Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 243-272

2007-08-28T08:48:31Z

Hewal133: /* Page 252 */

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

==Page 243==

'''The Chums return''' 
When were the Chums last seen in AtD? As far back as page 142?

A brief reminder of who the Chums are and what we know about them so far:
:'''Randolph St. Cosmo''', commander.
:'''Lindsay Noseworth''', Master-at-Arms and second in command, hates slackers and slang.
:'''Miles Blundell''', handyman, awkward, with an "ample waist" (11), also ship's Commissary, whose cooking ranges from pure cordon bleu to inedible. (110)
:'''Darby Suckling''', the baby of the crew, served "as both factotum and mascotte". By page 141 or so, has transformed from spirited youth to bomb obsessed, (111) sneering, snide cynic. Because of hitting adolescence?
:'''Chick Counterfly''', the newest member of the crew, picked up by the Chums in the South while on the run from the KKK. At last appearance, had become Dr. Counterfly, knowledgeable Science Officer aboard the Inconvenience (141). Reliably humorous. (110). Chick's style of speech here seems intermediate between the country boy of the early chapters and the sophisticated Dr Counterfly who met the Vormance expedition. Are we also at an intermediate point on the timeline?

[[image:fumaioli.jpg|thumb|150px|Fumaioli in Venice|right]]
'''''fumaioli''''' 
Italian: ''funnels''; fumaioli are large wide-topped chimneys, common to the rooftops of Venice.

'''''certo''''' 
sure, certain.

'''''Seccatura''''' 
Italian: ''Inconvenience''

==Page 244==

'''''ragazza''''' 
Italian: ''girl''.

'''Picardy thirds''' 
The use of a major chord at the end of a musical section in a minor key. Miles seems just as moved by them as Lew. [[ATD_26-56#Page_50 | Cf p50]]

The gondolier is singing harmony with himself, or else Miles is imagining the accompaniment.

Picardie is also a region in northern France and "during the Middle Ages... included the Dutch speaking Flanders." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy] The region was a hotbed of action along the Western Front in WWI and played host to the Battle of the Somme, which totaled more than a million casualties and was "one of the bloodiest battles in human history."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme]

'''''stabilimento''''' 
Italian: establishment.

==Page 245==
'''Garibaldi''' 
Famous Italian leader, major figure in the Italian Unification. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garibaldi Wikipedia]

'''''"Ehi, sugo!"''''' 
"Hey, sauce!" Does this make sense to anyone?
It does not make any sense in Italian.

'''twentyfold''' 
5 chums times 4 suspects each. (Randolph suspects Lindsay, Miles, Darby and Chick of being the leak; and so on around the crew. And that assumes no one suspects Pugnax!)

'''''osteria''''' 
tavern.

'''San Polo''' 
The smallest district/area in Venice, and among the oldest. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Polo Wikipedia]

'''''rio''''' 
narrow waterway in Venice.

'''against the night''' 
OK...

'''''calli''''' 
Venetian 'street' or 'lane'.

==Page 246==

'''''sotoporteghi''''' 
passageways. See picture for one example [http://www.dialetto-veneto.it/images/FotoComano/Comano-Cattognano.jpg].

'''''"Sa stai, O! Lungo, ehi!"''''' 
It does not mean anything in Italian or in the Venetian dialect. One possibility is mimicking the callouts of gondoliers. ''Lungo'' could be someone's nickname. 
Other possibility is a wrong lettering of: ''Xa star, oh! Lungo, ehi!'', meaning ''Ehi, Lungo, let it be and let's go!'' or something similar.

'''''cameriere''''' 
Italian: waitresses (plural of ''cameriera'').

'''''pallonisti''''' 
(fake-)Italian: balloonists.

'''''Ehi, macché, Pina! ''''' 
Italian: Ehi, Giusep(Pina), what are you telling me?

'''''giadrul''''' 
Again, doesn't mean anything in Italian or Venetian dialect. Seems to be a [https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0007&L=irtrad-l&D=0&T=0&P=94630 term of insult], variously described as American-Italian only (see previous link) and southern Italian (see next). One source gives one meaning as "[http://it.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070318034908AAem49X zuccone]" - this appears to mean "[http://notes.tranq.com/archives/2004/01/23/zuccone/ pumpkinhead]". I guess we're looking for something phallic, given the context. 
(''as far as I can see, it is an American-Italian deformation of the correct italian word "citrullo", which in fact is some sort of "dumb ass", and is derived from neapolitan for "cetriolo", that is, "cucumber" '')

'''"with all the spaghetti-joints in this town to choose from, are you saying those dadblame Russians have come in ''here''?"''' 
reminiscent of a similar line from the film ''Casablanca'', spoken by Humphrey Bogart: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

==Page 247==

'''tacchino in pomegranate sauce''' 
turkey in pomegranate sauce and, presumably, the "Purple Thanksgiving" to which Miles refers above.

'''''Dum vivimus, bibamus''''' 
While we live, let us drink. Paraphrase of "Dum vivimus, vivamus".

'''vini frizzanti''' 
sparkling wine.

'''SANGUIS RUBER, MENS PURA''' 
Latin: Red blood, clean mind.

'''''Serrata del Maggior Consiglio''''' 
Great Council Lockout, 1297. Link to the "Maggior Consiglio" entry on Reference.com [http://www.reference.com/browse/all/Maggior%20Consiglio]

'''Napoleon's abolition''' 
1797. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge_of_Venice Wikipedia]

'''Polos' return''' 
Marco Polo together with his father and uncle returned to Venice in 1295 from their travel to China started in 1271. 

''Marco Polo'' (1254-1324), a Venetian traveller. Was born of a nobel family at Venice, while his father and uncle had gone on a mercantile expedition by Constantinople and the Crimea to Bokhara and to Cathy (China). The Mongol prince commissioned them as envoys to the Pope, a commission they tried in vain to carry out in Italy (1269). The Polos started again a new trip to China in 1271, taking with them young Marco,
and arrived at the court of Kublai Khan in 1275 by way of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan to Lop Nor, then across the Gobi desert to Kansu and Shang-tu. Marco Polo entered the diplomatic service of Kublai Khan and was sent on missions to various parts of the Mongol empire. The Polos left China on 1282 and returned by way of Sumatra, India, and Persia to Venice (1295). In 1298 Marco was in command of a galley at the battle of Curzola, where the Venetians were defeated by the Genoese, and he was a prisoner for a year at Genoa. Here it was thought that he dictated to another captive an account of his travels, published under the title of ''Divisamemt dou monde''. (English title: ''The Travels of Marco Polo''.) ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo Marco Polo].)

''Kublai Khan'' (1214-94), Mongol khan, emperor of China, grandson of Jenghiz Khan. He completed the conquest of northern China and became the first foreigner ever to rule China. An enegetic prince, he suppressed his rivals, adopted the Chinese mode of civilisation, encouraged men of letters and made Buddhism the state religion. But his attempt to invade Japan ended in disaster. His dominions extended from Arctic Ocean to the Strait of Malacca, and from Korea to Asia Minor and the confines of Hungary. The splendor of his court inspired the graphic pages of Marco Polo. (from Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 1984 edition.)

==Page 248==

[[image:doge.jpg|thumb|100px|Doge by Giovanni Bellini|right]]'''Doge's hat''' 
For some thousand years, the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice was styled the Doge, a rare but not unique Italian title derived from the Latin Dux, as the major Italian parallel Duce and the English Duke. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge_of_Venice Wikipedia entry]

'''''Attenzione al culo''''' 
Italian: watch your ass.

'''Shambhala''' 
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a mystical kingdom hidden somewhere beyond the snowpeaks of the Himalayas. Shambhala is believed to be a society where all the inhabitants are enlightened. During the 19th century, Theosophical Society founder H.P. Blavatsky alluded to the Shambhala myth, giving it currency for Western occult enthusiasts. Later esoteric writers further emphasized and elaborated on the concept of a hidden land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambhala Wikipedia entry]

'''Professor Svegli of the University of Pisa''' 
The fictional professor's name comes from the Italian ''sveglio'' for "clever, dextrous, skillful."

'''"try to forget the usual picture in two dimensions"''' 
Cf. page 220, the idea behind the ''Tetractys'' as explained by Nigel and Neville.

'''an episode of intentional blindness''' 
Echoes the "denial of ordinary vision" that Lew sees when he meets Professor Renfrew (p. 240). Might these "blind spots" in sense evoke Iceland Spar?

==Page 249==

'''"Those whose enduring object is power in this world are only too happy to use without remorse the others, whose aim is of course to transcend all question of power. Each regards the other as a pack of deluded fools."''' 
Over time, Pynchon appears to have come to a belief in a massive conflict between cultures "valuing analysis and differentiation" and those valuing "unity and integration". The two alternate maps of Asia could be a reference to these disparate worldviews.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V. Wikipedia entry on V.]

'''The problem lies with the projection''' 
(a) Projection by each group of its own obsession onto the other group. (b) Cartographic projection, i.e., how the round world gets imaged onto a flat sheet of paper.

'''paramorphoscope''' 
AtD is itself a paramorphoscope; satire and science fiction typically hold up a distorting mirror to the world in which they are written, and present worlds "set to the side of the one we have taken". In the end the correct paramorphic "mirror" shows the world clearly.

'''"a certain percentage of them went mad and ended up in the asylum on San Servolo"''' 
Cf. the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum with its light-obsessed inmates at [[ATD_57-80#Page_59|page 59]].

'''the asylum on San Servolo''' 
First established as a military hospital in 1715, later became a mental asylum. Seems that San Servolo is to Venice what Bedlam is to London. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Servolo Wikipedia]

'''Clifford's term''' 
W.K. Clifford, (1845-1879): an English mathematician. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford Wikipedia]

==Page 250==

[[Image:stmarks.jpg|thumb|200px|right|St Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco) in Venice]]
'''Dr. Cantor''' 
Georg Cantor (1845 - 1918), German mathematician. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor%27s_theorem Cantor's Theorem] is what is most relevant to his mention here.

'''the plano-convex designs of Griendl von Ach''' 
For a brief history of the compound-lens microscope, and the roles played by the Italians and the Dutch, including Griendl von Ach, see:
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Microscope

'''prophetic vision of St. Mark''' 
Mark the Evangelist (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark and a companion of Peter. From [http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brown-venice.html this site]: "...a prophetic dream that Mark was said to have experienced during his earlier, supposed ministry in the area of the Venetian lagoon. In it he was visited by an angel who told him that he would find his final resting place on the very site where San Marco would later be built." In the first century there was no settlement worth mentioning in the Lagoon yet. The prophecy was "fulfilled" in 828 when the saint's remains stolen on orders of Doge Giustiniano Participazio in Alexandria were brought to Venice. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist Wikipedia entry] St. Mark is represented by a winged lion and is the patron saint of Venice [http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/saintm08.htm].

