Difference between revisions of "ATD 171-198"

Revision as of 18:49, 25 March 2007

Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.

Page 171

"The Kenosha Kid"
by Forbes Parkhill (Aug 1931)
Full text and images at The Modern Word

Dynamite, a blasting explosive, was invented in 1867 by Alfred P. Nobel by mixing nitroglycerin with kieselguhr.

The name also recalls the Kenosha Kid sequence of Gravity's Rainbow, which may have taken its name from a 1931 pulp fiction story by Forbes Parkhill, a two-fisted wild west adventure.

...detective agencies like Pinkerton‘s and Thiel‘s
see Wikipedia Entries 1,2

reaction of 1849
Acts of European governments to suppress the widespread liberal revolutions of 1848. The reaction impelled many people to emigrate to the U.S.

Sangre de Cristos
southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. Wikipedia Entry

Page 172

Couple dozen, in big bandoliers across his chest
Similar to the way suicide bombers in the Middle East wear their munitions?

Uncompahgre
The Uncompahgre Plateau in Colorado.

Butch Cassidy
infamous outlaw Wikipedia Entry

Dr. Lombroso
Born in Verona, Italy, Dr. Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), using concepts drawn from Physiognomy, early Eugenics, Psychiatry and Social Darwinism, devised the theory that criminality was inherited, and that the born criminal could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage, or atavistic; Wikipedia entry

Lodazal
spanish for bog, quagmire (?)

Page 173

"got us a man of principle"
Eerily reminiscent of Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, the convicted American murderer known for his campaign of mail bombings, many of which were addressed to specific victims, intended by Kaczynski to draw attention to what he percieved as the ills of technology on modern society. Wikipedia entry.

There a several tenuous threads of connection between Pynchon and the Unabomber. Pynchon has written works exploring the dangers of modern technology and, more specifically, ludditism. [1] [2] As a young man, Pynchon co-wrote such a play, Minstral Island, with his Cornell classmate Kirkpatrick Sale, who later would become one of the world's most prominent and outspoken luddites. Sale later said, "The Unabomber and I share a great many views about the pernicious effect of the Industrial Revolution, the evils of modern technologies, the stifling effect of mass society, the vast extent of suffering in a machine-dominated world and the inevitability of social and environmental catastrophe if the industrial system goes unchecked," although naturally Sale condemned the Unabomber's method. When the Unabomber's identity was still unknown, Pynchon was suggested (with who knows what degree of seriousness, and by whom) as a possible suspect. [3]

"jizzmatic juices backin' up, putting pressure on the brain"
'Jizzmatic juices' seems to be a Pynchon-created slang phrase for semen, adapted from the dictionary-found slang word for semen, "jism". Pynchon has "a lady acquaintence" of Mr. Ponghill as responsible for the "naive theory" [Lew Basnight], commonly-enough held, that lack of sex --"lack of exposure to the fair sex", previous paragraph--can affect the brain and therefore one's judgment.

Actually you can find the term "jizz" at the Urban Dictionary - Ctsats 12:49 GMT+2, 26 January 2007

"Don't mean he ain't got a right to his privacy."
Continues the Unabomber/Pynchon connection. Pynchon follows the description of a dynamite bomber with the right to privacy, something that Pynchon has guarded closely for his entire life. For more on Pynchon and privacy, see page 37.

Page 174

back to the campfires of his youth, only then it was God didn't have a name
"What is God's name?" or "What is God's first name?" was a topic that reliably led adolescent boys to yatter pointlessly on for hours when their adult leaders wanted to be left alone in camp.

"your own brother"
The Unabomber was turned in by his brother. ("Kaczynski" means 'ducky' or 'duckman'. Did TRP hide this somewhere?)

Page 175

"Only slowly would it occur to his ultra-keen detective's reasoning that these bombs could have been set by anybody, including those who would clearly benefit if "Anarchists", however loosely defined, could be blamed for it."
Is this an(other) allusion to the Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the WTC? Cf. a similar reference in page 85 and the discussion therein.

Pynchon seems to be a smart enough guy to not believe such ridiculious theories. It's all too easy to read into these true historical events (the short-lived period of anarchist bombings of the late 19th and early 20 centuries) similitudes with more recent events, but the context in AtD is clear enough that this sort of speculation seems to be nothing more than speculation. Of course, that's the fodder for conspiracy theorists...--Kirkm 04:40, 21 February 2007 (PST)

Page 176

"the Powers, who always had more dwarves waiting, even eagerly, to be sent below."
A Tolkien-inspired imagery? Dwarfs figure prominently into Norse mythology and fantasy works before Tolkien, but Tolkien supposedly began the use of the spelling, "dwarves," employed here. Wikipedia entry on Dwarf

Tortoni's on Arapahoe
Italian restaurant located in the 1500 block of Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver. Photo

Gahan's saloon across the street from City Hall
Saloon operated by William Gahan, a Denver City Councilman, and his brothers conveniently located at 1401 Larimer Street in Denver, across the street from City Hall. Gahan operated two other saloons, including one at 1133 Larimer Street, which he supposedly kept open on Sundays, harbored gambling, and sponsored a boys' baseball team that played for beer.

