Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:ATD 149-170

2007-02-21T07:29:38Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

==Page 153==

Perhaps bin Laden?
:It strikes me as something more general, surreal, nonspecific... but maybe? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 19:54, 7 January 2007 (PST)
: There is no textual evidence for thinking this image is of bin Laden, even allegorically, I think. Yes, I think it is any general 'religious' type as passed down in history but turned into an 'arc-lit' iconic image... [User: MKOHUT, January 2007]

:I'll concede that it is arguable that it is not bin Laden, but there is textual evidence that it could be. First, the passage at the end of that paragraph refers to the image as "'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it. Furthermore,there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event.In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer" [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 11:27, 9 January 2007 (PST)

:Bin Laden seems like a stretch at first, but then it would seem equally a stretch that an author as historically- and politcally-minded as Pynchon wouldn't throw Bin Laden in somewhere. My guess is, it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but that certain "resonances" to Bin Laden (or other bearded figures in history, Ayatollah, for example) may be intentional. [[User:S-Fremin|S-Fremin]] 08:17, 20 January 2007 (PST)

:It does initially "seem a stretch", but rereading the passage has redoubled my conviction that it is,specifically, OBL. Your point on the recurring theme of "things that must not be named" is a good one: I seem to recall another instance of it later in the book. My point about the specificity is this: when Traverse and Rideout are discussing the Anti-Stone, Rideout feels the need to interrupt Webb before he can say the name of the Anti-Stone. This implies that there is a specific name for it that Webb could have uttered had Merle not interrupted him. Similarly, the "guardedness" with which the figure is unnamed implies that it could be named, and this possibility must be guarded against. If you accept that there is a specific name for the figure, then it becomes much more difficult to doubt the bin Laden hypothesis. This chapter is about 9/11: we all agree there, right? In that context, OBL is an obvious candidate for the non-Jesus robed and bearded figure. When you add in the "propitiatory structures" and "Loyalty to the Destroyer" I referenced above, it just seems an open and shut case to me. It might be that I'm wrong: I certainly have no clue what the figure being bin Laden means . But reread that little passage, and if you don't buy my theory, tell me why. [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 21:31, 20 January 2007 (PST)

Let me see if I can summarize your points and demonstrate that they are explained by a plain-English reading of the passage:

1) ''"'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it.''

As Pynchon says repeatedly, the name that must not be named is Christ. It's projected by "the church," who might later have to deny "Christian allegiance," and is called "Our Protector" by "the Archbishop."

2) ''Furthermore, there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event. In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer"''

What do you mean by "author of the Event"? The invader and Destroyer is that other unnamed thing that is taken from the ice and brought to the City (presuambly NYC) by the crew of the Malus. It wreaks havoc on the city which is why the church projects this unnamed Christ in an act of faith. The monster is winning, so the church does not use the name of Christ for fear that if/when the monster wins, the church will be able to ignore its own teachings in striking a deal with such a monster.

3) ''It's about 9/11.''

Yes, it's about 9/11 but also many other things-- Pynchon weaves more concepts into this sequence than any other in the first 300 pages of the novel. I interpret this passage as an example of Pynchon surrealism rather than any kind of strict metaphor or allegory.

Finally, as you say, what would analogizing this to bin Laden even mean? The closest argument is as S-Fremlin says above, that you can interpret certain resonances between the Projected Messiah and bin Laden because they are both major historical/religious figures who wear robes and beard (although note that bin Laden, unless I've been misinformed, does not "emit light"). [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:26, 22 January 2007 (PST)

:I think analogizing this to Bin Laden does indeed make sense, especially in consideration of the Playboy interview. The city is destroyed by an intangible enemy, and a projection, a personification of that enemy makes it after all possible to cope with this threat. This fits in well with the thought (uttered in the interview) that Bin Laden might not even exist, and might explain the description as a protector and the parallels with Christ.
:Still, I agree with Bleakhouse and S-Fremin that it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but one of many possible readings. This passage is really bursting with allusions; even sorting out all the references to ''Gravity's Rainbow'' seems nearly impossible. I think what's really astonishing here is the purposefulness with which Pynchon triggers exactly this discussion we're engaged in here. Although he ''is'' "historically- and politcally-minded", he hardly ever gets explicit; yet here he nearly enforces the question whether there is or is not a one-to-one correspondence to 9/11. If we just assume that there is one, we might try to get away too easily.[[User:Phidre|Phidre]] 07:42, 23 January 2007 (PST)

I'm not trying to assert that the OBL reading is the only one, only that it is a valid one that can be supported by the text. I'll try to explain why I disagree w/ Bleakhaus' points above. First, yes, a "plain-English reading" can make sense, sort of, as much as any Pynchon I guess. But since when does that limit our readings of TP? Anyway, on to the points Bleakhaus summarized (fairly well).

1)Bleakhaus asserts that "Pynchon says repeatedly, the name that must not be named is Christ." I apologise if I'm missing something, but where does he do so even once? The only specific mention of the identity of the image is that it is "not exactly of Christ" Thus, by my reading, Christ is the only figure it couldn't be. How would having an image of Christ help authorities "deny all-out Christian allegiance", or "make much easier turnings of heart"? I just don't see it.

2-3)By "author of the Event" I mean Osama bin Laden. I thought it so clear that this chapter was a deliberate reference to 9/11 that I didn't bother making that case. If one accepts the 9/11 connection, the Destroyer, the invader, and the robed figure become equivalent. Bleakhaus interprets this passage as "Pynchonian surrealism", but in my experience, a good portion of what I have initially taken to be Pynchonian surrealism I have later realized to be portions of the book I hadn't understood yet. As bleakhaus says "it's about 9/11 but also many other things", but I would argue that the Event as a metaphor for 9/11 is the primary and obvious non-standard interpretation.

Which brings me to the last bit of Bleakhaus' post: "what would analogizing this to bin Laden even mean?" I have zero clue, which is why I care enough about this little passage to post so much on it. The OBL interpretation popped out at me on first reading and I just about shit myself. Failing that, I became extremely puzzled. What the hell is Pynchon playing at here? I seem to be the only one on the internets to believe this strange interpretation, but I'd very much like to be convinced it is incorrect: this puzzle would then be resolved. As it is however, I am trying to get others to consider the merit of the OBL interp. in the hope that maybe one of them might be able to offer some insight.

Also, Bleakhaus notes: 'unless I've been misinformed, does not "emit light"'. Well no, he doesn't, but it depends on what you (or Pynchon) mean by "light." That particular metaphor is so prevalent and entangled throughout AtD that I haven't really got a handle on it. Exactly what "light" in AtD means however, is a discussion for another day.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 22:33, 1 February 2007 (PST)

No, not possibly Bin Laden, I argue. This whole passage is too Western historically religious, and religiously satirical for that...explain the 'underground spring" and the Cathedral of the Prefiguration, please...the "church's highest point"---real...with a 'three-dimensional image in full color'---not a part of OBL's cultural beliefs even!...a person emitting 'light' in Pynchon, a natural light is a GOOD thing in ATD..."arc-light" is bad---see the Telluride chapter..."deny Christian allegiance" ???...a "luminous declaration" re
Bin Laden???....that might fail? 
This Archbishop with a vampire allusion and a cross for protection is to have his "our Protector' remark taken as meaningful??? Genuinely religious? 
Whatever historical meanings are packed into this paragraph it seems also, on its face, to be a righteous almost sarcastic condemnation of turning an Unnamed Divine-like being into an arc-lit icon of Church Hierarchy projection---Yes, The Church literally projects an image "not exactly Christ" how true is that in the Church's history?--and self-protection---"necessary in striking a deal". [User: Mark Kohut, February 3, 2007]

Mark, I'm more than a little bit puzzled by your rebuttal. I've just returned from an absence and am still getting my head around pynchon again, but your post, on first reading, is enigmatic. What exactly do you mean by "Western historically religious?" I see something true in your distinction between arc-light and natural light, but your short assertions fail to show me exactly what it is. I understand that this passage might be interpreted differently outside of an American understanding, but the situation is presented in an American context: that of 9/11 in New York. Pynchon may extend his ruminations elsewhere, but his chosen setting is NY,NY,USA on 9/11, and this choice retains meaning.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 23:29, 20 February 2007 (PST)

Talk:ATD 149-170

2007-02-03T05:06:35Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

Talk:ATD 149-170

2007-02-02T06:33:46Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

==Page 153==

Perhaps bin Laden?
:It strikes me as something more general, surreal, nonspecific... but maybe? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 19:54, 7 January 2007 (PST)
: There is no textual evidence for thinking this image is of bin Laden, even allegorically, I think. Yes, I think it is any general 'religious' type as passed down in history but turned into an 'arc-lit' iconic image... (anonymous?)

:I'll concede that it is arguable that it is not bin Laden, but there is textual evidence that it could be. First, the passage at the end of that paragraph refers to the image as "'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it. Furthermore,there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event.In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer" [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 11:27, 9 January 2007 (PST)

:Bin Laden seems like a stretch at first, but then it would seem equally a stretch that an author as historically- and politcally-minded as Pynchon wouldn't throw Bin Laden in somewhere. My guess is, it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but that certain "resonances" to Bin Laden (or other bearded figures in history, Ayatollah, for example) may be intentional. [[User:S-Fremin|S-Fremin]] 08:17, 20 January 2007 (PST)

:It does initially "seem a stretch", but rereading the passage has redoubled my conviction that it is,specifically, OBL. Your point on the recurring theme of "things that must not be named" is a good one: I seem to recall another instance of it later in the book. My point about the specificity is this: when Traverse and Rideout are discussing the Anti-Stone, Rideout feels the need to interrupt Webb before he can say the name of the Anti-Stone. This implies that there is a specific name for it that Webb could have uttered had Merle not interrupted him. Similarly, the "guardedness" with which the figure is unnamed implies that it could be named, and this possibility must be guarded against. If you accept that there is a specific name for the figure, then it becomes much more difficult to doubt the bin Laden hypothesis. This chapter is about 9/11: we all agree there, right? In that context, OBL is an obvious candidate for the non-Jesus robed and bearded figure. When you add in the "propitiatory structures" and "Loyalty to the Destroyer" I referenced above, it just seems an open and shut case to me. It might be that I'm wrong: I certainly have no clue what the figure being bin Laden means . But reread that little passage, and if you don't buy my theory, tell me why. [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 21:31, 20 January 2007 (PST)

Let me see if I can summarize your points and demonstrate that they are explained by a plain-English reading of the passage:

1) ''"'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it.''

As Pynchon says repeatedly, the name that must not be named is Christ. It's projected by "the church," who might later have to deny "Christian allegiance," and is called "Our Protector" by "the Archbishop."

2) ''Furthermore, there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event. In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer"''

What do you mean by "author of the Event"? The invader and Destroyer is that other unnamed thing that is taken from the ice and brought to the City (presuambly NYC) by the crew of the Malus. It wreaks havoc on the city which is why the church projects this unnamed Christ in an act of faith. The monster is winning, so the church does not use the name of Christ for fear that if/when the monster wins, the church will be able to ignore its own teachings in striking a deal with such a monster.

3) ''It's about 9/11.''

Yes, it's about 9/11 but also many other things-- Pynchon weaves more concepts into this sequence than any other in the first 300 pages of the novel. I interpret this passage as an example of Pynchon surrealism rather than any kind of strict metaphor or allegory.

Finally, as you say, what would analogizing this to bin Laden even mean? The closest argument is as S-Fremlin says above, that you can interpret certain resonances between the Projected Messiah and bin Laden because they are both major historical/religious figures who wear robes and beard (although note that bin Laden, unless I've been misinformed, does not "emit light"). [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:26, 22 January 2007 (PST)

:I think analogizing this to Bin Laden does indeed make sense, especially in consideration of the Playboy interview. The city is destroyed by an intangible enemy, and a projection, a personification of that enemy makes it after all possible to cope with this threat. This fits in well with the thought (uttered in the interview) that Bin Laden might not even exist, and might explain the description as a protector and the parallels with Christ.
:Still, I agree with Bleakhouse and S-Fremin that it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but one of many possible readings. This passage is really bursting with allusions; even sorting out all the references to ''Gravity's Rainbow'' seems nearly impossible. I think what's really astonishing here is the purposefulness with which Pynchon triggers exactly this discussion we're engaged in here. Although he ''is'' "historically- and politcally-minded", he hardly ever gets explicit; yet here he nearly enforces the question whether there is or is not a one-to-one correspondence to 9/11. If we just assume that there is one, we might try to get away too easily.[[User:Phidre|Phidre]] 07:42, 23 January 2007 (PST)

==Page 153==

Perhaps bin Laden?
:It strikes me as something more general, surreal, nonspecific... but maybe? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 19:54, 7 January 2007 (PST)
: There is no textual evidence for thinking this image is of bin Laden, even allegorically, I think. Yes, I think it is any general 'religious' type as passed down in history but turned into an 'arc-lit' iconic image... (anonymous?)

:I'll concede that it is arguable that it is not bin Laden, but there is textual evidence that it could be. First, the passage at the end of that paragraph refers to the image as "'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it. Furthermore,there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event.In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer" [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 11:27, 9 January 2007 (PST)

:Bin Laden seems like a stretch at first, but then it would seem equally a stretch that an author as historically- and politcally-minded as Pynchon wouldn't throw Bin Laden in somewhere. My guess is, it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but that certain "resonances" to Bin Laden (or other bearded figures in history, Ayatollah, for example) may be intentional. [[User:S-Fremin|S-Fremin]] 08:17, 20 January 2007 (PST)

:It does initially "seem a stretch", but rereading the passage has redoubled my conviction that it is,specifically, OBL. Your point on the recurring theme of "things that must not be named" is a good one: I seem to recall another instance of it later in the book. My point about the specificity is this: when Traverse and Rideout are discussing the Anti-Stone, Rideout feels the need to interrupt Webb before he can say the name of the Anti-Stone. This implies that there is a specific name for it that Webb could have uttered had Merle not interrupted him. Similarly, the "guardedness" with which the figure is unnamed implies that it could be named, and this possibility must be guarded against. If you accept that there is a specific name for the figure, then it becomes much more difficult to doubt the bin Laden hypothesis. This chapter is about 9/11: we all agree there, right? In that context, OBL is an obvious candidate for the non-Jesus robed and bearded figure. When you add in the "propitiatory structures" and "Loyalty to the Destroyer" I referenced above, it just seems an open and shut case to me. It might be that I'm wrong: I certainly have no clue what the figure being bin Laden means . But reread that little passage, and if you don't buy my theory, tell me why. [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 21:31, 20 January 2007 (PST)

Let me see if I can summarize your points and demonstrate that they are explained by a plain-English reading of the passage:

1) ''"'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it.''

As Pynchon says repeatedly, the name that must not be named is Christ. It's projected by "the church," who might later have to deny "Christian allegiance," and is called "Our Protector" by "the Archbishop."

2) ''Furthermore, there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event. In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer"''

What do you mean by "author of the Event"? The invader and Destroyer is that other unnamed thing that is taken from the ice and brought to the City (presuambly NYC) by the crew of the Malus. It wreaks havoc on the city which is why the church projects this unnamed Christ in an act of faith. The monster is winning, so the church does not use the name of Christ for fear that if/when the monster wins, the church will be able to ignore its own teachings in striking a deal with such a monster.

3) ''It's about 9/11.''

Yes, it's about 9/11 but also many other things-- Pynchon weaves more concepts into this sequence than any other in the first 300 pages of the novel. I interpret this passage as an example of Pynchon surrealism rather than any kind of strict metaphor or allegory.

Finally, as you say, what would analogizing this to bin Laden even mean? The closest argument is as S-Fremlin says above, that you can interpret certain resonances between the Projected Messiah and bin Laden because they are both major historical/religious figures who wear robes and beard (although note that bin Laden, unless I've been misinformed, does not "emit light"). [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:26, 22 January 2007 (PST)

:I think analogizing this to Bin Laden does indeed make sense, especially in consideration of the Playboy interview. The city is destroyed by an intangible enemy, and a projection, a personification of that enemy makes it after all possible to cope with this threat. This fits in well with the thought (uttered in the interview) that Bin Laden might not even exist, and might explain the description as a protector and the parallels with Christ.
:Still, I agree with Bleakhouse and S-Fremin that it's not a one-to-one correspondence, but one of many possible readings. This passage is really bursting with allusions; even sorting out all the references to ''Gravity's Rainbow'' seems nearly impossible. I think what's really astonishing here is the purposefulness with which Pynchon triggers exactly this discussion we're engaged in here. Although he ''is'' "historically- and politcally-minded", he hardly ever gets explicit; yet here he nearly enforces the question whether there is or is not a one-to-one correspondence to 9/11. If we just assume that there is one, we might try to get away too easily.[[User:Phidre|Phidre]] 07:42, 23 January 2007 (PST)

I'm not trying to assert that the OBL reading is the only one, only that it is a valid one that can be supported by the text. I'll try to explain why I disagree w/ Bleakhaus' points above. First, yes, a "plain-English reading" can make sense, sort of, as much as any Pynchon I guess. But since when does that limit our readings of TP? Anyway, on to the points Bleakhaus summarized (fairly well).

1)Bleakhaus asserts that "Pynchon says repeatedly, the name that must not be named is Christ." I apologise if I'm missing something, but where does he do so even once? The only specific mention of the identity of the image is that it is "not exactly of Christ" Thus, by my reading, Christ is the only figure it couldn't be. How would having an image of Christ help authorities "deny all-out Christian allegiance", or "make much easier turnings of heart"? I just don't see it.

2-3)By "author of the Event" I mean Osama bin Laden. I thought it so clear that this chapter was a deliberate reference to 9/11 that I didn't bother making that case. If one accepts the 9/11 connection, the Destroyer, the invader, and the robed figure become equivalent. Bleakhaus interprets this passage as "Pynchonian surrealism", but in my experience, a good portion of what I have initially taken to be Pynchonian surrealism I have later realized to be portions of the book I hadn't understood yet. As bleakhaus says "it's about 9/11 but also many other things", but I would argue that the Event as a metaphor for 9/11 is the primary and obvious non-standard interpretation.

Which brings me to the last bit of Bleakhaus' post: "what would analogizing this to bin Laden even mean?" I have zero clue, which is why I care enough about this little passage to post so much on it. The OBL interpretation popped out at me on first reading and I just about shit myself. Failing that, I became extremely puzzled. What the hell is Pynchon playing at here? I seem to be the only one on the internets to believe this strange interpretation, but I'd very much like to be convinced it is incorrect: this puzzle would then be resolved. As it is however, I am trying to get others to consider the merit of the OBL interp. in the hope that maybe one of them might be able to offer some insight.