'''''but in reverse''''' 
Miles now takes the place of the angel. Who or what is the "Being" and what form does the prophecy take?

'''neither sails, masts, nor oars''' 
Not a craft that is driven by the wind or human muscle. To say more could spoil a plot point.

==Page 251==

[[Image:stmarklion.jpg|thumb|600px|center|The Lion of St. Mark, by Carpaccio]]

'''Lion of St. Mark by Carpaccion''' 
Vittore Carpaccio (c.1460–1525/6) was a Venetian painter. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittore_Carpaccio Wikipedia entry]

'''the vision of St. Mark, but in reverse''' 
In St. Mark's vision, an angel appeared to Mark and informed him that his remains would one day end up in his present location, which later became Venice. Here, Miles seems to assume the form of the angel (in the form of a lion?) and the 'promise' Pynchon mentions seems to be the angel's promise to Mark.

'''our own duty, our own fate... the real journey''' 
Pynchon's one-paragraph summation of human life and its meaning recalls a letter Pynchon wrote in the early 1960s, [[The_World_is_at_Fault|The World is at Fault]], in which he also summed up the entirety of human life in a few tidy sentences. Both employ the word 'pilgrimage.'

==Page 252==

'''''sotopòrteghi''''' 
Tunnels or passageways under large buildings.

'''tenebrous''' 
Means "shadowy" but is also a link back to the previous paragraph. The Tenebrae Service is a special form that is meant to recreate the feelings of the Passion story, also represented by the Stations of the Cross.

'''Renata''' 
Note that Renata is the name of the female protagonist in Ernest Hemingway's ''Across the River and into the Trees'', set in Venice.

'''Glagolitic''' 
The Glagolitic Alphabet is the oldest known Slavic alphabet (9th c.). It originated as a tactic to lessen the dependence of the subjects of the Prince of Greater Moravia on Frankish priests, who banned it but could not suppress it; it played a similar role in preserving Bulgarian independence from Byzantium. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic] It appears to be a nexus of the kind of simultaneous temporal and spiritual tasks the Chums of Chance are now involved in. In this, it raises the issues first explored by Pynchon in the "Tchitcherine in Kyrghizia" sections of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' in which the introduction of a written alphabet causes immense political and social change.

'''Gauloise''' 
famous French cigarette. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauloise Wikipedia].

'''''scusi''''' 
Italian: Excuse me.

'''''Affascinante, caro''''' 
Italian: Fascinating, dear (addressed to a male person).

'''''ragazzo''''' 
Italian: Boy.

'''''Mattoidi''''' 
Italian: Semi-insane persons. The word was [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-mat1.htm coined by Cesare Lombroso,] the physiognomist.

'''''Prego''''' 
Italian: Please.

==Page 253==

'''Pozzuoli''' 
A city in the Province of Naples (''Napoli'') in the region of Campania. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozzuoli Wikipedia].

'''The Tarocchi are much, much older.''' 
Not at all! This is one of those ideas that rarely gets questioned, especially since some "interpreters" of the tarot claim ancient Egyptian origins. The actually only [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot date back to the 15th century], as playing cards, and tarot divination was invented in the 19th century, with absolutely no historical precedent.

However, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley Aleister Crowley] in his writings and the design of his own version of the tarot, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Thoth_(Crowley) Thoth Deck], made a case for the Tarot unifying and being rooted in much older divination methods from Ancient egypt to the[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah Kabbalah] to Greek [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology astrology]. Crowley's Golden Dawn gets a previous mention in ATD. Though work on the Thoth deck would not begin until 1938, Crowley´s assignment of the Kabbalah's [http://jktarot.com/naples Sephiroth to the major arcana] probably bears attention when considering the chapter structure of ATD: he called the correspondence "The Naples Arrangement" in honour of having worked it out there, and this passage's mention of Renata's business associate being in Naples at this moment is unlikely to be coincidence.
:Surely a robust skepticism toward Crowley and his research methods is in order? Consider, for example, this [http://www.tarothermit.com/letter.htm "open letter"] to tarot users—from a judicious scholar and believer, not a committed skeptic—making the point that if the cards embody images (of whatever origin) "speaking" to the reader or student, it isn't essential to press the further claim that they were invented by the god Thoth. The paintings lack a couple of millennia of "temporal bandwidth" but aren't necessarily voided of appeal by that, any more than Michelangelo's ''Pietà'' is a less-valid devotional object for having been sculpted 1500 years after the event.

'''''sfumato''''' 
Refers to a well known painting method which blends so subtly the colors and tones that no perceptible transition is visible, as demonstrated by Leonardo da Vince's ''Mona Lisa''. See [http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfumato Wikipedia]. 
The context seems to imply ''smoke'', then ''fumo'' instead should be used.
:No, the evocation of the painterly effect becomes a metaphor for the way the boat comes into sight.

==Page 254==

'''''Pax tibi, Darbe''''' 
Latin: Peace to you, Darby. ''Pax tibi'' is not at all obscure—devout Catholics used it as a parting formula—but Chick has Latinized Darby's name to ''Darbus'' (vocative case ''Darbe'') and may be consciously echoing the text in [[#Page_251|Carpaccio's lion painting]] or on a [[#Page_247|pre-Napoleonic]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Most_Serene_Republic_of_Venice.svg flag of the Most Serene Republic of Venice:] ''Pax tibi Marce evangelista meus,'' "Peace to you, Mark, my evangelist."

'''like some damned ''Farewell'' Symphony''' 
Franz Josef Haydn, 1772, Hungary. Musicians at Count Esterházy's court had been kept too long on duty (and away from their families). Going on strike would have been disrespectful, so in the last movement of Haydn's hinting work, the players one by one extinguish their candles and exit, leaving two violins to play the last phrases.

'''"Chums of Chance were expected to die on the job. Or else live forever, there being two schools of thought, actually."''' 
Possibly a reference to the fact that the Chums seem to live simultaneously in the "real" world of the novel and also in fictional stories within the novel.

==Page 255==

'''Mostruccio''' 
Italian, literally: small monster, meant as a lovely nickname.

[[Image:samoyeds.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Samoyeds]]
'''Samoyeds''' 
These nomadic reindeer herders help with the herding, pull sleds, and are sometimes called "the smiley dog" in reference to their seemingly smiling faces. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samoyed_(dog) Wikipedia]

'''Bastille Day''' 
The Campanile di San Marco collapsed 14 July 1902. Pynchon Wiki on the [[Campanile]].

'''''lasagnoni''''' 
Italian, plural of ''lasagnone'': Blowhard, braggart.

A hint may come from an Italian dictionary: a ''lasagnone'' being an awkward, simple person, the kind of loafers who abound on city squares or street corners and, consequently, may appear in tourists' pictures.

==Page 256==
[[Image:Campanile.jpg|thumb|200px|right]]

'''dual citizenship''' 
They live in two places, there are two skycraft, they point a gun at one place but the shell strikes a different place. Lots of '''bi-''' somethings in this passage.

'''the little-understood enigmata of the simultaneous''' 
The concept of simultaneous events, including the accurate definition and, moreover, the very ''need'' of such a definition, played a significant role in the soon-to-be formulated [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity Special Relativity Theory]. One of the main consequences of the theory is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_of_simultaneity relativity of simultaneity].

'''four-brick groupings''' 
Padzhitnoff sees the Campanile come apart as a game of Tetris! The "four-brick groupings [...] begin their gentle, undeadly descent, rotating and translating in all available modes". (See [[ATD_119-148#Page_123|page 123]] for more on Tetris.)

'''the tower collapses''' 
Might have some relation to the final poem of ''Gravity's Rainbow''. The fall of the tower is foreshadowed -- foretold, actually -- in Chick´s Tarot reading by Renata (See [[ATD_243-272#Page_253|page 253]]).

==Page 257==

'''What stood for a thousand years''' 
Pretty close: Construction of the Campanile began in the year 912.

'''deciduous''' 
Something that falls, drops or is shed, like leaves from a tree or baby teeth.

'''We had the weather-gauge''' 
In the days of sail, [http://www.weathergage.com/ weather gage] described the relative position of two ships or forces. If you were downwind you could run or, if you meant to engage the enemy, tack to approach him. Every time you changed tack you lost an opportunity to shoot (because your guns pointed left and right). If you lay upwind, you could keep your guns trained on the enemy throughout the engagement. The weather gage was an often decisive battle advantage, and the phrase is common in nautical narratives.

'''neuræsthenic prostration''' 
This is the third (at least) time Randolph has exhibited this tendency.

:This is the third time that this word has appeared so far, but in the second instance (page 188) it was used by Nigel to describe Lew Basnight, not Randolph.

:Not the word, but this reaction in Randolph occurred on pages 12 and 28. It seems to be a regular thing with him.

==Page 258==

'''Tetralith''' 
Modern math term for three dimensional solid formed by merging three hyperbolic paraboloids in a manner that they have a common midpoint. See [http://www.tetranometry.com/#tetralith Tetralith Photo #2]. Pynchon just means a Tetris-shaped projectile, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetromino Tetromino].
:A "monolith" (as in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'')means an "object made of a single block of stone". Hence "tetralith" means an "object made of four blocks of stone", which is exactly what you see on the game "Tetris".

'''Japanese character for "four" being same as that for "death"''' 
Not quite correct. The Japanese kanji (Chinese) characters for four 四 and death 死 are quite distinct, but can be pronounced in the same way, hence the taboo.

'''Ryohei Uchida''' 
Ultra-nationalist, founder of the Black Dragon Soceity (see below), a right-wing, paramilitary organization. See [http://members.tripod.com/ravenshrine/uchida.html Ryohei Uchida].

'''''polny pizdets''''' 
Crude Russian: a total screwup.

'''Black Dragon Society''' 
A paramiltary, ultra-nationalist, right-wing organization in Japan founded by Ryohei Uchida in 1901. Its initial public goal was to support Janpanese expansion in Manchuria. Therefore, during the period from 1901 to the end of World War I, it aimed to help the Japanese government drive the Russian presence out of that region. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 (a war fought over Manchuria, with the Russians soundly defeated) it was active in espionage, sabotage and assassination against the Russians. During the 20's, 30's and later periods the Black Dragon Society evolved and expanded its activities around the world, including the United States. It was finally disbanded in 1946 by General MacArthur after World War II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokuryu-kai Wikipedia entry].

'''''Smirno''''' 
Russian: quiet!

==Page 259==

'''''dov'era, com'era''''' 
Italian: where it was, as it was. See [http://veniceblog.typepad.com/veniceblog/2003/12/comera_dovera.html veniceblog]. On July 14, 1902 the St. Mark's Campanile in Piazza San Marco, Venice, mysteriously and totally collapsed. Under the 'battle cry' of '''''com'era, dov'era''''' it was rebuilt. The Campanile was reopened on April 25 (St. Mark's Day) 1912. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark's_Campanile St. Mark's Campanile]. Also, Cf [[ATD_243-272#Page 256|page 256:the tower collapses]].

