ATD 243-272
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
Contents
- 1 Page 243
- 2 Page 244
- 3 Page 245
- 4 Page 246
- 5 Page 247
- 6 Page 248
- 7 Page 249
- 8 Page 250
- 9 Page 252
- 10 Page 253
- 11 Page 254
- 12 Page 255
- 13 Page 256
- 14 Page 258
- 15 Page 259
- 16 Page 260
- 17 Page 261
- 18 Page 262
- 19 Page 263
- 20 Page 264
- 21 Page 265
- 22 Page 266
- 23 Page 267
- 24 Page 268
- 25 Page 269
- 26 Page 271
- 27 Page 272
- 28 Annotation Index
Page 243
fumaioli
see picture in [1].
certo
sure, certain.
Seccature
Inconvenience in Italian.
Page 244
ragazza
Italian 'girl'.
Picardy thirds
Cf p50.
stabilimento
establishment
Page 245
"Ehi, sugo!"
"Hey, sauce!"
twentyfold
5 chums times 4 suspects each.
osteria
tavern.
San Polo
Wikipedia
calli
Venetian 'stree' or 'lane'.
Page 246
sotoporteghi
passageways. See picture for one example [2].
"Sa stai, O! Lungo, ehi!"
???
cameriere
waiter. A typo. The context clearly indicated cameriera (waitress).
pallonisti
ballonists.
Ehi, macche, Pina!
???
giadrul
???
"with all the spaghetti-joints in this town to choose from, are you saying those dadblame Russians have come in here?"
reminiscent of a similar line from the film Casablanca, spoken by Humphrey Bogart: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
Page 247
tacchino
turkey.
Dum vivimus, bibamus
While we live, let us drink. Corruption of "Dum vivimus, vivamus".
vini frizzanti
sparkling wine.
SANGUIS RUBER, MENS PURA
???
Serrata del Maggior Consiglio
Great Council Lockout. (?)
Napoleon's abolition
1797. Wikipedia
Polos' return
1295. Wikipedia
Page 248
Attenzione al culo
attention to ass. (?)
For some thousand years, the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice was styled the Doge, a rare but not unique Italian title derived from the Latin Dux, as the major Italian parallel Duce and the English Duke. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Wikipedia entry
Page 249
"Those whose enduring object is power in this world are only too happy to use without remorse the others, whose aim is of course to transcend all question of power. Each regards the other as a pack of deluded fools."
Over time, Pynchon appears to have come to a belief in a massive conflict between cultures "valuing anaysis and differentiation" and those valuing "unity and integration". The two alternate maps of Asia could be a reference to these disparate worldviews.Wikipedia
Clifford's term
WK Clifford. Wikipedia
Page 250
For a brief history of the compound-lens microscope, including a reference to the role played by Italians and the Dutch, including Griendl von Ach, see: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Microscope
Page 252
Gauloise
famous French cigarette. See Wikipedia.
scusi
excuse me.
Affascinante, caro
Fascinating, dear.
ragazzo
boy.
Mattoidi
Borderland cases between sanity and insanity.
Prego
Please.
Page 253
Pozzuoli
A city in the Province of Naples (Napoli) in the region of Campania. See Wikipedia.
sfumato
It refers to a well known painting method which blends so subtly the colors and tones that no perceptible transition as demonstrated by Leonardo da Vince's Mona Lisa. See Wikipedia.
The context seems to imply smoke, then fumo instead should be used.
Page 254
Pax tibi
Peace to you.
"Chums of Chance were expected to die on the job. Or else live forever, there being two schools of thought, actually."
Possibly a reference to the fact that the Chums seem to live simultaneously in the "real" world of the novel and also in fictional stories within the novel.
Page 255
Bastille Day
The Campanile di San Marco collapsed 14 July 1902. cite and pic
lasagnoni
Lasagne, a long-cut pasta with rectangular section. But what's the true meaning the author used here?
Page 256
"four-brick groupings
Padzhitnoff sees the Campanile come apart as a game of Tetris! The "four-brick groupings [...] begin their gentle, undeadly descent, rotating and translating in all available modes". (See page 123 for more on Tetris.)
Page 258
Tetralith
A three dimensional solid formed by merging three hyperbolic paraboloids in a manner that they have a common midpoint. See Tetralith Photo #2.
Ryohei Uchida
Ultra-nationalist, founder of the Black Dragon Soceity (see below), a right-wing, paramilitary organization. See Ryohei Uchida.
polny pizdets
sad state of affairs.
