Not P but Moby-Dick (3)

[Michael Bailey]

Seems to me like it would mean that they have recently eaten human flesh &
it has formed part of their body
So they are “carrying it on their bones”

People say, “I’m carrying a little extra weight from the holidays”

Same principle - “I’m carrying a little extra weight from the missionary we
roasted last month”

Or something like that.

The word “unholy” applies because, hey, cannibalism transgresses social
norms.

To see them knowing what they recently did “makes a stranger stare.”

The Chilean soccer team probably got some stares like that when they walked
thru town after coming back from the Andes.

https://www.history.com/news/miracle-andes-disaster-survival




On Wed, Aug 2, 2023 at 1:03 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The following excerpt is from Chapter 6:
>
> In these last-mentioned haunts you see only sailors;  but in New Bedford,
> actual cannibals stand chatting at street corners;  savages outright;  many
> of whom yet carry on their bones unholy flesh.  It makes a stranger stare.
>
> What does "yet carry on their bones unholy flesh" mean here? All five
> previous Chinese translations I have consulted interpreted it as being
> naked, but I don't think it's correct.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>