''''La Marangona''''' 
The largest bell in the campanile is called la Marangona. At midnight, that massive bell resounds alone from high in the Piazza, and can be heard from almost any point in the city. There are four other bells in the campanile and they each have a name.

'''"Bells are the most ancient objects. They call to us out of eternity"''' 
This chapter is bookended by references to bells. It opens, "Across the city noontide a field of bells emerged into flower."

==Page 260==

'''Deuce and Sloat return''' 
These two, it will be recalled, are the men hired by the mine owners to kill Webb Traverse. (193) It is unclear who is whose sidekick. ([[ATD_171-198#Page_195|195]]) Sloat tends to bodies, Deuce the spirit. ([[ATD_171-198#Page_197|197]])

'''Curly Dee''' 
Mathematicians call the "partial derivative" symbol "curly d." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_derivative Wikipedia shows the symbol.]

'''inside out''' 
Optical illusion.

==Page 261==

'''Nonpareil Eating House''' 
The motto over the door was probably "None Like It!"

'''Mayva and Lake''' 
Webb Traverse's wife and daughter.

'''lard smoke''' 
Cf. p. 10, "tall smokestacks unceasingly vomiting black grease-smoke," and p. 216, "Just greasy ashes by the trailside."

'''biscuit-shooter''' 
I.e., a cook.

'''Cañon City''' 
Site of the Colorado State Penitentiary, meant to suggest Deuce and Sloat had done time there.

'''gong''' 
???
17:18, 1 January 2007 (PST)[[User:Bklyn48|Bklyn48]]
 "kicking the gong around" is slang for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_the_Moocher smoking opium]. Here, Sloat seems to mean that Deuce's opium smoking has affected his judgement.

==Page 262==

'''Willis Turnstone''' 
Turnstones are members of the sandpiper family, stocky birds that use their stout bills to flip over rocks and such in search of food. There are two species: Black Turnstone (''Arenaria melanocephala'') and Ruddy Turnstone (''A. interpres''). The [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Ruddy_Turnstone.html Ruddy's] breeding plumage is a bold calico of white, orange, and black.

==Page 263==

'''"Crazier."''' 
Cf Bonnie and Clyde.

'''Oleander Prudge''' 
A name that brings joy to the heart of any Dickensian who happens to be reading along.

==Page 264==

'''single-jacker''' 
A miner who with a hammer and spike cuts a hole into rock for placement of a stick of dynamite. A set of holes are cut for each "synchronized" blast.
(Double jackers work as a team.)
Infer (this) one as a loner, a bit crazy, single minded, silent, easily hurt or misunderstood, doesn't play well with others...

==Page 265==

'''backing away down the valley''' 
It's instructive to look at a [http://www.vacationtelluride.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=standard&categoryId=11&subCategoryId=0 map or satellite photo of Telluride.] You could very well lay a single track from the mouth of the valley up to the town, but no farther. So the train drives into the station, then backs out until there's room for a spur where it can turn around.

'''gullet of days''' 
Metaphor. The miners' lives "as easily (as jug whisky)disappeared down the throat of everyday life".

==Page 266==

'''white-throated swift''' 
A swift is a small plainly colored bird similar to a swallow. The [http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/187/_/White-throated_Swift.aspx white-throated species,] which breeds in the western U.S. and winters in Mexico, is less plain than some. And get the species name: '''''Aeronaut'''es saxatalis.''

'''November''' 
November 1903.

'''in January, martial law''' 
January 3, 1904.

'''nymph du pave''' 
should probably read "nymphE du pave": [http://dict.die.net/nymphe%20du%20pave/ street-whore]. Theoretically this could also translate as: (image of a) nymph on a mosaic (tesselated floor) - like the huge roman one of Ariadne in the Rue du Pavé in Avenche (Switzerland) [http://www.stub.unibe.ch/welten/texte/herzig.html german weblink]

Most likely not (the mosaic idea); this is a consecrated term for prostitute. Note: in French, pavé means cobblestone. --[[User:Kirkm|Kirkm]] 02:09, 3 March 2007 (PST)

'''geometric episode''' 
Vaguely reminiscent of Proust on Combray: "And on one of the longest walks we ever took from Combray there was a spot where the narrow road emerged suddenly on to an immense plain, closed at the horizon by strips of forest over which rose and stood alone the fine point of Saint-Hilaire's steeple, but so sharpened and so pink that it seemed to be no more than sketched on the sky by the finger-nail of a painter anxious to give to such a landscape, to so pure a piece of 'nature,' this little sign of art, this single indication of human existence." [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/8swnn10.txt etext]

'''Engelmann spruce''' 
[http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=175 Picea engelmannii,] a light-colored, easily worked wood with fairly straight grain and slight contrast between heartwood and sapwood; [http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/boise/trees/engelmann.shtml uses include] piano sounding boards and the tops of violins and guitars, hence the association with the acoustics of the church.

A short biography of Dr. Engelmann (lit. Angel-Man) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Engelmann Wikipedia-Entry], more elaborated on [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Engelmann german site]

'''albatross cloth''' 
Evidently a distinct color/design for a wedding or wedding party dress in the West at the time. I have no OED at the moment, but there are at least two online "diaries" or descriptions using the phrase. Here is one: "We were married August 6, 1896 at 7:30 AM at my folk’s residence among friends and relatives. To honor the event, my folks had our parlor decorated with many flowers including roses, myrtle and geraniums. I wore an elegant gown of white silk and albatross cloth."

==Page 267==

'''Osterbybruk''' 
Town noted for ironmaking, 20 miles (32 km) north of Uppsala, eastern Sweden, nowhere near Jämtland (next entry).

'''Jemt-land''' 
A Province in west central Sweden [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4mtland Wikipedia.] The hyphen is not part of the name and probably marks a syncopation in the rev's delivery.

'''Child of the storm''' 
See the [http://againsttheday.wordpress.com/?s=child+of+the+storm ATD Weblog entry].

==Page 268==

'''sideways pussy''' 
Folklore.

'''side hobbles''' 
A hobble is a device for a horse or a dog that restricts the range of motion of the legs. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobble Wikipedia entry]. 
A [http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/archive/index.php/t-67850.html side hobble or Scotch hobble] links the horse's two left or two right legs, restricting its movement. 
"Hobble" also describes a type of skirt used (apparently) in bondage, see this [http://www.darksidecreations.com/product.asp?productid=19 example (not safe for work)] in latex.

==Page 269==

'''items, nearly always stolen''' 
Cf bower-bird.

'''marmot''' 
A stout-bodied, short-legged rodent that has coarse fur, a short bushy tail, and very short ears, lives in burrows, and hibernates in winter; also: a prairie dog or one of the larger ground squirrels. Marmots are native to Colorado and live at the higher altitudes. They are about the size of a weasel.

'''''"huevón"''''' 
From hueva (egg). According to [http://juantornoe.blogs.com/hispanictrending/2004/06/huevon_and_guey.html this blog] huevon "literally refers to the size of a mans "cojones" (another pseudo decent word that has seen a lot of mainstream play). It is commonly used to indicate how lazy someone is. The bigger the "huevon" you are, the lazier. As with "guey", however, this too has often been used to say dude or buddy."

'''''pinche cabron''''' 
fucking asshole.

==Page 270==

'''he even bombs by the moon''' 
I.e., he waits for a favorable phase. People who "plant by the signs," for example, associate days of the lunar month to parts of the plant and of the human body. They sow squash (vines) under one sign and lettuce (leaves) under another; they sow nothing at all when the moon is waning. Would a moon-guided bomber blow up trestles (legs) at one phase and plutocrats (belly) at another?

==Page 271==

'''skip''' 
In mining, a skip is "an iron bucket, which slides between guides,
for hoisting mineral and rock." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

'''ex-Danite''' 
Danites were Joseph Smith's vigilantes, "Armies of Israel", during the Mormon War 1838 in Missouri, i.e., before travel to Utah.

'''"Avenging Angels"''' 
Refers to [http://www.ugca.org/ugca1099/ugca1099main.htm Civil War-vintage Colt pistols] usually with sawn off barrels.

==Page 272==

'''the Dolores''' 
Dolores River runs through Cortez (where Deuce seems to be, next to exploding cactus p270). "We woke up in the Dolores... [VALLEY/REGION/HOTEL]"

'''a luminous face suspended''' 

Some large convex object in the sky.

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

ATD 557-587

2007-08-28T08:40:25Z

Hewal133: /* Page 578 */

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

==Page 557==

'''Viktor Mulciber''' 
Well, no benign associations with "Mulciber"! Mulciber is an alternative name of the Roman god Vulcan, the god of fire and volcanoes, and the manufacturer of art, arms, iron, and armor for gods and heroes. Mulciber is also the name of a character in John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'', the architect of the demon city of Pandemonium. In the Harry Potter books, Mulciber is a Death Eater, a minor Dark Wizard.

'''bespoke''' 
made to order, hence hand-made and expensive. Somewhere in the novel is a reference to 1 Savile Row, the address of Gieves and Hawkes, a very traditional English tailor.

'''Basil Zaharoff''' 
Sir Basil Zaharoff, originally Zacharias Basileios, (1849, Muğla, Turkey - 1936, Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a Greek arms trader and financier, the director and chairman of the Vickers munitions firm during World War I [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaharoff_Basil]. He also turns up as an international arms dealer in Reilly, Ace of Spies.

In addition to the arms-dealing and being semi-fictionalized, Zaharoff is also notable for bribing the Japanese Admiral, helping to incorporate the company that eventually became British Petroleum, and through his association with Louis II of Monaco, the purchase of the Société des Bains de Mer, which ran the famous Monte Carlo casino.

'''trains of history... run''' 
Karl Marx, in ''Das Kapital'', referred to wars as the "express trains of history" because they can spark societal or national crises, marking a historical turning point, and they can release economic, social, and moral forces of unforeseen power and dimensions, making any return to the status quo impossible.
Also notice TRP's steady referencing of 'railroads' in a negative way.

'''Q-weapon''' 
Possible allusion to Professor Kokintz's "Q-bomb" in ''The Mouse That Roared'' (1959) or to James Bond's master armorer Q. It could also be an allusion to the character "Q" in Star Trek where the name "Q" is also shared by other members of the Q Continuum. Q is a mischievous omnipotent being who has taken an interest in humans. He also has a flair for the dramatic, with a mercurial personality that switches between a joking, camp style and a more ominous and even dangerous manner. While he is boastful, condescending and threatening, he arguably has humanity's best interests at heart. In the episode "The Q and the Gray" (''Star Trek: Voyager'' - 3rd season), Q weapons are provided to the crew of the Voyager to free Q and Janeway, who have been captured by rebels. [http://www.answers.com/topic/the-q-and-the-grey Synopsis]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(Star_Trek) Wikipedia]. Looney Tunes character Marvin the Martian possesses an earth-destroying weapon known as the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

In this context, the Q stands for "Quaternion." See under Q in the alphabetical index.