Also, Bleakhaus notes: 'unless I've been misinformed, does not "emit light"'. Well no, he doesn't, but it depends on what you (or Pynchon) mean by "light." That particular metaphor is so prevalent and entangled throughout AtD that I haven't really got a handle on it. Exactly what "light" in AtD means however, is a discussion for another day.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 22:33, 1 February 2007 (PST)

Talk:ATD 149-170

2007-01-22T18:34:42Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

Talk:ATD 1-25

2007-01-21T18:02:21Z

Foolishmortal: /* Argument */

==Spoilers Invisible Text==

Robot, I see you're experimenting with adding spoiler content such as this:

:Spoiler (highlight with mouse to read): The phrase is also found on p198, as one of Webb's last thoughts. End of spoiler.

Not a bad idea, but I greatly would prefer the following method:

: See also [[ATD_171-198#Page_198|Page 198]] (spoilers).

I prefer this for two reasons. 1) There won't be duplicated content, so there won't be two or more entries for someone to edit. 2) Even though the spoiler text is in white, contributors will see the text when editing pages. We want to discourage that. What do you think?

Again, though, I am greatly troubled by even my suggested format. This section was created by me with one purpose in mind: to be spoiler-free. Spoiler additions can only benefit the second-time reader, and this section of the wiki is meant to help the first-time reader. That's its purpose. If you have some notes to make that involve spoilers, why not add them to the Alpha index, for instance here by creating an entry in the L section for "Light over the ranges."? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:57, 22 December 2006 (PST)

:I've taken this off page 1 for now to match the rest of the page by page. I maintain that references to later pages should be disallowed here, but I'm definitely willing to discuss the issue and welcome all opinions by contributors. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 11:20, 24 December 2006 (PST)

==Cut contribs- let's talk about them==

[[Archived discussion]]

p 11 "plummet/bad physics": i am a physics idiot/wiki newbie, but i dont get it why it should be bad physics here. You write: "... Once the Inconvenience loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support." Thats exactly what Cosmo commands Counterfly to do on p 12: ("...jettison our sandbags or we are done for!"). Seems to be of the essence to both close the valve asap and to get rid of the ballast to make good for the loss of gas, right?

==Ragtime==

Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, early Hollywood.--[[User:Robot|Robot]] 13:31, 5 December 2006 (PST)

==Navigation==

I wonder if there isn't some way to connect the annotations by page, perhaps with a little navigation box at the bottom of each set of pages that allows you to go back and forth without having to go back to the main 'Annotations by Page' page and select the next set of pages?

One could just add this at the end with the usual double-equals section header, but then it'd show up in the table of contents at the top. Maybe not a bad thing, but I figured I'd bring it up here and see what folks thought before trying it. -- [[User:Cswingle|cswingle]] Wed Dec 6 09:28:52 AKST 2006

:The template [[Template:ATD PbP|ATD PbP]] inserts the following into an article when you type <code><nowiki>{{ATD PbP}}</nowiki></code>:

:
{|id="pages"
|-
!Part One: The Light Over the Ranges
|
[[ATD 1-25|1-25]],
[[ATD 26-56|26-56]],
[[ATD 57-80|57-80]],
[[ATD 81-96|81-96]],
[[ATD 97-118|97-118]]
|-
!Part Two: Iceland Spar
|
[[ATD 119-148|119-148]],
[[ATD 149-170|149-170]],
[[ATD 171-198|171-198]],
[[ATD 199-218|199-218]],
[[ATD 219-242|219-242]],
[[ATD 243-272|243-272]],
[[ATD 273-295|273-295]],
[[ATD 296-317|296-317]],
[[ATD 318-335|318-335]],
[[ATD 336-357|336-357]],
[[ATD 358-373|358-373]],
[[ATD 374-396|374-396]],
[[ATD 397-428|397-428]]
|-
!Part Three: Bilocations
|
[[ATD 429-459|429-459]],
[[ATD 460-488|460-488]],
[[ATD 489-524|489-524]],
[[ATD 525-556|525-556]],
[[ATD 557-587|557-587]],
[[ATD 588-614|588-614]],
[[ATD 615-643|615-643]],
[[ATD 644-677|644-677]],
[[ATD 678-694|678-694]]
|-
!Part Four: Against the Day
|
pages coming soon
|-
!Part Five: Rue de Départ
|
pages coming soon
|-
|}

:[[User:BlakeStacey|BlakeStacey]] 11:31, 6 December 2006 (PST)

::well, we've got two options: place the whole table of contents at the bottom of each page, or perhaps just links to the previous and subsequent page. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:26, 6 December 2006 (PST)

:::I don't think the full TOC at the bottom is needed, although we could do it that way. I think it'd be most convenient and inobtrusive if there were links going forward and backward to the previous and next set of pages. For example: (1-25 previous | next 57-80), if you happen to be sitting at the end of pages 26-56. [[User:Cswingle|cswingle]] Wed Dec 6 13:31:57 AKST 2006

::::I'm not sure users necessarily want to click "next" through each successive set of pages. I'm more in favor of just having it at the bottom of the page. If it shows up in the ToC, that's okay, right? It's easy to try out, so let me now try it out now (see [[ATD 1-25|pp.1-25]] and see what everybody (or concerned parties) think. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 17:56, 6 December 2006 (PST)

::although either way would work, i note that inserting the ToC is much easier that coding the 35-40 pages individually... not that it's a HUGE deal, but... [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 18:59, 6 December 2006 (PST)

:I like the way it looks, and it's not really an issue that it's in the ToC. Thanks. [[User:Cswingle|cswingle]] Thu Dec 7 08:33:14 AKST 2006

== Spoiler template ==

I threw together a spoiler warning template which might be useful for demarcating sections of pages which have spoilers in later parts but not in all. Use <code><nowiki>{{spoiler}}</nowiki></code> to get the following:

<div class="notice metadata spoiler" id="spoiler">'''Spoiler warning: ''Plot and/or ending details follow.'''''</div>

[[User:BlakeStacey|BlakeStacey]] 11:20, 6 December 2006 (PST)

== Argument ==

So, given that we want to present to visitors an informative guide to AtD, where do we stick the argument? The discussion page would seem to be the place, but for most areas it remains empty. I myself have become involved in one (c.f. 153), and not wanting to respond in the disc. section to an argument advanced in the main, replied in the main as well. Yet a visitor trying to figure out page 153 will not be enlightened by two (or more) random Pynchon nerds squabbling. How shall we resolve this?

I propose the following: that we carry out argument (signed by username) in the discussion page, according to a format parallel to the main page. In this schema, I might post the following after the Pugnax entry, and before anything following:

Re: "...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit)..."

'This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed.'

Where does the Vietnam War enter into it? I admit that there may exist some occult meaning, but when, in the context of "Our Nation's Capitol", an Evil Halfwit is mentioned, there can only be one person that Pynchon could hope to directly evoke. There may be some broader theme of "evil halfwits", present or past, in "capitols" that further text might elucidate, but this passage, in itself, describes only one man.

And then the author of the original would tell me how I'm an idiot and I've got it all wrong, safe from the eyes of the innocents who stumble upon the page, wondering who, exactly, the "Evil Halfwit" is supposed to be.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 23:27, 9 January 2007 (PST)

:It thus far hasn't been TOO much of an issue. Here's my 2 cents:

:1) keep argument on the main pages if it is BRIEF.

:2) if it gets too long, move it all to the discussion page, along with a reference. Check out what I did to the Bin Laden discussion [[ATD_149-170#Page_153|on page 153]].

:3) Although we wan't to remain respectful of other people's opinions, outright cuts are allowed where there seems to textual connection. The wiki philosophy trusts that the wiki system will work itself out, and, I note, below every edit box is the warning, ''"Please note that all contributions to Pynchon Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then don't submit it here."'' The Vietnam thing is a good example. I'm going to cut that now. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 13:34, 10 January 2007 (PST)

Sorry if this is the wrong place to put a discussion, but I would like to mention: The bit about Herr Riemann being a topological genius. Topology is a branch of mathematics dealing with properties of geometrical objects that are unchanged by streching, etc. In topology, a doughnut is considered equivalent to a coffee mug, in some sense. There is a branch of topology called knot theory, which, as the name suggests, deals exlusively with knots, which knots are equivalent, whether one knot can be transformed into another, etc. So the character is suggesting that Riemann is a master of knot theory, and he would be the ideal person to untie the relevant knot on the airship. (Fred)

Ok, related point. Who the hell cut my Pugnax bit? I don't mind, I could be full of it, but if you are going to cut something, stick a note in the discussion page justifying it.(The post in question identified Pugnax as a dog of war in the Shakespearean sense). It could be that Pugnax has zero to do with Julius Caesar, but if it must be cut, allow me to retort.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 22:14, 20 January 2007 (PST)

:This is the wrong place for your Riemann comment-- place it on the page it's mentioned (no one will ever read it here!).

:I'm still amazed how personally people are taking edits on the ATD wiki. On Wikipedia, it is assumed that thousands of anonymous strangers will judiciously edit, cut, or rephrase your contributions. It's a wiki. That's what happens on wikis. As for your Pugnax comment, I forget but that was probably me. If you still feel it's worth including, place it back in with better explanation. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 06:35, 21 January 2007 (PST)

:Didn't take it personal. Strictly business and all that... It's just that, without a comment justifying the edit, I have no idea on what grounds the edit was performed. I could assume it was arbitrary, repost it, the same editor would remove it again, etc ad nauseum. Nothing is learned by this process. Prob not going to repost since I don't have any evidence other than Pugnax meaning warlike and his being a dog to imply that he is a "dog of war" a la Shakespeare.

ATD 273-295

2007-01-21T08:14:08Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 292 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 273==

'''the electric''' 
The Denver Tramway Company, beginning in 1886, operated electric railcars between central Denver and outlying communities. [http://www.denvergov.org/AboutDenver/history_narrative_3.asp Citation]

==Page 274==

'''Arapahoe''' 
Since Frank is at the moment in Denver, "on Arapahoe" would mean on Arapahoe Street. From the native tribe. Also a county in eastern CO and a scattering of places in US.

'''drygulched''' 
Ambushed, betrayed.

'''after Repeal in '93''' 
Refers to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which required the U.S. government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month with notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. Repealed by Congress after the Panic of 1893 to prevent depletion of the country's gold reserves. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Act Wikipedia entry].

'''Lake County''' 
Colorado county of which Leadville is the county seat.

'''Haw Tabor''' 
Horace Tabor, a prospector, businessman, politician, and one of the wealthiest men in Colorado in the 19th Century. Tabor moved to Denver in 1859, later settling in Leadville in 1877. With the wealth he accumulated from his silver mine, Tabor established newspapers, a bank, and an opera house in Leadville (which still stands), and the Tabor Grand Opera House and the Tabor Block in Denver. In 1878, Tabor was elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and served in that post until January 1884. He served as U.S. Senator from Colorado for two months in 1883. Tabor ran unsuccessfully for Colorado governor in 1884, 1886, and 1888. In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act devastated Tabor's fortune and his far-flung holdings were sold off. He died from appendicitis in 1899, and his legend still persists in Colorado.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Tabor Wikipedia entry].

'''Matchless''' 
The Matchless Mine in Leadville, formerly owned by Horace Tabor. Oscar Wilde visited the Matchless in 1882. The "widow" is Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe, a/k/a "Baby Doe" Tabor, Horace Tabor's second wife (and his mistress before he married her in 1883). Baby Doe and her stubborn retention of the Matchless Mine is another Colorado legend. When Horace Tabor fell ill with appendicitis in 1899, his final request of Baby Doe was that she "hold onto the Matchless." This she did, with tragic results. After living in a shack beside the mine for 36 years, she froze to death one night in March 1935 after she ran out of firewood. Her body was found frozen with her arms crossed peacefully across her chest. After her death, 17 iron trunks that had been placed in storage in Denver were opened, as well as several gunny sacks and four trunks that had been left at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Leadville. All that was left from the Tabor fortune were several bolts of unique, untouched and exquisite cloth, several pieces of china, a tea service and some jewelry, including a diamond and sapphire ring. Baby Doe's story has inspired numerous works, including a movie and an opera by Douglas Moore, ''The Ballad of Baby Doe.'' More on Baby Doe Tabor, including pictures of the Matchless and the shack she lived and died in, can be found at these links: [http://www.babydoetabor.com/ Baby Doe Tabor.com]; [http://www.babydoe.org/index.php BabyDoe.org]

'''Zinc Rush''' 
Leadville had "rushes" on gold, silver, molybdenim, zinc...

'''some bright engineer''' 
???

==Page 275==

'''Molly-be-damned''' 
Molybdenum, which is still mined outside of Leadville.

'''Wren Provenance''' 
Let's not forget that one manifestation of '''V.''' was Victoria Wren. One could see this as the "provenance of wren?" There appear to be many allusions to '''V.''' in ATD.

'''heaps''' 
slag heaps. For their picture see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slag_heap Wikipedia].

'''Sons of Heaven section''' 
This is a term for the emperors of China.

==Page 276==

'''Jennie Rogers's House of Mirrors''' 
Jennie Rogers (1843-1909) was a notorious Denver madam who built the "House of Mirrors" at 1946 Market Street in Denver in 1889 and ran it until her death in 1909. The House of Mirrors embodies the Romanesque architecture of the era, and was specifically designed as a bordello. It was later taken over by the even more notorious Mattie Silks (1846-1929), who operated it until 1915, when it fell victim to so-called "reformers." The House of Mirrors still stands, and today operates as a bar and restauant. (This contributor has been drinking there many times.) More on its history, including pictures, and on the history of Denver's Market Street red-light district, can be found at [http://www.mattieshouseofmirrors.com/index.html this website].

'''dress cavalry helmet''' 
A collection of pictures of various dress cavalry helmets can be found here: [http://news.webshots.com/album/165792861CIEtya cavalry helmet pictures].

==Page 277==

'''Aztlán''' 
Legendary or historical homeland of the Aztecs. Northwestern Mexico up to Utah in some reckonings.

'''He had a passing acquaintance with the Mancos and McElmo country...''' 
This is a clear reference to Mesa Verde [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_Verde], on the Mancos River between Mancos and Cortez, CO, southwest of Telluride. Pynchon has taken considerable liberties with the history of the area, as recounted by Wren Provenance, although perhaps not with what was known for certain at the time, to perhaps heighten the area's mystery. The Mesa Verde inhabitants had been building pueblos on the mesa from the 7th and 8th centuries, building cliff dwellings from the 9th to the 13th centuries, ranging far to the north and west for game and firewood. The surface ruins were known from the 1870s; the famous Cliff Palace (shown in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_Verde]) was discovered by local ranchers in 1888, and archaeological activities were underway by 1891. By the time the area was made a national park in 1906 it was clear that the cliff dwellings had been relatively rapidly ''abandoned'' in the 13th century. It has never been clear exactly why; theories include drought leading to loss of water and loss of essential firewood (the area is quite cold in winter) to overlogging or fire. Pynchon is accurate in noting evidence of intense fighting among the last cliff dwellers, even cannibalism, in the ruins.

'''images of creatures''' 
The ancient Puebloans of both the Mesa Verde and Chaco centers left numerous images, called petroglyphs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph], many of which are as eerie as Pynchon suggests here (the Wikipedia article shows Newspaper Rock in Canyonlands National Park in Utah). They include figures of humans and other creatures, and of comets and the 1054 supernova now known as the Crab Nebula (there are more than 14 pages of pictures of ''Pueblo Petroglyphs'' on Google Images: [http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Pueblo+Petroglyphs&btnG=Search+Images]).

==Page 278==

'''If they were the same ones who made the exodus...and became the Aztecs''' 
The earliest interpretations of the Pueblo ruins, from those found first, was that these were Aztec ruins, as at Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, NM ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_Ruin_National_Monument]). The Puebloans were in contact with mesoamerican civilizations, as indicated by findings of trade goods like parrot feathers, but these were probably traded through intermediaries. In fact, the Mesa Verde inhabitants were the ancestors of the modern Rio Grande Pueblos, e.g. Taos Pueblo ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taos_Pueblo]).

'''the report''' 
???

'''Albany... bar mirror''' 
???

'''Booth Virbling''' This seems to be one of Pynchon's made-up names.
As a crime reporter at the time, he was probably given to a heavy use of verbs...warbling verbs, one might say. Booth---staid place where 'crime reporters' work?

==Page 279==

'''Bulkley Wells''' 
???

'''Ice Saw murder''' I saw murder?..eyewitness.
???

'''sparking''' 
v. tr. "to court or woo". intr. "to play the suitor"

==Page 280==

'''South Pacific islands''' 
Cf Margaret Mead. She was just being born in this time period. Her first book, Coming of Age in Samoa was published in 1928, though. Some of the most famous first anthropolgists studied the South Pacific islands.
See Bronislaw Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific, a "masterpiece' [Wikipedia]. He went to Melanesia first in 1914, according to Wikipedia. He first wrote about "reciprocity" in culture there: Malinowski argued that culture functioned to meet the needs of individuals rather than society as a whole. He reasoned that when the needs of individuals are met, who comprise society, then the needs of society are met. To Malinowski, the feelings of people, their motives, were crucial knowledge to understand the way their society functioned:

==Page 281==

'''first city''' 
The first extensive use of the alternating current was in arc lighting, the kind used in street lighting ... transmission of power in America was established in 1891 at Telluride, Colorado. ...Although there is some dispute in histories as to which city was first. Colorado history site says Telluride was.

:I get the feeling TRP vacationed there, and loaded up on tourist pamphlets.

'''This Telluride chapter seems to express overtly part of Pynchon's key themes: when electricity hit the streets, it was Hell. Passim 280-281,
"the end of the world remained a possibility" to explain the unholy radiance [of the arc lighting].
Only a 'lunatic' argued it was not too late to turn back.
And Telluride is where the "owners" who had Webb killed, live.

'''"Beside the tracks at one bend stood a local lunatic"''' 
Like starting a Disney land ride.
:how so? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:46, 4 December 2006 (PST)

==Page 282==

'''level of hatred''' 
Cf capacitance?

'''vagging bee''' 
Neologistic phrase for "bagging vagrants", maybe. A competition as in a spelling bee? See next line in paragraph: 'troopers..ran them in for vagrancy' 

<ul>OED mentions vagging as a dialect of fagging which amongst other things can mean a beating.</ul> 

==Page 283==

'''''"joven"''''' 
Young fellow (Spanish).

