Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 219-242

2006-12-27T02:29:37Z

Gaucho: /* Page 232 */ edit punters

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

==Page 219==

'''Chunxton Crescent''' 
???

'''Madame Blavatsky''' 
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), Russian-born founder of the Theosophical Society. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Blavatsky Wikipedia]

==Page 220==

'''Caen stone''' 
A cream-colored limestone for building, found near Caen, France.
(This definition is from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary and may be outdated.)

'''syrinx''' 
a primitive wind instrument consisting of several parallel pipes bound together

'''ten-in-one''' 
Ten sideshow acts for one admission. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideshow Wikipedia]

'''Grand Cohen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohen_Gadol Great Priest "Kohen Gadol"]. As Kohens were Levites it might also refer to a rank in succession of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliphas_L%C3%A9vi Eliphas Levi], whose "Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie" was translated into English by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Edward_Waite A.E.Waite].

==Page 221==

''''Tzaddik'''' 
A righteous Jew. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzadik Wikipedia]

==Page 222==

'''Simla''' 
British outpost in Himalayas. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimla Wikipedia]

'''Smartly taken at silly point''' 
A cricketing reference. Silly point is a fielding position very close to the batsman. [http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=smartly.taken+silly.point examples]

'''To know, to dare, to will, to keep silent''' 
Mystical formula. [http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=to.know.to.dare.to.will examples]
The four precepts of Western Magick, extensively discussed in the writings of Aleister Crowley.

'''"There is but one 'case' which occupies us"''' 
This echoes the famous quote from Wittgenstein's ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'': "The world is all that is the case." (See the full text of the ''Tractatus'' [http://www.kfs.org/~jonathan/witt/tlph.html here].) This quote also factors in heavily in V. (Specifically, in two places: there's the [http://www.phil-reed.com/2006/02/14/the-love-songs-of-thomas-pynchon/ P's and Q's love song], and also in Captain Weissman's repeating, encoded, hallucinated message over the telegraph in Africa.)

'''The Number 22''' 
I found it interesting that the significance of the number 22 was first brought up on page 222. might be nothing, really.

==Page 224==

'''"'walking out'"''' 
A walking date.

'''Trumper's''' 
London's royal barbers since 1875. [http://www.trumpers.com/ site]

'''On this island [...] all English, spoken or written, is looked down on as no more than strings of text cleverly encrypted''' 
A sentiment echoed in the first sentence of Pynchon's December 2006 letter written in defense of novelist Ian McEwan: "Given the British genius for coded utterance..." [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/06/nwriter06.xml Image of Letter]

'''crosswords in newspapers''' 
The first crossword to appear in a newspaper was in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossword#History 1913]. Cryptic crosswords in British newspapers certainly match Pynchon's description. See, for example, [http://www.crossword.org.uk/listen.htm the Listener crossword].

==Page 225==

'''Girton College''' 
For women, founded 1869. [http://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/about/history/brief.html history]

'''four stone''' 
56 pounds.

'''''gaver du visage''''' 
To forcefeed of the face. [http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/g/gaver.htm cite]

==Page 226==

'''growler''' 
Hansom cab.

'''Renfrew at Cambridge and Werfner at Göttingen''' 
Note that each Professor's name is the other's spelled backward. Given the importance of railway lines in this and other chapters, it is also interesting to note that Cambridge's rail system was built in 1845 while Gottingen's was built in 1854.

'''Berlin Conference of 1878''' 
Divided Balkans after Russo-Turkish War. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Berlin Wikipedia]

==Page 227==

'''"The Great Game"''' 
'The Great Game' in this case does not refer to Padzhitnoff's airship, but it's the same name.

'''mamluk lamps''' 
[http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/arabstudies/contact.html pic]

'''English Rose''' 
Traditional English beauty.

==Page 228==

'''Oliver Lodge''' 
English physicist, inventor and writer (1851-1940) involved in the development of wireless telegraphy and radio. After the death of his son in 1915, Lodge became interested in spiritualism and life after death and wrote several books on the subject. Lodge conducted research on lightning, electricity, electromagnetism and wrote about the aether, themes that are repeated throughout ''ATD.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Joseph_Lodge Wikipedia entry].

'''William Crookes''' 
English chemist and physicist (1832-1919) who worked in spectroscopy and whose work pioneered the construction and use of vacuum tubes. Like Oliver Lodge, Crookes was also a spiritualist, which appears to be Pynchon's reason for grouping him with others in this passage, although his experiments in electricity and light also tie in with these themes in ''ATD.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crookes Wikipedia entry].

