Difference between revisions of "ATD 976-999"
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'''Melpómene'''<br> | '''Melpómene'''<br> | ||
Name of the Greek muse of tragedy. | Name of the Greek muse of tragedy. | ||
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Revision as of 17:55, 19 February 2007
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
Contents
Page 976
Madera revolution
in 1910, out of Mexico, led by Madera. Ramifications felt in El Paso, where a Senate Committee investigated in 1912 and found Standard Oil partly responsible.
Relevant?--a Mormon settlement was investigated as part of the investigation.
Page 977
Majolica
A particular type of white colour glaze for earthenware ceramics that was known for its ability to mimic (poorly) historically expensive porcelain. Its name comes from the practice of importing it into Europe through the ports of the Balearic island Majorca from the Mid-east.
I'm Going..Salome
Stanley Murphy, lyricist, written before 1909.
"I'm going to get myself a black Salome"
Composer: Wynn, Ed 1886-1966
Lyrics: Big Bill Jefferson a railroad man (first line of text)
Contributors: Murphy, Stanley 1875-1919
Publication Date: 1908
For voice and piano.
Cover ill.: African American man watching a belly dancer. Photo of Ed. Wynn.
Page 978
'Tá bien, no te preocupes, m'hija
Spanish: It's all right, don't trouble yourself, my dear.
Galluses
a pair of suspenders for trousers. "Braces" in British English.
Czolgosz
Leon Frank Czolgosz (January 24, 1873 – October 29, 1901) was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley. In the last few years of his short life he was heavily influenced by anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. From Wikipedia
President McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States. from Wikipedia
One thousand Fast Lake Navigation, 158 Fast Express, and 206 Automobile Inverts
Here is a page with images of the stamp. Also, an interesting little online tidbit which references this stamp with the inverted center to which this page refers.
These misprinted ("alternate") stamps, associated with Anarchism, and the philatelically-named Jenny Invert with her similar association to the Anarchist collective at Yz-le-Bans, inevitably call to mind the subtly altered stamps of the anarchist (or at any rate anti-government) Trystero in Lot 49, postage in an alterntive, underground communication system. We have, then, the theme of underground, alternative communication introduced.
Page 979
Hanna's miserable stooge
Mark Hanna (September 24, 1837–February 15, 1904), born Marcus Alonzo Hanna, was an industrialist and Republican politician from Ohio. He rose to fame as the campaign manager of the successful Republican Presidential candidate William McKinley in the U.S. Presidential election of 1896, in what is considered the forerunner of the modern political campaign, and subsequently became one of the most powerful members of the U.S. Senate. From Wikipedia. Obviously, the stooge refers to McKinley.
henriettia
Weave: Twill
Characteristics: Originally consisted of worsted filling and silk warp. Today, it can be found in a variety of blends. It has excellent drapability. It's weight and quality vary with fibres, however, when created with silk and wool it is lustrous and soft.
Uses: Dress goods. Textile Dictionary
Oedipal Spectacle
From the myth of Oedipus Rex, about a returning son killing his father, rendered infamous through Freud's interpretation of its significance to men.
And perhaps a Pynchon in-joke of sorts. The protagonist of Lot 49 is Oedipa Maas (it has been suggested: "More Oedipal"), also in trouble over stamps; in fact "Lot 49" refers to the auction lot of Trystero-altered stamps in the collection of Pierce Inverarity (it has been suggested: "Inverse Rarity"), for whose estate Oedipa is executor. A few pages from here the issue of alternate communication forms will be introduced; these references to the issues in Lot 49 could serve to alert the experienced reader of Pynchon to their importance in AtD.
Page 980
Page 981
the one with the destiny
Do we learn anything about this odd Oust child?
(Presumably Ewball?). No, this one is apparently a little child when Ewball is a grownup.
tintypes
A cheap, common and durable form of black and white photographic image where a sensitised collodion is poured upon a thin sheet of soot blackened tin, exposed and developed. Often hand-coloured. The most notable practitioners and teachers of the process in the US are Mark Osterman and France Scully Osterman. The tintype wikipedia entry.
Page 982
the Madero Revolution had moved on
When Madero took office as president in 1911.
Emilio Vázquez
Or Vázquez Gómez. An anti-Madero figure.
Magonistas
Mexican anarchists, followers of Enrique and Ricardo Flores Magón.
Page 983
Pascual Orozco
1882-1915, importer of armaments from U.S., maderista, revolted against Madero government in 1912.
