Not P but Moby-Dick (70)

Fri Feb 16 21:28:52 UTC 2024

I salute you. Who do we write? 

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 16, 2024, at 3:17 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Currently there's no publisher interest in my GR and AtD translations, but
> I do hope to get them published someday. And I plan to translate M&D as
> well.
> 
> 
>> On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 12:59 AM Michael Bailey <
>> michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hmm -
>> If Jupiter isn’t a planet, then what is it?
>> 
>> 
>> If Chinese AI gains a better understanding of public domain Moby-Dick, or
>> in previous interactions, of the illustrious writings of Mr Pynchon**, it
>> could only help -
>> 
>> Or if Mike Jing is a dude* - just covering the possibilities - ie, he’s
>> never said either that he was or wasn’t - simply being reticent with
>> personal data (eg - did the GR & AtD xlations meet with a friendly
>> reception from publisher?***As of yet, no word volunteered, but one hopes
>> it went well)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In the spirit of disclosing moderately personal info, I’ll volunteer that I
>> also like to drink tea.
>> 
>> 
>> * If so, he’s living the dream - maybe someday I’ll get around to doing a
>> new translation of _Journey to the West_ & hope to find a friendly Chinese
>> listserv…(goals)
>> 
>> ** one would hope the AtD & GR efforts were sanctioned by the original
>> author and would generate royalties for him and his tribe (May they
>> increase!)
>> 
>> Per Wikipedia -
>> *China has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of
>> rights to intellectual property*. Domestically, protection of intellectual
>> property law has also been established by government legislation,
>> administrative regulations, and decrees in the areas of trademark,
>> copyright, and patent.
>> 
>> - it didn’t occur to me to question this w/r/t the GR & AtD questions,
>> because each individual cite was well within fair usage … also I enjoyed
>> the attention to actual Pynchon text, which, umm, in this group
>> is…ummm…yes, highly valued.
>> 
>> But would I be greeted with similar co-operation if I tried to gain Chinese
>> assistance with a new English translation of _The Three Body Problem_?
>> 
>> Anyhoo - weepers, that Moby-Dick is a heckuva book, isn’t it?
>> 
>> *** oh, wait, way back I think Mike posted that he was translating GR for
>> his mother, which would be non-commercial, right?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 11:42 AM O G <octogonalyoyo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Gauges.
>>> 
>>> No doubt the following is utterly witless and I am missing something
>>> obvious as usual, for example I only just learned fifteen minutes ago
>> that
>>> Jupiter is *not*, in fact, a planet, but it is nearly noon and I have
>>> consumed much hot tea so nonetheless or allthemore in true Ishmaelian
>>> spirit I will gauge my best.
>>> 
>>> All previous translations of Moby-Dick have interpreted a nine-inch cable
>>> as, being, that long?
>>> 
>>> That is, hard to even throw words at.  How did the translators translate
>>> the word whale?  Small fish?  Minnow?  Moby the minnow?  Moby-Minnow?
>>> 
>>> How did they translate the word, ship?  Row-boat?  How about ocean.  Was
>> it
>>> a pond?
>>> 
>>> Whadyergonnado with a nine-inch cable.  Queequeg could maybe have tied
>> his
>>> bike down with it, but didn't he leave that Stateside?  Leaning against
>> the
>>> totem pole?
>>> 
>>> Listen, I'm all for China, I really am.  I love China.  Go China!  I hope
>>> they win Taiwan, I really do.  I hope they tie that sucker down to the
>>> mainland ship like a speared whale, and to the sharks that come--
>>> 
>>> But come on, a nine-inch long cable?  Who are these translators?  Can I
>>> have their email addresses?  No I won't mention where I got their emails
>>> from.  Is your name really Mike?  Can I call you Mao?  Is Chinese your
>>> first language?  Which number is English?  How does typing work in China?
>>> I don't really know how Chinese works, I have only seen the pictures, and
>>> it seems like a lot.  Keyboards like whales.  But, so, when a, okay I am
>>> not even going to bother with the concept of Chinese AI right now, but
>> so,
>>> when a Chinese dude, yes dude only a dude, translates a nine-inch cable,
>> or
>>> a nine-inch anything, into Chinese, is there a rule in Chinese that says
>>> you have to state what dimensional aspect of the nine-inch object is
>> being
>>> referred to?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 03:30:52 -0500
>>>> From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>>> To: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>> Subject: Not P but Moby-Dick (71)
>>>> Message-ID:
>>>>        <
>>>> CAPs1BB+99E4BmHQuXeZQbcCnB-C37_ioU-KRH-kjjda1_h0fLA at mail.gmail.com>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>>> 
>>>>> From Chapter 89:
>>>> 
>>>> First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast,
>>> when
>>>> it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all
>>>> controllable by the occupant or occupants,?a mast, an oar, a nine-inch
>>>> cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the same.
>>>> 
>>>> Here, the "nine-inch" refers to the girth of the rope, is that correct?
>>>> 
>>>> Previous translations interpreted it as the length, which seems
>> obviously
>>>> wrong to me.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> Message: 5
>>>> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 06:34:22 -0500
>>>> From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>> To: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>>>> Cc: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: Not P but Moby-Dick (71)
>>>> Message-ID:
>>>>        <
>>>> CAD8KJ4HAKeov2FHQec9LbmOny9a_y3M-Dn3nXzatdNG0Bb96Vg at mail.gmail.com>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>>> 
>>>> Standard rope gauges were determined by the number of folds made in the
>>>> rope walk. Standard sailing ship rigging usually varied from 1?1/4 inch
>>> dia
>>>> to 10 inches in diameter, the latter used for towing another ship, tie
>> up
>>>> to docks, and far less often for anchors, chain being preferred for
>>>> anchors.
>>>> 2
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 3:31?AM Mike Jing <
>> gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
>>>> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> From Chapter 89:
>>>>> 
>>>>> First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast,
>>>> when
>>>>> it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all
>>>>> controllable by the occupant or occupants,?a mast, an oar, a
>> nine-inch
>>>>> cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the same.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Here, the "nine-inch" refers to the girth of the rope, is that
>> correct?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Previous translations interpreted it as the length, which seems
>>> obviously
>>>>> wrong to me.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> Subject: Digest Footer
>>>> 
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>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> End of Pynchon-l Digest, Vol 73, Issue 12
>>>> *****************************************
>>>> 
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