AtD translation: allowing herself to imagine

[Mike Jing]

I'm not sure I understand, since that's exactly what I see implied. Maybe
someone else can jump in and tell me if I'm completely off base here.


On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 9:57 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Mike,
>
> Your take *almost* works if you add the word “despite,” but that addition
> would have to modify the word “almost.”  It also woks if you modify
> “almost” with the following, possibly better implied, parentheses:
>
> allowing herself to imagine, almost •(but not)• surrendering to the impossibility
> of ever belonging,
>
> The word “almost” thus implying having not having surrendered.
>
> David Morris
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 2:48 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> She was imagining despite "the impossibility of ever belonging". What she
>> was imagining were "the offer never clearly stated, the hand never fully
>> dealt", in other words, what might have been.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 6:09 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The word “imagine,” here, doesn’t need an object. “Allowing herself to
>>> imagine” can easily stand alone.
>>>
>>> But “the offer never clearly stated, the hand never fully dealt" would
>>> not be its object, if it had one. The “offer” would refer to something
>>> earlier stated (or hinted at), which might be that imagine’s object.  That
>>> offer might be “the (im)possibility of ever belonging,” but an
>>> impossibility is the opposite of an offer, right?   But  “the brief
>>> revelation,” described in the vision of the the many lights she’s just
>>> seen, might make sense as “imagine’s” object.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>> > > --
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 2:54 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks, Joseph.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 8:36 AM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > I think that what you suggest  is the only logical way to read it if
>>>> there
>>>> > were a clear end to the sentence. To my thinking the ellipsis at the
>>>> end
>>>> > makes that assumption rather vague because those last three
>>>> comma-separated
>>>> > lines could be a further commentary on the whatever she does imagine.
>>>> >   If so it becomes obvious that P intends to leave that object of the
>>>> verb
>>>> > unstated and perhaps impossible to get at, like so many of our
>>>> longings and
>>>> > thoughts.
>>>> >
>>>> > Secondary thought of no relevance to Mike Jing’s  practical question
>>>> but
>>>> > perhaps worth a bit of consideration) Soon after this passage Dally's
>>>> > imagination and observation turn from the light of Venice which
>>>> Hunter was
>>>> > intrigued by, to the Venetian dark, the shadows; and it seems to this
>>>> > reader her thoughts have more focus and clarity, seeing acts of
>>>> violence
>>>> > and abduction, as though these shadows are more real and
>>>> consequential than
>>>> > the inscrutable light, the paintable world that casts them.
>>>> >
>>>> > > On Jul 14, 2021, at 12:20 AM, Mike Jing <
>>>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>>> > wrote:
>>>> > >
>>>> > > P580.36-581.10   She wondered sometimes what he would have made of
>>>> > American
>>>> > > light. She had sat adrift in insomnia for hours watching fields of
>>>> > windows
>>>> > > lit and lampless, vulnerable flames and filaments by the thousands
>>>> borne
>>>> > > billowing as by waves of the sea, the broken rolling surfaces of the
>>>> > great
>>>> > > cities, allowing herself to imagine, almost surrendering to the
>>>> > > impossibility of ever belonging, since childhood when she’d ridden
>>>> with
>>>> > > Merle past all those small, perfect towns, longed after the lights
>>>> at
>>>> > > creeksides and the lights defining the shapes of bridges over great
>>>> > rivers,
>>>> > > through church windows or trees in summer, casting shining
>>>> parabolas down
>>>> > > pale brick walls or haloed in bugs, lanterns on farm rigs, candles
>>>> at
>>>> > > windowpanes, each attached to a life running before and continuing
>>>> on,
>>>> > long
>>>> > > after she and Merle and the wagon would have passed, and the mute
>>>> land
>>>> > > risen up once again to cancel the brief revelation, the offer never
>>>> > clearly
>>>> > > stated, the hand never fully dealt. . . .
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Here the object of "imagine" Is "the offer never clearly stated,
>>>> the hand
>>>> > > never fully dealt", is that correct?
>>>> > > --
>>>> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> --
>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>>
>>>