AtD - Chapter 27 - Section 2 (337-343): Hook deployment

[alice malice]

Yes, of course, in the given sentence the word "Hook" (capitalized by
the author) is surely the implement deployed.

This literal reading, while an important first step, is just that, a
step in what turns out to be, as is so often the case with Pynchon, a
long and nearly exhausting series of joaks and puns and so on.

In most cases, then as now, the Hook is not physically, nor is it
literally, but only proverbially, as a common reference, or
figuratively deployed.

In a Chuck Jones cartoon, Bugs will use his cane to hook Daffy Duck,
who, after ducking the deployed tomatoes and onions will be yanked off
the stage only to be replaced by the ever-popular Bunny. But the
cartoon works through a reversal of the figurative, so the cane or
hook is there, literally deployed.

But  AGTD is no cartoon. Sure, we are in Tn Pan Alley. Sure, the hook
was, physically employed in the theater and so forth...


But there is so much Hooking going on in this section that it seems we
are meant to look closer for non-literal meanings.


So, who gets hooked and who does the hooking here? And, why is the
Hook fateful. Hook is a pun and title of song and the catchy catch
that catches and has cat sured your tongue and your ears too, to boot.

How one translates these clever puns is beyond me.

Shakespeare must give translators fits and what about Chaucer whose
triple pun at the tail of the Miller's Tale, where the Tally of a sum
for a Tail (sex) or a Tale is measured in rhymes and sums of puns,
still gets the young scholars blushing.

On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 11:52 AM, Michel <bulb at vheissu.net> wrote:
> '[Con McVeety] ... lurking backstage, waiting for the fateful Hook
> deployment )´ p. 342
>
> What does 'Hook' refer to? Makes no sense to, right now, Pynchonwiki has
> nothing yet on it...
>
> Michel.
>
>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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