Telegram for Reef Traverse

Thu Oct 15 06:43:06 UTC 2020

Thanks, Mike. After translating GR and now this, you probably have a real feel for Pynchon’s prose.
But I enjoyed taking a closer look.

Other stuff that occurred to me, that may not be germane:

1) Perils of Pauline, the movie serial where she had narrow escapes from villains who tied her to railroad tracks etc - begs to be a connotation of “perils of extravagance” referring to Reef and Stray’s trouble-fraught existence during this period.

2) He doesn’t actually say the phrase, but somehow builds it into his quizzical look, which I find myself trying to model, bringing up my gaze at an imaginary conversational partner and letting my features move into a humorous skepticism. Not sure anybody would get my drift, but Reef does a lot of poker and face to face stuff so is probably better at it.

3) The phrase refers, yes, to the extravagance exemplified by living at the Ritz (how quickly it depletes cash, and how risky it is to acquire),

and to extravagance in general - as in Archie’s spiel,

but also  - because Archie entered interrogative mode and asked him a direct question, “no risk, no reward, ain’t that how it goes?” and presumably paused for a reply —

- the phrase embodied in the quizzical look both describes and justifies Reef’s low-energy assent to that particular proposition, and by extension to the whole scam, and the phrase he verbalized is an admission that he’s familiar with the role: “ever thus in the world of affairs”

________________________________
From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 8:43:47 AM
To: Raphael Saltwood <PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com>
Cc: pynchon-l <Pynchon-l at waste.org>
Subject: Re: Telegram for Reef Traverse

That's what I was leaning towards at the beginning, as it could certainly be considered provocative to imply that those words were too extravagant for its own good.  Thank you very much for your help.

On Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 5:22 AM Raphael Saltwood <PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com<mailto:PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com>> wrote:

https://www.old-time.com/commercials/1950%27s/Call%20For%20Philip%20Morris.html

He’s got one of those cylindrical hats, see...

Mike - when great minds work together, the analysis can only get better!

It was Archie who referred to the kids in cylindrical hats, as a part of his pitch.

Typical come-on - start selling the fruits of success:

Dipple sez:
“even at 50 cents a head (which is admittedly a small cut, but all you’ll be doing is
sharing this opportunity with all your friends, since you are what later generations will
come to call an ‘influencer’, while I -who so generously offer this chance at riches
- will be working ever so much harder and risking ever so much more) - there are so many
of these camels out there in the Sonoran Desert, and they will be so easy to bring to
market and sell, that the money will roll in at a pace so fast and prolongedly continuous
that you will be able to move to the Ritz and order room service from [evocative detail]
young folks in cylindrical hats.”

Reef thinks:
“You’ll sell this pig in a poke to the biggest suckers in my circle of acquaintances,
poker buddies, drinking buddies, and random strangers. I will wrest or cajole some money
in advance from you because I know that not a single camel will be caught, moved or sold,
and I will leave town, as I’m already leaving the last place to avoid the same karma
there. Or if in fact you are actually selling these bunco camels on this train, Stray and
I might have to jump off between stops.”

Reef sez: “Ever thus in the world of affairs.” Smiles quizzically to convey gently
all that he’s not saying.

And - here to embed the cognitive leap you made into the scenario - I now think it quite likely Reef means to convey to Dipple,
hey, you may be laying it on a bit too thick

(dangers of extravagance)

Although commission-only jobs still lay it on similarly thick to this very day, in their
want ads!

https://orlando.craigslist.org/sls/d/orlando-work-from-home-and-make-1000/7213348021.html

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