GR translation: have been faces of children out the train windows

[Mike Jing]

Of course, the same thing happened earlier in the same paragraph:

"He’s sat in Säure Bummer’s kitchen, the air streaming with kif moirés,
reading soup recipes and finding in every bone and cabbage leaf paraphrases
of himself . . . news flashes, names of wheelhorses that will pay him off
enough for a certain getaway. . . ."

"paraphrases of himself" are entries in his own history, so "every bone and
cabbage leaf" correspond to "news flashes, etc."

I think you are right.  Thanks, David.


On Sun, Sep 6, 2015 at 5:24 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> That does fit rather nicely, seeing there are six bits each in the two
> lists.  I also thought "instructing him," was a side clause continuing
> from before the ellipsis, but was confused by the "have been" that
> follows.  It still feels weird, but it seems to make sense.
>
> On Sun, Sep 6, 2015 at 4:28 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> "seeing clearly in each an entry in a record, a history: his own"  In
>> each "entry" of noticed refuse Slothrup sees a reference to himself, his
>> history.
>>
>> "instructing him," is a side clause.
>>
>> "have been faces of children out the train windows, two bars of dance
>> music somewhere (etc)" These are bits ofSlothrup's history that are evoked
>> by each piece of refuse.
>>
>> Seeing clearly in each, a history. [They] have been faces (etc)...
>>
>> That's my read.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Sunday, August 30, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> All of the detritus "have been," " in each,  an entry in a record, a
>>> history: his own, his winter’s, his country’s "
>>>
>>> On Sunday, August 30, 2015, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> V626.3-15   . . . picking up rusted beer cans, rubbers yellow with
>>>> preterite seed, Kleenex wadded to brain shapes hiding preterite snot,
>>>> preterite tears, newspapers, broken glass, pieces of automobile, days when
>>>> in superstition and fright he could make it all fit, seeing clearly in each
>>>> an entry in a record, a history: his own, his winter’s, his country’s . . .
>>>> instructing him, dunce and drifter, in ways deeper than he can explain,
>>>> have been faces of children out the train windows, two bars of dance music
>>>> somewhere, in some other street at night, needles and branches of a pine
>>>> tree shaken clear and luminous against night clouds, one circuit diagram
>>>> out of hundreds in a smudged yellowing sheaf, laughter out of a cornfield
>>>> in the early morning as he was walking to school, the idling of a
>>>> motorcycle at one dusk-heavy hour of the summer . . .
>>>>
>>>> How does "have been" fit into the overall structure of the sentence?
>>>>
>>>> I understand that it must be inverted.  is it something like this:
>>>>
>>>> faces of children out the train windows etc. have been instructing him
>>>> in ways deeper than he can explain
>>>>
>>>> or something else entirely?
>>>>
>>>>
>
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