line 489), he produces a postcard from his pocket, 
to prove the point of him witnessing Peruvian man-eating habits, which 
of course doesn't prove anything, but is addressed to: "Senor A 
Boudin... etc." who is, apparently not him at all. now, we even of 
limited French, know that boudin is blood sausage (and Don Gifford in 
his Ulysses Annotated glosses it as such). all this (and a weird postal 
connection of course) made me think if that D.B. Murphy (meaning 
"sea-fighter", according to Gifford) may be a literary ancestor of the 
entire TRP's Bodine clan.

what do you think? will appreciate your suggestions
Mx



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