Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 81-96

2006-11-24T13:41:32Z

Jmcdaid:

==Page 87==
Rev. Moss Gatlin's rhetorical question "How can anyone set off a bomb that will take innocent lives?" and its wisecrack response, "Long fuse" seems a calculated echo of Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket.' ("How can you shoot women and children?" "Easy -- don't lead 'em so much.")

ATD 81-96

2006-11-24T13:40:49Z

Jmcdaid:

==Page 87==
Rev. Moss Gatlin's rhetorical question "How can anoyone set off a bomb that will take innocent lives?" and its wisecrack response, "Long fuse" seems a calculated echo of Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket.' ("How can you shoot women and children?" "Easy -- don't lead 'em so much.")

Main Page

2006-11-24T13:31:09Z

Jmcdaid: /* Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page */

[[Image:Campanile.jpg|250px|thumb|The Collapse of St. Mark's Campanile, 1902|right]]<big>'''Welcome to the Pynchon Wiki'''</big>

To become a contributor/editor, [http://pynchonwiki.com/mycaptcha/captcha-page.php '''Create an account.''']

:[http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAgainst-Day-Thomas-Pynchon%2Fdp%2F159420120X%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1164267006%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks&tag=hyperartspynchon&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325'''Order ''Against the Day''''']

This is the newly created Wiki for -- inaugurally -- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pynchon Thomas Pynchon's] ''Against the Day'', and eventually for the guides to Pynchon's other "big" novels, ''V.'', ''Gravity's Rainbow'' and ''Mason & Dixon'', which are currently available at [http://www.thomaspynchon.com/ ThomasPynchon.com]. Eventually, all the novels will be migrated here so that registered users of this wiki can create pages and make changes for those novels' guides.

You can take a look at the [[ATD cover|cover]] and read the [[Against the Day description|book description]] written by Pynchon himself.

==How to Use this Wiki==

There are two major ways to use this wiki. The first is the '''''Against the Day'' Alphabetical Index''', used to keep track of the myriad characters, real and imagined, as well as events, arcana, and lots of other stuff. The second is the '''Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page''', which allows the reader to look up and contribute allusions and references while reading the book, in a convenient and spoiler-free manner. These two sections are so far almost entirely different, but we're working on integrating them.

Apart from those, it's up to you!

==Alphabetical Index==
Information on the characters, events, and everything else in ''Against the Day'', organized alphabetically:{{ATD_Alpha_Nav}}

 
== Spoiler-Free Annotations by Page ==
An alternate form of commentary on the text, to be linked up (or not) to the alphabetical index as future contributors suggest and agree upon. The guiding principle of these annotations is to remain spoiler-free, so that readers can follow along without the fear that later parts of the book will be revealed.

: '''Part One: The Light Over the Ranges'''

::[[ATD 1-25|Pages 1-25]] 
::[[ATD 26-56|Pages 26-56]] 
::[[ATD 57-80|Pages 57-80]] 
::[[ATD 81-96|Pages 81-96]] 

== Pynchon Wiki Help and Contributor Guidelines==

[[Help:Contents|'''Click here for help with editing and creating pages.''']]

We have a few conventions we ask that you follow:

* When creating a new page, first check to make sure a page/article about what you want to write about hasn't already been created, by '''[[Special:Allpages|checking the list of all Wiki pages on Pynchon Wiki]]'''. If a page already exists, please modify that one.

* When creating a new page, if its information pertains to one (and only one) specific Pynchon novel (currently just ''Against the Day'', please categorize it with the identifier "ATD" using this syntax: <nowiki>[[Category:ATD]]</nowiki>

* To open a discussion on an individual listing of the Alpha Index, [[ATD-T|see the page on Tait]]. Basically, give it a name that identifies the alpha listing (eg <nowiki>[[Name Discussion|DISCUSSION]]</nowiki>) and notice that the visible name will be "DISCUSSION" in full caps, so it stands out a bit.

* [[Help:Contents|More help for this wiki available here.]]

==External Links==

* [http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/thomaspynchon/ Random House UK ATD Page]
* [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/ The Modern Word Pynchon page]
: [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/countingdown.html The Modern Word: counting down to ATD]
: [http://z11.invisionfree.com/thefictionalwoods/index.php The Fictional Woods] - a Pynchon forum
* [http://pynchonoid.blogspot.com/ Pynchonoid Blog]
* [http://www.sporadikos-logos.org/against-the-day/ ATD Blog]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_the_Day Wikipedia ATD page]
* [http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/ ThomasPynchon.com]
* Penguin Group AtD Page (Hmmm. There isn't one...)