'''Mrs. Piper''' 
Probably [http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/mediums/piper.htm Leonora Piper] 1857-1950.

'''Eusapia Palladino''' 
(1854-1918) Famous italian spiritualist medium.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusapia_Palladino Wikipedia entry].

'''W.T. Stead''' 
William T. Stead (1849-1912), British writer, poet, social crusader, and spiritualist. He went down with the ''Titanic.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_Stead Wikipedia entry].

'''Mrs. Burchell''' 
???

'''Alexander and Draga Obrenovich, the King and Queen of Serbia''' 
According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Obrenovich Wikipedia] the assassination occured on 11 June 1903, so the seance at which Mrs. Burchell "witnessed" it, should have taken place in March 1903.

'''Parsons-Short Auxetophone''' 
[http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/auxetophone/auxetoph.htm pic and info]

==Page 229==

'''syntonic''' 
Pun on electrical/psychological jargon? [http://www.answers.com/syntonic&r=67 def]

==Page 230==

'''Michaelmas term''' 
The fall term, starting early October (1900 here). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas_term Wikipedia]

'''tweeny''' 
Betweenmaid.

'''Edward Oxford''' 
attempted to shoot Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, at the time of her first pregnancy (1840).[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Oxford Wikipedia]

'''Tory despotism''' 
Thatcher?

'''Catholics''' 
Someone famously cited James Joyce as proof that Catholics shouldn't get university educations.

==Page 231==

'''postal image''' 
[http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Penny_black.jpg pic]

'''immune to time''' 
Cf Wilde's Dorian Grey.

'''springtide''' 
Cf "dreamy thing" p201.

==Page 232==

'''Éliphaz Lévi''' 
A/K/A Eliphas Levi, ''nom de plume'' of Alphonse Louis Constant (1810-1875), French occultist and writer who pioneered a revival of Magick in the 19th Century, and was an influence on A.E. Waite, the Order of the Golden Dawn, and Aleister Crowley. An acquaintance of novelist Edward ("It was a dark and stormy night") Bulwer-Lytton. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliphas_Levi Wikipedia entry].

'''punters''' 
customers, clients

'''number twenty-four''' 
Or 25? [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gvp/gvp11.htm etext]

'''Iamblichus''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iamblichus_%28philosopher%29 Wikipedia]

'''maquillage''' 
Makeup. [http://www.answers.com/maquillage&r=67 def]

==Page 233==

'''Collis Brown's Mixture''' 
[http://admin.safescript.com/drugcgic.cgi/DRUG?1006901319+0 ingredients]

'''xylene''' 
a type of benzene, able to cause several damages to health, especially to the brain [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylene wikipedia]

'''a thousand pounds a year''' 
Over $100,000 today. [http://futureboy.homeip.net/fsp/dollar.fsp?quantity=1000&currency=pounds&fromYear=1900 cite]

==Page 234==

'''Condy's fluid''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bollmann_Condy Wikipedia]

'''Cheapside''' 
an important market street in the City of London.

'''mews''' 
British term for a narrow alley.

'''Poole's''' 
???

==Page 235==

'''sensitive flames''' 
Cf GR.

'''Soxhlet extractos''' 
???

'''Glynsky and Le Bel-Henninger''' 
???

'''tremblers and timers''' 
For bombs.

'''proper solvent procedures''' 
Famous 1960s "Anarchist Cookbook" was infamously inaccurate.

==Page 236==

'''The Gentleman Bomber of Headingly''' 
Cf Hornung's 'Gentleman Thief' and cricket player, Raffles. [http://www.mysterynet.com/books/testimony/hardknox.shtml info]

Reminds me of the Krikkit Robots in Douglas Adams' ''Life, The Universe, and Everything,'' where a bomb is put in place of a Cricket Ball at a match between Britain and Australia.

'''The Ashes''' 
An international cricket series between England and Australia dating back to 1882. A number of references in this chapter relate to this rivalry. For example, on this page the English cricket ball is compared to the Australian "kookaburra". Kookaburra is the brand name of the balls used in Australia, in England it's Duke. The properties of the English ball was one of the keys to England's success in the summer of 2005. Was Pynchon's writing here influenced by the hype in the UK at the time?

'''Phosgene''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene Wikipedia]

'''logwood''' 
Source of red dye. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logwood Wikipedia]

'''exhiliration''' 
Spelling typo.

==Page 237==

'''beige substance''' 
Presumably Cyclomite.

