M&D - Chapter 11 pp 109-110

[Mark Kohut]

Why does Pynchon have the line after 'hum, hum, howbeit,--"?
"Another Cup, Sir?")...I suggest it is to signal, as in a typical
novel, even an historical novel, that he was urged to drink up and
continue the story. And he does.

On Sun, Feb 22, 2015 at 3:53 PM, jochen stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, I think so, too. Anyway, the "Hum, hum, howbeit, -" from Cherrycoke
> seems to carry some embarrassment, and with Laura's explanation he has two
> reasons for it - for lapsing into silent reverie (while his audience is
> still sitting there) and for the topic of the reverie.
>
> And the second passage you mention is Very interesting because of its
> shifting nature, from "he might say" over "She will not blink" (tho' her
> nostrils may flare) to "she scowls". Which narrator is conducting that?
> Certainly not the Reverend. He's not only omniscient, he's shifting the
> gears of the narrative's reality (or so it seems to me).
>
> 2015-02-22 18:43 GMT+01:00 <kelber at mindspring.com>:
>>
>> I read the "Uncle, Uncle!" interjection as a sign that Cherrycoke had
>> lapsed into silent revery (or fantasy) about topics inappropriate for his
>> audience.
>>
>> There's a passage on p. 111 (sorry to get ahead!): "Mason gapes in
>> despair. He'll be days late thinking up any reply to speech as sophisticated
>> as this. 'In my experience,' he might say ..." But then Mason's whole
>> conversation with Florinda is recounted. Is the conversation still
>> conditional: these are the things that Mason might say? Or is this
>> Cherrycoke's version, aloud, or in revery?
>>
>> Laura
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> >From: Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com>
>> >Sent: Feb 22, 2015 11:39 AM
>> >To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> >Subject: M&D - Chapter 11 pp 109-110
>> >
>> >Continuing Chapter 11 - in St. Helena - with Maskelyne, Mason & Dixon -
>> >
>> >Page 109
>> >
>> >Visitors to St. Helena, especially women and other than slaves - almost
>> > listed and compared to "Birds of Passage":
>> >Convicts
>> >Young Wives,
>> >Company Perpetuals
>> >(such shuttles upon the loom of Trade as Mrs. Rollright - ah - what an
>> > apparently appropriate name)
>> >Mrs. Rollright - aka Florinda - and she recognizes Mason -
>> >
>> >
>> >*** Okay  - someone has to ask it - what's with the little ditties strung
>> > throughout - and throughout all of PYnchon's work - is this a nod to Joyce
>> > that really touched the spirit of Pynchon and he couldn't resist?  Parodies?
>> > Parallax?
>> >
>> >I can't copy anything from this source:  "Music in Thomas Pynchon's Mason
>> > & Dixon"  - it's 36 pages long including Notes.  I didn't have to register
>> > or anything like that - just asked for .pdf and scrolled down.
>> >https://www.pynchon.net/owap/article/view/75/170
>> >
>> >***********
>> >"While other writers, like James Joyce, have invoked parallax as a
>> > perspectival method in order to challenge univocal narrative form, Pynchon
>> > works the concept more radically into his fictional treatment of
>> > historiography.[4] "
>> >
>> >More at:  http://pmc.iath.virginia.edu/issue.903/14.1burns.html
>> >
>> >****
>> >Page 110:
>> >
>> >**  Some omniscient narrator presents the backstory of Mason takes to
>> > attending public hangings following Rebekah's death.
>> >
>> >"Wapping was also the site of 'Execution Dock', where pirates and other
>> > water-borne criminals faced execution by hanging from a gibbet constructed
>> > close to the low water mark. Their bodies would be left dangling until they
>> > had been submerged three times by the tide.[2]"
>> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wapping
>> >
>> >Lower-situated imitations of the "Hellfire Club"
>> >Hell-Fire Club -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Club  (of the
>> > times in England)
>> >also see:
>>
>> > >http://www.masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_11:_105-115#Page_110
>> >
>> >Hangings on Tyburn - here we have the famous gallows - ended in 1783
>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn#Tyburn_gallows
>> >
>> >And what a beautiful line:
>> >
>> >** "To the Fabulators of  Grub Street, a licentious night-world of Rakes
>> > and Whores, surviving only in memories of pleasure, small darting winged
>> > beings, untrustworthy as remembrancers ... "
>> >
>> >(a nod to the untrustworthiness of memory)
>> >Grub Street:
>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grub_Street
>> >
>> >continuing:   "... yet its infected, fragrant, soiled encounters 'neath the
>> > Moon were as worthy as any, -  an evil-in-innocence..."
>> >
>> >
>> >(Even though untrustworthy,  memories are valuable in some way -
>> > "evil-in-innocence"  because memories are like wolves in sheep's clothing? -
>> >
>> >******
>> >And in a total discontinuance from the narrative although apparently in
>> > response to it:
>> >("Uncle, Uncle!"... )  etc.
>> >This is Tenebræ and the Cherrycoke kids breaking in, isn't it?  Probably
>> > because Cherrycoke is getting too close to subjects inappropriate for the
>> > ears of children?  -  "Rakes and Whores" and what not.
>> >
>> >*********
>> >
>> >Becky
>> >
>> >-
>> >Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l