'''Ellmore Disco''' 
Elmore = (H)ell More, i.e. More Hell?
:Possibly also an allusion to Elwood Blues, Dan Akroyd's character in '''The Blues Brothers'''.

'''when it was still Leadville''' 
where 'lead' is exchanged in gunfights, as here? Map of Leadville, CO.

'''Seven-Toed Pete''' 
Seven Card Stud

==Page 284==

'''battered 'from the day'"

'''thunderstorm-proof mayonnaise'''.....mayo is a Pynchon leitmotif. There is a folk belief that mayonnaise spoils and becomes toxic when a thunderstorm occurs.

'''jaconet... tartalan... crepe lissé''' 
jaconet 1.a soft, white, lightweight cotton textile 2. cotton cloth glazed on one side and dyed

'''Liberty's of London''' 
A famous department store in Regent Street, London, notable for its prints and fabrics. Opened in 1875 in a mock-Tudor building.

'''Grand Rapids style''' 
A simple, non-ornamental design style of furniture, with heavy emphasis
on office furniture. Mostly oak, it seems. From the 1860's, the office furniture was "mass-produced", whatever that means for the times. A kind of furniture allowing no "moral turpitude", as one online remark has it. (see Time.com use in 1978 below!)
Grand Rapids was a furniture center and major location for regular furniture exhibitions for decades before and after the time of ATD. Source: Grand Rapids Public Library catalog, passim.
:"The rooms are furnished in Grand Rapids style. The beds have pallets, but no springs, no Western-style mattresses, no top sheets; maid service consists of dumping a clean sheet and a blanket on the bed, to be made up by the guest."
:---Time.com...1978...on certain hotel rooms in China.

'''Four Corners Boys''' 
Deuce and Sloat. Nicknamed so after what they did to Lake on page 269, it seems. "They took her down to the Four Corners...."

==Page 285==

'''million apiece''' 
From 1900, a million dollars would have the value of @20 to 23 million in 2005, depending on ways of measuring purchasing value. It would have over $100 million dollars in value, measured against the worker's average wage at the time. See [http://www.measuringworth.com/ Measuring Worth site].

'''...it's out with that wackyzacky...''' 
The 'wakizashi' is a Japanese sword - 12 to 24 inches - often worn by a Samurai together with a Katana - another sword - and the two together are then called a Daish or somesuch. Although it would appear that this sword would have sometimes been used during Hari Kiri it is not the normal Hari Kiri weapon. That is usually a short - 6 to 12 inches long - double edged knife/sword called a Tant.' 

'''hari-kari''' 
Japanes: ''belly cutting''. Properly ''harakiri,'' but the distorted rhyming form has been in colloquial English for a long time.
What became a ritualised form of suicide in Japan chiefly amongst the nobility. It was sometimes offered to a nobleman as an honorable alternative to execution. A short knife or sword is plunged into the abdomen, drawn through and across the bowel laterally, with a small upwards twist at the end. Now extremely rare in Japan. More commonly referred to by the Chinese name for belly cutting - ''Seppuku'' - because eventually the Ritual was seen as being somewhat distastaeful, even dishonourable

'''Cal Rutan''' 
???

==Page 286==

'''menudo''' 
Mexican soup.

'''Loomis''' 
Loomis Disco.

'''lowland alkali''' 
Any of various soluble mineral salts found in natural water and arid soils. And 'lowlands' are good places in Pynchon's vision.

'''hardpan''' 
A bedrock, foundation. Hard,,unbroken ground. A layer of hard subsoil or clay, also called caliche.

==Page 287==

'''chicharrones''' 
Fried pork skins.

'''''Ristras''''' '''of .... dark purple chilies''' 
Strings of .... dried red chilies.

'''tortas''' 
Mexican sandwiches.

'''tamales''' 
Cornmeal paste wrapped in corn or banana husks and stuffed with chicken, pork or turkey and/or vegetables, then steamed.

'''sixty-degree wedges''' 
One-sixth of a pie.

'''''"Por poco te faltó La Blanca"''''' 
Translates to "You just missed La Blanca."

==Page 288==

'''Montrose''' 
A city on Colorado's Western Slope. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose%2C_Colorado Wikipedia entry].

'''popcorn snows''' 
Apparently an informal meteorological term for giant snowflakes.[http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=popcorn.snow&as_brr=0&sa=N&tab=pw Google]

The popcorn snows were first mentioned in L. Frank Baum's ''The Scarecrow of Oz'' (1915): 'In the Land of Mo the snow's made of popcorn, not frozen water crystals as it is in other places.' [http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/oziana/oz0726.htm Popcorn Snows].
Of course, Mr. Baum also wrote the classic ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900).

'''vanning''' 
in context, 'a winnowing device". Archaic, from American Heritage Dictionary.

'''''comal''''' 
A Mexican style skillet, usually made of cast iron in round or oval shape.

==Page 289==

'''''Pobrecito''''' 
Poor little boy.

'''half a cubic foot''' 
12" by 12" by 6".

==Page 290==

'''miner's gad''' 
According to the OED, "1. a steel wedge, 2. a small iron punch with a wooden handle used to break up ore."

'''McBryan's''' 
???

'''trick animal''' 
???

==Page 291==

'''''seguro''''' 
sure.

'''Cosmopolitan''' 
Cf p260.

'''bullion day''' 
4th of July ?

'''Mr. Edison's scheme... static electricity''' 
???

'''Wetherill's magnet''' 
If electric, that's Kit's domain.

==Page 292==

'''pocket Kodak''' 
Possibly the "No. 3 Folding Pocket KODAK Camera" produced by Eastman Kodak from 1900 to 1915.

'''Hieronymus Wheel''' 
This may be a stretch but one of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch is called the Circle of Hell which contains an assortment of odd creatures. As a central image there is a wheel coming out of (or going into) the mouth of a fishlike creature. The reference to hell seems appropriate for Telluride and a Japanese trade delegation in a Colorado bar may suggest the odd creatures. Just to stretch the connection a bit further, there was another Bosch, Robert, a Germany engineer who perfected a magneto ignition device in 1897 that became the standard for creating electrical sparks to start internal combustion engines. The modern Bosch Group is a leading manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology.
:While there is most certainly something Boschean about Pynchon's aesthetic, nothing in the context of this passage suggests an association with either the painting described above or the machinist Robert Bosch. Instead, the passage indicates that the term describes a roulette wheel. Neither Google nor the OED recognize the term in any meaningful way, though it may be a back formation from the term "jerry," meaning to tumble, Hieronymous being the latinate form of Jerome. This etymology is still a considerable stretch, but it fits the passage better. For an example of an AtD passage that '''does''' conjure Old Master depictions of Hell (of which Bosch painted several), albeit without suggesting Bosch specifically, see p. 210-11, "the first glimpse of Jeshimon . . . . advanced the hour."

:Although this is the sort of discussion that should be held on the "Discussion" page, apparently we're arguing here. As much as I despise frivolous interpretations, I must agree with the original post. The text does describe a roulette wheel, but there exist much more direct forms of doing so. The passage would make sense without the wheel being described as "Hieronymus", but that epithet persists. It cannot be accidental.

'''Dieter''' 
German first name. Pronunciation: [diːtər]. Short for Dietrich. A Old High German combination of 'thioda' (ger: das Volk, engl: the nation) and 'heri' (ger: das Heer, engl: the army). Popular male name in Germany after WWII. Outfashioned today ''Dieter'' is referred to as comic and/or queer.
:Since "Dieter" is "the barkeep" the English word ''dieter'' for someone who prescibes a diet comes to mind.

Possibly a reference to H. Dieter Zeh [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Dieter_Zeh]and his "Many Minds" interpretation of the multiverse issue [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-minds_interpretation].[[User:Bklyn48|Bklyn48]] 19:37, 1 January 2007 (PST)

'''bellows''' 
For explanation and picture see [http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/BellowsCamera.html Bellows Camera].

==Page 293==

'''''"Sumimasen... Bobusan desu... Gonnusuringaa... mottomo abunai desu"''''' 
Don't know the rest, but "Bobusan" refers to Bob and "Gonnusuringaa" is likely "Gunslinger."
 
Translation from e2535: 
mottomo abunai desu = "he is extremely dangerous" 
Sumimasen = "Pardon me" or "Excuse me" 

'''''"Anna koto"''''' 
??? 
literally "That sort of thing!"

'''fulgurescence''' 
[http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=fulgurescence Dutch?] A neologism, I think -- it does not appear in the OED. 'Fulgur' is Latin for lightning, 'fulgurite' being, e.g., according to the OED, "any rocky substance that has been fused or vitrified by lightning. More strictly applied to a bore or tube produced by the passage of lightning into a sandy soil." In this context, "fulgerescence," refers to bright, lightening-like flashes.

'''"The loss of clarity . . . . in the dark"''' 
See the note for Hieronymous wheel on page 292. This further enhances the Circle of Hell connection for the Hieronymous wheel note above. The painting includes several unknown creatures, including a barrel with legs, while “thrashed about” suggests the central fish monster image of the painting.
:Cf., also, p. 221, "Lateral world-sets, other parts of the Creation, lie all around us, each with its crossover points or gates of transfer from one to another, and they can be anywhere, really . . . . An unscheduled Explosion, introduced into the accustomed flow of the day, may easily open, now and then, passages to elsewhere," as well as p. 230, "'Let us imagine a lateral world, set only infintesimally to the side of the one we think we know.'"
::Cf., also the transdimensional travel of Buckaroo Bonzai in the Pynchon inspired film, ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), especially the images of 8th-Dimensional creatures that Bonzai sees as he passes through the mountain. [http://imdb.com/title/tt0086856/ IMDB entry].
::Cf., further, the notion of a "multiverse," that is, a physical ur-structure, comprised of many, if not infinite universes, of which ours is only one. Several contemporary cosmological theories require that a multiverse exist, though its existence remains highly conjectural. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse Wikipedia entry].

'''packing out pyrites''' 
Mining fool's gold.

'''katana''' 
Japanese samurai sword.

==Page 294==

'''Baron Akashi''' 
A Japanese general whose career included spying, but, anachronistically, his career did not begin until 1889. He was a spy in Europe during Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). So would he've been famous even to the lengths of backwoods CO? How much spyin' can a poor boy do if he's famous?
:Baron Akashi himself was famous, but his sidekick was not. The former didn't show up at Telluride but the latter did as 'some li'l laundry runner'.

'''Squirrel and sarsaparilla''' 
Squirrel Whiskey and Sarsaparilla Soda. Squirrel whiskey was so called because it was supposedly so strong it would drive its drinkers up a tree. Sarparilla, by contrast, is derived from the roots of the Sarsparilla tree.

==Page 295==

'''summer of '89''' 
Butch Cassidy and his accomplices robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride on 24 June 1889 ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy#1889.E2.80.931894_.E2.80.94_early_robberies.2C_going_to_prison Wikipedia])

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

Talk:ATD 149-170

2007-01-21T07:13:32Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

Tarot in Against the Day

2007-01-21T07:08:45Z

Foolishmortal:

The chapters beginning at 179 and 209 leave little doubt that there is a structure in the book mirroring the major trumps. I am as yet unsure of its significance, but Pynchon, in his descriptions of The Hanged Man and The Devil, rubs our noses in it. What does it mean, why are there extra chapters at the beginning, and most crucially, does The Fool count? Bloviate here.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 22:57, 20 January 2007 (PST)

Tarot in Against the Day

2007-01-21T06:57:50Z

Foolishmortal:

The chapters beginning at 179 and 209 leave little doubt that there is a structure in the book mirroring the major trumps. I am as yet unsure of its significance, but Pynchon, in his descriptions of the Hanged Man and the Devil, rubs our noses in it. What does it mean, why are there extra chapters at the beginning, and most crucially, does The Fool count? Bloviate here.
[[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 22:57, 20 January 2007 (PST)

ATD 199-218

2007-01-21T06:42:50Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 211 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 202==

'''V-twin with white rubber tires''' 
A V-twin is a two cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration, most often seen in motorcycles. The first motorcycles available for purchase were made in 1894 by Hildebrand & Wolfmüller.

'''notes... rang like schoolbells''' 
Recalls the lyrics from the famous 1958 Chuck Berry song, "Johnny B. Goode": "But he could play the guitar just like a ringing a bell".

'''Cooper'''

In the spirit of Icelandic Spar doubling, is it possible that the description of 'young gent Cooper' is Pynchon writing himself into ATD? Pynchon is reportedly shy and one of the supposed reasons given for why he never wanted his picture taken was that his upper teeth protruded and he did not like his portrait. Cooper sits astride a black and gold V-twin (!), produces a "Cornell" model Acme guitar, 'which now and then found strange notes added into the guitar chords, as though Cooper had hit between the wrong frets, only somehow it sounded right,' a pretty good analogy of Pynchon's bizarre but powerful prose style. Cf. Pynchon and his music connections and the trope (from Homer on) of musicians as the archetypal artists. Pynchon reportedly played the ukelele, so perhaps he also plays guitar. Perhaps this Cooper is an amalgam of himself and his
great deceased school friend, Richard Farina?

A Cooper is also a barrel-maker.

On the other hand, Cooper is blonde and blue-eyed, whereas Pynchon has dark brown hair and dark eyes, as near as can be made out from the photos that exist.

Then there is Gary Cooper, debonair American movie star.

A Peter Cooper wrote an early book on Pychon's signs and symbols.

==Page 203==

'''Cooper, cont'd'''

If Cooper ''is'' meant as some kind of parallel of Pynchon, note that Cooper waits "for faces there, or a particular face, to be drawn by the music," and one is-- Sage, who exits the house wearing gray and puts her arm up Cooper's sleeve. Could this be Pynchon's loving memory of meeting his wife?

==Page 204==

'''Linnet''' 
European finch. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnet Wikipedia]

==Page 205==

'''against the daylight''' 
A direct example of ''against the day'' as ''against the light''. Significantly, Frank's attempt to discern Stray's true facial expression is thwarted by the daylight behind her. An object positioned against the daylight, or, in general, between an observer and a light source, is shadowed or silhouetted -- in Pynchon's words of the same sentence, "veiled by its own penumbra". This is suggestive of the idea that light does not always illuminate.

'''"faro boxes"''' 
Card game with anti-cheating mechanism that can be fixed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_(card_game) Wikipedia]

==Page 206==

'''soul-to-soul''' and '''down Mexico way''' 
Possible allusions to blues-rock guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, respectively. The first phrase was the title of a Vaughan album and the second is a phrase used in the song "Hey Joe," most famously recorded by Hendrix.

Down Mexico Way was, before "Hey Joe", a 1941 Western movie starring Gene Autry. See IMBD. Frank Sinatra was perhaps the most famous person who sang
the title song, a hit in 1953, (when TRP was 15), "South of the Border, down Mexico Way."

'''both sounders and inkers''' 
Two types of telegraph machine. Inkers turn telegraph signals into marks along long ribbons of paper, while sounders only made sounds through a speaker, requiring a human to write down the message.

'''one day it rang while Reef happened to be right next to it''' 
Someone who knew Pynchon in the 60s described their final meeting in the article, [http://theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html Thomas Pynchon and the South Bay]: "I was walking down the street and he was walking toward me. Our paths crossed right in front of a pay phone, our eyes met and we recognized each other. I asked how he was and at that moment the telephone rang. He looked at me and looked at the phone, then turned around and ran down the street, and I never saw him again."

At the 70s pot-commune 'The Farm' in Tennessee, their first phone system (called 'Beatnik Bell') was legendary for working this way (by ESP). [http://www.thefarm.org/lifestyle/albertbates/akbp1b.html more]

'''a turbulent bath of noise that could have been fragments of speech or music surged along the lines''' 
A possible imagistic allusion to the work of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver, specifically their 1948 book ''A Mathematical Theory of Communication''. Shannon and Weaver were engineers working for Bell Systems who posited that information traffic through telephone systems could best be described in mathematical terms normally reserved for the flow of ''turbulent fluids''. Their work, along with that of Norbert Wiener, founds the basis of the American branch of information theory. Wikipedia citations for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon Shannon] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Weaver Weaver], and for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory information theory].

We know from the introduction to Slow Learner that Pynchon read (some--two books mentioned) Norbert Wiener while still in college.

==Page 207==

'''"Bob Meldrum"''' 
1920s outlaw. [http://www.museumnwco.org/lookBackArticle.php?lookBackID=35 cite]

==Page 209==

'''"every telegraph pole had a corpse hanging from it"....very reminiscent
of the heads on poles in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, an important text for GR.... "worst town Reef ever rode into". And the Belgian Congo, the setting for most of Conrad's novella, is mentioned in "AtD" in terms of the cruelty and exploitation of colonialism. The image of the corpses on telegraph-poles reminds me of a similar image in Stephen King's "The Stand".

'''Towers of Silence''' 
The Towers of Silence (also dakhma or dokhma or doongerwadi) are circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence Wikipedia]

==Page 210==

Reef learns in chatting with the Rev that even certain "accommodations", technically subornation, could be made "for a price" risking "an appropriate fate", i.e. death for money [from the Rev?] even here.

== Page 211 ==

'''arnophilia''' 
A word invented by Pynchon. According to this [http://www.basarchive.org/sample/bswbBrowse.asp?PubID=BSBR&Volume=19&Issue=6&ArticleID=5 website] the greek word ''arnos'' generally refers to a lamb or sheep, but occasionally to a goat, too. Suffixes with the common part -phil- (-phile, -philia, -philic) are used to specify some kind of attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-phil- Wikipedia]

'''Lourdes''' 
city in France of Blessed Virgin appearances in the late 1800s to a youth and supposed miraculous cures since. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes Wikipedia entry]

'''a kind of winged God''' 
in various depictions, Satan appears as an angel/godlike-creature with huge wings. One of the most famous examples would be Milton's "Paradise Lost", especially Books 1 and 2.

Also, Satan is depicted as winged in the Rider-Waite Tarot

==Page 212==

'''The upside down star''' 
The upside down star, also known as the ''inverted pentagram,'' (with "two horns exalted"), is an emblem of the Devil.

In ''Mason and Dixon,'' the upside-down star is a symbol of two things that are connected: 1) when M&D are trying to find true north, they look at stars in their telescope to measure when they reach the peak of their arc arcoss the sky. In the telescope the star is upside down. Thus, upside down stars symbolize points which cut through distortion. 2) The star is seen again and again on rifles of both Dutch and American design. They pop up around slavery, a massacre, and an Iron refinery used for making impliments of slavery and war. The rifle is much like a telescope, but differs in that it shoots lead rather then huge sweaping cuts across the landscape. But they are both acts that are branded by evil.