'''Balkan ''komitadji''''' 
Originally, members of the rebel gangs ("committees"), controlled from Sofia, who made forays into Macedonia, the chief object of Bulgarian expansionism before WWI. The word was also commonly used for Serbian irregular fighters.

:See this slightly different [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komitadji Komitadji].

'''waybill''' 
Ancestor of what Fedex and UPS call "shipping document"; it identifies the article shipped and contains necessary addresses and instructions.

'''metamorphosed into an American Negro''' 
Cf honorary Negro (Frank above).

'''Nipponese''' 
Japanese

'''peach''' 
Plum, actually.

'''Hertzian''' 
Electromagnetic waves, first demonstrated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Rudolf_Hertz Heinrich Hertz] (Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Hertz]]).

'''they cannot strictly . . . longitudinal as well as transverse''' 
Hertz's theory and Maxwell's equations describe ''transverse'' waves in which the electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to the direction of travel; no longitudinal waves--with vibrations parallel to the direction of travel--are permitted. In air, sound waves are longitudinal; what's suggested here is a new wave that does not fit the Hertz-Maxwell paradigm.

==Page 558==

'''scalar part''' 
Quaternion equivalent of the real part. 
A scalar quantity in geometry has magnitude but not direction. The length of a line segment is a scalar. 
Time is a scalar term.

'''baritone in a barbershop quartet''' 
[http://www.barbershop.org/web/groups/public/documents/pages/pub_id_000827.hcsp Quote]:Technically speaking, barbershop harmony is a style of unaccompanied singing with three voices harmonizing to the melody. The lead usually sings the melody, with the tenor harmonizing above the lead. The bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes and the baritone provides in-between notes, either above or below the lead to make chords (specifically, dominant-type or "barbershop" sevenths) that give barbershop its distinctive, "full" sound.

'''viola in a string quartet''' 
Two violins, a viola, and a violoncello make up a string quartet. The viola is between the others in pitch and is generally considered to have been given the least interesting parts in Classical and Romantic music for string quartet.

'''Further Term''' 
The three parts of a quaternion that are multiples of '''i''', '''j''' and '''k''' (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525: Quaternions]].)

'''the fulfiller of the Trinity''' 
the name of the first atom bomb detonated at Los Alamos. Alluded to earlier as the "Anti-Stone" (Webb and Merle, p.78). The origin of the name Trinity for this event is uncertain. It is commonly thought that Robert Oppenheimer provided the name, which would seem logical, but even this is not definitely known. A leading theory is that Oppenheimer did select it, and that he did so with reference to the divine Hindu trinity of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer). Oppenheimer had an avid interest in Sanskrit literature (which he had taught himself to read), and following the Trinity test is reported to have recited a passage from the Bhagavad-Gita that is quoted earlier in this wiki. 

The usage of the Tibetan Mount Kailash, the holy dwelling place of Shiva, God of destruction and regeneration, on p. 437 seems to support this.

Also, a religious allusion to the three-person Godhead in Christian theology. 
Also, third ATD meaning!, a college in Dublin mentioned on page 560.

Also,"the Destroyer, the fulfiller of the trinity" recalls the Destroyer on page 154, the meteorite, and thus relates ''that'' passage to the Anti-Stone.

Also, in Jungian Psychology the 'fulfiller' of the trinity, making it a complete four-aspect entity, is the 'shadow', or traditionally, the devil (the force always excluded and seen as bad in Christian theology). Cf. C. G. Jung, "Versuch einer psychologischen Deutung des Trinitätsdogmas", Gesammelte Werke 11, especially p.179-94. Interestingly, Jung uses the term 'quaternarisch' for this. More Q-talk, then.

'''the pulselessness of salvation''' 
salvation lies outside of time?

'''A weapon based on Time''' 
Time is why there is entropy, that key Pynchonian term. Pynchon has created a brilliant metaphor that uses the concept uniquely. The Q-weapon, at the heart of which lies "a crystal about the size of a human eyeball" is based on Time. What becomes of the Q-weapon after Umeki (possibly) gives it to Halfcourt in Constantinople? ([[ATD_1018-1039#Page 1036|See page 1036...]])

'''"...you could become the most feared person in history." ... "I'd rather be loved," said Root.''' 
Echoes Machiavelli's famous aphorism, "It is much safer to be feared than loved."

'''laterite''' 
A mineral structure formed by erosion, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite Wikipedia]. Laterite is typically rich in metal oxides and poor in organic matter.

'''Ostend''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Ostend]]. Ostend (Dutch: Oostende, French & German: Ostende) is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the villages of Mariakerke, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest at the Belgian coast. Wikipedia.

'''Inner Boulevards''' 
streets in Brussels."In spite of the competition of the Central or Inner Boulevards, the Montagne de la Cour still remains the principal street for shopping in Brussels." "Brussels", Antiques Digest, 1904.

'''Gare du Midi''' 
The largest railway station in Brussels and a haunt of prostitutes.

<div id="gevaert"></div>'''Edouard Gevaert''' 
It seems this gentleman is fictional. although there are some interesting, but tenuous, connections. Agfa-Gevaert is the current owner of the [[W#wardenclyffe|Wardenclyffe Tower]] facility which housed the Tesla Tower. [http://www.maerlant.be/photherel/student/nvgevaert.htm Lieven Gevaert] (1868-1935) was a Belgian industrialist who founded Gevaert & Co. which produced photographic paper, in 1894. The company specialized in "daylight" paper, which relies on the event of exposure of the positive image through daylight, as opposed to development paper which is based on a process of special manipulation with chemicals. (Are photographs "stolen goods"? "Unworldy go-betweens"? Is the Q-Weapon a ... camera? No. It unlocks Time, animating the photograph - [[ATD_1018-1039#Page 1036|See page 1036]]) Agfa (Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation) was founded in 1864 as a manufacturer of dies and stains. In World War II, it became part of IG Farben (prominent in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=IG_Farben_References ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. The Allies broke up IG Farben after the war and Agfa emerged as an individual company. And, well, there ''was'' a Dutch arms dealer named Edouard de Beaumont (1841-1895) who has a rifle named after him. Yes, a stretch... Upon further reflection, I believe "Edouard" may refer to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge] (Edouard was a variant spelling he earlier used) and his photographic experiments with ''freezing'' motion/Time.

==Page 559==

'''Krupp field-piece''' 
The Krupps are an ancient German family, famous for making weapons. A field-piece is a light-cannon.

'''vaguely glandular''' 
Describes Belgium, it seems.

'''''ostinato''''' 
A continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm.

'''poleaxed''' 
Stunned, brought to a mental standstill. (A poleaxe was used in slaughterhouses.)

'''lost to silence''' 
(Not silent, or very?)Very

==Page 560==

'''Wellington Hippodrome''' 
A race track in Ostend. (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 528|page 528:Hippodrome]].)

'''Estacade''' 
???
:A dike of piles in the sea, a river, etc., to check the approach of an enemy. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Estacade]

'''''mousmée... mouchard''''' 
French: a young Japanese woman; a police spy.
:When Henry James revised ''The Princess Casamassima'' for the 1909 New York edition, the phrase "middle-class spy" in the 1886 text became ''mouchard''. Source: note by Patricia Crick in Penguin Classics edition.

'''always lead an irregular life''' 
Cf GR.

'''Maria Bayley Hamilton''' 
???
Hamilton's wife !!!

'''council meeting''' 
???

==Page 561==

'''Brougham Bridge''' 
It was on this site that the [[H#hamilton|mathematician William Rowan Hamilton]], in a flash of genius, came upon the formula for Quaternions and scratched it into the stone of the bridge.

About the bridge, the carving, photos of them, a couple of mathematicians' impression of the bridge, etc, see [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/octonions/node24.html Brougham Bridge].

'''on the stone''' 
The bridge is evidently a stone bridge. Stone, a natural thing, is a good for Pynchon. Hamilton's action is metaphorically a deeply religious moment. "Pentecostal" wherein the Quaternions 'descend' to earth [in the thoughts of men].

'''''i² = j² = k² = ijk = –1''''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternion]].

'''Pentecostal''' 
Pentecost (< Greek πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day") is the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday, which corresponds to the tenth day after Ascension Thursday. It is a feast in the Christian liturgical calendar — symbolically related to the Jewish festival of Shavuot — that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the followers of Jesus on that day, as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called "Whitsunday" (deriving from "Wit Sunday") in UK and other English-speaking areas.

Almost needless to say, the Pentecostal revelation is what is supposed to happen at the end of "Lot 49".

'''official Mischief Opportunity''' 
like 'shore leave', it seems. To leave the rules of the Organization and create mischief.

'''absinthe spoons''' 
absinthe spoons have slits whereon are placed sugar cubes through which one pours the absinthe

'''cravats''' 
A cravat is the neckband forerunner of the modern, tailored necktie. From the end of the 16th century, the term "band" applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a "ruff"; the ruff—a starched, pleated white linen strip—started its fashion career earlier in the 16th century as neckcloth that could be changed-a-fresh to keep the neck of a doublet from becoming too-soiled or as a bib or a napkin. A "band" could indicate a plain, attached shirt collar or a detachable "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar. 
Necktie fashions have changed over time. The modern cravat originated in the 1630s when Western Europeans saw Croats wearing extravagant neck scarves; the French word ''cravate'' means "Croatian cavalryman."

'''"four-door farce"''' 
(See eg Bogdanovich's "What's Up, Doc?")
This is also a pun on the name of Georges Feydeau, French writer of farces who was writing when Pynchon's novel is set. One of the recurring physical jokes involves sets with many doors and people coming in and out, just missing each other....

The ranking of farces by door number is mostly jocular. Neil Simon's ''Rumors'' is a fine example of a seven-door farce.

==Page 562==

'''Minque''' 
the fish auction house.

'''Bruges''' 
A city about 18 miles east of Ostende, Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 531|page 531:Bruges]].

'''Ghent''' 
A city about 40 miles southeast by east from Ostend, Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 531|page 531:Ghent]].

'''carillons . . . carillonneur''' 
The [http://www.gcna.org/crlnexp.html carillon] was popular in Belgium before it caught on in most other places. It comprises a set of bells, matched in character, forming a scale (a couple of chromatic octaves or even more), with the beaters or clappers mechanically linked to a keyboard. A later development replaced muscle power with electromechanical linkages. In a still later "advance," the carillon was automated with music-box-like control. The American practice of playing recorded bells through loudspeakers is a shamefully cheap way to imitate carillon music. 
The carillonneur is the master at the keyboard. 
English-style bell ringing is a totally different pursuit, using (often imperfectly) tuned bells actuated in nonmelodic sequences. The bells, not the clappers, are swung with ropes. The effect of an eight-bell "peal" and a team of ringers with plenty of time on their hands—as heard by this American contributor in Bristol one spring Sunday—is perfectly charming. 
By the way: The word "carillon" is derived from the Latin "quaternio" (= consisting of four elements)...

