GR translation: silver ringing the fields of white

[Jochen Stremmel]

Some Google hits like these

the dogwoods ringing the fields bloomed flaming pink

But under the new system, they would grow nitrogen-fixing beans and peas
along with staple or cash crops such as cassava, ground nuts, sorghum and
soybeans in rotation in fields ringed by trees newly-planted to prevent
erosion.

Ringing the fields is a paved trail, and beyond that are woods.

make me consider that P wanted to invoke rather a visual than a sound
effect (re: translation), meaning the diners' places; quite a clear image
(although not circular; circular fields being the exception).

2016-01-29 15:07 GMT+01:00 Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>:

> I nodded at your "trying to invoke": it's blurred for me.
>
> The white could be banquet tablecloth, napkins, and/or empty dinner
> plates. But given the typical sizes, shapes, and positions of those, I
> don't get a clear image of silverware "ringing" either a single diner's
> place or the table as whole. And reading "ringing as Doctor Who
> S09E0ringing" a metallic/musical sound doesn't work well, either.
>
> The last hundred pages of GR have always been tough for me. Gottfried's
>  launch and the ending "at the movies" are absolutely great, and there are
> many other fine things. But for much of those hundred pages, it feels as if
> Pynchon was exhausted, exalted, or both, trying to pull all the themes at
> once into crescendo. With every reason and right to be, god knows -- but
> there are costs in clarity and coherence.
>
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 4:45 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> V715.36-716-3, P730.9-16   “Cyst salad,” Roger continues, “with little
>> cheery-red squares of abortion aspic, tossed in a subtle dandruff dressing.”
>>        There is a sound of well-bred gagging, and a regional sales
>> manager for ICI leaves hurriedly, spewing a long crescent of lumpy beige
>> vomit that splatters across the parquetry. Napkins are being raised to
>> faces all down the table. Silverware is being laid down, silver ringing the
>> fields of white, a puzzling indecision here again, the same as at Clive
>> Moss-moon’s office . . . .
>>
>> What is "silver ringing the fields of white" trying to invoke here?
>>
>
>
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