'''Gemini''' 
21 May to 20 June. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_%28astrology%29 Wikipedia]

'''Bosanquet''' 
Another Ashes reference. [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/9158.html Bernard Bosanquet] invented the bosie (or googly), as described here, around 1900. A major factor in England's 2005 Ashes success was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_swing reverse swing], another type of delivery whose physical dynamics are poorly understood.

'''Hebrew letter Shin- sign''' 
"This person greeted the Cohen by raising his left hand, then spreading the fingers two and two away from the thumb so as to form the Hebrew letter ''shin'', signifying the initial letter of one of the pre-Mosaic (that is, plural) names of God, which may never be spoken.

" 'Basically wishing long life and prosperity,' explained the Choen, answering with the same gesture"
 
compare with the following from M&D 485: 
Dixon discovers "The Rabbi of Prague, headquarters of a Kabbalistick Faith, in Correspondence with the Elect Cohens of Paris, whose private Salute they now greet Dixon with, the Fingers spread two and two, and the Thumb held away from them likewise, said to represent the Hebrew letter ''Shin'' and to signify, 'Live long and prosper.' " 
So is there connection between The Cohen of T.W.I.T., the "Cohens of Paris"? and these backwoods Kabbalists? 
Obvious connects with Star Trek's Vulcan greeting and with Leonard Nimoy's jewish faith.

==Page 238==

'''''morsus fundamento''''' 
Latin: A bite on the ass?

'''three-percent consols''' 
British bonds. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consols wikipedia]

==Page 239==

'''Colney Hatch''' 
London lunatic asylum. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colney_Hatch_Lunatic_Asylum Wikipedia]

'''MCTAGGART... VATICAN... HARDY''' 
Logician joke. [http://www.anvari.org/shortjoke/Science_Humor/1210.html etext]

'''CREATE MORE DUKES''' and '''EXPROPRIATE CHUCKERS''' 
Is the grafitti in Cambridge another cricketing reference? Dukes are the balls used in England (cf. p236). Chucking (or bending the arm when bowling) is an emotive topic in cricket that arises from time to time. It first arose around 1900 [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/258016.html]. In 2005 it caused administrators to change the rules of the game [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/144358.html].

==Page 241==

'''A bosie from a beamer''' 
More cricket! A bosie is now more commonly known as a googly (cf. p237). A beamer is a full-pitched delivery that reaches the batsman above waist height.

==Page 242==

'''Inner Asia''' 
[http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/gif/nstereo.gif map]

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

ATD 489-524

2006-12-26T22:49:25Z

Gaucho: /* Page 502 */ west ham united, the boys in claret and blue

==Page 489==

'''desolate sighs''' 
(They're not gay?)

'''Apostlet''' 
???

'''Cyprian Latewood''' 
???

'''Eastern wog''' 
Cf p222.

'''The German Sea''' 
???

'''sub-Clerkenwell''' 
???

'''annoyance''' 
(Why?)

==Page 490==

'''gyps''' 
???

'''Byron's Pool''' 
???

'''"Div!"''' 
???

'''"Whizzo!"''' 
???

'''''"That'' is that of which ''I'' speak!"''' 
???

'''Cloisters Court''' 
???

'''King's''' 
???

'''Queen Anne's Gate''' 
???

'''Newnham''' 
???

'''Wrangleresses''' 
???

'''Phillippa Fawcett''' 
???

'''Grace Chisolm and Will Young''' 
???

'''nautch-girl''' 
???

'''socio-acrobatic aggrandizement''' 
???

'''''opium beer''''' 
???

'''duc de Richelieu''' 
???

==Page 491==

'''the City''' 
???

'''can't ''ever'' tell''' 
Dog-eat-dog capitalism?

'''Reginald "Ratty" McHugh''' 
???

'''one more flag''' 
IE, his father's wallpaper brand.

'''Balkan Sobranies''' 
???

'''lilies-and-lassitude humor of the '90s''' 
Cult of Oscar Wilde?

'''table d'hôte''' 
???

'''Very well, I contradict myself.''' 
???

==Page 492==

'''divine... prosaic''' 
(Walt was of course prosaic himself before he became divine.)

'''xanthrocroid''' 
???

'''Capsheaf''' 
Is this a third speaker, or another name for Ratty?

'''viva''' 
???

'''Crayke''' 
???

'''''D'accord''''' 
???

'''reputation for viciousness''' 
???

'''croft''' 
???

'''Mavis Grind''' 
???

'''orthopædic journals''' 
???

'''Dymphna''' 
???

'''decks full of hearts''' 
(52 or 13 per deck?)

==Page 493==

'''Thucydides... remind me''' 
(Is this unlikely?)

'''McHugh''' 
Talking to self?

'''alfresceehwh''' 
???