'''Hanseatic''' 
The Hansa or Hanseatic League (definitely a creation of "the Christian North," next paragraph) was a great mercantile system that held itself above national rule.

'''burghers''' 
middle-class married men

'''silted up''' 
backed up, underwater, with mud; i.e. neglected, because replaced by railroads. -As it silted up "back in the 1400s" we can safely exclude the influence of railroads.

'''Damme and Sluis''' 
Port cities near Bruges, heavily dependent on them from the 14th Century. 
See [http://www.damme-online.com/gb/communities/damme.htm Damme] and [http://www.damme-online.com/gb/arounddamme/sluis.htm Sluis]. For an overview map, showing cannals, roads etc, of the general area around Bruges-Damme-Sluis see [http://www.damme-online.com/gb/maps/generaloverview.htm Bruges-Damme-Sluis]

==Page 563==

'''trusted his intuitiveness''' 
Woevre is a natural killer.

'''''"Jou moerskont!"''... Afrikaans''' 
Possibly "you horse's ass"? --More likely something like "mother's cunt".

==Page 564==

'''voices of everyone he had ever put to death had been ... scored for some immense choir''' 
A possible reference to ''Star Wars'': Obi-wan experiences the obliteration of an entire planet as "a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/quotes]

Also another potentially time-less event, all of Woevre's murders collapsed into a single moment.

The "choir" image occurs several times in ''AtD.'' [[ATD_1-25#Page_19|One example.]]

'''"I cannot bear it ... this terrible light..."''' 
Shades of the Kirghiz Light in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Kirghiz_Light ''Gravity's Rainbow'']

'''''Voetsak''''' 
Afrikaans (maybe Dutch too): Go away! Also spelled ''voertsek'' or ''voetsek.'' 
Borrowed in English with the spelling ''footsack.'' The Urban Dictionary, which often excites skepticism, has [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=footsack a useful entry] with a marginally plausible etymology. In [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/drama/Finished/chap5.html ''Finished'' (1916),] novelist H. Rider Haggard glossed it this way: "Among Europeans he rejoiced in the name of Footsack, a Boer Dutch term which is generally addressed to troublesome dogs and means 'Get out.'" And in a defective 1943 book for young readers, ''Great Caesar's Ghost'' (by Manning Coles, creator of gentleman op Tommy Hambledon), an English merchant seaman says, "Get out, 'op it, vamoose, footsack, imshi, or I'll—" [http://www.absp.org.uk/words/interjections.html ''Imshi''] is British service slang for "go."

'''starers''' 
Those who stared at Kit earlier.

'''dramatic performance''' 
referring to 'No'?

'''tobacco-stricken''' 
A smoker's deep or gritty voice.

'''half-silvering''' 
A design for an optical [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_splitter beam splitter] that causes half of the incident light to be transmitted and the other half to be reflected.

'''the fatal number four—to a Japanese mind''' 
Japanese character for number "four" has the same pronunciation as that of character "death". 
Cf [[ATD_243-272#Page 258|page 258:Japanese character for "four"]].

'''four cusps... index-surface''' 
???

'''co-conscious''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 527|page 527:co-conscious]]. Repeat here: "mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it - from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary."

Third use, I think. Who/what is co-conscious here? (First time, page 478; then page 527.)

Could it be the dimly perceived consciousness of one's double in the adjacent, alternate world? Or one's consciousness of that world?

==Page 565==

'''true icosahedron''' 
Probably an regular icosahedron, where the sides are formed by 20 equilateral triangles. For a picture see [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Icosahedron.html Icosahedron].

'''12+8... pyrites''' 
Pyrite crystals form a structure that can be decomposed into unit cells that contain (part of) 12 sulphur atoms and 8 iron atoms.

'''Riemann sphere''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_sphere Wikipedia]

'''Felix Klein''' 
German mathematician ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Klein Wikipedia])

'''ebonite''' 
An early plastic([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonite Wikipedia])

'''Ohmic Drift Compensator''' 
ohm = the practical meter-kilogram-second unit of electric resistance equal to the resistance of a circuit in which a potential difference of one volt produces a current of one ampere; The Ohmic Drift Compensator a key component of the Q-weapon "regulates how much light is allowed to enter the silvering of the mirror! Special kind of refraction! Calibrated against imaginary index! Dangerous! Of the essence!'" See also [[ATD 525-556#Page 541|Page 541]].

'''speed of the earth . . . kinetic energy''' 
Einstein in 1905 showed most of this argument to be nonsense, but if Lorentz's paper is still recent (next entry) the shift in thinking may not have happened yet. 
:Since the earth's mean orbital speed ( ~ 30 km/s) is rather small in comparison with the speed of light ( ~ 300,000 km/s), no relativistic correction is needed in calculating earth's orbital kinetic energy. And in a reference frame anchored on the Sun, the earth's kinetic eneregy, ''E = ½ m v²'', where ''m'' is the earth mass and ''v'' it's orbital speed, still holds. Einstein showed only that it is no longer true against the nonexistent stationary ''æther''. Of course, it is irrelevant to an earthbound weapon tried to make use of this energy against a person who is standing on the earth.

'''Recently Lorentz's paper''' 
Lorentz's 1904 "Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity less than that of light" ([http://www.soso.ch/wissen/hist/SRT/L-1904.pdf PDF])

'''Lorentz . . . Fitzgerald . . . along the axis of motion''' 
It was the phenomenon of the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, together with the abolition of the æther by Michelson and Morley, that led Einstein to his theory of special relativity.
:Michelson and Morley did NOT abolish the æther. Their experiement (1887), attempting to detect the light speed change due to the effect of the æther wind, was a total failure, and they could not explain the negative result.
::OK, would you accept "the abolition of the æther hypothesis in consequence of Michelson and Morley's work"? In fact, that negative result—replicated many times since—did render the notion of the luminiferous æther untenable, as the next two paragraphs make clear.
:The Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction hypothesis was proposed to explain the "null" result of the Michelson-Morley experiment but still keeping the æther. (see paragraph 8 of Lorentz's 1904 paper above). Lorentz considered the contraction was not physically real but a device to explain the Michelson-Morley experiment. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_Fitzgerald_contraction_hypothesis Lorentz_Fitzgerald Contraction]).

:Einstein (1905) derived the Lorentz contraction directly, without assuming the existence of the æther, from the ''Principle of Relativity'' (ie different observers moving at a constant speed with respect to each other find the laws of physics to be identical and find the speed of light to be the same), and proved that Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction hypothesis had been "ad-hoc". And Einstein explain the failure of Michelson-Morley experiment by abolishing the æther !

'''Lord Rayleigh''' 
British physicist ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Rayleigh Wikipedia])

==Page 566==

'''In a dream...''' 

This passage, describing Kit's dream of Umeki and the message it conveys, pulls together many of the main themes of ''Against the Day'', tying things together in a way that Pynchon seldom does, almost as if he's providing a rather large piece of the puzzle to help the reader understand the novel:

:"Deep among the equations describing the behavor of light, field equations, Vector and Quaternion equations, lies a set of directions, an intinerary, a map to a hidden space. Double refraction appears again and again as a key element, permitting a view into a Creation set just to the side of this one, so close as to overlap, where the membrane between the worlds, in many places, has become too frail, too permeable, for safety.... Within the mirror, with the scalar term, within the daylit and obvious and taken-for-granted has always lain, as if in wait, the dark intinerary, the corrupted pilgrim's guide, the nameless Station before the first, in the lightless uncreated, where salvation does not yet exist."

This is rather a good description of ''AtD'' itself. It is a (inevitably) "corrupted pilgrim's guide", but is the guide corrupted, or the pilgrim?

'''analogies''' 
(Pynchonian heuristics.)

'''the corrupted pilgrim's guide, the nameless Station before the first''' 
Cf. p. 436 '''holy pilgrimages. One defines a destination, proceeds through a series of stations...

'''lightless uncreated''' 
(Gnostic heresy?)

'''...within the daylit and obvious and taken-for-granted has always lain, as if in wait, the dark itinerary, the corrupted pilgrim's guide, the names Station before the first, in the lightless uncreated, where salvation does not yet exist.''' 
Compare with "daylit America . . . its steadfast denial of night" ([[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]), ''AtD'' epigraph, Thelonious Monk's "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." '''and''' "the boys expressed wonder at how much more infected with light the night-time terrains passing below them had become [...] they felt themselves in uneasy witness to some final conquest, a triumph over night whose motive none could quite grasp" ([[ATD 1018-1039#Page 1032|p. 1032]]);

'''stuffed sinus''' 
sinus/nasal congestion. It is like looking out onto a new world when one's sinus finally clears after days of congestion.

'''''Konichiwa''''' 
''sic'' for "Konnichiwa / Kon nichi wa" -- Japanese greeting.

==Page 567==

'''new Puccini opera''' 
Obviously, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Butterfly Madame Butterfly]

'''[Americans] can't ever die of shame''' 
shameless, unlike the Japanese

'''Kimura-san''' 
Kimura ( "tree village") is the 18th most common Japanese surname.
-san is used as a courtesy title in Japanese-speaking areas as a suffix to the given name, surname, or title of the person being addressed, regardless of age or gender: Yamamoto san; sensei-san. 
Chimera-san?

'''Borel-Clerc... "La Matchiche"''' 
Popular vaudeville song from 1903. "La Matchiche" is French for the Brazilian dance Maxixe.

'''western anchor''' 
What about France, Spain, Portugal? Belgium is a port country with a highly developed transportation system into all of these countries. .....it was the first country to industrialize in Europe....Wikipedia.

In addition, Ostend is the westernmost port. It remains today a major Continental ferry terminus for North Sea crossings, including the fastest surface route, the hydrofoil.

'''the Orient Express''' 
The first [http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r045.html Orient Express] (1883-1914), connecting the English Channel with the Black Sea, is one of the most famous trains in Europe. It ran from Calais and Paris to Bucharest (Romania), passing through Strasbourg (France), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Czechoslovakia), Budapest (Hungary). From Bucharest it went through Bulgaria and then, by ferry, to Istanbul of Turkey. The original Orient Express was operated by Compaignie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Ever since the original Orient Express started operation, the name has become synonymous with luxury travel. After World I there were various railway routes had the name of Orient Express. The current one is from Paris to Vienna, to be discontinue on June 9, 2007.

