M&D - Chapter 17 - What're Ears for?

[Johnny Marr]

Through a combination of seemingly divinely ordained purpose and a
Pickling-Jar of Swedish lead crystal, Jenkins ear hasn't merely been
preserved as an historical artifact, but is actually listening - a-glow,
firm and, "in its saline Bath, erect".

TRP hints that the Ear's listening faculties have been "withheld from
Time's Appetite for some Destiny obscure to all". As throughout the book,
he's partly mocking the blind faith that even men of stout reason
possessed, partly highlighting the frequent requirement for us to take our
own leaps of faith - and, more subversively, even might be suggesting an
air of manifest destiny even in our supposedly secular age. Sometimes it's
hard to know how seriously to take Pynchon - but I've read before that he
went through a period of particularly devout Catholicism when he was a
young adult.

Mournival congratulates Mason on being observant enough to have recognised
the Ear's active engagement in listening - "Some of them never do smoak
it". Mournival has been stimulating the Ear - which is apparently voracious
for human speech in any language, yet lackd any great discretion concerning
subject matter - with readings from "the Bible, the Lunar Tables, *The
Ghastly Fop, *whatever comes to hand".

The Ghastly Fop appears to be another of Pynchon's literary apocrypha.

Is the ear metonymic for a world which listens but doesn't hear?

Perhaps not; Mournival is now discussing the Ear in the same terms as a
Soho club owner enticing customers in with the promise of naked flesh.
"[b]een to a number of London Clubs in me time, how'd you like to ... get a
little closer maybe ... tell her something in private?" All for a dollar
more, of course, under the threat of East India Company-warranted violence
... Mournival appears to think that Jenkins' ear has undergone gender
realignment as a result of its pickling.

Mason reulctantly parts with a couple of Rix-Dollars, an obscure
contemporary Dutch currency. "Upon legal advice", Mournival sniggers, "I
must also remind you at this Point, that Ear only *listens* to wishes - she
doesn't grant 'em".
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