==Page 213==

'''dusk's reassembly of the broken day''' 
Broken by heat, reassembled as it cools. Or, dusk
bringing darkness, night--"it's always night"--after
another broken day...another 'against the day' allusion?

==Page 214==

'''the McElmo''' 
Watershed territory in Utah and Colorado.

'''stole a horse''' 
Reef probably he left in such a hurry, rapelling down "the blood-red wall", that he did not try to find his own horse or felt the Marshall might have gotten to it. Possibly, but unlikely, that TRP 'forgot' about the horse Reef came in on.

'''voice of the thunder''' 
Twelfth Song of the Thunder

The voice that beautifies the land!
The voice above,
The voice of the thunder
Within the dark cloud
Again and again it sounds,
The voice that beautifies the land.

The voice that beautifies the land!
The voice below,
The voice of the grasshopper
Among the plants
Again and again it sounds,
The voice that beautifies the land.

[From Washington Matthews, The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony, 1887]

Voice of the Thunder is also the title of a book by Laurens Van der Post
championing the life of the Australian Aborigines.

And the fifth and final section of T S Eliot's poem 'The Waste Land' is entitled "What the Thunder Said".

'''Chums of Chance and the Ends of the Earth''' 
Not to be confused with ''The Chums of Chance in the Bowels of the Earth'', mentioned at the end of Part 1 ([[ATD_97-118#Page_117|page 117]]).

'''[the book], already dog-eared" 
A contributor has mentioned a possible connection to Pugnax, but Pugnax was a neat reader, unlike Reef.
The book was "dog-eared" when Reef got it and I think the connection is to the word and the meaning of reading dogs like Pugnax and the one in Mason & Dixon.

==Page 215==

[[image:bridalveilfalls.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Bridal Veil Falls (c) [http://www.stevegarufi.com/bridal-veil-falls-colorado.htm ColoradoGuy.com]]]

'''"running a game of chance without a license" 
The use of the word 'chance' here is probably no accident. Perhaps this implies that only the Chums of Chance can run a game of chance? Only the author of the Chums books has "[poetic] license? Cf. 'Great Game'and chance.

'''North Cape and Franz Josef Land''' 
North Cape, Norway, is one of the northernmost points of Europe. Franz Josef Land is an archipelago in the Arctic Circle that was discovered in 1873 by Austrian polar explorers and named in honour of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. Today it belongs to Russia.

'''While reading, "he enjoyed a sort of dual existence"''' 
Spar and splitting theme? Pynchon on fiction and readers of?

'''Bridal Veil Falls''' 
Waterfall near Telluride, Colorado. At 431 feet, Bridal Veil Falls is Colorado's tallest. The historic structure between the two falls is the former Smuggler-Union hydroelectric plant, which provided Telluride's electricity from 1904 until 1954. [http://www.jeffblaylock.com/window/2004/06/bridal_veil_fal/index.php source]

==Page 216==

'''"Just greasy ashes by the trailside."''' 
Cf. p. 10, "tall smokestacks unceasingly vomiting black grease-smoke."

'''disrespect''' 
Corruption setting in?

==Page 217==

'''Confederate Colt''' 
Webb's Uncle Fletcher's gun, introduced on page 88.

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

ATD 119-148

2007-01-21T06:33:02Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 145 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 121==

'''flying bridge''' 
On an ordinary aquatic ship, the flying bridge is an open deck atop the pilothouse for navigating in good weather. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_bridge [Wikipedia]]

'''"Ray-rush"''' 
Cf contemporary telecom bandwidth auctions. "Ray-rush" as "Gold-rush"

==Page 122==

'''dazzle-painting''' 
A camouflage painting technique used on WWI ships.[http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html].

'''intelligence centers on the surface such as the Inter-Group Laboratory for Opticomagnetic Observation (I.G.L.O.O.), a radiational clearing-house in Northern Alaska''' 
Perhaps a reference to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site in Gakonka, AK, which is ostensibly engaged in ionospheric research [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haarp (Wikipedia entry)]. Also suggestive of the ECHELON network [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON (Wikipedia entry)], comprising a number of signals intelligence sites, which are capable of intercepting a wide variety of communications signals throughout the world. Also, Pynchon often creates humorous or fanciful acronyms: W.A.S.T.E. (''The Crying of Lot 49''), A.C.H.T.U.N.G. (''Gravity's Rainbow''), etc.

'''Lloyd's of the high spectrum [...] the next fateful Lutine announcement.''' The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutine HMS Lutine] (Lutine translates as "the tease") was a ship commissioned in the French Royal Navy which was later given to the English Royal Navy during the Revolution. In 1799 she sank in the North Sea while blockading Holland; her hold was full of gold. Lloyd's of London, an independent insurance market still known for being willing to assume large insurance risks for the right price, had insured the gold, and paid the claim in full, acquiring nominal ownership of the still-unsalvaged cargo. The ship's bell was recovered in the mid-19th century and hangs to this day in the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's. For many years the the Lutine Bell was struck to announce news of an overdue ship: once if lost, twice if reported safe. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd's_of_London#Miscellaneous [Wikipedia]]

'''last eclipse''' 
Possibly Pike's Peak, 1878? [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhistory/SEhistory.html (partial table)]

==Page 123==

'''lookout telegraph''' 
Instead of attaching Pugnax's tail directly to a hammer that hits the gong, the gong is struck remotely via a telegraph line.

'''Igor Padzhitnoff''' 
The whole passage that introduces the rival airship captain is a play on Tetris. Igor's surname is similar to that of the creator of Tetris, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Pazhitnov Alexey Pazhitnov]. Also, the captain himself serves "a program of mischief", flies a ship called "The Great Game" and drops "bricks and masonry, always in the four-block fragments which had become his "signature," to fall on and damage targets designated by his superiors."

The term 'Great Game' also refers to the intense geopolitical rivalry between the English and Russian empires over control of Central Asia during the whole of the 19th century [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game Wikipedia]. The period of this Great Game is thought to have ended in 1907, about the time of the book. The constant appearance of the Russians wherever the Chums go would appear to play on both this and on the coming Cold War conflict. The equation of all of these with Tetris suggests a common theme in all three 'non-violent' conflicts.

'''''Ice Pirates''''' 
This turn of phrase echoes the spoof [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087451/ movie] of camraderie and dangerous "space herpes" that was released in 1984. There's no textual evidence that Pynchon means to refer to the movie, but the satirical humor and outlandish situations presented in the film might be attractive to someone with his sensibilities.

'''Tovarishchi Slutchainyi''' 
Tovarishchi translates as comrades; the literal translation of "Slutchainyi" is "accidental", leading to one possible reading of the phrase being: Chums of Chance. 
The phrase "Tovarishchi Slutchainyi" could also mean someone who is friends, but not intentionally, ie: perhaps people who are conscripted into a situation where they are forced to be communal. (Thanks to Anna Zaytseva for the idiomatic help!) 
A third reading is introduced when the homophonic correspondence between the final two syllables of Slutchainyi and Vice-President Cheney's name is noted.

'''nasal dislocation''' 
'Nose out of joint' = offended, feelings hurt.

==Page 124==

'''Na sobrat' ya po nebo!''' 
Randolph says "На собратья по небо."
What I believe he means to say is
"Наши собратья по небу" or Nashi sobrat'ya po nebu, meaning "Our brothers/comrades of the sky" -- perhaps a ritual greeting between the two groups.
It is unlikely that Pynchon would make a mistake (the Russian in GR is correct) but Randolph might err.

==Page 125==
'''a ''roman-feuilleton'' by M. Eugène Sue''' 
A ''roman-feuilleton'' or serial novel. M. Eugène Sue was a French novelist roughly contemporary to Dumas père, with whom he has been compared. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugène_Sue Wikipedia entry on M. Eugène Sue] Sue's most famous, which used to be a Modern Library title, is
The Wandering Jew.

'''red as a cursed ruby representing a third eye in the brow of some idol of the incomprehensible''' 
Seems too random to not be a reference to something...Very possibly; under the name T.Lopsang Rampa an Englishman published a thoroughly discredited spiritual autobiography called The Third Eye. The Third Eye, by Englishman Cyril Hoskin, a fantastic (and popular) tale of Tibetan spirit possession published in 1956; included telepathy and more.

In the 1940 version of "The Thief of Bagdad" the boy thief Abu (played by Sabu) must steal a magical "all-seeing eye" (ruby?) from the brow of a massive golden idol in a remote temple, in order to see - as in a crystal ball - the location of the Princess held in thrall by the evil vizier Jaffar.

'''Isafjörðr''' 
Town in the Westfjords of Iceland. Often spelled as Isafjörður, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ísafjörður Wikipedia]

'''The "extra man" of Arctic myth''' 

In his footnotes to "The Waste Land", T.S. Eliot glosses the lines:

''Who is the third who walks always beside you?'' 
''When I count, there are only you and I together'' 
''But when I look ahead up the white road'' 
''There is always another one walking beside you'' 

with:

"The following lines were stimulated by the account of one of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers, at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion that there was one more member than could actually be counted." [http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/wasteland/thunder.html]

See also [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackletonexped/dispatches/19991110.html NOVA Online: Shackleton's Antarctic Odyssey]
"Shackleton, for his part, attributed their astonishing success to something else: 'I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.' Worsley and Crean, uncannily, felt the same. When T. S. Eliot read Shackleton's account, he was inspired to write the passage at the head of this dispatch."

'''the true face''' 
Possible variant on Taoism's "The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao" [http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/the-X-that-can-be-Y-is-not-the-true-X.html [cf]]

'''bonzoline''' 
Ivory substitute made from celluloid, used for billiard balls. [http://www.oedilf.com/db/Lim.php?Word=bonzoline [cite]]

==Page 126==
'''inukshuk''' 
An inukshuk is a stone landmark used as a milestone or directional marker by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. The Arctic Circle, dominated by permafrost, has few natural landmarks and thus the inuksuk was central to navigation across the barren tundra. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk Wikipedia entry on Inukshuk]

'''a truth beyond the secular''' 
Pynchon's use of the word "secular" is unusual. He previously had the Chums striving "to minimize contamination of the secular" on [[ATD_97-118#Page_113|page 113]], and here the Chums try to glimpse "some expression of a truth beyond the secular." Neither of these statements makes much sense with the normal definitions in use today for "secular"-- what could this mean?
: I think it is likely that secular means quotidian, "of the day", visible
as opposed to the invisible and mysterious which pervades ATD.

'''Étienne-Louis Malus''' 
See [[ATD_97-118#Page_114|page 114]].

'''They passed around rumors--the Captain was insane again, ice-pirates were hunting the ''Malus'' like whalers...''' 
This phrase seems evocative of ''Moby Dick'', not only in the intimation that the Captain might be insane and the rumors that might result, but also with the explicit references to "whalers" in the subsequent clause, "the subtle insanity of Ahab." ''Moby Dick'' of course contains many scenes when two whaling ships come together to exchange messages. Chapter 131, "The Pequod Meets the Delight," features particularly sinister omens. It is safe to say, however, that none of the captains who meets Ahab quite resembles Padzhitnoff or has a "signature" resembling the game of Tetris! Pynchon once again lightly tweaks the "line" linking his body of work to Melville's. ([[ATD_57-80#Page_73|page 73]])

==Page 127==

'''Constance Penhallow''' 
Hallow: to set apart as holy, to honor greatly. Her name then pairs the virtue of constancy with honoring the pen. Note also that her grandson, mentioned a few lines below, is named Hunter and is an artist--In the hunt for the consecrated pen.

Alternatively, the prefix ''pen-'' is Gaelic for ''head, principal,'' or ''chief,'' in which case the name would mean "Holiest." It is also Latin for ''nearly, almost'' (as in "penultimate" or "peninsula"), rendering the name "nearly holy." Given the Nordic origin of the Penhallow family, and the Germanic etymology of "hallow," the Gaelic prefix may be more likely. On the other hand, the Latinate prefix suggests the state of preterition -- not quite holy and perhaps not saved...

'''Harald the Ruthless''' 
Harald III Sigurdsson (1015 – September 25, 1066), later surnamed Harald Hardråde (meaning ruthless) was the king of Norway from 1047 until 1066. Harald was the last great Viking king of Norway and his invasion of England and death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 proved a true watershed moment. It marked the end of the Viking age. In Norway, Harald's death also marked the beginning of the Christian era. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_III_of_Norway Wikipedia entry on Harald the Ruthless]

'''Ginnungagap''' 
In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap ("seeming emptiness" or "gaping gap") was a vast chasm that existed before the ordering of the world. To the north of Ginnungagap lay the intense cold of Niflheim, to the south the insufferable heat of Muspelheim. At the beginning of time, the two met in the Ginnungagap; and where the heat met the frost, the frost drops melted and formed the substance eitr, which quickened into life in the form of the giant Ymir, the father of all Frost giants. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginnungagap Wikipedia entry on Ginnungagap]

==Page 128==

'''Bay of Röerford''' 
Does not seem to exist, at least with this spelling.

'''Hunter Penhallow''' 
See above, Constance Penhallow.

'''lower-eighties''' 
Latitudes from 80N to 85N (mainly Ellesmere Island). [http://www.athropolis.com/map2.htm [map]]

==Page 129==

'''Meat Olaf''' 
Anagram.
:As a lesson on the dangers of over-interpretation: I asked a Norwegian friend whether this is truly a Norwegian dish, to which he replied "no," making me feel stupid. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]]

'''''¡Cuidado Cabrón! Salsa Explosiva La Original''''' 
Cabrón is an offensive word in Spanish meaning a guy who is an asshole/dick/cuckold, but friends can also call each other Cabrón in a joking manner. So, ''Watch-Out, Fucker! The Original Explosive Sauce''.
:There appears, in "''Explosiva La Original''," to be a suggestion of an originary explosion, i.e. the Big Bang.

==Page 130==

'''Tsangpo-Brahmaputra country''' 
The Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra river drains a large portion of the eastern Himalaya and southern Tibetan plateau as well as the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, one of the most tectonically active areas of the globe.

'''Candlebrow University''' 
A fictional institute, created in the tradition of Lovecraft's Miskatonic University.

<div id="quaternions"></div>'''Quaternions''' 
In mathematics, quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers. They were first described by the Irish mathematician [[ATD-H#hamilton|Sir William Rowan Hamilton]] in 1843 and applied to mechanics in three-dimensional space. At first, quaternions were regarded as pathological, because they disobeyed the commutative law ab = ba. Although they have been superseded in most applications by vectors, they still find uses in both theoretical and applied mathematics, in particular for calculations involving three-dimensional rotations. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion Wikipedia entry].

'''Fleetwood Vibe''' 
Fleetwood, like Scarsdale, is a wealthy suburb of New York City. Both communities are located in Westchester County, north of New York City.

'''bucket-shop''' 
Business designed to cheat people. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_shop [Wikipedia]]

'''Flannelette''' 
Little washcloth.

'''Harriman... Schiff''' 
Railroad magnate and financier behind Northern Pacific Railroad, c1901. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railroad [Wikipedia]] [http://www.beardbooks.com/beardbooks/eh_harriman.html Book on Harriman] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Harriman Harriman Wikpedia Entry] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Schiff Schiff Wikipedia Entry]

==Page 131==

'''"with oceangoing ships we left flat surfaces and went into Riemann space"''' 
One of Riemann's major contributions was the mathematics of manifolds, geometrical constructs that on a local scale appear to have fewer dimensions than they actually occupy. A standard example is the surface of the earth, which locally appears to be flat (2-dimensional), but in fact is curved (3-dimensional). Riemann's differential geometry quantifies the distortion produced by the curve of the surface.

'''Outer Hebrides''' 
or Western Isles comprise an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The population today is only 26,370, and there is no University.

==Page 132==

'''an ''additional axis'' whose unit is (-1)¹/²''' 
The usual form of representing a complex number ''z = b + ai'', (see below for explanation) graphically is by presenting its real part, ''b'', along the horizontal real axis and its imaginary part, ''a'', on the vertical imaginary (''additional'') axis of a Cartesian coordinate system. For a graph illustion of [http://www-xray.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jgraham/hypo/h13/images/image118.gif z = 1 + 2i].

'''complex number''' 
The complex number is of the form ''b + ai'', where ''a'' and ''b'' are real numbers and ''i'' is defined as the square root of -1, i.e. ''i'' = (-1)¹/². According to the definition, Cf page 133 Imaginary Number, ''ai'' is an imaginary number. Therefore, a complex number is a sum of real and imaginary numbers. Commonly, one use ''z'' to denote the whole expression ''b + ai'', i.e. ''z = b + ai''. And now ''z'' is called a complex number. Besides ''z'', the letter ''w'' is often used to denote complex numbers.

'''complex variable''' 
In mathematics, a 'variable' is a symbolic representation, usually a letter of the English (such as x and y), Greek or Roman alphabet, denoting an 'unkown' quantity which may vary during the course of calculation or investigation. For example, the speed of a jetliner,''v'', flying from Los Angeles to New York varies during the course of its flight. So,''v'' here is a variable. In the algebraic equation y = ax² + bx + c where a, b and c are constant, x and y are ''variables''. When x and y involve complex numbers, then they are called complex variables.

'''''w = exp z''''' 
Here, ''w'' is a complex function, or a function of complex variables. ''exp z'' is the exponential function of ''z'' to the base ''e''. The expression ''w = exp e'' gives the relationship of the independent (complex) variable ''z'' to the dependent (complex) variable ''w'', i.e. mapping ''z'' onto ''w''. This relationship may not be one-to-one. The number ''e'' is the base of the natural logarithm, approximately equals to 2.71828. After ''Pi'', ''e'' is the most important
constant in mathematics. See the popular article about the history, definition and 10,000-place value of [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/e.html ''e''].

'''as Fitzgerald maintained, a shrinkage of dimension''' 
Irish physicist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_FitzGerald George FitzGerald] proposed a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_contraction contraction of length] parallel to the direction of motion, to explain the negative result of the Michelson-Morley experiment. Quantitavely, the contraction is identical with the one predicted later by Einstein's special theory of relativity.