Ed Chase, the boss of the red-light district
Edward "Big Ed" Chase (1838-1921) was a New Yorker from Saratoga Springs who became the leader of criminal activities in Denver from 1860 on, and as such was an influential and respected man. He ran saloons, gambling houses, bordellos, and theaters (specializing in "burlesque"), and served on the Denver City Council from 1866-1869. After that, he was a behind-the-scenes ward boss and power broker for the Republican party, which dominated Denver politics at the time. Nearly every 19th century election in Denver was clouded by charges that Chase had organized an army of voters out of riffraff, vagrants, prostitutes, barflies and gamblers. By the time of his death in 1921, Chase had come to be regarded as a respected real estate investor and capitalist. For more info, consult The City & The Saloon: Denver 1858-1918 by Thomas J. Noel.

"another little Haymarket"
On May 4th 1886 a workers' protest meeting was held at the West Randolph Street Haymarket in Chicago. A bomb was thrown at the police, the police opened fire and many officers and protesters were killed (chicagohistory.org)

Page 177

The Row
Denver‘s red light district developed along McGaa Street (subsequently renamed Holladay and then Market Street) 1 2

Page 178

W.F.M.
Western Federation of Miners Wikipedia Entry

Ku Klux Klan
The Klan itself was not in its heyday at the time this episode took place, and not only is it unlikely that the Klan would have shown itself at the time, but also that it would have been this far west. The "modern" Klan was only reformed in 1915. Wikipedia. IN the 1920s, Colorado woulod become a stronghold of the "modern" Klan.

heeled
Carrying a sidearm. (The word also means "having money," but here the first meaning is pretty clear.)

Page 179

Clovis Yutts
"Yutz" is a slang word (from Yiddish) for a clueless goof.

different tempos and keys
Cf 'anarchist miracle' in "Lot 49" (chapter 5).

In the early 1970s San Francisco was the site of the Black Flag Concerts, where anybody was allowed to make any music. People who attended said it was disorienting to wander through the crowd listening to folk singers, kazoo bands and Celtic harpists all belting away. (The Black Flag is a traditional emblem of anarchism.)

Also perhaps a reference to Charles Ives, who wrote much music containing combatting sections in different keys, tempi and melody. The quintessential image of Ives' music is that of four marching bands playing different tunes arriving at the same village square. Ives attended Yale, though graduated in 1898, two years prior to the scene beginning on page 156.

Or perhaps just an image of musical anarchy to match the political Anarchism.

Page 180

Valley Tan
Mormon whiskey reported by Mark Twain. cite

Page 182

faded into the mobility
"Mobility" also appears in Mason & Dixon. The word was later shortened to "mob."

"kept wasting Agency money rattling off one telegram after another."
Cf. the following excerpt from a letter by novelist Raymond Chandler to Jamie Hamilton, 21 March 1949:

"I remember several years ago when Howard Hawks was making The Big Sleep, the movie, he and Bogart got into an argument as to whether one of the characters was murdered or commited suicide. They sent me a wire (there's a joke about this too) asking me, and dammit I didn't know either. Of course I got hooted at. The joke was in connection with Jack Warner, the head of Warner Bros. Believe it or not, he saw the wire, the wire cost the studio 70 cents, and he called Hawks up and asked him whether it was really necessary to send a telegram about a point like that. That's one way to run a business." (The Raymond Chandler Papers, ed. by Tom Hiney and Frank McShane, Penguin 2001, p. 105)

P.E.T.N.
The explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate. Ingredient of Semtex, discovered 1891. Wikipedia

Dr. Oyswharf
There is, in Norfolk, Virginia, a district (?) called "Oyster Wharf"; there is, in London, a development called "Oyster Wharf" — not sure if it's significant or points anywhere, but it appears that this fellow's name is a contraction of those two words. More generically, an "oyster wharf" is any wharf where the oystermen come in and offload their catch. Back in the day, they would give oysters away for free. Oyster shells are a natural source of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3).

Bear in mind that the Chums' Upper Hierarchy communicated orders to the Chums via a pearl. Miles Blundell "well before sunup, had visited the shellfish market in the teeming narrow lanes of the old town in Surabaya, East Java" and procured a bucket of "Special Japanese Oysters." The pearl was inserted into a device which rendered a "photographic image." This connects with the red crystal used in Merle's and Roswell's device (p. 1037). This novel is amazing....

