GR translation: rarely enough to matter

[David Morris]

 I think "rarely enough to matter" has to do with "was Tchitcherine there
at all."  It speaks of his presence, his consciousness, his experience.
Thus the following  list of sights and sounds. If he is not "there" they do
not "matter."

David Morris

On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 6:24 AM Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I get half a meaning: that the sound of the droshky is not so common as to
> be lost in urban background noise. But in what way might it "matter"? The
> context suggests it might be coming, ominously, for him, but that's pure
> guesswork.
>
> On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 4:11 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> V345.21-28, P350.25-33   What did Tchitcherine have to say? Was
>> Tchitcherine there at all? sitting back in the dingy room while the
>> lift cables slapped and creaked through the walls, and down in the
>> street, rarely enough to matter, a droshky rattled whip-snapping over
>> these black old cobbles? Or while snow beat at the grimy windows? How
>> far, in the eyes of those who would send him to Central Asia, was too
>> far: would his simple presence in these rooms have gotten him death
>> automatically . . . or was there still, even at this stage of things,
>> enough slack to let him reply?
>>
>> What does "rarely enough to matter" mean?
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>
>
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