==Page 133==

'''Ynglingasaga''' 
See also Ynglinga Saga, or the story of the ancient Norse kings. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ynglinga_saga Wikipedia entry]

'''''The Book of Iceland Spar''''', '''commonly described as "like the ''Ynglingasaga'' only different"''' 
" 'Thanatoid' means 'like death, only different.' " (''Vineland'', p. 170)

'''... even of days not yet transpired.''' 
Reminiscent of the Borges short story "The Library of Babel" about an "infinite library" which contains every possible book. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_babel Wikipedia entry].

'''Imaginary Number''' 
Imaginary number is of the form ''ai'', where ''a'' is a real number, and ''i'' is defined such that ''i² = -1'', 
i.e. i = (-1)¹/² (sqare root of minus 1). For example, ''-16¹/²'', (square root of minus 16) is an imaginary number since it can be expressed as ''4i'' by definition. In the novel ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), the character Robert Langdon jokes that character Sophie Neveu "believes in the imaginary number ''i'' because it helps her break code". In Issac Asimov's short story ''The Imaginary'' (1942), eccentric psychologist Tan Porus explains the behavior of a mysterious species of squid by using imaginary numbers in the equations which describe its psychology.

==Page 134==

'''that all-important ninety-degree twist to their light, so they can exist alongside our own world but not be seen''' 
Seems to echo Merle Rideout's theory on the "double refraction" of Blinky Morgan and Ed Morley from p.62.

'''visitors from elsewhere, of non-human aspect''' 
Extraterrestrials, perhaps? "Visitors", in popular culture, is a term sometimes used to describe ETs. The alien race from the television miniseries ''V'' was named The Visitors. In the fictional world of ''South Park'', aliens are referred to as "visitors".

'''infinitesimal circle''' 
Cf p58. Reference to epsilon neighbourhoods, an essential tool in mathematical proofs.

'''bad ice''' 
Uneven ice formed by pressure, currents and wind in the dynamic Arctic environment

'''the sea-green, the ice-green, glass-green sea.''' 
In ''Ulysses'', James Joyce repeatedly describes the "snotgreen sea" (cf. Gabler edition, p. 4), itself an allusion to Homer's evocation of the "wine-dark sea". Cf., also, ATD, p.127: " . . . a green headland, sheer green walls of ice, the greenness nearest the water . . . . " In previous novels, Pynchon's use of color is almost always advised, as N.K. Hayles and M.B. Eiser note in their essay, "Coloring Gravity's Rainbow," in which green is frequently associated with the natural world, uncontaminated by humanity.

==Page 135==

'''Mush-It-Away''' 
Takeaway (takeout fast food) for dogsledders.

==Page 136==

'''Venice of the Arctic''' 
Many cities have been compared with Venice in Italy, usually due to a high density of waterways (especially inner city canals) and/or maritime trade connections. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames#.27Venice_of_....27 Wikipedia entry on Venice of the X comparisons]

The Venice passage contains two themes that have appeared often in ''Against the Day'' so far: that of doubles (such as Foley Walker and Scarsdale Vibe, Randolph and his Russian counterpart, etc) and that of chance or randomness (the Chums, the meeting of Vibe and Walker, etc).

Also the double versions of the map of Asia, double versions of elements that can be seen when they are viewed with Iceland Spar.

And Pynchon seems to love Venice, a very positive place in one short story

'''Bauer-Grünewald''' 
Famous hotel in Venice.

'''kedgework''' 
A set of pilings used to move a ship by hauling on its mooring or anchoring lines.

==Page 138==

In the period of ATD, museums around the world sought spectacular meteorites, e.g. the Cape York meteorite recovered by Arctic explorer Robert Peary.
[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/meteorites/what/capeyork.php]

'''Nesselrode pudding''' 
From ''The Penguin Book of Food and Drink'', ed. Paul Levy: 
"An iced pudding flavoured with chestnuts and dried fruit was invented by Monsieur Mony, chef for many years to the Russian diplomat, Count Nesselrode, in Paris [...] Glacé fruit and peel were a further embellishment to the Nesselrode by the time Proust was old enough to notice such things.

==Page 139==
'''Dr. Counterfly... bearded''' 
Last seen as a boy with low rank. Six years have elapsed, 1893-1899.

'''lenses proved to be...Nicol prisms''' 
A Nicol Prism is a device to produce polarized light. It is made from a crystal of calcite (Iceland spar), which is cut along a precisely determined plane and then cemented back together with Canada balsam. A picture can be found [http://web.grinnell.edu/physics/PMuseum/Nicol%20Prisms.html here], detailed diagrams of Nicol and other polarizing prisms are availabe [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/polpri.html here].

:Glasses like the ones described here are used for viewing 3-D movies.

'''''nunatak''''' 
A nunatak (plural: nunataks) is a mountain top that is not covered by land ice (see glaciation and ice age), and protrudes out of a surrounding glacier. The wildlife on a nunatak can be isolated by the glacier, just like an island is in the ocean. Nunataks are generally angular and jagged because of freeze-thaw weathering, and can be seen to contrast strongly with the softer contours of the glacially eroded land below if the glacier retreats. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunatak [Wikipedia]]

==Page 140==

'''a large brass speaking-trumpet''' 
Somewhat reminiscent of the ubiquitous W.A.S.T.E. symbolism in ''The Crying of Lot 49''.

[[image:Breguethands.jpg|thumb|Breguet hands|right]]'''Breguet-style arrowheads''' 
A distinctive fine watch of French design, usually with open circles ('moons') near the ends of the hands. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_(watch) Wikipedia entry]

'''Poulsen's Telegraphone''' 
Invented in 1898, the first magnetic recording machine was patented by Valdemar Poulsen. The theory behind this machine was worked out theoretically by Oberlin Smith of the UK in 1888. Poulsen's machine recorded by passing a thin wire across an electromagnet. Each minute section of the wire would retain its electromagnetic charge, thus recording the sound. Sound could be both recorded and played back. Unfortunately, because the machine's output wasn't very loud and there was no way to amplify the signal, the Telegraphone was not much of a success. [http://www.wou.edu/las/creativearts/music/MUS%20206%20Text.pdf External link]

'''a human caul''' 
caul (Latin: Caput galeatum, literally, "head helmet") is a thin, filmy membrane, the remnants of the amniotic sac, that covers or partly covers the newborn mammal immediately after birth. It is also the membrane enclosing the paunch of mammals, particularly as in pork and mutton butchery. In butchery, the caul is used as offal. A third meaning refers to a type of women's headdress. The superstition attached to birth cauls has figured into numerous works of fiction, including ''David Copperfield,'' Stephen King's ''The Shining'' (wherein the child Danny Torrance, born with a caul, is possessed with the eponymous supernatural power), and Alan Moore's short graphic novel, ''The Birth Caul''.

==Page 141==

'''misfortunes of certain Egyptologists''' 
Possibly a reference to the curse supposed to be attendant on the tomb of Tutankhamen, and upon which the death of George Herbert, who financed the expedition, was blamed. The tomb was breached in Feb 1923, though, and that seems later than this episode, so it may just be a reference to general myth. [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/curse.htm [history]]

'''odalisque of the snows''' 
An odalisque was a virgin female slave who tended to the harem of the Turkish sultan. Numerous paintings of the 19th century portrayed them as reclining beauties. The most famous of these is Ingres' ''La grande odalisque'' (1814):

[[Image:odalisque.jpg|300px|center]]

==Page 143==

'''Tungus''' 
Siberian language. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungusic_languages [Wikipedia]]

'''bilocation''' 
Doubtless to be an important concept in the novel, judging by the title of Part Three. Latin bis, twice, and locatio, place. Bilocation is as Pynchon explains, the ostensibly supernatural act of appearing or being in two or more locations simultaneously. Bilocation is claimed to have been experienced, and even practiced at will, by mystics, ecstatics, saints, monks, and magical adepts. Notably, Icelandic sagas also speak of warriors who were able to fall into a trance and appear thousands of miles away in battle. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilocation Wikipedia on bilocation] Is also obviously related to the physical properties of Iceland Spar.

'''Christian Time''' 
That is, linear time, a concept first introduced by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine of Hippo] (354-430), in his autobiographical [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confessions/confessions.html ''Confessions'']. Augustine argued that the inevitability and singularity of Christ's return demanded that all history must be viewed as a linear progression toward the apocalypse and the ascendancy of Christ on Earth, after which time would effectively stop, an event described as the "End of Days." From this decidedly deterministic view of time, Augustine derived his doctrine of predestination, that is, of a world in which each soul, even as it is born, is already pre-defined as saved or unsaved. While the Catholic Church would eventually reject this doctrine, the protestant reformer and theologian John Calvin resurrected it, and it became an important part of Calvinist theology, notably as practiced by the Puritans.

'''large, otherwise nondescript dog, who had flown here with the airship crew''' 
Presumably Pugnax?

==Page 145==

[[image:Evangelion.jpg|right|175px|thumb|The apocalyptic giant of light unearthed in the Arctic in Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'''the man-shaped light shall not deliver you''' 
Reminiscent of the famous Japanese anime ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1994-95), in which mankind unearths a mysterious creature from the Arctic ice that appears as a man-shaped giant of light, gets out of man's control and triggers an apocalypse. Probably not an intentional reference, but if Pynchon plays Tetris, who knows? 
:-sinister variant of GR's Kirghiz Light? Those who see the Light find their words dismissed "as the meaningless sounds of a baby" (GR 358) just as witnesses to ATD's light are sent to the sanitorium. Note also the line's similarity to the Aqyn's warning from GR: "And the Light will never find you." (359)

c.f. the man-shaped light on 153

==Page 146==

'''lines''' 
The description of the single-file line at the train station basically describes current security conditions at American airports.
A single line (i.e. linear thinking) does not seem to be a 'positive' in the Pynchon world. (See too the slaughterhouse on page 10.)

'''Explorers' Club''' 
Apparently in South Africa (the famous NYC one wasn't founded until 1904).

'''Dr. Jim's little adventure''' 
A reference to the so-called "Jameson Raid" spearheaded by Dr. L. S. Jameson. The raid was intended to trigger an uprising among the British expatriate workers (the Uitlanders) in the Transvaal, but failed, and instead served to further destabilize the region and catalyze the Second Boer War. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_Raid Wikipedia entry] (From Wikipedia: “The Jameson Raid (December 29, 1895 - January 2, 1896) was a raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895-96. It was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers (known as Uitlanders) in the Transvaal but failed to do so. The raid was ineffective and no uprising took place, but it did much to bring about the Second Boer War and the Second Matabele War.”)

'''"War any moment"''' 
The Second Boer War started in October 1899. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War [Wikipedia]]

'''the British poet-laureate’s commemorative verse''' 

Reference to Alfred Austin. From Wikipedia: “As poet-laureate, his topical verses did not escape negative criticism; a hasty poem written in praise of the Jameson Raid in 1896 being a notable instance.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Austin Wikipedia entry]

The questionable rhyme referred to is from that “hasty poem” --

::They went across the veldt,
::As hard as they could pelt.

==Page 147==

'''Borchardt''' 
[[image:borchardt.jpg|thumb|200px|Borchardt pistol|right]]1894 forerunner of Luger.

'''Nansen''' 
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861-1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner. In 1893, he sailed to the Arctic in a ship which was deliberately allowed to drift north through the sea ice, a journey that took more than three years. During this first crossing of the Arctic Ocean the expedition became the first to discover the existence of a deep polar basin. When, after more than one year in the ice it became apparent that the ship would not reach the North Pole, Nansen continued north on foot and, in April 1895, reached 86° 14´ N, the highest latitude then attained. The two men were forced to spend the winter, surviving on walrus blubber and polar bear meat. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridtjof_Nansen Wikipedia entry on Nansen] Cf. p. 138.

==Page 148==

'''the American Corporation, for instance, in which even the Supreme Court has recognized legal personhood ''' 
Refers to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886), during which Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite announced: "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad Wikipedia entry] Corporations are routinely recognized as "persons" in the law nowadays. For more on the recognition of corporation as legal persons, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood Wikipedia entry on corporate personhood]. A recent documentary film, ''The Corporation'' (2003), tried to make the case that if a corporation is a "person," it has the personality of a psychopath.

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

ATD 97-118

2007-01-21T06:22:41Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 113 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 97==

'''the Rebellion''' 
What the North called the Civil War. [[ATD_1-25#Page_7|Another reference...]]

'''Tesla, Dr. Nikola''' (1856-1943) 
Tesla was a Serb-American inventor, engineer and physicist whose patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, radio, and a bunch of other stuff. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Wikipedia entry] Tesla researched in Colorado Springs from May 1899 - January 1900, a location he chose because of the frequent thunderstorms, the high altitude, and the dryness of the air. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Colorado_Springs Wikipedia on Tesla at Colorado Springs].

Much of the the funding for his Colorado Springs laboratory came from Colonel John Jacob Astor. Tesla's friend and patent lawyer, Leonard E. Curtis, persuaded the El Paso Power Company to supply Tesla with all the electricity he wanted, free of charge. The arrangement ended the night Tesla's activities burned out the dynamo and the entire city lost power. [http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning]

"Tesla logged in his diary on July 3, 1899 that a separate resonance transformer tuned to the same high frequency as a larger high-voltage resonance transformer would transceive energy from the larger coil, acting as a transmitter of wireless energy, which was used to confirm Tesla's patent for radio during later disputes in the courts. These air core high-frequency resonate coils were the predecessors of systems from radio to radar and medical magnetic resonance imaging devices." [http://www.crystalinks.com/tesla.html] This information was later used to confirm his patent for radio which he received posthumously in 1946, 3 years after his death. [http://www.resonanceresearch.com/nikola-tesla-coils-picture-colorado-1899-labratory.htm].

Pynchon confuses this 03 July 'vision', during a natural electrical storm, with later experimental generation of high voltages.

[http://www.teslasociety.com The Tesla Society] confusingly describes Tesla as a "Serbian-born American" but states his birthplace as Smiljan, Croatia.

==Page 98==

'''engineering students... from Cornell, Yale''' 
Cornell is Pynchon's alma mater, where he initially studied engineering. [[Thomas Pynchon|Pynchon bio]]

'''Maxwell''' 
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist among the pioneers of electromagnetism. Pynchon made use of his theoretical "Maxwell's Demon" in ''The Crying of Lot 49''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell Wikipedia entry]

'''Maxwell's ''Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism'' of 1873''' 
Full text of [http://www.archive.org/details/electricandmagne01maxwrich Volume 1] and [http://www.archive.org/details/electricandmag02maxwrich Volume 2] at the Internet Archive.

==Page 99==
'''"So is altitude transformed, continuously, to light"''' 
The potential energy of water at an altitude is realized when it falls, producing the flow of electricity required for the production of artificial light. 

'''"Hamilton had experienced at Brougham Bridge in Ireland"''' 
William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra. His discovery of quaternions is perhaps his best known investigation. The discovery of quaternions reportedly occurred during a walk with his wife by the Royal Canal in Dublin. Upon having the inspiration for the formula, he promptly carved it into the side of the nearby Broom (or Brougham) Bridge. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton Wikipedia entry]

'''"a jump from one place to another"''' 
An allusion to quantum jump (or quantum leap), which would be proposed some years later as a model for the electron's transition between energy states within an atom and as the sole cause of the emission of electromagnetic radiation, including that of ''light'', by atoms. Interestingly enough, the term "quantum leap" would later become a standard vernacular term to describe abrupt advances. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_leap Wikipedia entry]

'''Pike's Peak or Bust!'''
The slogan of miners heading to Colorado during the Gold Rush of 1859.

==Page 100==

'''Mr. Merriwell, we really need this touchdown''' 
An allusion to the fictional character Frank Merriwell, an adventuresome student at Yale and football hero, he was created by the pulp fiction writer Gilbert Patten, who wrote under the pen name Burt L. Standish. The first story, "Frank Merriwell: or, First Days at Fardale" appeared in ''Tip Top Weekly'' on April 18, 1896. Merriwell went on to appear in comic books, radio programs, and dime novels. As the passage suggests, Merriwell constituted an idealized picture of the east coast, old money elite. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Merriwell Wikipedia Entry on Frank Merriwell]

'''Yale''' 
This possible deal with the devil that Kit makes to get into Yale recalls the evil pact made to get Tyrone Slothrop into Harvard in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

'''Horsefeathers''' 
The title of a 1932 Marx Brothers film ("Horse Feathers"). Another possible indication for the promised Groucho Marx cameo. See also "ducksoup" (p.25)

'''Antietam''' 
1862.

'''substitute conscriptee''' 
The Enrollment Act of 1863 allowed draftees to pay $300 to a substitute who would serve for them. (See [http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenese/purchase.jpg here] for an example substitution form.) J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, James Mellon and future president Grover Cleveland all hired substitutes. Within a year the price had gone up to $1,100, however. [http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions and Enrollments]

==Page 101==

'''Minié ball''' 
Prior to the development of the minie ball, rifles were not used in combat due to the difficulty in loading. The ammunition used by rifles was the same diameter as the barrel in order for the bullet to engage the groves of the rifled barrel. As a result the ball had to be forced into the barrel. The minie ball, originally designed by Captain Claude-Etienne Minie of France and improved on by manufacturers in the United States, changed warfare. Since the minie ball was smaller than the diameter of the barrel, it could be loaded quickly by dropping the bullet down the barrel. This conical lead bullet had two or three grooves and a conical cavity in its base. The gases, formed by the burning of powder once the firearm was fired, expanded the base of the bullet so that it engaged the rifling in the barrel. Thus, rifles could be loaded quickly and yet fired accurately; 620; [http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_minieball.html From the Smithsonian website]

'''"far, far away"''' 
A nod to the opening lines of ''Star Wars''? “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." 
A similar episode is in Richard Powers' "Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance" (1985), in which a character affirms that he can get military radio communications thanks to a dental filling. Richard Powers has often been compared to Pynchon.

'''physical well-being''' 
The dichotomy of bodily and spiritual well-being appears in the [[The World is at Fault]] letter that Pynchon wrote in the early 60s.

'''"if it exists"''' 
Assuming this is c1882, when the Standard Oil Trust was formed, it was already well-known.

==Page 102==
'''ten gallons of coffee''' 
Major caffeine abuse also figured in to ''Mason & Dixon''.

'''''"Izvinite... Hvala"''''' 
'Excuse me'... 'Thank you' in Croatian. [http://www.bugeurope.com/essentials/croatian.html [cite]] Also in Serbian, though written in a different alphabet.

==Page 104==

'''"Tithing," Tesla said, "giving back to the day."''' Tesla's contempt for this tithing positions him as--wait for it--against the day.