'''the Trans-Siberian''' 
The [http://www.transsib.ru/Eng/history-phases.htm Trans-Siberian] is a railway route connecting Moscow (Europe) to Vladivostok (Far East Asia). Taking a journey by the Trans-Siberian Railway has long been considered an experience with mythological proportions. It is the longest continuous rail line on earth - about 6,000 miles over one third of the globe. In 1891, Czar Alexander III drew up planes for the Trans-Siberian and initiated its construction, and a more or less continuous route was completed in 1905. It took many more years to make the route smoothly operative.

'''the Berlin-to-Baghdad''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Railway Berlin-Baghdad (also Basra) Railway] was the route of German's expansion from Europe to the Persian Gulf, from which trade goods and supplies could be directly exchanged with the farthest of the German colonies and the world. It could also supply German industry directly with oil. Its conception (1888) and completion a couple of years later engendered great opposition from Russia, France and England as part of the "Great Game".

'''World-Island''' 
[[ATD 429-459#Page_433|See annotation at page 433]]

'''Compaignie Internationale des Wagons-Lits''' 
"International Sleeping-Car Company", [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson_Wagonlit Wikipedia]

'''two hundred francs''' 
"None of that, Hakkabut. Hold your tongue." And, turning to Rosette, the captain said, "If, sir, I understand right, you require some silver five-franc pieces for your operation?"
"Forty," said Rosette, surlily.
"Two hundred francs!" whined Hakkabut.-- On a Comet, Jules Verne

'''theory of sets''' 
Set theory is the mathematical theory of sets, which represent collections of abstract objects. It encompasses the everyday notions, introduced in primary school, of collections of objects, and the elements of, and membership in, such collections. In most modern mathematical formalisms, set theory provides the language in which mathematical objects are described. It is (along with logic and the predicate calculus) one of the axiomatic foundations for mathematics, allowing mathematical objects to be constructed formally from the undefined terms of "set" and "set membership". It is in its own right a branch of mathematics and an active field of mathematical research. Wikipedia 
:The members of a set can be, say, [Mike, Mary, Jack, Richard, Ron, Umeki, . . . . . .], the employees of a company, or the passengers of the train leaving the station; they need NOT be abstract. Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 535|page 525:set theory]].

'''Bruges Canal''' 
Belgium: Bruges canal. For a picture of the canal see [http://cruises.about.com/library/pictures/baltic/blbruges19.htm Bruges Canal].

==Page 568==

'''vaporetto''' 
A Venetian water-bus.

'''Grand Canal''' 
The main canal that runs through the heart of Venice and down past San Marco, the city's main square.

'''San Marco end''' 
See above. This is where Florian's (appears in the novel) is situated.

'''Piazzetta''' 
??? A small piazza. The large square in front of St Mark's is the Piazza San Marco. The smaller side square running beside the Palazzo Ducale down to the canal is the Piazzetta San Marco.

'''San Giorgio Maggiore''' 
A rather over-ornate church on the Grand Canal opposite San Marco.

'''spreading... cloak''' 
Cliche/allusion?

'''live here forever''' 
Pynchon special-pleading that Dally isn't just another tourist.
Or is this just a typical reaction of the tourist? And a Pynchonesque longing for home?

'''Teatro Verdi in Trieste''' 
A 1200+ seat theatre built in late-eighteenth century in Trieste for classical music, opera and ballet ([http://selectitaly.com/events.php?product_id=27&city_id=122 Teatro Verdi]). With its stately columns, elaborate adornments and lush elegance it is rather an unlikely venue for magic show. Another unlikely venue for magic show is Teatro Malibran in Venice (next page).

==Page 569==

'''Malibran... Polo's house''' 
The Teatro Malibran, built at the site of Marco Polo's house, which was destroyed in 1596.
:It is still there ! Cf [[ATD_336-357#Page 355|page 355:Teatro Malibran]] and the external link (for photos, etc) listed there.

'''"pincette" pass''' 
Probably from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincer_movement pincer movement] of military strategy.
:Professor Hoffman's ''Modern Magic'' (1876) describes three "passes with coins," La Pincette, Le Tourniquet and La Coulée. Amazon has the book for sale if anyone wants to look up the details.

'''profondes''' 
"Large pockets in tail coats which can be used for vanishes or productions", [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conjuring_terms Wikipedia]

'''Vincenzo Miserere''' 
??? Misero means poor, pitiful, miserable, etc. Psalm 51 (sometimes numbered as 50) is known as the Miserere because it begins (in Latin) Miserere mei Deus (Have mercy on me, God).

'''train to Trieste''' 
???Venice and Trieste are on the opposite sides (about 70 miles apart) of the same gulf : Gulf of Venice. Taking a train from Venice to Trieste would mean taking a route several times lengthier than a ferry.

'''Svegli''' 
The fictional professor's name comes from the Italian ''sveglio'' for "clever, dextrous, skillful."

'''shark leather''' 
Different from sharkskin?

'''''Specchiere''''' 
Mirror-maker

'''glassmakers on Murano''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murano Wikipedia]

'''today''' 
When is that?

'''''guaglion''''' 
Naples dialect: ''guaglione'' is boy. (It first appeared on page 531).

==Page 570==

'''another one of his stories''' 
(Jackson Pynchon should highlight all the AtD passages that originated as bedtime stories.)

'''TERAPIA''' 
Italian, "therapy"

'''San Servolo''' 
An island in the Venetian archipelago, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Servolo Wikipedia], [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=45.418654+N,+12.35698+E&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=45.418651,12.35698&spn=0.006891,0.010793&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr Google Maps]

'''Palazzo Ducale''' 
The Ducal Palace in Venice, residence of the Doge. It's by San Marco.

'''''manicomio''''' 
Italian, "madhouse"

'''''paramorfico''''' 
paramorphic - see the entry for [[P|Paramorphoscope]]

'''uterine vellum''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellum Vellum] produced from the skin of an unborn calf

'''pitch, rouge''' 
Products used in the grinding of lenses and mirrors.

==Page 571==

'''La Doppiatrice''' 
Italian: the Doubler.

Perhaps an analogue of the diffraction grating that splits the electron into two "alternate" electrons in Schrodinger's thought experiment on quantum effects, source here of a sort of human quantum splitting, an alternate universe creator.

'''Ettore Sananzolo''' 
???

'''Maskelyne cabinet''' 
After Neville Maskelyne, from ''Mason and Dixon.'' Maskelyne was sent at the same time as M and D to record the Transit of Venus on St. Helena. He became Astronomer Royal while they were in America.

While Maskelyne is indeed a real person, the name is very suggestive of mescaline. The two do not seem to be "related."

More likely a descendant, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nevil_Maskelyne John Nevil Maskelyne.] --[[User:Jeffersonista|Jordan]] 13:46, 25 January 2007 (PST)

==Page 572==

'''smoke back into a cigar''' 
Time's arrow/ entropy motif.

'''hard-as-a-rock black cigar''' 
The quality of a cigar is usually higher with dark, more tightly-wrapped tobacco. Vincenzo has a fine one, it seems.

'''thumping''' 
sound/feeling of a water-bus?

'''''salso''''' 
Longest river in Sicily.Its small deltaic system there is dominated by marine processes rather than fluvial ones. It is a seasonal torrent, with brief but violent floods during the winter rains (from November to February), Is this what riding the salso in and back out again means? Riding the floods from the winter rains?

Hardly. 'Salso' (ital.) means 'salty', so this is probably a poetical word for 'the sea'.

'''''sandoli''''' 
??? The sandolo is a type of boat used in Venice, similar to a gondola but (I believe) larger.

'''trains pulling in''' 
Famous early film.

==Page 573==

'''San Polo''' 
It is one of the six districts (sestieri) of Venice. (The other five are: Cannaregio, Dorsoduro, Santa Croce, San Marco, and Castello.) It (with Santa Croce and Dorsoduro) is located at the south side of the Grand Canal just across the Rialto bridge from San Marco. The San Polo district is the second most important area of Venice in terms of historical immportance and attractions for the tourists. It is the home to the Rialto market, the old artisan quarters of Venice, and the stunning Frari church.

'''Cannareggio''' 
It is commonly spelled Cannaregio. It is located north of the Grand Canal, and is one of the few parts of the city where Venetians still live in great numbers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannaregio Canaregio].

==Page 574==

'''thirty years older''' 
About 65yo?

'''that day''' 
In NYC when Dally showed up.

'''when she was born''' 
Cf Pretenders/Chryssie Hynde.

'''Stronzo''' 
Italian curse word, roughly "asshole"

'''''In bocc' al lupo!''''' 
From the Roman dialect, in which the Italians – including Rocco and Pino – seem to speak. Meaning, literally, "In the
mouth of the wolf," and idiomatically, "Good luck."

Specifically, as supported by the show business context, the good-luck wish among actors: "Break a leg!"

'''''campielli''''' 
??? Small squares. A campo is literally a field and by extension a large square in a town. A campiello is a small square. I believe Venice has only one Piazza (San Marco) and the other squares are campi and campielli.

'''impersonation of itself''' 
echoes "the mountains had become geometrical impersonations of themselves", p. 394

==Page 575==

'''Riva''' 
??? Probably Riva del Vin by the Grand Canal; a great tourist attraction from where one can view the historical Rialto Bridge. (The word ''riva'' itself means ''river bank''). [http://arglist.com/cgi-bin/image?gallery=venice&name=20050525-025 Riva del Vin] and[http://www.altravistavenezia.it/_VirtualTours/VA/Rialto_Riva_del_Vin/rialto_riva_del_vin.html Rialto-Riva del Vin]

'''middy blouses''' 
In the style of a midshipman's blouse (shirt).

'''not yet been rebuilt''' 
Remember p256.

'''''lucciole''''' 
prostitutes

'''''fondamenta''''' 
A waterside street in Venice

'''''ombreta''''' 
??? A local wine produced in the hills north of Venice. 
Well, actually ''ombreta de vin'' means "a glass of wine" in Venetian dialect.

'''light's good here''' 
Old joke about drunk looking for car keys under streetlight though he dropped them somewhere else.

'''inside that labyrinth . . . microcosm of all Venice''' 
A hologram has this property, that a little chip broken off it contains the entire image. This is, however, a specific reference to Fractal non-Euclidian Geometry ... self-similarity over scale. A fractal is an object or quantity that displays self-similarity, in a somewhat technical sense, on all scales. The object need not exhibit exactly the same structure at all scales, but the same "type" of structures must appear on all scales. A plot of the quantity on a log-log graph versus scale then gives a straight line, whose slope is said to be the fractal dimension. The prototypical example for a fractal is the length of a coastline measured with different length rulers. The shorter the ruler, the longer the length measured, a paradox known as the coastline paradox, mentioned by Pynchon on [[ATD_821-848#Page_821|page 821: coastline approaching infinite length]].
:Good argument for the fractal reference, better than the original one for the hologram metaphor. Hunter is not making smaller and smaller paintings ("chips") but rather exploiting an observation about scale.

==Page 576==

'''''rio''''' 
narrow waterway in Venice (Cf [[ATD_243-272#Page 245|page 245:''rio'']].)

