Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 892-918

2018-08-27T02:26:50Z

Mattkb: /* Page 897 */ updated link for painting

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

==Page 892==

'''Bodeo-packing''' 
The Bodeo was the Italian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_pistol service pistol].

'''''coglioni''''' 
Coglione is Italian for testicle, literally. However, the word is also used figuratively, with the connotation of a foolishly annoying person, which the British might translate as "twit". I guess in American English you would translate it as ''dork''.

'''Bloomsbury''' 
Fashionable London district including the British Museum and University College London.

'''west of Regents Park''' 
The huge park is in northern central London. To the west are Lisson, Paddington, Westbourne Green, Kensal Town and other districts.

Parts of ''The Princess Casamassima'' are set in Lisson Grove.

==Page 893==

'''taximeter cab''' 
The taximeter is the device (mechanical in this context) that calculates passenger fares based on a combination of distance travelled and/or waiting time. It is the shortened form of this word that gives the "taxi" its name. The modern taximeter was invented by German Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891, and the Daimler Victoria, the world's first meter-equipped (and gasoline-powered) taxicab, was built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1897.
Taximeters were originally mechanical and mounted outside the cab, above the driver's side front wheel. Meters were soon relocated inside the taxi, and in the 1980s electronic meters were introduced, doing away with the once-familiar ticking sound of the meter's timing mechanism.

'''Fedora''' 
Capitalized because at the time it was recognized as a proper name: from Sardou's play ''Fédora.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_(hat) Description, picture and history on Wikipedia.] Another hat named after a play (because someone in the play wore such a hat) - the other being [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_171-198#Page_185 Trilby].

'''Lampo''' 
Italian-made pistol.

'''Peckham Rye''' 
District in southeast London.

Perhaps of significance, perhaps not: site of Muriel Sparks' 1960 novel ''The Ballad of Peckham Rye'', in which one character, around whom the action revolves, may or may not be the Devil, but who is certainly disruptive of normal middle class values.

Perhaps more pertinently where William Blake first had a vision of angels in 1767.

'''Henry Newbolt''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Newbolt Sir Henry Newbolt] (1862-1938) was an English author and poet.

'''"Vitaï Lampada"''' 
Dally noting passages from [[Vitai Lampada|the Newbolt poem]] quoted by Cyprian on [[ATD_792-820#Page_813|page 813]] and by Dr. De Bottle on [[ATD_219-242#Page_236|page 236.]]

'''pietà''' 
Works so titled commonly show Mary, the mother of Jesus, with his body after its removal from the cross.

==Page 894==

'''predators' wings''' 
Western art mostly depicts angels with the wings of prey species, namely doves.

'''Angel of Death''' 
This angel appears in ''V.'' and ''GR'' too.

'''Katie bar the door''' 
Slang expression dating from the late 1800's meaning, Look out! (there's trouble headed this way so close and "lock" the door). For a possible etymology see: [http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html] 
:The story of 'Catherine Bar-the-Door', the lady who tried to protect the Scots King James by inserting her arm as a 'bolt' in the door was a standard item of the pop history they taught in Scottish schools back in the fifties (I was there!), like Bruce and the Spider, King Alfred and the Cakes, Washington and the cherry tree and so on. That surely must be the origin of the phrase.

'''Pegamoid traveler's satchel''' 
Pegamoid: a fabric coated with [http://www.kwhplast.com/Default.aspx?id=454043 plasticized nitrocellulose;] used for early aircraft fuselages, convertible roofs and wallets. There is a [http://www.londontown.com/LondonStreets/pegamoid_road_6f6.html Pegamoid Road] in the borough of Enfield, London.

== Page 895 ==

'''capitalist temples . . . those of us who do''' 
Is Dally a concrete being or an abstraction? Here she is flipping back and forth. She is very "concrete:" the reference is to a statue which she modeled for.

'''''The Spirit of Bimetallism''''' 
Beautiful title: invented image for a perfectly spiritless policy.

:I'm not so sure how "spiritless" the policy was; many less wealthy folks favored a more inflationary money policy, which bimetallism represented. For a contemporary political cartoon reflecting this, see [http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/0912la.jpg]. -- After the Civil War, there was a decades-long debate about whether the US should keep silver as well as gold coinage, and whether the dollar should be pegged to gold (the "gold standard"). It was an issue important to the Populist Party and was the basis of William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" speech. For economic details, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimetallism].