==Page 105==

'''"not here on the desolate lee shore whose back country is death"''' 
Wonderful, just wonderful...

==Page 107==

Since this is 1899, the Chums should be six years older than they were in Chicago.

'''Tesla device''' 
A radio. He received a patent for the radio after his death. The transmissions of July 3, 1899 (see Page 97, above) were used as evidence that he should be granted the patent.

'''Indian Ocean islands of Amsterdam and St.Paul''' 
As noted in the text, Indian Ocean Islands. They remain without permanent residents.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Saint-Paul Wikipedia article on St. Paul Island]

==Page 108==

'''''Megaera''''' 
One of the Greek Furies. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaera [Wikipedia]]

==Page 109==

'''blindness at the heart of a diamond''' 
This enigmatic imagery is reflected (no pun intended) in a few references: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=heart.of.a.diamond&as_brr=0 more] 

"where the light came down sifted through so many emerald screens that it was as flawless as the heart of a diamond. " (''Anne of Green Gables'', Chapt. 15, by Lucy Maud Montgomery) 

"It was a singularly sharp night, and clear as the heart of a diamond."'' A Story that is Untrue'' by Ambrose Bierce 

blindness seems not to be a positive with this metaphor. No light, a heart that cannot see. Diamonds = lightlessness.

==Page 110==
'''Platonic polyhedra''' 
In the Timaeus of Plato, the eponymous character claims, in what he calls his "likely story," that the cosmos was created by the gathering of triangles into regular solids which coincide with the four elements: the pyramid (fire), cube (earth), octahedron (air), icosahedron (water), and dodecahedron. The dodecahedron becomes associated with Æther.

'''Clarendons''' 
Clarendon is a serif typeface created in 1845 that was often used for wanted posters in the Old West. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_%28typeface%29 Wikipedia entry, with a sample]

'''"Zumbledy bongbong," [Miles Blundell] called encouragingly, as the food flew. "Vamble, Vamble!"''' 
Miles's odd speech may be an allusion to that of the Muppets' Swedish Chef.

==Page 111==

'''Haymarket bomb . . . wonders of chemistry''' 
Cf. p. 79, "the widely admired Mexican principle of politics through chemistry."

==Page 112==

'''"the nature of the skyrocket's ascent"''' 
Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/01/dance-of-anarchy-and-change.html suggests] that this refers to ''Gravity's Rainbow.''

'''"Think, bloviators, think!"''' 
To bloviate means to speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner. CoC blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/01/dance-of-anarchy-and-change.html suggests] that this, coupled with the verbose allusion to ''Gravity's Rainbow'' above, is Pynchon's message to jargony commentators of his work, presumably in academia.

Presumably, us as well

==Page 113==

'''X.O.''' 
In many militaries' units, the executive officer (XO) is the second-in-command, reporting to the commanding officer (CO).

'''"contamination by the secular"''' 
Secular can be defined as "denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis." As the Chums have so far not been overtly religious, perhaps they mean secular in the spiritual sense?

Secular also means "worldly", as in, that which the Chums of Chance are literally above: 113: "That sort of bickering may be for ground people, but it is not for us."

'''Gloymbroognitz thidfusp''' 
Odd. Sounds like something from Adams' ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', but isn't. Anyone?
Famous, surreal Polish writer of the 20th Century, Gombrowitz, Wittold
'''Surabaya''' 
Today in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surabaya Wikipedia entry]

==Page 114==

'''Nernst lamps''' An early incandescent lamp invented by Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), which made use of a heated ceramic rod to produce light in ambient air (in contrast to Edison's incandescent, which required a vacuum to operate).

'''Dr. Mikimoto (Kokichi)''' Produced the first cultured pearl in 1893 in Toba, Japan. As he left school at 13 to help support his family, any Doctorate he may have obtained must have been honorary.

'''Iceland Spar''' 
See this handy "About Geology" page [http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blcalcite.htm], with an illustration demonstrating a spar's double-refraction effect on printed letters--remarkably like that on the cover of ATD! This kind of calcite has rhombohedral cleavage, because each of its faces is a rhombus, a warped rectangle in which none of the corners are square. A "spar" would be not the whole calcite crystal, but a cleavage fragment. Is each of the rectangular pages of ATD then a warped cleavage from some sort of crystalline whole, refracting its text in several directions at once? Of course, to the Chums the text message they receive from Upper Hierarchy has but one simple meaning. "Paramorphism" = the structural alteration of a mineral without any change in its chemical composition.

'''Etienne-Louis Malus''' 
1775-1812, a French officer and mathematician whose work was predominantly concerned with light. He studied ray systems, and his theory on polarisation was published in 1809. His theory of the double refraction of light in crystals was published in 1810. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etienne-Louis_Malus Wikipedia] Malus is also the genus of the apple. Malus is best known for his law describing intensity of light as it passes through polarized materials. There are delicious metaphorical implications for any reader of a Pynchon novel.

'''pearls''' 
Probably meant to contrast the "blindness at the heart of a diamond" referred to on p. 109. Pynchon may want to call to mind ''The Scarlet Letter'', in which Pearl, the child produced by the union of the protagonist, Hester Prynne, and the Rev. Dimsdale, becomes a symbol of beauty derived from sin (there, and likely here, represented by the grain of sand around which the pearl forms).

==Page 115==
'''(Johannes) Kepler''' 
(1571-1630), mathematician best known for his laws of planetary motion, one of the foundations of Isaac Newton's theory of gravity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler Wikipedia]

'''Edmond Halley''' 
1656-1742, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Halley Halley] was an English physical scientist most remembered for the comet he which he predicted would return. In 1692 he proposed that the earth was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth hollow]. In 1698 he departed on a two year voyage as captain of the HMS Paramore in order to measure variations in the Earth's magnetic field. In 1716 he suggested timing the transit of Venus to determine the distance between the earth and the sun.

'''(Leonhard) Euler''' 
The method of traverse (pun ignored) by which the Chums proceed became known as a Symmes' Hole after John Cleeves Symmes who, in 1818 circulated a pamphlet arguing for the existence of such holes in the polar regions and further volunteered to lead an expedition to said regions.

Symmes' following lecture tours were further carried forth by one J.N. Reynolds. "[Edgar Allen] Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though no one has ever been able to identify the person to whom he referred." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allen_poe Edgar Allen Poe's] first published short story, "Ms. Found in a Bottle" (1833) took, as its premise, the existence of Symmes' Holes: theoretical holes in the polar areas which led to a hollow interior.

==Page 116==

'''vatic''' 
Prophetic. [http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/10/21.html [def]]

==Page 117==
'''royal court of Chthonica''' 
The adjective ''chthonic'' means "of the earth" or "of the underworld" and is often used to refer to the gods and other entities residing under the surface of the earth. The adjective is used creatively, and most famously, in the fictional works of H.P. Lovecraft ... a chief deity of his ficitional universe being Cthulhu.

'''Plutonia''' 
As above, a reference to the underworld and its inherent connotations of underground voyage, from the Aeneid to Christ to Dante to Tarzan, et al. The "Plutonist" movement, as opposed to the "Neptunist", was quite in vogue in the late 1800s, being a theory of geography which held that the interior heat of the earth was somehow responsible for various geological processes.

'''Tunbridge Wells''' 
[http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/disgusted-of-tunbridge-wells "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells"] is an archetypal figure of conservative England whose correspondence can be found frequently in newspapers railing at the latest outrages of modernity. Tunbridge Wells briefly features in Gravity's Rainbow.

On whether this and the subterranean adventure may allude to ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' see [[Talk:ATD_97-118|Discussion]].

'''my harmless little intraterrestrial scherzo''' 
Once again, the unseen narrator appears. By inference, the narrator is also the author of the various ''Chums of Chance...'' books referenced in ATD. This episode's also a little ''inter-textual'' scherzo: Poe (''Arthur Gordon Pym''), Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Pelucidar, ''Star Trek'', Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth... and Jeremiah Dixon's own underground journey in M&D. Doesn't Chick Counterfly sound rather Spockian here (cf. 115, bottom)?

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

ATD 97-118

2007-01-21T06:20:03Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 112 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 97==

'''the Rebellion''' 
What the North called the Civil War. [[ATD_1-25#Page_7|Another reference...]]

'''Tesla, Dr. Nikola''' (1856-1943) 
Tesla was a Serb-American inventor, engineer and physicist whose patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, radio, and a bunch of other stuff. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Wikipedia entry] Tesla researched in Colorado Springs from May 1899 - January 1900, a location he chose because of the frequent thunderstorms, the high altitude, and the dryness of the air. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Colorado_Springs Wikipedia on Tesla at Colorado Springs].

Much of the the funding for his Colorado Springs laboratory came from Colonel John Jacob Astor. Tesla's friend and patent lawyer, Leonard E. Curtis, persuaded the El Paso Power Company to supply Tesla with all the electricity he wanted, free of charge. The arrangement ended the night Tesla's activities burned out the dynamo and the entire city lost power. [http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning]

"Tesla logged in his diary on July 3, 1899 that a separate resonance transformer tuned to the same high frequency as a larger high-voltage resonance transformer would transceive energy from the larger coil, acting as a transmitter of wireless energy, which was used to confirm Tesla's patent for radio during later disputes in the courts. These air core high-frequency resonate coils were the predecessors of systems from radio to radar and medical magnetic resonance imaging devices." [http://www.crystalinks.com/tesla.html] This information was later used to confirm his patent for radio which he received posthumously in 1946, 3 years after his death. [http://www.resonanceresearch.com/nikola-tesla-coils-picture-colorado-1899-labratory.htm].

Pynchon confuses this 03 July 'vision', during a natural electrical storm, with later experimental generation of high voltages.

[http://www.teslasociety.com The Tesla Society] confusingly describes Tesla as a "Serbian-born American" but states his birthplace as Smiljan, Croatia.

==Page 98==

'''engineering students... from Cornell, Yale''' 
Cornell is Pynchon's alma mater, where he initially studied engineering. [[Thomas Pynchon|Pynchon bio]]

'''Maxwell''' 
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) was a Scottish mathematical physicist among the pioneers of electromagnetism. Pynchon made use of his theoretical "Maxwell's Demon" in ''The Crying of Lot 49''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell Wikipedia entry]

'''Maxwell's ''Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism'' of 1873''' 
Full text of [http://www.archive.org/details/electricandmagne01maxwrich Volume 1] and [http://www.archive.org/details/electricandmag02maxwrich Volume 2] at the Internet Archive.

==Page 99==
'''"So is altitude transformed, continuously, to light"''' 
The potential energy of water at an altitude is realized when it falls, producing the flow of electricity required for the production of artificial light. 

'''"Hamilton had experienced at Brougham Bridge in Ireland"''' 
William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) was an Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who made important contributions to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra. His discovery of quaternions is perhaps his best known investigation. The discovery of quaternions reportedly occurred during a walk with his wife by the Royal Canal in Dublin. Upon having the inspiration for the formula, he promptly carved it into the side of the nearby Broom (or Brougham) Bridge. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton Wikipedia entry]

'''"a jump from one place to another"''' 
An allusion to quantum jump (or quantum leap), which would be proposed some years later as a model for the electron's transition between energy states within an atom and as the sole cause of the emission of electromagnetic radiation, including that of ''light'', by atoms. Interestingly enough, the term "quantum leap" would later become a standard vernacular term to describe abrupt advances. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_leap Wikipedia entry]

'''Pike's Peak or Bust!'''
The slogan of miners heading to Colorado during the Gold Rush of 1859.

==Page 100==

'''Mr. Merriwell, we really need this touchdown''' 
An allusion to the fictional character Frank Merriwell, an adventuresome student at Yale and football hero, he was created by the pulp fiction writer Gilbert Patten, who wrote under the pen name Burt L. Standish. The first story, "Frank Merriwell: or, First Days at Fardale" appeared in ''Tip Top Weekly'' on April 18, 1896. Merriwell went on to appear in comic books, radio programs, and dime novels. As the passage suggests, Merriwell constituted an idealized picture of the east coast, old money elite. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Merriwell Wikipedia Entry on Frank Merriwell]

'''Yale''' 
This possible deal with the devil that Kit makes to get into Yale recalls the evil pact made to get Tyrone Slothrop into Harvard in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

'''Horsefeathers''' 
The title of a 1932 Marx Brothers film ("Horse Feathers"). Another possible indication for the promised Groucho Marx cameo. See also "ducksoup" (p.25)

'''Antietam''' 
1862.

'''substitute conscriptee''' 
The Enrollment Act of 1863 allowed draftees to pay $300 to a substitute who would serve for them. (See [http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenese/purchase.jpg here] for an example substitution form.) J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, James Mellon and future president Grover Cleveland all hired substitutes. Within a year the price had gone up to $1,100, however. [http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions and Enrollments]

==Page 101==

'''Minié ball''' 
Prior to the development of the minie ball, rifles were not used in combat due to the difficulty in loading. The ammunition used by rifles was the same diameter as the barrel in order for the bullet to engage the groves of the rifled barrel. As a result the ball had to be forced into the barrel. The minie ball, originally designed by Captain Claude-Etienne Minie of France and improved on by manufacturers in the United States, changed warfare. Since the minie ball was smaller than the diameter of the barrel, it could be loaded quickly by dropping the bullet down the barrel. This conical lead bullet had two or three grooves and a conical cavity in its base. The gases, formed by the burning of powder once the firearm was fired, expanded the base of the bullet so that it engaged the rifling in the barrel. Thus, rifles could be loaded quickly and yet fired accurately; 620; [http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_minieball.html From the Smithsonian website]

'''"far, far away"''' 
A nod to the opening lines of ''Star Wars''? “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." 
A similar episode is in Richard Powers' "Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance" (1985), in which a character affirms that he can get military radio communications thanks to a dental filling. Richard Powers has often been compared to Pynchon.

'''physical well-being''' 
The dichotomy of bodily and spiritual well-being appears in the [[The World is at Fault]] letter that Pynchon wrote in the early 60s.

'''"if it exists"''' 
Assuming this is c1882, when the Standard Oil Trust was formed, it was already well-known.

==Page 102==
'''ten gallons of coffee''' 
Major caffeine abuse also figured in to ''Mason & Dixon''.

'''''"Izvinite... Hvala"''''' 
'Excuse me'... 'Thank you' in Croatian. [http://www.bugeurope.com/essentials/croatian.html [cite]] Also in Serbian, though written in a different alphabet.

==Page 104==

'''"Tithing," Tesla said, "giving back to the day."''' Tesla's contempt for this tithing positions him as--wait for it--against the day.

==Page 105==

'''"not here on the desolate lee shore whose back country is death"''' 
Wonderful, just wonderful...

==Page 107==

Since this is 1899, the Chums should be six years older than they were in Chicago.

'''Tesla device''' 
A radio. He received a patent for the radio after his death. The transmissions of July 3, 1899 (see Page 97, above) were used as evidence that he should be granted the patent.

'''Indian Ocean islands of Amsterdam and St.Paul''' 
As noted in the text, Indian Ocean Islands. They remain without permanent residents.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Saint-Paul Wikipedia article on St. Paul Island]

==Page 108==

'''''Megaera''''' 
One of the Greek Furies. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaera [Wikipedia]]

==Page 109==

'''blindness at the heart of a diamond''' 
This enigmatic imagery is reflected (no pun intended) in a few references: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=heart.of.a.diamond&as_brr=0 more] 

"where the light came down sifted through so many emerald screens that it was as flawless as the heart of a diamond. " (''Anne of Green Gables'', Chapt. 15, by Lucy Maud Montgomery) 

"It was a singularly sharp night, and clear as the heart of a diamond."'' A Story that is Untrue'' by Ambrose Bierce 

blindness seems not to be a positive with this metaphor. No light, a heart that cannot see. Diamonds = lightlessness.

==Page 110==
'''Platonic polyhedra''' 
In the Timaeus of Plato, the eponymous character claims, in what he calls his "likely story," that the cosmos was created by the gathering of triangles into regular solids which coincide with the four elements: the pyramid (fire), cube (earth), octahedron (air), icosahedron (water), and dodecahedron. The dodecahedron becomes associated with Æther.

'''Clarendons''' 
Clarendon is a serif typeface created in 1845 that was often used for wanted posters in the Old West. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_%28typeface%29 Wikipedia entry, with a sample]

'''"Zumbledy bongbong," [Miles Blundell] called encouragingly, as the food flew. "Vamble, Vamble!"''' 
Miles's odd speech may be an allusion to that of the Muppets' Swedish Chef.

==Page 111==

'''Haymarket bomb . . . wonders of chemistry''' 
Cf. p. 79, "the widely admired Mexican principle of politics through chemistry."

==Page 112==

'''"the nature of the skyrocket's ascent"''' 
Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/01/dance-of-anarchy-and-change.html suggests] that this refers to ''Gravity's Rainbow.''

'''"Think, bloviators, think!"''' 
To bloviate means to speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner. CoC blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/01/dance-of-anarchy-and-change.html suggests] that this, coupled with the verbose allusion to ''Gravity's Rainbow'' above, is Pynchon's message to jargony commentators of his work, presumably in academia.

Presumably, us as well

==Page 113==

'''X.O.''' 
In many militaries' units, the executive officer (XO) is the second-in-command, reporting to the commanding officer (CO).

'''"contamination by the secular"''' 
Secular can be defined as "denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis." As the Chums have so far not been overtly religious, perhaps they mean secular in the spiritual sense?

'''Gloymbroognitz thidfusp''' 
Odd. Sounds like something from Adams' ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', but isn't. Anyone?
Famous, surreal Polish writer of the 20th Century, Gombrowitz, Wittold
'''Surabaya''' 
Today in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surabaya Wikipedia entry]

==Page 114==

'''Nernst lamps''' An early incandescent lamp invented by Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), which made use of a heated ceramic rod to produce light in ambient air (in contrast to Edison's incandescent, which required a vacuum to operate).

'''Dr. Mikimoto (Kokichi)''' Produced the first cultured pearl in 1893 in Toba, Japan. As he left school at 13 to help support his family, any Doctorate he may have obtained must have been honorary.

'''Iceland Spar''' 
See this handy "About Geology" page [http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blcalcite.htm], with an illustration demonstrating a spar's double-refraction effect on printed letters--remarkably like that on the cover of ATD! This kind of calcite has rhombohedral cleavage, because each of its faces is a rhombus, a warped rectangle in which none of the corners are square. A "spar" would be not the whole calcite crystal, but a cleavage fragment. Is each of the rectangular pages of ATD then a warped cleavage from some sort of crystalline whole, refracting its text in several directions at once? Of course, to the Chums the text message they receive from Upper Hierarchy has but one simple meaning. "Paramorphism" = the structural alteration of a mineral without any change in its chemical composition.