'''twelve soldi''' 
??? A soldo is a small coin.

'''franc... ten francs''' 
???

'''Santos-Dumont style''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 529|page 529:Monsieur Santos-Dumont]]

'''Canaletto''' 
Real name: [http://www.wga.hu/bio/c/canalett/biograph.html Zuane Antonio Canal] (1697-1768), a well-known scenery painter at the time. He went to England in 1746 and returned to Venice in 1755. 
Venetian landscape painter, 1697-1768, famous for his paintings of Venice ([http://www.artericerca.com/ven_set/Canaletto/canaletto.htm Italian website]).

As described, Penhallow's pictures are reminiscent, in spirit and in some ways content, of John Singer Sargent's Venetian paintings. Sargent also later painted one of the most haunting images of World War I, [http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Gassed/Gassed.htm "Gassed"], showing a column of men blinded by mustard gas feeling their way to an aid station.

'''Beppo''' 
Allusion to Byron's poem "Beppo - A Venetian Story". Beppo is a husband who's been away for many years and then, returning, reclaims his wife from another man.

Beppo = Mouse, diminutive of Giuseppi. There is also Beppo Levi (born on May 14, 1875 in Turin, Italy, died on August 28, 1961 in Rosario, Argentina) Italian mathematician, director of the Mathematics Institute of the National University of the Littoral from 1939 to 1961. His work included the mathematics of alternative spaces[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beppo_Levi].

'''pitch''' 
From Merriam-Webster Dictionary: ''chiefly British: an outdoor site (as for camping or doing business).

'''Bauer-Grünwald''' 
An expensive hotel near San Marco in Venice.

'''demobilized from a war that nobody knew about . . . seeking refuge from time''' 
Hunter Penhallow, one of the Trespassers?

==Page 577==

'''a time-traveler from the future''' 
Hunter Penhallow IS a Trespasser.

''''Safe'''' 
Recent art-movie title? I think safe here means safe without allusion.

'''neutral hour?''' 
Is any moment in Time apolitical?

'''Castello''' 
Castello is the largest of the six sestieri of Venice. The district grew up from the thirteenth century around a naval dockyard on what was originally the Isole Gemini.

Not sure on the derivation of Isole Gemini; but Gemini, like Pisces (cf. Fomalhaut, the brightest star in the Pisces constellation) and Sagittarius, are the dual signs of western astrology in keeping with "bi-locations," Deuce Kindred, Renfrew/Werfner, mirrors, etc.

Jyotisha (Indian astrology) includes Virgo as a dual sign or dvisvabha rashis -- thus forming a Quaternity (4 signs or rashis)of Duality. It's interesting that Pynchon does not say Gemini and Pisces directly, but alludes to them behind Castello and Fomalhaut. Be on the lookout for twins, fish, virgins and centaurs!

'''Evening Gun''' 
"At reveille the morning gun goes off; and at retreat, the evening". From
a history description. Here is a site with picture.http://www.ziplink.net/~edkreutz/1f.html

'''Dr. Grace''' 
Renowned, full-bearded 19th-century English cricket player.

'''Charing Cross''' 
Charing Cross Railway Station, London. The original station was opened on 11 January 1864 by the South East Railway. Now, over 37 million people pass through Charing Cross every year. Situated on the forecourt of the stations is the Eleanor Cross, from which point road distances from London are measured. For more see [http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/795.aspx#history Charing Cross].

==Page 578==

'''Dorsoduro''' 
An area of Venice. The Dorsoduro district is a relatively central area of the city, located on the opposie side of the Grand Canal from the San Marco district. But, at the smae time it offers the visitor a chance to explore a delightful part of the city free from the crowds of San Marco.
The Accademia Gallery, Peggy Gugggenheim Museum, and the Santa della Maria Salute Church (one of the most famous landmarks of Venice) are all located here. [http://www.tours-italy.com/venice/guide_dorsoduro.htm Dorsoduro].

'''''pensione''''' 
A cheap Italian hotel, like a bed and breakfast.

'''La Calcina''' 
A historical hotel. La Calcina means ''The Lime House'', because the hotel was built on a 17th-century lime production site. It is located on the Zattere promenade, at the foot of the Calcina Bridge. Various Bohemian artists frequented the Café of the hotel, and John Ruskin indeed stayed at the hotel from February 13 to May 23, 1877. For the historical background of the hotel see [http://www.lacalcina.com/HTML/en/calcina_storia_en.html La Calcina].

'''eminent ghosts, Turner and Whistler, Ruskin, Browning....'''

Evokes Lytton Strachey's ''Eminent Victorians'' and this Quaternity of artists were eminent indeed (though not the subject of Strachey's book). All had a conection to Venice, and the note on Ruskin at the La Calcina above could be true of the other three as well.

Robert Browning became a ghost in Venice in 1887. Of particular historic significance, Browning was the first person to ever have his voice heard after his death. Thomas Edison recorded Browning reading his poem "How They Brought Good News from Ghent to Aix" including the poet's apologies for forgetting the words. The recording was first played in Venice in 1890.

'''''"traces of conciousness". Psychical Research beginning to open these matters..streaming by''''' 

Possible allusion to Joyce's "stream of conciousness". Ulysses is also set in 1904, the year Joyce met his wife.

But that is not the stream of consciousness refered to here, and it is the wrong "James." William James actually coined the term "stream of consciousness." Joyce was not the first to use it as a literary technique either -- he just perfected it in a way not seen before -- except perhaps in Proust.

Considering the context in AtD concerns ghosts and the very next sentence begins with a mention of Psychical Research, "traces of consciousness" is not so much stream of consciousness as a trailing vapor or whisp of consciousness that streams by as a "kind of ghost." Think in terms of thought transference, ESP, mediums, hypnosis, hallucinations, ghosts. More than a few characters in this novel are involved in these things.

In order to study these phenomena, three dons of Trinity College, Cambridge founded The Society for Psychical Research in 1882. William James helped to found the American branch and was president of the group for a while.

There are recurring parallels in AtD to a famous James quote from ''Varieties of Religious Experience'':

Our normal waking consciousness . . . is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus and at a touch they are all there in all their completeness . . . No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.

'''Zattere''' 
An area of wide waterfront pavements in Venice.

'''''...in hotels, the way your dreams are often, alarmingly, not your own?''''' 
One more possible allusion to Proust, including also the following paragraph. At the beginning of the ''Recherche'', the main character, Marcel, spends a sleepless night in a hotel room, surrounded by memories he can't make sense of.

In ''Lot 49'' Oedipa Maas considers all the dreams and memories stored in the mattresses of transients' hotels, and of the information destroyed when they burned.

'''''cimici''''' 
Latin: bedbug.

'''to pick up traces of the dreams of whoever slept there just before them''' 
Cf. the Tom Waits song "9th & Hennepin": "And all the rooms they smell like diesel / And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept there". [http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/raindogs/9thandhennepin.html Lyrics]

'''bora''' 
a regional wind, blowing each winter.

==Page 579==

'''vino forte''' 
strong wine.

'''Brindisi, Squinzano, . . . Brletta''' 
They are the cities in Puglia (Apula) region of southeast Italy, ie. at the "heel of the Italian Boot".

'''Tintoretto's ''Abduction . . .''''' 
See [http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3374 here]

Tintoretto (1518-94), Venetian painter. Originally named Jacopo Robusti, because of his father's profession of ''tintore'' (dye) he was nicknamed as [http://www.wga.hu/bio/t/tintoret/biograph.html Tintoretto]. The most successful painter of Venetian school in the generation after Titian. His drawings, unlike Michelangelo's detailed life studies, are brilliant, rapid notations, bristling with energy, and his color is more somber and mystical than Titian's. For a better, can be enlarged, view of his [http://www.wga.hu/index1.html ''Abduction of the Body of St. Mark (1562-66)''].

'''Accademia''' 
The major art-gallery in Dorsoduro, Venice

'''Titian''' 
16th century Venetian painter. 
Vecellio Tiziano (1490-1576), better known as Titian, the greatest painter of the Venetain School and the leading light of the Italian Renaissance. Titian was recognized as a towering genius in his own time and his reputation as one of the giants of art has never been seriously questioned. He was supreme in every branch of painting and his achievements were so varied — ranging "from the joyous evocation of pagan antiquity . . . to the depths of tragedy in his late religious paintings" — that he has been an inspiration to artists of very different character. In many subjects, above all in portraiture, he set patterns that were followed by generations of artists. For more and Titian's paintings [http://www.wga.hu/bio/t/tiziano/biograph.html Titian].

'''Infancy Gospel of Thomas''' 
One of the apocryphal scriptures. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas relates the miraculous deeds of Jesus before he turned twelve. [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancythomas.html 1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas Wikipedia on the Gospel of Thomas]

→Actually, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is not the same as the Gospel of Thomas. The former is a brief summary of Jesus' misadventures as a child (as AtD notes, Jesus really is described as a hell-raiser and although at one point he brings a child named Zenon back from death, the Infancy Gospel mostly just makes a shallow exhibition of Jesus' miraculous powers). The latter is a Gnostic text and a "collection of sayings, prophecies, proverbs, and parables of Jesus" (Willis Barnstone, "The Other Bible" p. 299).

Also, I read through the whole Infancy Gospel of Thomas and could not find the particular parable that Pynchon describes. However, Pynchon's parable is in keeping with the style of this Gospel. Jesus gets in trouble--making adults irate--and then sets everything straight. This particular parable also does not appear in The Infancy Gospel of James, The Infacy Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, or The Arabic Infancy Gospel.

The reference to this Gospel is a double+ play on the twins/double/mirror motif. First, as can be seen in this posting, there is confusion between the Gospel of Thomas and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. The two gospels appear to be the same, but they are different. Second, the name ''Thomas'' means ''twin''. Also(+), Thomas is the doubting Thomas.
To doubt is to be "of two minds." The historic and theological significance of Thomas is loaded with themes relevant to this novel.

==Page 580==

'''Pentecost story in Acts''' 
Pentecost is a Christian holiday commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus' followers and the beginning of the Christian church. Pentecost is celebrated by many (but not all) Christians on the Sunday 50 days after Easter. It often falls in early June. [[Acts II|Read the Biblical passages in Acts II...]]

'''Galilean dialect''' 
Of Aramaic.

'''Yes, well, it's redemption, isn't it, you expect chaos, you get order instead''' 
In the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Pentecost, first Jesus, then the Holy Ghost, act as Maxwell's Demon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_Demon]. In the Infancy Gospel story, Jesus sorts the randomly mixed dye molecules so that each garment comes out one color; in the Pentecost story the Holy Ghost causes a single language, just random noise to all but Galileans, to be heard as the many different languages of the listeners. Taking the two stories together, thermodynamic entropy is reversed, but the entropy of information is increased. This is the crux of ''Lot 49''; here it is another "secular miracle"; order emerges from chaos. The mathemateicians, artists and similar seekers may bring forth a similar miracle, the ability to experience other dimensions, to understand the universe (See Kit's dream, P.566).

