Not P but Moby-Dick (38)

[Michael Bailey]

Unless he’s referring to the American magazine “High Times”, a pro-cannabis
counterculture publication. But that’s unlikely (-;

On Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 11:35 PM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> “[it would be] high times [a jolly circumstance - said with some ridicule]
> indeed if whaling captains were wheeled about … in … chairs”
>
> He is making much of the fact that Ahab is standing up, very erect, an
> exemplar of sternness and steadfastness, in the rear of the boat, no doubt
> barking orders (since there is no tiller and he’s the only one facing
> forward, he has to tell them to bear left or right)
>
> “High times” is what it isn’t.
>
> On Sun, Nov 5, 2023 at 11:18 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> From Chapter 53:
>>
>> But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa of that sort whatever, and
>> no tiller at all. High times indeed, if whaling captains were wheeled
>> about
>> the water on castors like gouty old aldermen in patent chairs.
>>
>> What does "High times" mean here? One translation confused it with "high
>> time", which seems clearly wrong.
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>