'''Etienne-Louis Malus''' 
1775-1812, a French officer and mathematician whose work was predominantly concerned with light. He studied ray systems, and his theory on polarisation was published in 1809. His theory of the double refraction of light in crystals was published in 1810. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etienne-Louis_Malus Wikipedia] Malus is also the genus of the apple. Malus is best known for his law describing intensity of light as it passes through polarized materials. There are delicious metaphorical implications for any reader of a Pynchon novel.

'''pearls''' 
Probably meant to contrast the "blindness at the heart of a diamond" referred to on p. 109. Pynchon may want to call to mind ''The Scarlet Letter'', in which Pearl, the child produced by the union of the protagonist, Hester Prynne, and the Rev. Dimsdale, becomes a symbol of beauty derived from sin (there, and likely here, represented by the grain of sand around which the pearl forms).

==Page 115==
'''(Johannes) Kepler''' 
(1571-1630), mathematician best known for his laws of planetary motion, one of the foundations of Isaac Newton's theory of gravity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler Wikipedia]

'''Edmond Halley''' 
1656-1742, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Halley Halley] was an English physical scientist most remembered for the comet he which he predicted would return. In 1692 he proposed that the earth was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth hollow]. In 1698 he departed on a two year voyage as captain of the HMS Paramore in order to measure variations in the Earth's magnetic field. In 1716 he suggested timing the transit of Venus to determine the distance between the earth and the sun.

'''(Leonhard) Euler''' 
The method of traverse (pun ignored) by which the Chums proceed became known as a Symmes' Hole after John Cleeves Symmes who, in 1818 circulated a pamphlet arguing for the existence of such holes in the polar regions and further volunteered to lead an expedition to said regions.

Symmes' following lecture tours were further carried forth by one J.N. Reynolds. "[Edgar Allen] Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though no one has ever been able to identify the person to whom he referred." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allen_poe Edgar Allen Poe's] first published short story, "Ms. Found in a Bottle" (1833) took, as its premise, the existence of Symmes' Holes: theoretical holes in the polar areas which led to a hollow interior.

==Page 116==

'''vatic''' 
Prophetic. [http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/10/21.html [def]]

==Page 117==
'''royal court of Chthonica''' 
The adjective ''chthonic'' means "of the earth" or "of the underworld" and is often used to refer to the gods and other entities residing under the surface of the earth. The adjective is used creatively, and most famously, in the fictional works of H.P. Lovecraft ... a chief deity of his ficitional universe being Cthulhu.

'''Plutonia''' 
As above, a reference to the underworld and its inherent connotations of underground voyage, from the Aeneid to Christ to Dante to Tarzan, et al. The "Plutonist" movement, as opposed to the "Neptunist", was quite in vogue in the late 1800s, being a theory of geography which held that the interior heat of the earth was somehow responsible for various geological processes.

'''Tunbridge Wells''' 
[http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/disgusted-of-tunbridge-wells "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells"] is an archetypal figure of conservative England whose correspondence can be found frequently in newspapers railing at the latest outrages of modernity. Tunbridge Wells briefly features in Gravity's Rainbow.

On whether this and the subterranean adventure may allude to ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' see [[Talk:ATD_97-118|Discussion]].

'''my harmless little intraterrestrial scherzo''' 
Once again, the unseen narrator appears. By inference, the narrator is also the author of the various ''Chums of Chance...'' books referenced in ATD. This episode's also a little ''inter-textual'' scherzo: Poe (''Arthur Gordon Pym''), Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Pelucidar, ''Star Trek'', Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth... and Jeremiah Dixon's own underground journey in M&D. Doesn't Chick Counterfly sound rather Spockian here (cf. 115, bottom)?

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

Talk:ATD 1-25

2007-01-21T06:14:02Z

Foolishmortal: /* Argument */

ATD 57-80

2007-01-21T06:09:14Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 59 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==Page 57==

'''Her name was never far from the discourse of the day.''' 
Another reference of something w.r.t. ''the day''.

==Page 58==

'''a couple of professors at the Case Institute in Cleveland, who were planning an experiment''' 
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment Wikipedia entry]

'''the luminiferous Æther''' 
This passage recalls Pynchon's discussion of the "soniferous asther" in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (695).

'''one finds in the devout Ætherist a propensity of character evertoward the continuous as against the discrete''' 
Particale or Wave? Aether is the medium that light would move in, if it were a wave. This enters the question of whether light is a particle or a wave into the discussion. Pynchon sets up the dichotomy: (aether/wave/continuous vs. empty space/particle/discrete) (also, see page 61)

'''[[T%C3%B6pler_influence_machine|Töpler influence machine]]''' 
A machine for producing electrical charges. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Toepler [Wikipedia]].

'''Michelson''' 
Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931), American physicist. He was born in Strelno, Prussia (now Strzelno, Poland). His family emigrated to the US in 1854. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1873. After some studies in Europe (Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris) he became Professor of Physics in Case School of Applied Science (1883-89), Clark Univeristy (1889-92) and University of Chicago (1892-1931). He invented an interferometer and an echelon grating, and did important experimental work on the spectrum, but is chiefly remembered for the Michelson-Morley experiment to determine æther drift, the negative result of which set Einstein on the road to the Theory of Relativity. In 1907 he became the first American scientist to win a Nobel prize "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid." ([http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html Michelson].)

'''Maxwell Field Equations''' 
In 1864, Maxwell advanced a set of four equations that would describe almost all phenomena involving electricity and magnetism. They not only explained the interrelationship of these two but also showed these two could not be separated. There was only a single ''electromagnetic field''. These equations predicted the existence of ''electromagnetic radiation''. By taking the ratio of certain corresponding values in the equations describing the force between electric charges and the force between magnetic poles one can calculate the velocity at which the electromagnetic wave would have to move. This ratio turned out to be precisely equal to the velocity of light.

'''in Berlin''' 
1881.

==Page 59==

'''Ohio''' 
Harks back to M&D's visit with George Washington.

'''Northern Ohio Insane Asylum''' 
Full of light enthusiastes who invented light-powered bicycles (see p 76,) believe light to have consciousness and personality, and who eat light.

"Originally known as the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, this was the second of 6 public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850's. In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital because it was located in Newburgh Township as recompense for Cleveland having been awarded the location of Cuyahoga County Seat. The main building, containing 100 beds,was completed in 1855 on land in Newburgh donated by the Garfield family." [http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/cleveland_oh/index.html [1]]

Could there exist some subtly altered version of the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum, filled with scientists? A university perhaps, from which physicists sometimes escape to wreak havoc upon the world? Surely, not: that would be Para-NOIA.

==Page 60==

'''Lightarians''' 
see Breatharians [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inedia Wikipedia entry], who claim that it is possible to live without food.

'''Aether reports''' 
Associations of light with "wind."

'''Roswell Bounce''' 
GR includes a character named Hillary Bounce.

The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident Wikipedia entry]

==Page 61==

'''Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the Michelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected.''' 
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (741), insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.
It also ties the criminal underground (out of the light) with the properties of light.

'''box job''' 
Safecracking. [http://www.skepticfiles.org/faq/twists.htm [cite]]

==Page 62==

'''A walking interferometer''' 
Blinky Morgan is a walking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry#Interferometer interferometer].

'''Edward Morley''' 
Edward W. Morley (1838-1912), American chemist and physicist. He was born in Newark, N.J. He was a professor at Western Reserve (1869-1906) and conducted researches in the variations of atmosphere oxygen content, thermal expansion of gases, vapor tension of mercury, desities of oxygen and hydrogen. He was best known for collaboration with Michelson on æther effect experiment (1887).

'''''emerges from invisibility''''' 
Blinky "emerges from invisibility" thus dooming the existence of aether. Aether is then "Against the Day" undetectable, unknowable, invisible.

==Page 63==

'''O.D. Chandrasekhar''' 
Perhaps a nod to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar] (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekharlimit Chandrasekhar Limit] which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.
The initials O.D.C. refer to the novel "2001: A space odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke, where [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Chandra Chandra] is the inventor of the HAL computer system.
In ATD p. 63 O.D.Chandrasekhar mentions akasa as the solution for the problems the aetherists have discussing implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment, akasa referring to [http://ignca.nic.in/ps_05013.htm space] in hindu cosmology, alas O.D. is proposing space itself here as the medium for light.

==Page 64==

'''Photography''' 
Light tied to silver and chemistry.

==Page 66==

'''murders in Ravenna''' 
There is a Ravenna, Ohio. TRP may have trimmed the explanation from an earlier draft?

'''Lorain County''' 
Greater Cleveland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorain_County%2C_Ohio [Wikipedia]]

==Page 67==

'''Beast Without Shame''' 
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."

Merle's backstory probably got rewritten very late in the game (see also pp30, 58, 64, and 75).

==Page 68==

'''. . . have you ever felt that you wished to suddenly disappear . . . ?''' 
While Merle is getting obsessed with revealing images from darkrooms and chemicals, Zombini comes and makes Erlys "disappear."

==Page 69==

'''some larger plan''' 
May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself.

==Page 70==

''''seng''' 
Ginseng. ''Panax sp.'' The [http://www.wfbf.com/media_center/photo_gallery/ginseng%20closeup.jpg "red berries"] Merle refers to. 
[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay1c.html American Ginseng and the Idea of the Commons] at the LOC.

'''. . . herbs the wildcrafters knew the names and market prices of . . .''' 

"Wildcrafting" here means the harvest of any plant parts from non-cultivated medicinal plants, plants which have essentially planted themselves in any location". ([http://www.ryandrum.com/wildcrafting.htm wildcrafting] also contains a detailed explanation of the author's wildcrafting.)

==Page 71==

'''Ottumwa''' 
City in Iowa. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottumwa,_Iowa [Wikipedia]]

'''Albert Lea''' 
City in Minnesota. Hometown of Seaman Bodine from ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (710).

==Page 72==

'''brightly lit against the stormy days''' 
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page_57|page 57]].

'''thorned helixes''' 
An allusion to Thurn and Taxis?

'''Premo''' 
1903. [http://westfordcomp.com/classics/filmpackhawkeye/index.htm [cite]]

'''Brownie''' 
1900.

'''calm as a sharpshooter''' 
Allusion of camera as a gun.

'''There was always plenty of bell-hanger work''' 
In this and the subsequent pages we see Merle getting involved, apart from his usual ''light-related'' job (photography), to ''sound-related'' and ''electricity-related'' jobs.

==Page 73==

'''frog-bonding''' 
Can mean a technique in brick masonry. [http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20061106081517AAscjfG [source]], but when referring to streetcars, "frogs" are the heavy metal flangeways that connect track to switches, diamonds, cross-overs and other track structures. Frogs guide wheels from one track structure to another. Pynchon may be confusing the term. (Frog-bonding here is probably the electrician's task of installing cables to link the frog and the tracks to either side of it, so that the car's front and rear wheels are at the same potential relative to the catenary wire.)

'''Skip''' 
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Also possibly the movie "Ghostbusters".
Also recalls Insane Asylum where he is told light has "consciousness and personality."
But Merle's "hitch as a lightning-rod salesman" also may be read as Pynchon's
tip-of-the-hat (or the copper rod) to a certain nineteenth-century American
predecessor, the author of a story called "The Lightning Rod Man" (1854).
Come to think of it, Pynchon may be the one contemporary author able to match
Melville in whimsy, satire, melancholia, encryption, Jehovah-like ambition, and periodic
sentences that are light on their feet yet labyrinthine. Cf. M&D's link to Melville's
''Israel Potter'' (now, sadly, unread), or GR's line trailing back toward that book about a whale.... Cf. ATD, p. 123.
This 'Skip' episode is not to be skipped or skimmed; it sets ATD's readers briefly aglow with sweetness and light--and sadness.

'''Ball Lightning''' 
Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a short-lived, glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball size or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on whether it is the same phenomenon. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning Ball Lightning],
[http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s520317.htm Ball lightning explained] and
[http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020209/bob8.asp Anatomy of a lightning ball].

==Page 74==

'''two bits''' 
The equivalent of an absurdly generous $5 in today's money. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ [calculator]]

==Page 75==

'''She watched the invisible force at work''' 
This subchapter, in which we have watched Merle getting involved in jobs about ''sound'' and ''electricity'', on top of his usual job about ''light'', closes with an image of the blowing ''wind'', the "invisible force". A couple of lines back, we have Merle saying "There's your gold, Dahlia", pointing to the wind "blowing in the high Indian grass" and Dally thinking "what an ''alchemist'' [he] was" (italics mine). It is the first allusion of Merle as an alchemist.

'''San Juans''' 
[http://www.americansouthwest.net/colorado/san_juan_mountains/index.html [map]]

'''Dishforth's Illustrated Weekly''' 
"dish" - gossip

==Page 76==

'''Electric Generator hooked to an old bicycle''' 
Don't know if this is that important, but similar to Insane Asylum light-bicycle. (There was one in GR, too-- somebody giving a haircut.)

'''photographer's or, if you like, alchemist's stuff''' 
Second allusion of Merle as an alchemist (see also previous and next page).

==Page 77==

'''Webb Traverse''' 
The character is introduced mere paragraphs after the description of spiderwebs "that when the early daylight was right cause you to stand there just stupefied." As "traverse" means to travel across or through, perhaps the character's name signifies his ability to navigate the complicated webs off.. I dunno, society, the establishment or something?

Traversing the WorldWideWeb is a common expression, eg by search engine 'spiders'.

In law, to "traverse" means to deny, and a "traverse" to a pleading is a denial of its allegations. This appellation fits Webb Traverse, whose anarchism is a denial of industrial capitalism.
He also traverses moral boundaries: he kills innocents.

Mason and Dixon's survey was a traverse, as opposed to a triangulation.

'''alchemists keep tryin, it's what we do''' 
Photography as alchemy. Mercury and the Philosopher's stone
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate Wikipedia entry on Silver Fulminate]

==Page 78==

'''The Anti-Stone''' 
Probably anticipates the atom bomb. See page 79 on "politics through chemistry"...."temples of Mammon all in smithereens".

This statement that Anti-Stone, if it is an allusion to the atomic bomb, "has another name that we'd just get into trouble saying out loud"
reminds of Oppenheimer and what he said the detonation of the first atomic bomb "Trinity" in the New Mexico desert made him think of: "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that one way or another."[11]

'''breathin in those fumes''' 
Mercury fumes are what made hatters mad.

==Page 79==

'''poor folks on the march, bigger than Coxey’s Army''' 
Group of unemployed men who marched to Washington, D.C., in the depression year of 1894. Jacob S. Coxey (1854–1951), a businessman, led the group, which hoped to persuade Congress to authorize public-works programs to provide jobs. It left Ohio on March 25 and reached Washington on May 1 with about 500 men, the only one of several groups to reach its destination. It attracted much attention but failed to bring about any legislation [http://www.answers.com/topic/coxey-s-army Answers.com], [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9026696/Coxeys-Army Britannica]

==Page 80==

'''not the result of any idle drift but more of a secret imperative, like the force of gravity''' 
Ties into the central scientific metaphor of GR, that the laws of physics and fate are somehow connected.

'''as if silver were alive, with a soul and a voice''' 
. . . like Skip the ball lightning.

==Annotation Index==
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'''Quickly now ....''' 
The conception described here is technically immaculate: Reef fulfills the role of the Father, Yashmeen that of Mary, and Cyprian that of the Holy Ghost.

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'''[T]he dream came and found him...''' 
Reef's contribution to the hallucination/dream motif previously referenced in the Traverse sections of the novel. The color yellow seems to be significant here and elsewhere, especially coded to Webb Traverse. [More forthcoming]

<blockquote>
          In the dream they were no longer in the ghostly canyons of the McElmo but in the city, not Venice but noplace American either, with an umappable operational endlessless (sic) to its streets, the same ancient, disquieting pictures engraved on its walls as back in the McElmo, spelling out a story whose pitiless truth couldn't be admitted officially by the authorities here because of the danger to the public sanity.... It was darker out here than he had any idea of. In the distance Reef caught sight of a procession of miners in their long rubber coats, only one of them, about halfway along, with the candle stub in his hat lit. Like postulants in habits, they proceeded single file down a narrow street like a humid drift lit back or front by a yellow lamp. As Reef came closer he saw the bearer of the light was Webb. 
        "Small victories," Webb greeted him. "Just to come away with one or two. To praise and to honor the small victories where and however they happen." 
        "Hasn't been too many of htem lately, Pa," Reef tried to say. 
        "Not talking about yours, you numbskull." 
        Understanding that this was Webb's attempt to pass on another message, like up the séance in the Alps, Reef saw just for one lucid instant that this was the precise intelligence he needed to get him back to where he had wandered off the trail, so long ago. And then he was awake and trying to remember why it was important.</blockquote>

[[User:Bean|remy]] 13:15, 28 December 2006 (PST)

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Foolishmortal: Argument

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:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

'''cover text''' 
The shadow-text is in different fontfaces.

'''cover seal''' 
The seal appears to be written in Tibetan language, according to somebody who posts regularly to Pynchon-l under the name "Ya Sam", who reports:

I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate
the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we
owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.

It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan
Government Chamber of Commerce.

Read their response below:

:Dear Ya Sam, 
:I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?

:Best wishes,

:Sandy Belth 
:Tibetan Cultural Center

Also of interest: the coin bears a striking resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:

:It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra. (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")

'''Copyright page''' 
The copyright page states that ''Against the Day'' is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see [[errata]]).
I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."

'''Dedication''' 
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Come publisher-speak] for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank.

'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light."''' 
Epigraph by Thelonious Monk. Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) the character McClintick Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere; and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said. For more on McClintick Sphere and Monk, see Charles Hollander's [http://www.howardm.net/tsmonk/pynchon.php essay].

==Page 1==

'''The Light Over the Ranges''' 
The singular 'range' seems called for-- so why plural here?
:Range is defined in the Oxford American Dictionary as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so perhaps "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.

:It seems likely that 'ranges' refers to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".

==Page 3==

'''"Now single up all lines!"''' 
Docked ships normally use doubled lines, then remove them in two stages when leaving the port. Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common enough nautical term: Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.

But the opening line has many possible connotations.
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name."

:"Single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in ''V.'', 11; ''COL49'', 31; ''Gravity's Rainbow'', 489; and ''Mason & Dixon'', 258, 260. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but ''Vineland''?)--in preparation for a voyage to . . . .?