==Featured Article==

[[image:tesla.tower.jpg|150px|thumb|Tesla's Wardenclyffe laboratory|left]]
'''Was the Tunguska Event Caused by Tesla's Death Ray?''' 
Given that Tesla's inventions generally possessed an element of social conscience, of doing good for humanity, it may seem surprising that he created a number of devices with military applications. And the notion of the Tesla harnessing his mind for purposes of war may seem immensely frightening. After all, this is the man who boasted that with his resonance generator he could split the earth in two... and no one was ever quite sure whether he was joking.

([[Tesla's Death Ray | more...]])

<div style="clear:both;"></div>

==Gallery==
Below are some of the images you will find on Pynchon Wiki. {{Special:Newimages}}

We will be providing more support for using this wiki in the coming weeks. Feel free to contact us (admin at pynchonwiki dot com) with any questions.

Thanks, and enjoy...

ATD 1-25

2006-11-24T13:23:12Z

Jmcdaid: /* Page 9 */

'''Dedication''' 
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Farina")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. It is [http://pynchonwiki.com/index.php?title=DISCUSSION purported] that advance reading copies of the book contained some kind of dedication that was omitted from the final publication.

'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light."''' 
Epigraph by Thelonious Monk. Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon later “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction).

==Page 3==

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

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

'''World's Columbian Exposition''' 
also called The Chicago World's Fair, a World's Fair, was held in the U.S. city of Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry].

==Page 5==

'''Pugnax''' 
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight." Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent dog, the Learned English Dog in ''Mason & Dixon''. Pugnax's manner of speech is also reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog "Scooby-Doo."

'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit)..."'' 
This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed.

==Page 8==

'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"''' 
Like the Prime Directive in ''Star Trek''.

==Page 9==

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

'''"Going up is like going north."''' 
Anyone understand this statement by Randolph?? This simply seems to use the notion that most maps put north at the top, so moving north is moving 'up' the page. Once you pass the pole, you are going south, or back 'down' the map.

This may be an allusion to the change in climate from warm southern climates to cold northern climates. The contrast from southern california to northern california is apt, sunny beaches south...rainy foggy beaches north. Population thins out similar to the oxygen the further North you get. Alaska being the ideal extreme. One can see this as another of the many echoes to themes from "Gravity's Rainbow" in the "Light Over the Ranges" section. Ascending (in an airship or rocket) is like moving Northward to colder and less habitable environments, until one crosses the Pole (literally going 'Beyond the Zero.')

Also, it may further drive home the point, to Chick, that up does not lead to "any realm of the counterfactual": the comparison with going north should remind him that up is just another direction, strange and uncomfortable as it may be for him.

==Page 12==

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

==Page 13==
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."''' 
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]

Reference also to ATD Pg. 51 and "The Unsleeping Eye", an apparent reference to Pinkerton's competing PI agency.

==Page 15==

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

==Page 18==

'''Tzigane''' 
Meaning "gypsy".

==Page 24==

'''Epworth League''' 
A Methodist youth organization founded around 1899.

==Page 25==

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

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

ATD 1-25

2006-11-24T13:09:15Z

Jmcdaid: /* Page 5 */

'''Dedication''' 
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Farina")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. It is [http://pynchonwiki.com/index.php?title=DISCUSSION purported] that advance reading copies of the book contained some kind of dedication that was omitted from the final publication.

'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light."''' 
Epigraph by Thelonious Monk. Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon later “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction).

==Page 3==

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

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

'''World's Columbian Exposition''' 
also called The Chicago World's Fair, a World's Fair, was held in the U.S. city of Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry].

==Page 5==

'''Pugnax''' 
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight." Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent dog, the Learned English Dog in ''Mason & Dixon''. Pugnax's manner of speech is also reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog "Scooby-Doo."

'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit)..."'' 
This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed.

==Page 8==

'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"''' 
Like the Prime Directive in ''Star Trek''.

==Page 9==

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

'''"Going up is like going north."''' 
Anyone understand this statement by Randolph?? This simply seems to use the notion that most maps put north at the top, so moving north is moving 'up' the page. Once you pass the pole, you are going south, or back 'down' the map.

This may be an allusion to the change in climate from warm southern climates to cold northern climates. The contrast from southern california to northern california is apt, sunny beaches south...rainy foggy beaches north. Population thins out similar to the oxygen the further North you get. Alaska being the ideal extreme.

Also, it may further drive home the point, to Chick, that up does not lead to "any realm of the counterfactual": the comparison with going north should remind him that up is just another direction, strange and uncomfortable as it may be for him.

==Page 12==

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

==Page 13==
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."''' 
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]

Reference also to ATD Pg. 51 and "The Unsleeping Eye", an apparent reference to Pinkerton's competing PI agency.

==Page 15==

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

==Page 18==

'''Tzigane''' 
Meaning "gypsy".

==Page 24==

'''Epworth League''' 
A Methodist youth organization founded around 1899.

==Page 25==

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

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