Not P but Moby-Dick (60)

[Mike Jing]

I could be totally wrong here, but I don't see how the boats can lean
forward, and it seems to make no sense for the boats to face diagonally
behind the whale while in pursuit. Rather, I imagine the boats arranged in
a diagonal line, but all facing forward towards the whale.


On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 2:59 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> range verb (POSITION)
>
> *to **position** people or things together, especially in rows*: The
> crowd ranged itself along the route of the procession. The troops were
> ranged in front of the commanding officer.
>
> “they took a mortal start forwards
> slantingly ranged up on the German’s quarter”
>
> *They very forcefully leaned forward together in a line on the German’s
> side of the boat.*
>
> “all four boats were diagonically in the whale’s immediate wake”
>
> *All four boats also lined up facing diagonally in the wake *
>
> On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 2:52 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> From Chapter 81:
>>
>> With a shout, they took a mortal start forwards, and slantingly ranged up
>> on the German’s quarter.  An instant more, and all four boats were
>> diagonically in the whale’s immediate wake, while stretching from them, on
>> both sides, was the foaming swell that he made.
>>
>> Here, do "slantingly" and "diagonically"(=diagonally) refer to the
>> relative
>> position of the boats, or is it something else? What exactly is the
>> picture
>> here?
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>