:Note that the first word in ATD is "now," the last word in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"''' 
Cheerly means cheerily. Just as 'single up all lines' is used in nautical context in ''V.'', so 'cheerly' appears on page 54 of ''Mason & Dixon'' ("Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..."). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html suggests] that Patrick O'Brian, who makes an appearance in ''Mason & Dixon'' as "the finest yarn-spinner in all the Fleets," may also be an inspiration for the nautical language here.

The first occurrence of 'cheerly' in The Oxford English Dictionary is from Shakespeare's "The Tempest", act one, scene one as the boatswain tries to encourage the crew in the face of the storm. This seems exceptionally appropriate to this novel...

Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.

'''"Windy City, here we come!"''' 
The nickname for Chicago, of course, but in 1893 the use meant city of braggarts more than it did wind. Of course, the Columbian Exposition to which the Chums are heading is, according to 'scuttlebutt', a fabled " White City"...and full of "wonders"--line 19---all bragged about, so to speak, by the City's leaders in winning the World's Fair in intense competition with other major cities.

'''''Inconvenience''''' 
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc. Impulsive is the name of the ship Ploy, who loses all his teeth in V., gets transferred to.
Inconvenience is an apt name for the Chums' adventures in 'reality'. They
are an inconvenience; they are inconvenienced. (In having to take on Chick Counterfly, for example).

Also, recall Fender-Belly Bodine, in [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience ''Mason & Dixon'']:

:"Back on old H.M.S. ''Inconvenience'', we wasted many a Day and Night watching that fancy Counter get smaller by the minute..." (p.28)

'''patriotic bunting''' 
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood.
The Chums are dressed in red-and-white striped blazer and sky blue trousers. Hello Columbus, America, everything suggests and says.

'''aeronautics''' 
Pynchon leaned on the Britannica 11th as a major reference. It's online and linkable: [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics EB11-aeronautics]
:I know this may not be the best locale to sxplain why, for spoiler related issues, but what evidence do we have that Pynchon leaned heavily on the Britannica 11th?

'''five-lad crew''' 
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. 'Lad' suggests all are under 18 years old.
: "Lad" can also mean a young man (not necessarily under 18) and, in general, be used by a commanding officer toward his underlings of many ages.
The commander's name evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in the city they are bound for.
The commander's name also invokes Saint(liness)? And Cosmo = cosmos?

'''The Chums of Chance''' 
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.
A philosopher Pynchon seems to be familiar with, America's greatest, Charles Sanders Peirce, who set down his most important ideas in the late 1800's, and was still alive in 1893, argued that 'Chance' was a feature of the universe. Peirce's notion can still refute all determinisms, many think.

Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."

The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chums of Choice blog].

'''Chicago''' 
Pynchon leaned on the Britannica 11th as a major reference. It's online and linkable: [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago EB11-Chicago]

'''World's Columbian Exposition''' 
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry].
This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3

'''mascotte''' 
The English word 'mascot' has its origin in the late 19th cent.: from French mascotte. The spelling may also a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 [Wikipedia]]

==Page 4==

Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor. Professor of flight as some early aeronauts were called?

==Page 5==

'''"all tableware with Chums of Chance Insignia is Organizational property"''' 
What Organization are they part of?
:I believe the organization in question is the Chums of Chance themselves, here considered as an institution rather than as a collection of individuals.

'''Pugnax''' 
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight." Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent dog, the Learned English Dog in ''Mason & Dixon''. His manner of speech is also reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.

Pugnax is a "dog of war", the Chums of Chance have let him slip, or "rescued" him.

'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."''' 
This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed. The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".
The wild dogs equal both political parties?

Pugnax and the crew pee over the gondola. These "lavatorial assaults" from the sky,which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of" seem to be an allusion to the V-2 rockets which
are linked to Slothrop's erections in Gravity's Rainbow. That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.

May also refer to President Bush, considering the Pynchon-authored [[Against the Day description|Amazon.com book description]] which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."

==Page 6==

'''''Princess Casamassima''''' 
Published 1886. [http://www.henryjames.org.uk/pcasa/home.htm etext] That Pugnax is reading this novel is no accident. It is one of only three major classics dealing with terrorists, anarchists, bombings of before the
late 20th Century. It is also the only Henry James novel in which he takes on such overtly political subjects, the only one which deals with violent extremes of human behavior. Pugnax prefers in his reading "sentimental tales about his own species [rather] than those exhibiting extremes of human behavior, which he appeared to find a bit lurid." As many who have had dogs know, often when raised from puppyhood
with loving owners, they 'think they are human'. Pugnax learns where to pee off the gondola - a pretty natural function for a dog - "like the rest of the crew".

Pynchon may be commenting here that Henry James did not 'get' terrorism despite his genius. That even Princess Casamassima is a "sentimental tale".

Or: it is a theme in GR, that the book, writing itself, is an abstraction from experience and not, of course, the thing itself. Noseworth, "who placed upon the word 'book' . . . contempt" did, however, know the subject matter of 'Princess Casamassima.' He, Noseworth, hopes they will "suffer no occasion for exposure more immediate than that to be experienced, as with Pugnax at this moment, safely within the leaves of some book." It matters that the Chums ARE also characters in books of their adventures.

The Chums have 'orders' to proceed to Chicago. From whom?

'''''Krakatoa''''' 
Erupted 1883. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa Wikipedia entry.]

'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven''' 
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" suggests both "wonder juice" and "wander juice," fitting since his engine allows the Chums to wander and is wondrous insofar as it apparently violates the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics second law of thermodynamics]. "Heino," we can only hope, is an allusion to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics the German pop star of the same name].

'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"''' 
Cup anemometer invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson]. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions.

==Page 7==

'''Porfirio Diaz''' 
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz Wikipedia]

'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South". 
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.

'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"''' 
The Civil War was not called such during the time it was occurring; the South called it "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion of 1861" or, after termination of hostilities, "the Rebellion of 1861-1865," appellations that did not recognize the South's right to secede.

'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"''' 
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums'.

'''absquatulated''' 
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else."
[http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."

'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.''' 
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.

==Page 8==

'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"''' 
Like the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_directive Prime Directive] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trek ''Star Trek'']. The odd word order (this is Lindsay speaking) alludes to Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the sort of carping criticism up with which I will not put."

'''Ku Klux Klan''' 
Reminiscent of the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan Klan] encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''.

'''way better than a mile a minute''' 
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)

==Page 9==

'''"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard ''Inconvenience'' you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."''' 
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his [[Against_the_Day_description|book description]] proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.

'''"Going up is like going north."''' 
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.

North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life---coldness as here---compared to the South, a place of light and warmth, such as the tropics. See GR.

But to go far enough north means heading south again, observes Chick Counterfly--is this one meaning of his name? Then one would be "approaching the surface of another planet, maybe?" asks Chick.

"Not exactly" [answers Randolph] "No. Another 'surface', but an earthly one"
"You'll see. In time, of course". Time is earthly?

'''"Another 'surface'"''' 
In ancient conics the cone is formed by taking a line through a point (the vertex) at a particular angle to a plane and then inscribing a circle on the plane. Two conic surfaces are made by the motion of this line, one below this point and one above. The three conic sections (hyperbola, parabola, and ellipse) are created by slicing the conic surface(s) at different angles.

==Page 10==

'''like the dark conjugate of some daylit fiction they had flown here . . . to help promote'''. 
The World's Columbian Exposition is a "daylit fiction"?
The 400th birthday celebration of America is a "daylit fiction"? The White City is such?

'''Cartesian grid''' From Rene Descartes,17th century philosopher and mathematician; see Wikpedia entry, whose most famous argument, "I think therefore I am" and mathematical studies have often lead him to be seen as the first modern philosopher of ultra-rationality. Geometry has 'the Cartesian coordinant system, a grid. Chicago's streets are laid out in a very rational grid arrangement.

In modern mathematics, curves are described only in relation to the two dimensional grid (see previous page). If conic sections are not specifically being thought of here, the theme of dimensionality, at least, is already at play.

'''that unshaped freedom being rationalized into movement only in straight lines''' 
Rationalization is a key sociological concept[from online Dictionary of Social Science]:RATIONALIZATION
This term has two specific meanings in sociology. (1) The concept was developed by German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) who used it in two ways. First, it was the process through which magical, supernatural and religious ideas lose cultural importance in a society and ideas based on science and practical calculation become dominant. For example, in modern societies science has rationalized our understanding of weather patterns. Science explains weather patterns as a result of interaction between physical elements like wind-speed and direction, air and water temperatures, humidity, etc. In some other cultures, weather is thought to express the pleasure or displeasure of gods, or spirits of ancestors. One explanation is rationalized and scientific, the other mysterious and magical. Rationalization also involves the development of forms of social organization devoted to the achievement of precise goals by efficient means. It is this type of rationalization that we see in the development of modern business corporations and of bureaucracy. These are organizations dedicated to the pursuit of defined goals by calculated, systematically administered means. (2) Within symbolic interactionism, rationalization is used more in the everyday sense of the word to refer to providing justifications or excuses for one's actions.

Very Pynchonian. "Single up all lines!"

'''"only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor."''' 
From innocent bovines to ...the world? "Single up all lines"....

==Page 11==

'''plummet''' 
Bad physics here—closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the ''Inconvenience'' loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support.
: Not necessarily-- ship's hydrogen producing apparatus would kick in and and slow and eventually stop their descent.

==Page 12==

'''Liverpool Kiss''' 
A head butt.

'''Herr Riemann''' 
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann Wikipedia entry].

'''"topological genius"''' 
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.

==Page 13==

'''There was an "eager stampede" to the rail''' 
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the
narrator?
: I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST)

:insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?

: Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in ''Madame Bovary'' to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.

'''"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."''' 
Recalls the opening line of ''Mason & Dixon'': "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."

'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."''' 
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.

:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of my 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.

==Page 14==

'''Jacob's-ladder''' 
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:

Genesis 28:12 And he [jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)

==Page 15==

'''ukulelist''' 
Ukuleles also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' and ''Vineland''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college.

'''Beaufort Scale''' 
Developed 1805.

==Page 16==

'''Macassar oil''' 
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. Exotic hair oil was quite the rage in the first half of the 19th century, another popular hair pomade being made from bear fat! (This gave rise to the curious practice of placing stuffed bears outside English barber shops.) <ref>[http://takeourword.com/Issue050.html Take Our Word For It Website]</ref>; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]

==Page 17==

'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"''' 
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page...as is this book, ATD?...Again a Pynchonian theme: no book is the reality.

'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."''' 
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? Cf. earthly surface, p.9

'''cubeb''' 
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub ''P. cubeba''. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as a catarrh remedy. The oil is used medicinally and also in soap manufacture. The masticated roots of kava, ''P. methysticum,'' widely grown in its native Pacific islands, are made into a beverage called kavakava, which contains soporific alkaloids. It is an integral part of religious and social life there. A preparation of kava for commerce, also called kavakava, is sold widely as an herbal remedy for anxiety and insomnia. -- From [http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/pepper The Free Dictionary] Also appears in ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' page 118.

'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"''' 
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure". Named for Dr. Leslie E. Keeley, who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in 1879.

==Page 18==

'''headgear''' 
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]

'''eclipse green''' 
Apparently an actual shade. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DIO_DRO/DIRECT.html [cite]]

'''A.C.''' 
Athletic Club.

'''("Penny") Black''' 
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black [Wikipedia]]

'''Tzigane''' 
Meaning "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) [Wikipedia]]

'''Egypt''' 
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) [Wikipedia]]

==Page 22==

'''Isandhlwana''' 
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isandhlwana [Wikipedia]]

==Page 23==

'''Tarahumara''' 
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. [[Tarahumare_Indians|About the Tarahumara]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara [Wikipedia]]

==Page 24==

'''the curse of Scotland''' 
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]

'''Cracker Jack''' 
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack [Wikipedia]]

'''New Levee district''' 
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [http://www.ipsn.org/genesis.htm [cite]]

'''Epworth League''' 
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id48.htm [cite]]

==Page 25==

'''Haymarket bomb''' 
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_bombing Wikipedia entry].

'''duck soup''' 
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve.

==References==
<references/>

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

ATD 149-170

2007-01-09T19:27:19Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fema 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall 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. "picturesque patterns," p. 81, as well as Igor Padzhitnoff's Tetris-like bombardments on [[ATD 119-148#Page 123|p. 123]].

==Page 153==

'''recent incorporation''' 
1898. New York City is a special case. The city consists of the entire area of five counties. These counties retain a small amount of governance as boroughs. Under the state legislation, commonly called Consolidation, that allowed the city (as the City of Greater New York) to annex huge areas beyond its original borders (including smaller cities, towns and villages) in 1898, the State of New York retains certain powers over the city. At the time of Consolidation, Queens County was split between the western towns, which voted to join the city, and those that did not. The next year (1899), the eastern towns of Queens County separated to become Nassau County.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_New_York#Borough Wikipedia]

'''a three dimensional image in full color, not exactly of Christ but with the same beard, robes, ability to emit light''' 

Perhaps bin Laden?
:It strikes me as something more general, surreal, nonspecific... but maybe? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 19:54, 7 January 2007 (PST)
: There is no textual evidence for thinking this image is of bin Laden, even allegorically, I think. Yes, I think it is any general 'religious' type as passed down in history but turned into an 'arc-lit' iconic image
:I'll concede that it is arguable that it is not bin Laden, but there is textual evidence that it could be. First, the passage at the end of that paragraph refers to the image as "'this Our Protector,' who remained, guardedly, unnamed" This care to avoid naming the image suggests that there is a specific name that could (but must not) be attributed to it. If it is a specific image, the only other robed and sandalled figure I can think of would be Ghandi, which would make little sense. Furthermore,there are two other mentions of somehow venerating or making peace with the author of the Event.In the same sentence, the image is said to "make easier whatever turnings of heart might become necessary in striking a deal with the invader." On 154, the city puts up "propitiatory structures", "as demonstrations of Loyalty to the Destroyer" [[User:Foolishmortal|Foolishmortal]] 11:27, 9 January 2007 (PST)
when arc-lit is not good in Pynchon's vision.

==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; [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness Wikisource text of the novella]) and, given the meteor-like form of this visitor, "The Colour out of Space" (1927; [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space 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 ([[ATD_26-56#Page_39|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. [http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110b&L=ads-l&P=9765 source]

In later years, the origin story for the tradition changed: Rinehart became a lonely freshman who shouted his own name to see what it would sound like to be popular. He was discovered shouting his own name and the cry of "Rinehart" was used to make fun of him. The tradition continued until after World War II, when it faded from memory. Contemporary students apparently aren't familiar with the story or tradition. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003880.html Language Log]

'''Tibetan prayer wheel principle''' 
Previously mentioned on [[ATD_119-148#Page_130|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"''' 
[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003873.html Largely true.] The American Heritage Dictionary gives the [http://www.bartleby.com/61/79/W0227900.html etymology for ''worm''] as "Middle English, from Old English ''wurm,'' variant of ''wyrm.''" The root ''wyrm'' in turn derives from the Indo-European base [http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE571.html 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 [http://www.bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/cochinea.html 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. [http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 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" [http://www.rootsweb.com/~nzlscant/mountcook.htm cite]

==Page 160==

'''Dittany''' 
Greek herb symbolising love. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dittany_of_Crete 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_De_Wolfe 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, the Porky Pig tattoo and the Plechazunga costume in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Pynchon was allegedly notorious for carrying around a 6- to 7-inch yellow plastic pig ([http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillery%2C_Marne 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."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox 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. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_pound source]) The famous Kruger''rand'' is a gold coin, but that was introduced in 1967. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krugerrand source]) The Witwaters''rand'' 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 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0277-335X(198201)47%3A1%3C62%3ALATWWO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W 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. ([http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/goldrush/ source]) But perhaps... [[User:Bleakhaus|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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War Wikipedia]

==Page 168==

'''Eastern Question''' 
Europe's concern with post-Ottoman Turkey. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Question 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massawa Wikipedia entry]

'''Lourenço Marques''' 
Today known as Maputo, capital city of Mozambique. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maputo 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???

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}

ATD 149-170

2007-01-08T03:25:24Z

Foolishmortal: /* Page 153 */

:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>''' 

==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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fema 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall 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. "picturesque patterns," p. 81, as well as Igor Padzhitnoff's Tetris-like bombardments on [[ATD 119-148#Page 123|p. 123]].

==Page 153==

'''recent incorporation''' 
1898. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_New_York#Borough Wikipedia]

'''a three dimensional image in full color, not exactly of Christ but with the same beard, robes, ability to emit light''' 

This image is likely that of bin Laden

==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; [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness Wikisource text of the novella]) and, given the meteor-like form of this visitor, "The Colour out of Space" (1927; [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space 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 ([[ATD_26-56#Page_39|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. [http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110b&L=ads-l&P=9765 source]

'''Tibetan prayer wheel principle''' 
Previously mentioned on [[ATD_119-148#Page_130|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"''' 
[http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003873.html Largely true.] The American Heritage Dictionary gives the [http://www.bartleby.com/61/79/W0227900.html etymology for ''worm''] as "Middle English, from Old English ''wurm,'' variant of ''wyrm.''" The root ''wyrm'' in turn derives from the Indo-European base [http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE571.html 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 [http://www.bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/cochinea.html 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. [http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 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" [http://www.rootsweb.com/~nzlscant/mountcook.htm cite]

==Page 160==

'''Dittany''' 
Greek herb symbolising love. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dittany_of_Crete 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_De_Wolfe 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, the Porky Pig tattoo and the Plechazunga costume in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Pynchon was allegedly notorious for carrying around a 6- to 7-inch yellow plastic pig ([http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/pynchon.html 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sillery%2C_Marne 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."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox 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. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_pound source]) The famous Kruger''rand'' is a gold coin, but that was introduced in 1967. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krugerrand source]) The Witwaters''rand'' 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 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0277-335X(198201)47%3A1%3C62%3ALATWWO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W 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. ([http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/goldrush/ source]) But perhaps... [[User:Bleakhaus|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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War Wikipedia]

==Page 168==

'''Eastern Question''' 
Europe's concern with post-Ottoman Turkey. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Question 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. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massawa Wikipedia entry]

'''Lourenço Marques''' 
Today known as Maputo, capital city of Mozambique. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maputo 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???

==Annotation Index==
{{ATD PbP}}