"It is all right! I know how to talk to these people! I have studied their culture! Listen—'st los, Hund? Boogie-boogie, ja?"
* * * * * * * * * *
This sounds more racist than it actually is (which is very racist). But I think Archduke is saying, in his attempt at Black American vernacular (again, quite a racist attempt. I'm not defending this jerk! We established he was a racist monster a few pages ago. This is just racist icing on his racist cake), "How is going, dog? Are you dancing?"
I mean, maybe I'm wrong about the translation of "boogie-boogie, ja" to "Are you dancing?" He might simply be voicing gibberish in his attempt to mimic some tribal language.
I mean, what am I even doing?! Discussing the degrees of racism of the Archduke Ferdinand? A man who, by the way, is a known racist monster and 19th century hipster, according to all of the historical documents I've read on him (this one. Against the Day. It's the only one I've read. And, again, I know it's historical fiction. But it's Pynchon which means anything he says must be proven untrue after I've already accepted it as fact. Which means I probably won't be convinced. It's how human logic works. He got to me first so I'm more apt to believe him than some Johnny-Come-Lately supposedly trumpeting the truth. I'm sorry. It's just the rules of American rationalization).
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