Also: "Oysvarf" in Yiddish means, literally, vomitus; An "oysvarf" translates roughly as "a little puke".

Actually, my checking indicates that it's oysvurf, not oysvarf, which is Yiddish for an outcast or bad person.

mixtures of nitro compounds and polymethylenes
Nitro compounds include TNT, nitroglycerine and many other explosives. Polymethylenes are probably polymethylene waxes used as stabilizers or desensitizers.

"The wallpaper in particular presented not a repeating pattern at all"
Cf. Lucius Sheppard's 1985 short story The Fundamental Things, where a lady starts translating her wallpaper pattern to Hebrew.

The connection between explosives and psychedelics is apparently not based in chemistry but it has appeared elsewhere in popular culture. The 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale has a scene where pillowcases are inflated with a psychedelic gas, a fuse is attached, and a powerful explosion is the result.

Page 183

Beaver on the Brain T-Shirt

This little hallucinated ditty, sung by "a race of very small but perfectly visible inhabitants" of Lew Basnight's steak, is reminiscent of "We Represent the Lollipop Guild" sung by three tough-looking Munchkin boys in The Wizard of Oz (1939). "Beavers of the Brain" also brings to mind the phrase "Beaver on the brain" (describing a horny male or, perhaps, lesbian) which even adorns t-shirts (see right).

Keep that Bulldog in your pocket...
A "Bulldog" is a small, "snubbie" revolver, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, perfect for carrying in the pocket as a concealed weapon.

Cyclomite
A spelling error may lead to the idea that cyclomite is a name for the explosive RDX; that's cyclonite.

I don't think this is a spelling error. Connects with dynomite. No way.

plasticerator
Plasti-, moldable (in this case chewable); cera- related to Latin cera = wax, cerumen = earwax; -ator, an agent to modify a product. The word "plasticerator" does not seem to have caught on. It would not be a failed synonym for "plasticizer," an agent to make rigid plastics pliable.

Page 184

Kankakee
city in Illinois.

things would happen gradually enough to afford time to do something about it
A central idea in Gravity's Rainbow, which features a rocket that breaks the sound barrier and thus the ability to kill you before you hear it coming.

the world turned all inside out
This passage describes acid flashbacks.

It's certainly written so as to suggest acid flashbacks but it's describing Lew's experience of being blown up

Page 185

Trilby hat
Derived from George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby. The novel was adapted into a long-running play starring Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Svengali. A hat of this style was worn on stage during the play's first London production.

excursion
Wilde's US lecture tour was in 1882.

Page 186

Anasazi
Ancient Pueblo Peoples, see "Anasazi"

"Like a Red Indian Stonehenge!" - "Only different!"
Cf. " 'Thanatoid' means 'like death, only different.' " (Vineland, p. 170). See also page 133.

The Hanged Man by Colman-Smith

grifa
Marijuana. cite

Miss Colman-Smith is West Indian [tarot cards]
Pamela Colman Smith (1878—1951) was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite. Smith was born in England, the daughter of an American merchant from Brooklyn, Charles Edward Smith and his Jamaican wife Corinne Colman. Due to her father’s job with the West India Improvement Company, the family often moved, spending time in London, Kingston, Jamaica and Brooklyn, New York. Wikipedia entry

Pynchon's interest in the tarot is evident in Gravity's Rainbow. Two tarot cards are referred to here -- the Hanged Man (image) and the Knight of Swords (image). The reference is an anachronism, as the deck wasn't published until 1909.

espadas . . . copas
Spanish: Swords, Cups. The Tarot suits corresponding to spades and clubs.

Querent
Latin: one who asks. The subject of a Tarot reading (in some settings, the mark).

Perseid
"The shower is visible from mid-July each year, but the bulk of its activity falls between August 8 and 14 with a peak on August 12. During the peak, rates of a hundred or more meteors per hour can be registered." Wikipedia

Page 187

hell of a blow-up . . . . maiden's sigh
Possible allusion to the testing of Trinity Bomb, the first explosion of an atomic weapon, which took place at White Sands, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Wikipedia.

see Anti-Stone, p. 78-79.

A second Moon
On page 144, the Inconvenience is described as a "misplaced moon".

Galveston
In the summer of 1900 Galveston was a major seaport; many of its cotton warehouses still stand. In the 19th century it was a port of entry for immigrants from Germany, Bohemia, the Balkans and elsewhere. The 1900 hurricane was the making of Houston, a few dozen miles up slow-flowing Buffalo Bayou—which was turned into the Ship Channel within a few years.

