GR translation: improbable as a Zouave

[Mike Jing]

That's what I thought too. However, in the next episode, we find:

V112.29-30, P114.33-34   The Zouave has gone back to his unit in North
Africa, back under the Cross of Lorraine, . . .

which I also quoted in my original post. Is this part of the simile too?

Weisenburger apparently treated this sentence as fact in the *Companion*. I
assume this means they borrowed him from the French.


On Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 2:51 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> No. “ improbable as a Zouave,” is a Simile, a figure of speech that is
> NOT to be taken literally
>
> Simile
> sim·i·le
> /ˈsiməlē/
> Learn to pronounce
>
> <https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS955US956&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ALiCzsbrLFZzxgHEPSlHze_ES-MXxxOSZA:1655620765914&q=how+to+pronounce+simile&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAOMIfcRowS3w8sc9YSn9SWtOXmPU5OINKMrPK81LzkwsyczPExLiYglJLcoV4pLi4GIrzszNzEm1YlFiSs3jWcQqnpFfrlCSr1AA1JEP1JKqAFEAAO8LjzlXAAAA&pron_lang=en&pron_country=us&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwic2Yn987j4AhV7nGoFHeymCYgQ3eEDegQIAxAK>
> *noun*
>
>    1. a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with
>    another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic
>    or vivid (e.g., *as brave as a lion*, *crazy like a fox* ).
>
>
> In this case it seems to be an observance of the bizarre twist of
> Colonialism that the history of the Zouave exhibit.  The colonized original
> native soldiers under French command and wearing the bizarre interpretation
> of an appropriate uniform for the natives in a foreign land, are eventually
> replaced by the colonizers themselves, but still wearing the exotic uniform.
>
>
> “It was initially intended that the zouaves would be a regiment of Berber
> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers> volunteers from the Zwawa
> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwawa>group of tribes in Algeria—thus
> the French term zouave <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zouave#French>—who
> had gained a martial reputation fighting for local rulers under the Ottoman
> Empire <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire>. The regiment was
> to consist of sixteen hundred Zwawa Berbers, French non-commissioned
> officers <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-commissioned_officer> and
> French officers. Five hundred Zwawa were recruited in August and September
> 1830. Twelve years later, zouaves began to be recruited almost exclusively
> from Europeans.”
>
> On Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 1:25 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> V91.40-92.1, P93.33-35   Out on a little pond the black man is down from
>> London, ice-skating, improbable as a Zouave, riding his blades tall,
>> dignified, as if born to them and ice not desert.
>>
>> What does "improbable as a Zouave" mean here?
>>
>> Is he really a Zouave? The answer seems to be yes, since later in the book
>> we find:
>>
>> The Zouave has gone back to his unit in North Africa, back under the Cross
>> of Lorraine, . . .
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>