L. Frank Baum's populist parable, ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) also took up the call for bimetallism. In the book, the Ruby Slippers that transport Dorothy home are actually made of silver, echoing Bryan's call for the deliverance of the laboring classes through the "free coingage of silver." The golden Yellow Brick Road leads only to the big city but no deliverance. Whereas, ''"Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert.....If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.". Glinda explains, "All you have to do is knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go."''

Like Dahlia, Dorothy can be said to represent ''The Spirit of
Bimetallism''.

Does bi-metallism parallel bi-location?

Note that as a child (p.27) Dahlia is called a ''helpless angel'' (Italics in original text).

And one that had turned to blood in the Colorado mines.

A bimetallic strip was the moving part in a thermostat. 
Still is, but in context the word refers to a currency system based on both gold and silver. 

:In general, Pynchon is parodying the Late Victorian tendency of the plutes to glorify their activities by decorating their institutions with 'art' allegorizing them, for example sculptures of young ladies representing Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and so on... Dally can see the real living girls who've been fossilized into these figures.

'''''semeuse''''' 
French: girl sowing seeds. 
:the "semeuse" is referred to here as "classic" because she is the symbol of France: the shawl or hood is in fact a Phrygian cap (emblem of the French revolution) and the figure of the semeuse was ubiquitous on French coins and stamps throughout the XXth century.

'''Charlie Sykes''' 
Charles Robinson Sykes was a sculptor who designed the hood ornament for Rolls Royce, called "The Spirit of Ecstasy." See also p. 1074.

==Page 896==

'''Three Choirs Festival''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Choirs_Festival Three Choirs Festival], a British music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester and originally featuring their three choirs.

'''Ralph Vaughan Williams''' 
English composer, 1872-1958 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams]. He premiered the [http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/v-w/tallisfantasia.html "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis"] in 1910.

'''cantores and decani''' 
Cantoris (another print error in AtD?) is the side of a church choir occupied by the Cantor. In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the north side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral. The opposite side is known as Decani, the side of a church choir occupied by the Dean. In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel.

'''Phrygian''' 
The theme is in the "modern" phrygian mode which, if one starts on the "e" note, consists of the notes e-f-g-a-b-c-d-e. You don't have to start on "e," but you must maintain the relationship of the intervals: half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step.

'''very slowly Ruperta began to levitate...''' 
Ruperta's levitation, caused or triggered by the Phrygian music she is hearing, has a Pythagorean precedent:

:Pythagoras discovered that the seven modes — or keys — of the Greek system of music had the power to incite or allay the various emotions. It is related that while observing the stars one night he encountered a young man befuddled with strong drink and mad with jealousy who was piling faggots about his mistress' door with the intention of burning the house. The frenzy of the youth was accentuated by a flutist a short distance away who was playing a tune in the stirring Phrygian mode. Pythagoras induced the musician to change his air to the slow, and rhythmic Spondaic mode, whereupon the intoxicated youth immediately became composed and, gathering up his bundles of wood, returned quietly to his own home. From [[Pythagorean Theory of Music and Color]]

However, whereas in the Pythagoras story the Phrygian mode causes the young man to become agitated, in Ruperta's case, the effect is physically and spiritually uplifting. Moreover, Pythagoras' Phrygian mode is the ancient Greek Phrygian mode (d-e-f-g-a-b-c-d, what is called the Dorian mode today) not the "modern" one used by Thomas Tallis and, hence, Vaughn Williams. Also, Spondaic is a rhythmn, not a mode. The new mode Pythagoras asked the flutist to change to was the Hypophrygian (g-a-b-c-d-e-f-g).

'''Somehow, I alone, for every single wrong act of my life, must find a right one to balance it''' 
Ruperta retuns to earth a Buddhist; her first step is to restore karmic balance in her life. If any music in the world could produce such a transformation, it is Vaughan Williams' ''Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'', heard in an English cathedral's acoustics. This, too, produces alternate histories.
:That is one of the most elegant entries in this whole wiki.

==Page 897==

'''imprimatura''' 
The unfilled white ground of a canvas, painted only with white primer. (It can be other than white, especially in Venetian painting.)

'''immoderate light-space . . . ''Dido Building Carthage''''' 
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_building_Carthage#/media/File%3ATurner_Dido_Building_Carthage.jpg 1815 painting in the National Gallery, London.]

==Page 898==

'''West End''' 
Area, centered roughly on Shaftesbury Avenue, where London legitimate theaters concentrate. British equivalent of Broadway.

'''''mitzvah''''' 
Hebrew: good or worthy deed.

