Difference between revisions of "ATD 149-170"

Revision as of 05:57, 30 December 2006

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

Page 149

meteorite
Cf Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg.

Page 150

the entangled carriages, wagons, and streetcars ... hitched to animals months dead and yet unremoved
An anticipation of the scenes of destruction following the U.S. federal government's and FEMA's botched relief efforts at the onset and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the southeastern United States in August and September 2005.

Tammanoid creatures, able to deliver votes
As in "Tammany Hall", the often corrupt political machine that played a role in New York City politics for nearly two centuries. Wikipedia entry.

Page 151

the Eskimo view
But cf page 142, where the Eskimos are "eager" to help.

Panic fear... affecting pose
Although there are hints in the previous pages, here is where the parallels with 9/11 become too clear to ignore. Pynchon's presenting 9/11 as a story of a meteor dug from the ice will no doubt fill pages of analysis soon. To start, though, Pynchon critiques post-9/11 opportunism ("many in the aftermath did profit briefly by... affecting that pose"). For a full, spoiler-filled discussion, see Against the Day and September 11

a cargo ship... in whose hold... kept in restraints... stirred a figure with supernatural powers Also reminiscent of King Kong, where the chained ape is transported by ship to New York.

Page 152

beautiful patterns
Cf page 81.

Page 153

recent incorporation
1898. Wikipedia

Pages 154-155

I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY
From the description of the gate to hell in Canto III in The Divine Comedy Volume I: Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). Pynchon quotes from the modern translation by Mark Musa:

"I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY,

I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF,

I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE.

JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR;

DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,

AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE.

BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS

WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY.

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER."

Note that Pynchon echoes the word "race" on the previous page: "an embittered and amnesiac race".

The "votive shrine . . . Downtown" may be intended to evoke the shrine at the footprints at Ground Zero, "votive" here invoking the twin beams of light that took the place of the WTC towers in the months following 9-11, though it should be noted that the actual description invokes the basement cavities of the the towers' foot-prints much more accurately.

From the Journals of Mr. Fleetwood Vibe...
The short narrative spanning pp.138-155 bears some of the hallmarks characteristic of the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft: (1) a narrator (Fleetwood) who relates a series of horrible, cosmic events in the form of a memoir or journal entry; (2) a slumbering entity, or "visitor" (p149), mistaken for a more mundane object (meteorite, in this case), and; (3) the incapacity of humans to anticipate or respond to the foreignness of this cosmic vistior and its actions. Given that this horrible thing was retrieved from the Arctic, it is reminiscent of Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" (though, Antarctic in setting; 1931; Wikisource text of the novella) and, given the meteor-like form of this visitor, "The Colour out of Space" (1927; Wikisource text of the story).

In addition, the whole passage probably makes reference to several 1950s Sci-Fi movies, most importantly "The Thing from another world" (1951) by Christian Nyby (remade as "The Thing" by John Carpenter in 1982) in which scientists discover an alien and lethal lifeform under the ice of the arctic. The idea of the alien lifeform falling to earth and being mistaken for a meteorite at first is prominent in Jack Arnold's "It came from outer space" (1954), although the aliens in that case are benevolent rather than dangerous.

Hunter Penhallow's escape might be read as a happy ending getaway inversion of the claustrophobic opening sequence of Gravity's Rainbow, where nobody gets saved; "in this world brought low" echoes "the Light that hath brought the Towers low" on the final page of Gravity's Rainbow..."Light" may prefigure Against the Day's treatment of that subject, too.

The disorientation that Hunter experiences (city streets skewing, finding a mysterious groups of people) echoes Lew Basnight's encounter with Drave's group (p39).

Page 156

rival school hues
Yale: blue and white. Harvard: crimson white, and black.

"Mr. Rinehart"
A Harvard rallying cry, supposedly dating to 1900. The original Rinehart obtained his law degree from Harvard in 1903. In 1900 Mr. Rinehart occupied a high room in Gray's Hall at Harvard. It was easier for his friends to call to him from the ground than to climb three flights of stairs when they wanted him to join them. They would stand at the corner of Gray's and shout, "Oh, Rinehart." Many another student was called in the same way, and no particular attention was paid. But one sweltering night, when students were grinding for final examinations, one of them heard the familiar "Oh, Rinehart" from below and reacted instantly. He tossed aside his book and echoed the cry into the Yard. Within a minute, the enclosure resounded with the phrase from side to side and end to end. Something about the sound and accent of the name appealed to the students and from then until the end of the session the cry was heard nightly throughout the Yard. source

Tibetan prayer wheel principle
Previously mentioned on page 130, where the principle was used to transport oneself to the tropical locale of the ¡Cuidado, Cabrón! hot sauce label.

Page 157

"crimson" is cognate with "worm"
Largely true. The American Heritage Dictionary gives the etymology for worm as "Middle English, from Old English wurm, variant of wyrm." The root wyrm in turn derives from the Indo-European base wer-², meaning to turn or bend. (Words descended from wer-² include stalwart, weird, vertebra, wrath, wrong, wrestle, briar and rhapsody.) The modern word crimson derives from Middle English cremesin, which (via one of several alternative pathways) comes from Arabic qirmizy, a word based on qirmiz, the kermes insect. This insect, which lives on the Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), was an early source for red dye but fell out of favor after the introduction of cochineal. The Arabic name for this insect probably stems from the Sanskrit kṛmi-ja-, referring to a red dye produced from worms. The -ja is from an Indo-European root *gene-, meaning "to produce" (whence, ultimately, our word "gene" and the -gen in chemical element names). The other component, kṛmi-, means "worm", and takes us back to Indo-European wer-².

