Re: GR translation: But it’s what’s dancing dead-white and scarlet at the edges of his sight

Mike Jing gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
Mon Jul 17 15:43:42 CDT 2017


OK, but I'm still confused about the sentence structure. Does it mean "But
it’s what’s dancing dead-white and scarlet at the edges of his sight [that
occupies his attention]"? Or just "But there is something dancing
dead-white and scarlet at the edges of his sight"?

Also, this part of the sentence is a statement, while the second part is a
question, which seems a bit odd. Wouldn't it make more sense to remove the
"it's" altogether? Of course, this is just me trying to make sense of the
sentence, and I could be totally off the mark.

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 3:47 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> " But it’s what’s dancing dead-white and scarlet at the edges of his
> sight" refers to his vision through his closed eyelids, which he is afraid
> to open.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 2:41 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> V532.1-8, P540.40-541.7  When the lights come back on, Slothrop is on his
>> knees, breathing carefully. He knows he will have to open his eyes. The
>> compartment reeks now with suppressed light—with mortal possibilities for
>> light—as the body, in times of great sadness, will feel its real chances
>> for pain: real and terrible and only just under the threshold. . . . The
>> brown paper bundle is two inches from his knee, wedged behind the
>> generator. But it’s what’s dancing dead-white and scarlet at the edges of
>> his sight . . . and are the ladders back up and out really as empty as they
>> look?
>>
>> What is implied in this part of the sentence, since it seems structurally
>> incomplete (I'm expecting a "that" clause at the end)? Or does "it" here
>> refer to something specific?
>>
>
>
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