Re: AtD tramslation: The Hôtel de la Ville et Poste

[Mike Jing]

Apparently, city hall in French is "Hôtel de Ville", not "Hôtel de la
Ville".

A search in Google Books reveals that this is an actual hotel in
Domodossola, duly documented in one of the Baedeker guides: *Italy,
Handbook for Travellers: Northern Italy, including Leghorn, Florence,
Ravenna, and routes through Switzerland and Austria*. I wouldn't be
surprised if that's Pynchon's original source.


On Sat, Jan 15, 2022 at 8:27 AM Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Hôtel de la Ville" is certainly the French term for town hall (i.e. it is
> not a hotel to stay in), which might well incorporate the main post office
> as part of a town's civic complex, so it is presumably a joke, but at which
> level within/beyond the text?
>
> Paul
>
> On Sat, 15 Jan 2022 at 08:59, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I second David here and notice Pynchon's connections with government and
> > the postal system
> > elsewhere, overtly in The Crying of Lot 49....
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 10:41 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > I don’t speak French, but I don’t think this is proper French, and I
> > think
> > > that might be the point:  Reef’s French is sloppy.
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 8:10 PM Mike Jing <
> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > P657.10-13   “Good to see you maintainin ’em standards,” Reef nodded.
> > > > “Wouldn’t do to get déclassé or nothin.”
> > > >        “We’re in Domodossola for a night or two. The Hôtel de la
> Ville
> > et
> > > > Poste, I’m sure you know it.”
> > > >
> > > > What is "The Hôtel de la Ville et Poste" in English? Google Translate
> > > gives
> > > > me "City Hall and Post Office", which doesn't quite make sense.
> > > > --
> > > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > > >
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>