Not P but Moby-Dick (16)

[Mike Jing]

So he is saying:"you cannot swerve me, and if you try, you will swerve
yourselves instead." Is that correct?

Also, I'm still not quite sure what "man has ye there" means. Is he saying
that man is greater in this respect than ye great gods?



On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 12:55 AM Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In order to change Ahab's course, any that come to deter him from his
> "fixed idea" will suffer the consequence of their attempts. The economic
> force of history determined with the advent of capitalism cannot be
> deterred (swerved off its course) without destroying whole populations.
> Melville at his most prophetic.
>
> On Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 8:52 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Also from Chapter 37:
>>
>> No, ye’ve knocked me down, and I am up again; but ye have run and hidden.
>> Come forth from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye.
>> Come, Ahab’s compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve
>> me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there.
>>
>> What does "ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves" mean? And what
>> is "man has ye there"?
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>