Re: Merchant Marine and Ports of Call

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: : : : : There has been a lot of discussion concerning the lack of plot in Ports of Call. As I read the novel it occurred to me that this was probably very much the sort of life that Jack led during his merchant marine days, moving from port to port, picking up and leaving off cargo, having brief shore leaves in communities whose cultures might be far removed from that of the U.S., perhaps seeing unusual or unique events. Just a thought. : : : A thought it may be, and one which is very much in phase with my own! : : Wow, I'm amazed to read these comments! For as I read the book, : : I had a something of an epiphany in this respect. : : My father was in the Merchant Marines, probably about the same : : time as Vance. He has a box of wonderful trinkets collected : : during his travels, and when my brothers and I were small, we'd : : pester him over and over to bring out the box. He'd lift out an : : object and with it would come forth an anecdote about some : : faraway place. : : My favorite was the ruble. There was a thriving black market by : : which the sailors traded cartons of cigarettes for local : : currencies. Dad received the folded, ordinary-seeming ruble in a : : trade; when opened, he found whole back side was blank. It had : : been shaved precisely and painstakingly in half- the *long* way, : : in the plane of the paper. Dad so appreciated the work the poor : : guy went to for the swindle that of course it became far more : : valuable than any ordinary money. : : For me, reading Ports of Call felt just like having that old : : trinket box open. The ruble story (and many others) would have : : fit right in. : : And by the way, my father always had mouth-watering descriptions : : of the tropical fruits he consumed along the way. Is it my : : imagination or are there more meals and snacks described in POC : : than in any other Vance work? I guess those sailors knew how to : : appreciate fresh food after so long aboard ship... : : Diana Hamilton -- hamilton@umbc.edu -- Baltimore, MD USA : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Don't tell me you liked the giant segmented sea-worm that : was described with such relish?? Although, now that I think of it, it doesn't sound much worse than lobster. Look at a scorpion too closely, and you may never want to eat lobster again!

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