BEER Ch. 6, 53-57: knotting into March Kelleher
Mark Kohut
markekohut at yahoo.com
Mon Oct 28 15:57:24 CDT 2013
Security..is their rationale...secrecy, mystery, unaccounted for money....Nah, COULDN'T be the CIA
On Monday, October 28, 2013 4:35 PM, Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
Am 26.10.2013 16:37, schrieb Monte Davis:
> “March and Maxine go back to the co-opping frenzy of ten or fifteen
> years ago,” i.e. 1985-1990, but that recognition is briefly delayed. We
> first hear of March (via Otis & Ziggy’s report) as a “really crazy
> lady,” an alumna guest speaker at a Kugelblitz school assembly with
> “something she wanted to say but not in front of a kid audience.” See
> Michael Chabon’s NYRB review,
>
> http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/nov/07/thomas-pynchon-crying-september-11/,
>
> for thoughts on innocence, parents and the stories they tell or don’t
> tell children.
Well, I critizised Chabon for misreading the character of Ernie, but
here he is dead-on. This is an important theme and ties in with the
beginning and the ending of the novel (and some other things in between).
> 53: “The hashslingrz legend continues, here.” “Legend” is an interesting
> choice, more loaded in several directions than, say, “Hmm, another
> hashslingrz connection, here.” One that occurs to me is the use of
> “legend” in John Le Carre to mean “cover story/identity” – often a spy’s
> faked background complete with documentation. Possibly a hint that this
> is not just potential business fraud, but a matter of concern to larger
> powers and dominions?
Having just read some of Le Carré's novels, I find this reading of
'legend' quite convincing. This would suggest that hashslingerz is a CIA
front, no?
> (...) “When I hear the word culture… I release the safety on my Browning!”
> [not Goering, sorry, March]
The quote is from Hanns Johst's 'Schlageter.'
Thank you very much, Monte.
Thomas
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