'''Lorelei, Noellyn, and Faun''' 
???

'''High Albedo''' 
???

'''white veils''' 
???

'''Pinky''' 
Nicknames opposite of truth?

''''''sans merci'''''' 
???

==Page 494==

'''wrong altar''' 
???

'''gnomic tenses''' 
???

'''circs''' 
???

''''If she's not content with a vegetable love'''' 
???

'''Rugby blue''' 
???

'''Mâconnais''' 
???

'''George Grossmith...and that jolly Weedon''' 

George and Weedon Grossmith, authors of the sublime, hillarious 'Diary of a Nobody', which gave the world the adjective 'pooterish'. Undoubtedly an influence on Pynchon's depictions of the 'oh dear' side of Englishness. Pooter is a 'nobody' who decides to publish his diaries, even though he is of no interest and nothing of any note occurs. A prototypical blogger, some might suggest. Originally published in Punch magazine (I think), set in late 19th Century. Don't know if the Grossmiths went to Cambridge, will check....

[plenty of info here: http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/english/DON/Diary_Home.htm]

==Page 495==

'''Junior or Senior?''' 
???

'''cp. Wilhelm II file''' 
???

'''"Map of the World"''' 
???

'''Newmarket''' 
???

'''Morse and Vassilev''' 
???

'''East Rumelian''' 
???

'''''zadruga''''' 
???

'''''tchifliks''''' 
???

'''''gradinarski druzhini''''' 
???

'''gossamer''' 
Pynchon draws him as 'wet' as possible?

==Page 496==

'''sod... pouffe''' 
???

'''failed canards''' 
???

'''Lent... Easter... Long Vacation''' 
???

'''Colonial Office''' 
???

'''Okhrana''' 
???

'''Ballhausplatz''' 
???

'''Wilhelmstrasse''' 
???

'''G.F.B. Riemann''' 
???

'''Zeta function... conjecture''' 
???

''''joint'''' 
???

'''Bob's your uncle''' 
???

'''Limehouse''' 
???

==Page 497==

'''excess''' 
(So not wholly gossamer?)

'''Coronation Red''' 
???

'''Ranji and C.B. Fry''' 
???

'''Australian season''' 
???

'''New Court''' 
???

'''Tavernier-Gravet slide rules''' 
???

'''High Church''' 
???

'''Mags and Nuncs and Matins''' 
???

'''not Zion''' 
???

'''Compline hour''' 
???

'''Te Deum''' 
???

'''Khaki Election''' 
???

'''Filtham''' 
???

==Page 498==

'''chromaticism... Richard Strauss''' 
???

'''Staindrop''' 
???

'''"Filtham's Tedium"''' 
(Talk about overlabored puns...)

'''dress regulations''' 
???

'''Gauss''' 
???

'''Ramanujan''' 
???

'''display of hurt feelings''' 
Cf p30.

==Page 499==

'''light up''' 
Dark world vs spark of value.

'''[zeta]-function''' 
???

'''Hilbert thinks of nothing else''' 
???

'''desire... of rather a specialized sort''' 
???

'''Great Eastern''' 
???

==Page 500==

'''Weierstrass and Sofia Kovalevskaia''' 
???

'''sounds like maths''' 
???

'''folio''' 
???

'''four-color chromolithograph''' 
???

'''Snazzbury''' 
???

'''Silent Frock''' 
Cf noise-canceling headphones.

'''toilette''' 
???

==Page 501==

'''green, white, and mauve stripes''' 
???

'''black crepon''' 
???

'''Italian-cloth''' 
???

==Page 502==

'''modern lettering''' 
???

'''L'ARIMEAUX ET QUEURLIS''' 
???

'''twilling''' 
???

==Page 502==

'''Earl's Court Wheel''' 
???

'''whelks''' 
???

'''Chinese Turkestan railway shares''' 
???

'''jellied eel''' 
???

'''West Ham, the Park, Upton Lane, lads all in claret and blue''' 
The "lads in claret and blue" are kicking a football around, as they are players of current Premiership side West Ham United. Found in 1895, the "Hammers" are playing their home games at Boleyn Ground aka "Upton Park". Yep, soccer.

'''lupine liminality''' 
???

'''hydrangeas''' 
???

'''Hardy, whimsical''' 
???

==Page 504==

'''Harwich... German Sea''' 
???

'''Hook of Holland''' 
???

'''madhouse at Osnabrück''' 
???

==Page 505==

'''plug hats''' 
???

'''Cobh''' 
???

==Page 506==

'''Euclid''' 
???

'''elms in Cleveland''' 
(Before Dutch elm disease?)