'''Wogs Begin at Wigan''' 
Another classy theatrical offering from the producer of "Dagoes with Knives." Does TRP have a low opinion of theater? 
:The point being an allusion to jocularly racist expressions like "Wogs begin at Calais", i.e. where England stops. In this case, the northern English consider the southerners equally alien. Or perhaps vice versa. 
Mr. Pynchon was spotted at a recent all-day production of Tom Stoppard's
newest three-part play, ''The Coast of Utopia'', not surprising perhaps.(2007) ''The Coast of Utopia'' is a trilogy about the origins of modern political radicalism in 19th century Russia. The central figures in the action are Michael Bakunin, Vissarion Belinsky, and Alexander Herzen. The work consists of three plays: "Voyage", "Shipwreck", and "Salvage". From wikipedia. 
He seems only to have a low opinion of low
plays, plays which manifest and feed our cultural stereotypes. [[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 08:31, 15 June 2007 (PDT)

'''character juvenile''' 
In a theater company the "juvenile" played a young, eligible man, counterpart to the ingenue. "Character" is almost an antonym for a stock player, having the ability to play many roles without limitation by physical type.

'''vocal range was half an octave''' 
A song as simple as "Home on the Range" calls for a full octave of range. Half an octave is not much more than inflected humming.

'''Shaftesbury Avenue, the Strand, Haymarket, and Kings Way''' 
The rough quadrangle bounded by these streets lies west of the City and includes Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House, the National Portrait Gallery and one entrance to Charing Cross railway station.

'''from Camberwell Green to Notting Hill Gate''' 
Camberwell Green is in southeast London, Notting Hill Gate in the west central part of the area.

'''Scotch eggs''' 
A delicacy Americans often just refuse to believe: a hard-boiled egg enrobed in sausage meat and deep-fried.

'''chip-shop newspaper''' 
The newspaper used to wrap the fish and chips (US: French Fries); very greasy, naturally, but the only paper that may come to hand.

==Page 899==

'''laddered stockings''' 
Britishism; in US parlance, stockings ruined by a run (producing a laddered effect).

'''beauties of photogravuredom''' 
When newspapers used the gravure process, costs dictated they reserve it for pictorial material of special value, often publishing a separate section or even a magazine showing fashionably dressed women.

'''Lalique''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Lalique René Lalique] (1860-1945) was one of the world's greatest glass makers and jewellery designers, renowned for his stunning creations of perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments.

'''Turkish railway intrigues''' 
Refers to the international machinations among the Powers over the proposed (Berlin to) Baghdad Railway, in fact the Basra railway. Such a rail link would give Germany access to development of a large swath of the Ottoman Empire, and make possible a naval presence in the Persian Gulf, seen by Britain as a threat to routes to India in case of war. Britain and other states also worried, quite rightly, that the German rapprochement with the Ottomans could lead to army connections. From about 1911 German military advisors trained Ottoman officers, and in World War I the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany (which is why Australian troops were sent to die at Gallipoli).

Elsewhere in AtD there are references to the proposed routes for this rail network (routes through East Roumelia, the Orient Express route), which was eventually completed--the last link being put in place under Vichy France in Syria in 1940 [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos139.htm].

The meaning within AtD of such a network, linking Europe and Asia, widens to potential links to Russian railways, e.g. the Trans-Caucasian Kit rides, and the Trans-Siberian; and via Palestine and Cairo, to Cecil Rhodes' proposed Cape to Cairo Railway. Add the recently completed Channel Tunnel and a recently proposed Bering Strait Tunnel, and there is a potential for a world-spanning network of steel rails, binding everywhere to everywhere--a 19th Century dream come true--and the old routes languish, as in Ostend.

'''From Turkish railway intrigues, Crouchmas had . . .''' 
See pp. 237-239.

==Page 900==

'''Finsbury''' 
North of the City of London and near the suggestively named Shoreditch.

'''Northumberland Avenue''' 
Upscale street near Charing Cross and Scotland Yard.

'''in expensive ''déshabillé''''' 
''Déshabillé'' is French: undressed. I.e., dressed (expensively) but not dressed to go out.
:neglige — a loose dressing gown for women.

'''Oxfordshire''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxfordshire Oxfordshire], where the University of Oxford is located, is a county in the south-central of England.

'''Overlunch''' 
Dally and Lew meet over lunch. Nice.

'''Moon, Sun''' 
Which Dally held in her balance as the Spirit of Bimetallism, P.895.
Silver Moon, Gold Sun.