'''''rii''''' 
Plural of ''rio''.

==Page 581==

'''''sotopòrteghi''''' 
An open doorway for public access. (Cf [[ATD_243-272#Page 246|page 246:sotopòrteghi]].)

'''Bodeo 10.4 mm''' 
A mass-produced Italian-made service revolver, initially made around 1889. Demand for them as guns was low, causing thousands of the weapons to be converted to table lamps. An interesting Pynchonian connection between light, manufacture, weapons, and war.

==Page 582==

'''''foschetta''''' 
''Foschia'' in Italian means "fog". ''Foschetta'' is a term for "light fog".

'''''masègni''''' 
???
:blocks of Euganean trachyte used for paving, often marked off by bands of Istrian stone

'''''patrone''''' 
Probably meaning ''padrone'', "master". -- blicero2
:or female saint? not referring to Tonio but just as an expression.

'''wine trains up from Puglia''' 
???Puglia region is in southeast of Italy (at the "heel of the Italian Boot"). From page 578-579: "In September, when the vino forte arrived from Brindis, Squinzano, and Barletta . . ." These three cities are in Puglia. Cf [[ATD_557-587#Page 579|page 579:vino forte]] and [[ATD_557-587#Page 579|page 579:Brindisi, Squinzano, . . . Barletta]].

'''Winter''' 
1904-1905?

'''''osterie''''' 
tavern?

'''Principessa Spongiatosta''' 
Is Pugnax's book from p6 at all relevant here?
:Yes! [[Princess_Casamassima,_The|''The Princess Casamassima'']] has several resonances with ''AtD.''

'''Ca'''' 
Abbreviated form of "Casa," Italian for "house."

Which appears to be multidimensional, or at any rate non-Euclidean, reminiscent of Zombini's cabinet.

'''Roman Composite order''' 
A classical order (style of building design) dating from late Roman times, formed by superimposing Ionic volute (volute = a spiral scroll ornament) on a Corinthian capital (capital = the head or crowning feature of a column). ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_order Composite order]).

'''japonica''' 
Japanese honeysuckle.

==Page 583==

'''Iron Bridge''' 
The Ponte dell’Accademia - connecting the Venetian quarters (sestieri) San Marco and Dorsoduro - was constructed during the Austrian occupation in 1854. This steel construction got replaced ca. 1933 by a wooden bridge (which was replaced by yet another wooden bridge in 1985) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_dell'Accademia Wikipedia]

'''Le Havre''' 
French port city on the Atlantic (English Channel).

'''''ma via''''' 
Meaning "come on!", in Italian. -- blicero2

'''third eyes touching''' 
The third eye, as existing on some reptiles is a dorsal organ that is receptive to light, otherwise known as the ''pineal eye''. Since the two half-sisters are obviously not reptiles, this reference might allude to the figurative third eye, or the eye of the mind, heart or soul. When the two touch foreheads, they are able to peer into each other consciences, by way of these third eyes. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/third+eye /Dictionary Entry]

==Page 584==

'''"Swiss insurance salesman. Wolf. No, Putzi."''' 
Bria's had so many beaux she gets them confused? One was a wolf; the other a putz?
:''Wolf'' is an uncommon given name but also a diminutive of Wolfgang. ''Putzi'' does not come from a given name; it's like "sweetiepie," a nickname for a cute boy.

'''''topo''''' 
A topo is a guide for a crag or climbing area.

'''Dogana''' 
Custom House, built on a wedge of land called ''Punta della Dogana'' (Custom Point). This wedge of land is at the entrance of the Grand Canal, as described in the text: "where the Grand Canal and the Lagoon meet". The original 14th-century customs tower was replaced by a colonnaded building named the ''Dogana de Mare'' (Sea Customs Post). See picture [http://uk.encarta.msn.com/media_1041505867_761562189_-1_1/Punta_della_Dogana_Venice.html Punta della Dogana]

'''Andrea Tancredi''' 
An artist and acquaintence made by Hunter Penhallow in Venice. His name is likely derived from the Gioacchino Rossini opera ''Tancredi'' or the Voltaire play by the same name. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tancredi Wikipedia Entry] 
Tancredi, restored, is a tragedy. the soldier Tancredi and his family have been stripped of their estates and inheritances, and he himself has been banished since his youth. Two more noble families — headed by Argirio and Orbazzano — have been warring for years. Wikipedia.
Tancredi presides in exile...he is mortally wounded at the end after learning the person he thought betrayed the heroine did not.

:Actually, per [[T#tancredi|my entry in the Alpha index]], more likely the name connects with Tancredi, the time-traveling character in ''City of Death'', a four-part serial in the British science fiction television series ''Dr. Who'' which involves time travel and bilocation. Tancredi is the sole survivor of the Jagaroth race, an evil people who destroyed themselves in a war some 400 million years ago. Tancredi explains that a few escaped in a dilapidated spacecraft and found Earth in a primeval, lifeless stage of its development. The ship disintegrated upon takeoff and [[Scaroth]] tells of how he was fractured in time, splinters of his being were scattered across time and space, all identical, none complete. Whereas, in ''City of Death'', Tancredi, one of the Scaroff "splinters" living in Renaissance Italy, is plotting to create multiple Mona Lisa's for fraudulent purposes, ''Against the Day'''s Tancredi is fighting art fraud. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Death Read the synopsis of ''City of Death'']; The name "Andrea" ''could'' be a reference to the protagonist Andrea Marsh, a time-traveler in the 1889 novel, ''Timeless Love'' by Judy Hinson ([[Timeless Love|synopsis]]).

'''Seurat and Signac''' 
George Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935), French painters who developed pointillism. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism Wikipedia entry].

'''Divisionism''' 
Term invented by Paul Signac to describe the Neo-Impressionist separation of colour into dots or patches applied directly to the canvas. From Grove Dictionary of Art.

'''Marinetti''' 
The Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was the first among [the Futurists] to produce a manifesto of their artistic philosophy in his Manifesto of Futurism (1909)(see below).

'''"Futurists"''' 
Practitioners or followers of Futurism, an early 20th century art movement that is considered the genesis of Cubism, Dada and Art Deco. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism_%28art%29 Wikipedia entry].Marinetti summed up the major principles of the Futurists, including a passionate loathing of ideas from the past, especially political and artistic traditions. He and others also espoused a love of speed, technology and violence. The car, the plane, the industrial town were all legendary for the Futurists, because they represented the technological triumph of man over nature.

'''brutalism''' 
See above and The Futurists were often condemned as fascistic in their manifestos and outlook.

'''Torcello''' 
A lonely Venetian island: very peaceful and beautiful with a church and little else.

'''primitivo''' 
A kind of red wine (same as the original Zinfandel, actually).

==Page 585==

'''green-and-lavender''' 
Another clashing color scheme.

'''sirocco''' 
A hot dust-laden wind from the Libyan deserts that blows on the northern Mediterranean coast chiefly in Italy, Malta, and Sicily. 
The correct spelling in Italian is ''Scirocco''.

'''San Michele''' 
San Michele, nicknamed The Island of the Dead, is the cemetery island of Venice. It is associated with the sestiere of Cannaregio from which it lies a short distance north east.
Walls of San Michele.Along with neighbouring San Cristoforo della Pace, the island was a popular place for local travellers and fishermen to land. Mauro Codussi's Chiesa di San Michele in Isola of 1469, the first Renaissance church in Venice, and a monastery lie on the island.

'''futuristic vehicle''' 
See p. 155 [[ATD_149-170#Pages_154-155|and annotations.]] Of course, the machine-inspired Futurists would remind Hunter of this vehicle that 'had borne him to safety'!

Why? Hunter isn't the Futurist here and doesn't seem to share the same naive faith in Progress that Tancredi does.--[[User:Pomopaulrevere|Pomopaulrevere]]

'''''Preliminary Studies...''''' 
Artists often do 'preliminary studies'..'infernal machine' comes out of Futurism's ideas.

==Page 586==

'''Always with us.''' 
Gospel of Matthew. "The poor you will always have with you". Here reference is to born-again Christers.

'''''vero?''''' 
Literally meaning ''true'' in Italian, here it is used as you would use: "Are you talking of an infernal machine, ''aren't you'' ?"

'''We desire transformation''' 
Aligns the explosion-loving Tancredi with the Rilke-quoting Blicero from Gravity's Rainbow. '"Want the Change," Rilke said, "O be inspired by the Flame!"' (GR p.97)

It also might be helpful to recall that Shiva, who has been referred to implicitly numerous times already in ATD, is the transformative/destructive deity of the Hindi Trimurti.

This section also sets up Tancredi as an opposite of Hunter, who on p.577 wants to find a "neutral hour", that "goes neither forwards or back", and on the same page "felt no desire to join in, quite the opposite." Hunter himself is much like Katje from GR. Page 97 again: "But not Katje: No mothlike plunge. He must conclude that secretly she fears the change..."

'''orpiment yellow''' 
A yellow color pigment ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpiment Wikipedia])

'''Nürnberg violet''' 
An artificial color pigment discovered in 1868 in the city of Nuremberg

==Page 587==

'''"The energies of motion, the grammatical tyrannies of becoming, in divisionismo we discover how to break them apart into their component frequencies . . . we define a smallest element, a dot of color which becomes the basic unit of reality . . . .''' 
This seems to describe both the kind of painting done by Tancredi and atomic research. Breaking material into its atomic unit, the basic unit of reality, is literally part of the "energies of motion."
This also describes how a television set works. The screen is composed of millions of tiny dots that, taken together, create moving pictures.

'''Brownian movement''' 
Also called Brownian motion. It is the irregular motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or a gas, caused by the bombardment of the particles by molecules of the medium
first divscovered by botanist Robert Brown (1773-1858) in 1827. Einstein in one of his four ''Annus Mirabilis Papers'' of 1905 explained the random motion using molecular kinetic theory of heat. Cf [[ATD_397-428#Page 412|page 412:young Einstein]].

'''I really love the old dump''' 
For the same reason Dally does: Venice has what Pynchon called (in ''V.'') "Temporal Bandwidth": a life in a depth of time, a simultaneous humane immersion in past, present and future. The canals of industrialized Belgium are silted up, the connections to its Hanse past lost, paved and tracked over. This has not, and cannot, happen to Venice; even a Futurist painter cannot carry out the appaling modernization he describes. Venice is a place to hide from the future; indeed, in terms of physical destruction, the world wars barely touched La Serenisima.

'''''nebbia, nebbietta, foschia, caligo, sfumato''''' 
Varieties of fog.

'''speed of sound''' 
Air temperature is more important that density.

'''''La Velocità del Suono''''' 
Italian, "speed of sound"

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