'''went on for years''' 
???

'''Shorty''' 
???

==Page 507==

'''how little I cared''' 
(Blaming Krakatoa???)

'''palm upward''' 
???

'''Prospect Avenue''' 
???

'''leaf-spring suspension''' 
???

'''overrun''' 
???

'''Flats''' 
???

==Page 508==

'''Cuyahoga''' 
???

'''your exact face''' 
(How common?)

==Page 509==

'''descending minor triad''' 
???

'''Svengali''' 
???

'''tea roses''' 
???

'''cosmos''' 
???

==Page 510==

'''first momentous glance''' 
Page 349 only?

'''Elis''' 
???

==Page 511==

'''preferring''' 
Cf Rose in "Titanic".

'''Root Tubsmith''' 
???

'''Fuchs, Schwarz... Frobenius''' 
???

'''Professor Manning''' 
???

'''Marseilles''' 
???

'''species of tarantella''' 
???

'''dreamed it''' 
(Page?)

'''Cigar Deck''' 
???

==Page 512==

'''how to stop looking''' 
Cf p27.

'''fooling''' 
(They both miss it?)

'''lobelias''' 
???

'''Victor Herbert''' 
???

'''Wolf-Ferrari''' 
???

==Page 513==

'''1st Edition Typo''' 
"She smlld falsely"

==Page 515==

'''high-hatting''' 
???

'''twenty-knot''' 
???

'''uncreated''' 
Featureless?

'''after 1914''' 
Still 10 years away.

'''S.M.S. ''Emperor Maximilian''''' 
???

'''25,000-ton''' 
???

'''dreadnoughts''' 
???

'''Slavonian''' 
???

'''Schultz-Thorneycroft''' 
???

'''Parsons turbines''' 
???

'''British men-o'-war''' 
???

==Page 516==

'''shell-rooms-to-be''' 
???

'''twelve-inch barrels''' 
???

'''shelter deck''' 
???

'''casemates''' 
???

'''freeboard''' 
???

'''"Dazzle" camouflage''' 
???

'''dihedrals''' 
???

'''Fangsley''' 
???

'''horizontally disposed''' 
???

'''Lloyd Arsenale''' 
???

'''Stabilimento Tecnico''' 
???

==Page 517==

'''Promontorio''' 
???

'''O.I.C. Bodine''' 
Stands for...? [http://onelook.com/?w=o*+i*+c*&ls=a nope]

'''fermented potato mash''' 
Cf Veikko's vodka p82.

'''four shafts''' 
???

'''''Mauretania''''' 
???

'''''Zu befehl, Herr Hauptheitzer''''' 
???

'''Black Gang''' 
???

'''Oberhauptheitzer''' 
???

'''Mannlicher''' 
???

'''''"Dampf mehr!"''''' 
???

'''singlet''' 
???

==Page 518==

'''Marconi room''' 
???

'''design maximum of nine degrees''' 
???

'''nymphs''' 
???

'''''"Porca miseria"''''' 
???

==Page 519==

'''tight circle''' 
Military as inane as circus clowns.

'''deeper levels''' 
(Eg particle vs wave?)

'''Chinese''' 
???

'''''nicht wahr''''' 
???

'''Graz''' 
???

'''bilge-crab''' 
???

==Page 520==

'''Teutonic''' 
???

'''Mulai Ahmed er-Raisuli''' 
???

'''Agadir, Queen of the Iron Coast''' 
???

'''Sus... Susi''' 
???

'''Abdel Aziz''' 
???

'''Canaries''' 
???

'''Lübeck''' 
???

'''Berbers''' 
???

==Page 521==

'''tree-climbing goats''' 
???

'''argan trees''' 
???

'''Gnaoua''' 
???

'''''mlouk gnaoui''''' 
???

'''Seigneurs Noirs''' 
???

'''Habsburg navy''' 
???

'''Mogador road''' 
???

'''Tawil Balak''' 
???

'''Rahman''' 
???

'''''Formalhaut''''' 
???

'''Moïsés''' 
???

'''Jonah... Massa''' 
???

==Page 522==

'''kashbah''' 
???

'''Ighir Ufrani''' 
???

'''''alimzah''''' 
???

'''''tasargelt''''' 
???

'''scruff''' 
???

'''Staketsel''' 
???

'''lazarettes''' 
???

'''''mon chou''''' 
???

==Page 523==

'''moon deck''' 
???

'''lower orlop''' 
???

'''lateen-riggers''' 
???

==Page 524==

'''Piazza Grande''' 
???

'''Denza''' 
???

'''Antonio Smareglia''' 
???

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