==Page 901==

'''Vionnet-gowned''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Vionnet Madeleine Vionnet] (June 22, 1876 - 1975) was a French fashion designer. Called the "Queen of the bias cut" and "the architect among dressmakers," Vionnet is best-known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for introducing the bias cut to the fashion world. The bias cut and absence of padding allowed a new freedom of movement.

[[Image:The_Moon_Tarot_XVIII.jpg‎|100px|thumb|Tarot XVIII|right]]
'''the giant crayfish clattered slowly out of the bathing-pool, and the dog began to bay''' 
Lew's vision descibes the imagery on the Moon Tarot Card XVIII 

'''the Dog Star Sirius, which ruled this part of the summer''' 
A sky enigma [[ATD_792-820#Page_796|(see the annotations to page 796 for another)]]. In old beliefs, Sirius "ruled" late summer (the "Dog Days") by lining up with the Sun so that their heats added together. In this season Sirius and the Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun, so that you look toward the Sun and see Sirius near it and behind it; Sirius sets a little time before or after sunset rather than ascending throughout the evening.

I suggest it is worth the effort to seek a way this passage can be technically and thematically right. --[[User:Volver|Volver]] 14:44, 28 January 2007 (PST)

==Page 902==

'''playing now in 3/4, too fast to be called a waltz...''' 
Disaster in 3/4 time--see P.809 and note. Once again the pace of movement toward the European Disaster is picking up; here again there is an echo of Ravel's chaotic ''La Valse''.

==Page 903==

'''the King is the Kaiser's uncle''' 
British Queen Victoria's eldest child, Princess Victoria, married Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia in 1857. Their eldest son became Germany's last Kaiser in 1888. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, her eldest son (second child), Prince Albert Edward, became King Edward VII. 
It is interesting to know that through Queen Victoria's daughters, British King, German Kaiser and Russia Tsar were related. Queen Victoria's second daughter (third child), Princess Alice, had a daughter, Alix, who was the wife of Russia's last Tsar, Nicholas II.

'''rapid changes in Turkish politics''' 
The Turkish oscillations between the other Powers, here principally England and Germany, the Berlin to Baghdad Railway being one among the issues at stake.

'''level of 'reality' at which nations, like money in the bank, are merged and indistinguishable''' 
This rather cryptic line will take on more meaning on P.904, where there is reference to alternate historical possibilities (note the partial quotes around 'reality'), literally merging England and Germany, victor and vanquished in the First World War. This is also an Anarchist tenet, the equally evil nature of all governments.

It is the opposite of cryptic. It states clearly that all authoritative governments are based upon the same principles, much like money in the bank, which they interchange as amenably as loyal countrymen, the only difference being their loyalty is to no country in particular but rather to Countries in the universal sense, which allow them to separate the world into digestible pieces and consequently hold happily onto their individual plots.

'''St.Paul's''' 
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4187568 St.Paul's Cathedral], London. The current St Paul's Cathedral is the fourth one to occupy its site on Ludgate Hill. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, it's first stone was laid in 1675 and the final stone was not laid until 1710. The height of St Paul's from the pavement to the top of the cross is 365 feet.

==Page 904==

'''A royal charter . . . illuminating gas''' 
Ernest Augustus (1771-1851) was a younger son of British and Hanoverian King George III. In Britain he had a substantial military career and, as Duke of Cumberland, began to pursue a political one as well. His niece Victoria acceded to the British throne in 1837—the crown passing to her as heiress of an older son of George III—but Hanover's laws said a woman could not serve as monarch there, so the royal dynasty split. Ernest Augustus was named King of Hanover and occupied the throne until his death. He evidently used the name Ernst-August in Hannover.

(Göttingen, by the way, lay in this kingdom. Its university was founded by Ernest Augustus' great-grandfather George II.)

The tunnel in question would link Galloway in Scotland to Ulster in Ireland, burrowing under 20 miles of seabed in waters some 100 fathoms (over 150 m) deep. In 1837-51 it was laughably unfeasible, and indeed it would not become an economic proposition until over a century later. (From most parts of Britain it would be harder to get to Galloway than Ireland anyway.)

So the "charter" mentioned in the text was granted for an impossible project by a monarch who, our history tells us, had no jurisdiction in the countries affected. It is essential to read this bit of text in conjunction with the Grand Cohen's speculations on pages 230-231.

(What is suggested here is that the building houses files from alternate timelines, alternate histories,; or: from alternate Possibilities that collapsed into the certainty of a single timeline).

