Chekhov's Mistress
Against the Day Title Speculation
I put this on the Pynchon Wiki under “title speculation, biblical connotations”
“Against the Day” is a fairly common phrase and probably not limited to one meaning, but this passage from the King James Bible is particularly resonant, especially considering the great amount of religious and pseudo-religious imagery in the book:
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans 2:5 “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (King James Bible)
The bookends of the word “wrath” around “against the day” make this particularly suggestive of judgement day or the day of wrath. The passages around this one and around Matthew: 6:34 where Webb’s “Sufficient unto the day” (p.96) appears dwell on judgement: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
comments
‘Against the Day’
anagrams to
‘A steady hating.’
http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.php?source_text=Against+the+Day&emphasis=1&gender=2&vulgar=0&seen=true
– Steve Clackson (11/30 at 09:25 PM)
“The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), Speech in Syracuse, NY Sep. 29, 1936
– Steve Clackson (11/30 at 09:30 PM)
Thanks Steve, I particularly like that Roosevelt quote.
– Bud Parr (12/01 at 02:34 PM)
Good thoughts, as the title continues to intrigue me as I ever so slowly plod through the book (only 100 pages to go!)
The first thing that came to my mind, for what it’s worth, is 2 Timothy 1:12: “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
This is also the source of a very popular hymn, “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” which you may very well hear in any Southern Baptist church on any given Sunday.
Not sure this has anything whatsoever to do with Pynchon’s game, but there it is.
– Rodney Welch (12/07 at 08:40 AM)
Somehow it’s just fun to think about even if all of our speculations are way off the mark. He clearly has drawn from the Bible though, so I think that putting this context around our reading is helpful.
– Bud Parr (12/07 at 09:06 AM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: November 29, 2006
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:5
- Links to this Post: Technorati