Page 188

Galveston Hurricane
An historical event (8th September 1900, 6000 dead). [Wikipedia]

...before that frightful bomb brought you to us?
Perhaps an allusion to and rhetorical parallel of the "wake-up bomb" of the 9/11 attacks, and the relative increase of attention paid by the American media and public to such post-9/11 disasters as the slaughter of citizens in the Afghan and Iraq offensives, the destruction wrought by the South Asian tsunami, the displacement of the "hidden" poor of the Gulf States by Hurricane Katrina, the carnage of the earthquake in Iran, the rampant and still-raging genocides of Sudan, and so on.

neuræsthenic
This is the second appearance of the word (the first was on page 83). Neurasthenia was a kind of catch-all at the time for what today would be called depression, fatigue, anxiety, etc.

Page 189

Fireman Jim Flynn
The nickname undoubtedly comes from railroading, not firefighting.

Page 190

blue northers
In the West, the Plains and down to Texas, a blue norther is a fast-moving weather front with lightning, rain and wind, followed by a rapid drop in temperature.

Page 191

Page 192

nearly twenty
1883 + 19yo = 1902?

stamps beating
Breaking ore into small pieces in preparation for refining.

Page 193

Uncompahgre
A Plateau in Western Colorado, named after the Uncompahgre Ute Indian Tribe. [Wikipedia]

absorbed . . . re-emission . . . fluorescence of vindictiveness
In a fluorescent tube, invisible ultraviolet radiation from the electrical discharge is absorbed by "phosphors" on the inside of the glass. The UV excites the phosphor atoms, which then—instead of giving off ultraviolet of their own—re-emit the energy at a different wavelength, one that is visible.

not since the aught-one strike
So 1901 is in the past.

three-dollar sack suit
That is, a suit one might buy at a store where one fills a sack with clothes and then pays three dollars for the lot. A sack suit is an ordinary 19th-c. business suit which "evolved into the modern three piece suit." source

Page 194

the fish at that table
The player whose money the others mean to take.

Dallas Divide
Mountain Pass dividing the Uncompahgre Plateau from the San Juan Mountains. [Wikipedia]

Page 195

Sloat Fresno
Possibly named for Commodore John D. Sloat (Wikipedia entry), American naval officer who claimed California, then a territory of Mexico, as part of the United States on July 7, 1846. The text of the declaration can be found here. Another source may be the Sloat Lumber Co. of Quincy, CA, which used an uncommon 30 gauge track, about which all I can find is here. Fresno is presumably a reference to the city in California, though its direct relation to either the Commodore or the Sloat Lumber Co. is unclear.

Sloat is another term for slat, a narrow piece of wood. Fresno is Spanish for ash.

copping the borax
? Seemingly a term invented by Pynchon. No idea what it means, but borax is a mineral used in detergent, pottery, a lots of other things. Wikipedia on Borax

"Borax" is a slang word for cheap, poorly made products. Makers of borax for use in cleansing apparently used to give away junky items as premiums. If you look at it the other way around, "borax" could mean a premium, hence an enlistment bonus. "Copping" of course is getting something by underhand means.

Montrose
Montrose, CO. [Wikipedia]

li'l buddy
Brings to mind Gilligan and the Skipper from Gilligan's Island: Sloat, like the Skipper, is twice his buddy's size; in both pairs, it is uncertain just who is whose sidekick; and the Skipper referred to Gilligan by, "li'l buddy."

Page 196

red liquor
Colored liquor, such as bourbon or whiskey.

Page 197

Sloat tending to bodies, Deuce... the spirit
Again, the body/soul dichotomy. See page 101 and The World is at Fault letter by Pynchon.

Coupling pin

Page 198

The Light Over the Ranges
Repeats the title of Part One. May also suggest Tesla's 03 July 1899 'vision' (page 97). May also be tied to the light/dark theme running through parts of the book thus far: light over the (dark) ranges. Note the concurrence of the leitmotives light-time-water in the sentence "He watched the light over the ranges slowly draining away". The image of "draining light" might also hint at the wave-particle duality.

Jeshimon
Literally: "the waste", more specifically the wilderness of Judah in the Bible, near the Dead Sea. christiananswers.net. Fuller annotation at page 209.

Cortez
In far southwestern Colorado near the Utah state line.

shadow had taken the immeasurable plain
Contrasts "the light over the ranges". Possibly an allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah, the "cities of the plain" in Genesis 19, in which the angels advise Lot and his family: "do not look back and do not stop anywhere in the Plain. Flee to the hills or you will be swept away" (19:17). The cities of the plain, is also the title of i) the translated fourth volume of Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (original title Sodome et Gomorrhe) and ii) Cormac McCarthy's third novel of The Border Trilogy.

This is the third possible reference to Proust so far. See also page 165, and page 188.

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