José Inés Salazar
Fought with Orozco against Madero.
Braulio Hernández
Radical Orozquista.
Pancho Villa
Christened Doroteo Arango Arámbula, 1878-1923, Mexican revolutionary general and folk hero.
José Gonzáles Salas
Maderista general in command against Orozco; replaced by Huerta, to Madero's later discomfiture.
Page 984
a sus órdenes
Spanish: (ready) for your orders.
Andale, muchachos
Spanish: let's go, boys.
Page 985
Page 986
Page 987
Benito Juárez Maza
Not the president of Mexico but his son, governor of Oaxaca from 1911 until his death the next year.
Page 988
chegomista
Follower of Che Gómez, identified on page 987.
"El Reparador"
Spanish: "The Fixer." Epithet of a hundred operators in crime literature.
Wie geht's, mein alter Kumpel
German: How are you, my old workmate?
Page 989
a face he recognized
Another angel modeled on Dally?
"máquina loca," "muerte" and "tú"
Spanish: "crazy locomotive," "dead" and "you."
When his eyes refocused, whoever had spoken had moved on
Frank has, at recognizing Dally's face, gone into the same kind of trance, a merger with the moment, or with the machine, that had almost taken him into the collision with the Federal train on P.985. The warning words seem to be "crazy machine", "dead" and "you". A warning from the Angel of Death, via another Alternate Communication channel.
Tu madre chingada puta
Rude, rude Spanish: Your mother's a fucking whore.
Page 990
Melpómene
Name of the Greek muse of tragedy.
Page 991
Page 992
instantaneously
In violation of Einstein's special theory of relativity.
a wireless, immediate, human way of communicating.
Page 993
Page 994
the Huerta coup
Against Madero, who was shot, February 1913.
Decena Trágica
Spanish: the tragic ten days.
Page 995
Page 996
Since last September the mine workers' union had been out on strike
The Colorado "coal war" of September 1913 to April 1914; here is an eye-opening account.
Page 997
Pagosa Springs
South Central Colorado town in the heart of the San Juan Forest.
Page 998
...over Wolf Creek Pass, into the San Luis Valley...San Luis Basin...through Fort Garland...up the Sangre de Cristos over North La Veta Pass...the first rooftops of Walsenburg.
The route described would take them from the presumably UMW-sympathetic mining country in the San Juans, north and east along current US highway 160 (called the Navaho Trail), across the San Luis Valley and Basin to North La Veta Pass, with Walsenburg and the prairies and canyons of the coal country beyond to the east.
The geography of this journey is as carefully described as the various characters' journeys through the Balkans (the description of the view of the Spanish Peaks and Culebra Range are absolutely accurate), and there must be a reason, something these regions have in common.
The San Luis Valley and immediately adjacent areas are the furthest northeastern reaches of the Spanish Empire in North America, part of the Province of Nueva Mexico del Norte of New Spain, later Mexico (part of which became the state of New Mexico in 1912). The area around Telluride would be the northern border of Pynchon's vision of Aztlan (it is in fact the northern border of the Pueblo settlements). These are, therefore, like the Balkans, borders between newly industrializing empires and older, tribally-organized, "pre-scientific" cultures (both with indigenous mystical/spiritual traditions, with which the characters interact). Here and in nearby Mexico, mechanization and industrialization of resource extraction are causing heartbreaking exploitation and violence.
Niall Ferguson(The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, Penguin Press, 2006) points to three demonstrated conditions for becoming a conflict flashpoint: (1) Multi-ethnic population (2) location at the border of a failing empire (3) economic volatility (See note to P.939). Both the Balkans and the American Southwest/Mexico fulfilled those conditions.
Page 999
Annotation Index
| Part One: The Light Over the Ranges |
|
|---|---|
| Part Two: Iceland Spar |
119-148, 149-170, 171-198, 199-218, 219-242, 243-272, 273-295, 296-317, 318-335, 336-357, 358-373, 374-396, 397-428 |
| Part Three: Bilocations |
429-459, 460-488, 489-524, 525-556, 557-587, 588-614, 615-643, 644-677, 678-694 |
| Part Four: Against the Day |
695-723, 724-747, 748-767, 768-791, 792-820, 821-848, 849-863, 864-891, 892-918, 919-945, 946-975, 976-999, 1000-1017, 1018-1039, 1040-1062 |
| Part Five: Rue du Départ |