Black Dragon Society
A paramiltary, ultra-nationalist, right-wing organization founded in 1901 by Ryohei Uchida. It's initial public goal was to support Janpanese expansion in Manchuria. Therefore, during the period from 1901 to the end of World War I, it aimed to help the Janpanese government to drive the Russian presence out of that region. During the Russo-Janpanese War of 1904-1905 (a war fought over Manchuria and the Russian was soundly defeated) it was active in espionage, sabotage and assassination against the Russian. During 20's, 30's and later period the Black Dragon Society evolved and expanded its activities around the world including the United States. It was finally disbanded in 1946 by General MacArthur after World War II. For more information about the Black Dragon Society see Wikipedia.
Smirno
???
Japanese character for 'four' being same as that for 'death'
Not quite true. The Japanese characters for four and death are quite distinct, but can be pronounced in the same way, hence the taboo.
Page 259
dov'era, com'era
where it was, as it was. See veniceblog. On July 14, 1902 the St. Mark's Campanile in Piazza San Marco, Venice, mysteriously and totally collapsed. Under the 'battle cry' of com'era, dov'era it was rebuilt. The Campanile was reopened on April 25 (St. Mark's Day) 1912. Wikipedia. Also, Cf p.255.
Page 260
Curly Dee
???
Jew Fanny
???
inside out
Optical illusion.
Hsiang-Chao
???
Page 261
lard smoke
Cf. p. 10, "tall smokestacks unceasingly vomiting black grease-smoke," and p. 216, "Just greasy ashes by the trailside."
biscuit-shooter
I.e., a cook.
Canon City
Site of the Colorado State Penitentiary, meant to suggest Deuce and Sloat had done time there.
gong
???
17:18, 1 January 2007 (PST)Bklyn48
Page 262
Willis Turnstone
???
Page 263
"Crazier."
Cf Bonnie and Clyde.
Oleander Prudge
???
Page 264
single-jacker
A miner who with a hammer and spike cuts a hole into rock for placement of a stick of dynamite. A set of holes are cut for each "synchronized" blast.
(Double jackers work as a team.)
Infer (this) one as a loner, a bit crazy, single minded, silent, easily hurt or misunderstood, doesn't play well with others...
Page 265
gullet of days
???
Page 266
white-throated swift
???
November
???
nymph du pave
should probably read "nymphE du pave": street-whore. Theoretically this could also translate as: (image of a) nymph on a mosaic (tesselated floor) - like the huge roman one of Ariadne in the Rue du Pavé in Avenche (Switzerland) german weblink
geometric episode
Vaguely reminiscent of Proust on Combray.
Engelmann spruce
Picea engelmannii A short biography of Dr. Engelmann (lit. Angel-Man) Wikipedia-Entry, more elaborated on german site
albatross cloth
Evidently a distinct color/design for a wedding or wedding party dress in the West at the time. I have no OED at the moment, but there are at least two online "diaries" or descriptions using the phrase. Here is one: "We were married August 6, 1896 at 7:30 AM at my folk’s residence among friends and relatives. To honor the event, my folks had our parlor decorated with many flowers including roses, myrtle and geraniums. I wore an elegant gown of white silk and albatross cloth."
Page 267
Jemt-land
A Province in the center of Sweden Wikipedia
Page 268
side hobbles
???
Page 269
items, nearly always stolen
Cf bower-bird.
the dirt, the blood-red dirt
This line recalls Homer's "wine-dark sea" first found in The Iliad (Bk VII) in a scene in which Achilles grieves for the death of Patroclus. Given the context here, it might be thought of as "mock-heroic."
marmot
According to Merriam-Webster: a stout-bodied, short-legged rodent of the genus Marmota that has coarse fur, a short bushy tail, and very short ears, lives in burrows, and hibernates in winter; also: a prairie dog or one of the larger ground squirrels.
Marmots are native to Colorado and live at the higher altitudes. They are larger than squirrels, prairie dogs or ground squirrels (a/k/a chipmunks), about the size of a weasel but smaller than an otter
"huevón"
From hueva (egg). According to this blog huevon "literally refers to the size of a mans "cojones" (another pseudo decent word that has seen a lot of mainstream play). It is commonly used to indicate how lazy someone is. The bigger the "huevon" you are, the lazier. As with "guey", however, this too has often been used to say dude or buddy."
pinche cabron
fucking asshole.
Page 271
skip
A wagon or basket on a track in a mine, or generally any scooter.
ex-Danite
Danites were Joseph Smith's vigilantes, "Armies of Israel", during the Mormon War 1838 in Missouri, i.e., before travel to Utah.
"Avenging Angels"
Brigham Young's group with similar purpose as Danite above, sometimes called Danites as well.
Page 272
the Delores
Dolores River runs through Cortez (where Deuce seems to be, next to exploding cactus p270). "We woke up in the Dolores... [VALLEY/REGION/HOTEL]"
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 |