"no professional football"
NFL founded 1902. cite

Page 159

meat lozenges
Lightweight for hikers. "Brand's meat lozenges, which are about the size of a four-penny piece and a quarter of an inch thick" cite

Page 160

Dittany
Greek herb symbolising love. Wikipedia

Page 161

Elsie de Wolfe
(1865-1950), American interior designer, hostess, and actress, best known for her innovative and anti-Victorian interiors. She is often credited with inventing the profession of interior decoration. Wikipedia entry

Roscoe Conkling
(1829–1888) was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Tubby the pig
Pynchon thinks pigs are cool. For examples, the character Pig Bodine and the Porky Pig tattoo in Gravity's Rainbow. Pynchon was allegedly notorious for carrying around a 6- to 7-inch yellow plastic pig (source), and his room was allegedly decorated with pig toys around the 1960s, according to Jules Siegel's Playboy article on the writer.

Page 162

Sillery
Wine from French commune. Wikipedia

Page 164

Logical paradoxes
Fleetwood has presented Kit with a statement similar to the notorious liar paradox with "...you shouldn't trust anything I have to say about this family." Wikipedia

Whether the statement actually qualifies as a paradox is not immediately clear. Fleetwood is not just saying "you shouldn't trust anything I have to say," which is self referential in the manner of the liar paradox. He is specifically referring to some sentences he might utter "...about this family." Unless we are willing to interpret Fleetwood's sentence itself as being about his family, and not just some other sentences he might utter, it is not paradoxical. Fleetwood is a member of the family. His sentence makes a statement that casts doubt on what he might say about a member of the family. This statement by Fleetwood about what he might say can be (but arguably not "must be") interpreted, in a general sense, as a statement about his family (which includes himself). On that interpretation he is making a statement that denies that the statement itself can be trusted.

There is a second way Fletwood's statement does not clearly show itself to be a paradox. Most variations on the liar paradox are statements that claim themselves to be false; this is different from a statement saying that it cannot be trusted. If something cannot be trusted, it might still be true.

Page 166

hair ropes
Cowboy superstition: horsehair ropes kept snakes away.

"some peaceful expanse of rangeland"
The use of the word "range" along with the previous page's description of heavenly light suggest some connection to the phrase, "the light over the range."

"stand your ground"
Ellmann tells a similar story about Joyce's father facing charging riders in Phoenix Park.

Page 167

...it was a time honored principle to do nothing for free [...] Trust me. Buy Rand shares
It is implied that Rand is a gold mining company (does anyone know if this is/was a real company?). Regardless, Yitzhak and Fleetwood are talking about South Africa. Although the rand is the currency of South Africa today, it was not in circulation intil 1961. (source) The famous Krugerrand is a gold coin, but that was introduced in 1967. (source) The Witwatersrand is the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built.

It is possible that Pynchon is also mocking the philosophy of Ayn Rand, which is often characterized as a defense of selfishness or strong individualism. Pynchon previously parodied Ayn Rand and her Theory of Objectivism as "Mafia Winsome" and her "Theory of Heroic Love" in V.

It seems a stretch to interpret this as a reference to Ayn Rand, especially as these sound like historical facts: although the Australian gold rush began in the 1850s, the rich Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie fields of gold were found in the 1890s, apparently triggering later rushes. (source) But perhaps... Bleakhaus 17:59, 22 December 2006 (PST)

war going on
The Second Boer War started 11 October 1899, between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic). After a protracted hard-fought war, the two independent republics lost and were absorbed into the British Empire. Wikipedia

Page 168

Eastern Question
Europe's concern with post-Ottoman Turkey. Wikipedia

"like Baku with giraffes"
Gravity's Rainbow mentions Baku by name three times, according to the Pynchon Pages index (http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/b.html):

352; seaport capital of Azerbaydzhanskaya SSR, Soviet Union, on the west coast of the Caspian Sea; 353; Blobadjian "pursued through the black end of Baku by a passel of screaming Arabists" 354

After reading this section, and the oddly-separated text of Fleetwood's reverie about his pursuit of wealth in the Transvaal, and his murder of the Kaffir, the family name struck me, "Vibe" = "V" I be. Certainly this section brings back the African horror of "V."

Page 169

Massawa
a port on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. Important for many centuries, it has been colonised by Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Britain... It became the capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea until this was moved to Asmara in 1900. Wikipedia entry

Lourenço Marques
Today known as Maputo, capital city of Mozambique. Wikipedia entry

rotgut rejectamenta of Bucelas and Dão
Rotgut= "poor-quality and potentially toxic alcoholic liquor." Rejectamenta= "things thrown out or away," so the reject wine. Bucelas, Portugal is a famous wine-growing region. Dão is a type of Portuguese wine.

eGoli
Zulu name for Johannesburg. and pun on e-coli???

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