GR translation: serai

[Mark Kohut]

Since my opinions  are often wrong, why not be wrong again, I ask myself
and let the others refine by further expression.

First, why, again, is it not both at once, so to speak? The very nature of
Empson's Ambiguities?

Second, the denotative is in my readings, decidedly secondary, because even
that "inn"-- "no room at the inn" in the Christian Birth myth folds into
the whole *king--prince motif*. Everywhere here. That stable/inn where JC
was born is a mythic palace for Christians. I do not think P would have
used the word seria without meaning #2 foremost. He would have used the
words we define it with if he meant meaning #1, imho.

This whole scene is a mythic setup verbally akin conceptually to the Oven
chapter but satiric.. "The ground of golden straw" is realistic enough but
needs no real inn, since it is part of the Myth.

When he ends it with "Is the baby smiling or is it just gas?" we know where
we are and are laughing and wincing at The Christ Child story.

So this para ends with "Which do you want it to be?"....




On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 12:24 PM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, #1 denotatively -- I'd translate with whatever Chinese could be "inn"
> or "travelers' lodging," ideally with an archaic/exotic tone because that's
> what "serai" has
>
> ...keeping in mind that for Christians, #2 comes along wrapped up in the
> myth. The paradox that the Christ child -- not even in the humble inn but
> in its humbler stable -- is also the newborn king,  to whom angels and Very
> Important People from afar pay tribute, has a place in most Anglophone
> Christmas carols. So there is a "palace" connotation in there too, but IMO
> Weisenburger is mistaken to make it primary.
>
> On Wed, Jun 29, 2016 at 12:05 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> V131.19-28   The true king only dies a mock death. Remember. Any
>> number of young men may be selected to die in his place while the real
>> king, foxy old bastard, goes on. Will he show up under the Star, slyly
>> genuflecting with the other kings as this winter solstice draws on us?
>> Bring to the serai gifts of tungsten, cordite, high-octane?  Will the
>> child gaze up from his ground of golden straw then, gaze into the eyes
>> of the old king who bends long and unfurling overhead, leans to
>> proffer his gift, will the eyes meet, and what message, what possible
>> greeting or entente will flow between the king and the infant prince?
>>
>> From the OED:
>>
>> serai, n.1
>>
>> 1. a. In various Eastern countries, A building for the accommodation
>> of travellers; a caravanserai.
>>
>> 2. A Turkish palace; esp. the palace of the Sultan at Constantinople.
>>
>> Weisenburger chose meaning #2 in the Companion, but #1 seems to make
>> more sense to me, since it looks like the infant is still in a stable
>> (his ground of golden straw).
>>
>> Comments?
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>
>
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