GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip

[Mike Jing]

That's what I thought, but of course I wasn't sure. Maybe I should
have provided some links for reference. Thanks again, Jochen.

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 8:12 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Before supposing that Pynchon gets something wrong one should at least look
> up the wikipedia – which P couldn't then – and see: "The SVT-40 saw
> widespread service during and after World War II." That weapon (or the model
> before that) is what P refers to when he talks of Unslinging and Firing from
> the hip a Tokarev.
>
> 2016-11-24 10:30 GMT+01:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:
>>
>> Thanks for responding, János, Jochen, and Jim.
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Jim Frame <jbframe at aol.com> wrote:
>> > The Tokarev is an automatic pistol almost as ubiquitous as the AK-47.
>> > It
>> > was developed in the 30s, a copy of the .45 caliber colt pistol used by
>> > the
>> > US Army since 1911.  It was used by the Red Army in World War II, later
>> > replaced by the Makarov in the late 40s or early 50s.  No sling
>> > involved,
>> > but Pynchon gets these minor details wrong from time to time (like in
>> > Lot
>> > 49, referring to Tsar Nikolai during the US Civil War period, when it
>> > was
>> > actually Tsar Alexander II).
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>> > To: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> > Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 1:02 am
>> > Subject: GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip
>> >
>> > V503.34-38, P512.9-13 One of the chimps now bites a Soviet corporal
>> > in the leg. The corporal screams, unslinging his Tokarev and firing
>> > from the hip, by which time the chimp has leaped for a halyard. A
>> > dozen more of the critters, many carrying vodka bottles, head en masse
>> > for the gangplank. “Don’t let them get away,” Haftung hollers.
>> >
>> > Weisenburger refers to the Tokarev as a pistol, probably the TT-30. Is
>> > it common to keep a pistol in a sling in WWII? Or is this more likely
>> > to be a rifle, perhaps the SVT-38 or SVT-40?
>> > -
>> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
>
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l