'''A railroad . . . East Roumelia''' 
As in [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Mason & Dixon''], another straight line cast across the land.

And part of the proposed German financed Berlin to Baghdad network outflanking Britain's sea routes, through some territory of doubtful and disputed sovereignty.

'''guilloche''' 
Or guilloché, a pattern of interlaced curved lines, most commonly seen on banknotes. These patterns were traditionally used for security printing purposes as a protection against counterfeit and forgery, as well as for decorating valuable objects such as Fabergé eggs and pocket watches. 
Guilloché machines (alternately called geometric lathes, rose machines, engine-turners, and cycloidal engines) were first used for a watch casing dated 1624, and consist of myriad gears and settings that can produce many different patterns.

'''A deed . . . Buckinghamshire . . . east of Wolverton and north of Bletchley''' 
Is it coincidence that this area contains the designed town of Milton Keynes? Bletchley has another resonance: Alan Turing worked during WWII at Bletchley Park, the center for British code-breaking. 
Buckinghamshire is the eastern neighbor of Oxfordshire.

<div id="obock">'''Obock'''</div>
A real French colony in present-day Djibouti; sovereignty is not made clear by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obock Wikipedia entry.] According to the 1911 Britannica (search on Obock and go to history), the French took formal possession of Obock in 1883 and were currently (1911) using it as a coaling station for warships and as a highroad to Abyssinia.

'''Sagallo''' 
A Russian colony near Obock; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagallo another Wikipedia article.]

'''Atchinoff''' 
Or Achinov: adventurer who sought in 1889 to establish the colony of Sagallo.

'''the archimandrite Païsi''' 
Archimandrite: a ranking priest in the Orthodox Church. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/SAC_SAR/SAGALLO.html Païsi] is the (Russian Orthodox) priest who is not named in the Wikipedia article on Sagallo.

==Page 905==

'''caryatid''' 
Architecture: a supporting column sculptured in the form of a draped female figure. 
:I think the point is that Dally is in the British Library (part of the British Museum). A copy of everything published had to be registered there, so there would be treaties and contracts of international importance - evidence of what Crouchmas had been up to. It was the largest building in Britain at the time (see Wikipedia article on British Library). So the simple fact that she's there makes Crouchmas suspicious. She's doing some 'investigative journalism' using 'public' sources that are hidden away unless you know where to look for them.

'''lunes''' 
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lune lune] is the surface formed by cutting a sphere with two planes each including the center.

'''nacreous''' 
Having the luster of pearl or mother-of-pearl.

'''bleared''' 
Used figuratively (in this context): obscured (mental or moral perception)

'''Madame Entrevue''' 
Mrs. Interview.

In its "journalistic" sense, "entrevue" is used only in French Canada (the French prefer the English term "interview"). Here, "entrevue" means "a concerted meeting". or it might take on the alternate meaning, "seen partially".

==Page 906==

'''Baz Zaharoff''' 
Mentioned on [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_557-587#Page_557 page 557].

'''Wagon-Lits''' 
A sleeping car on a European railroad train.

'''but it's ''they'' who want to sell ''him'' something''' 
Uh-oh. The device that Umeki took away is coming back.

Oh yes ... and [[ATD_97-118#Page_114|there's more...]]

==Page 907==

'''condition of sin''' 
Possible reference to the (perhaps hopeless) intertwining of spiritual and temporal quests, like the search for Shambhala. The seeking of knowledge seems hopelessly entwined with the seeking of power.

'''Turkish Delight''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight Turkish delight] is a confection made from starch and sugar. It is often flavoured with rosewater and lemon, the former giving it a characteristic pale pink color... During his travels to Istanbul, an unknown Briton became very fond of the delicacy... and shipped them to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. It became a major delicacy in Britain. (Wikipedia) 
Also, a memorable part of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

'''"...here I come, Constantinople."''' 
Dally's chapter-ending remark is a reference to the chorus of "Constantinople," a popular recording by The Residents from their 1978 EP [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Stab%21 Duck Stab!] Like Thomas Pynchon himself, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents The Residents] have been famous since the early 70s yet the world knows little of their identity. [http://www.elyrics.net/read/r/residents-lyrics/constantinople-lyrics.html Complete lyrics]

[[User:Jpicco|Jpicco]] 16:46, 13 May 2007 (PDT) 
- The Residents also had a later album called Wormwood, aka Tchernobyl, one of the explanations for the Tunguska event, cf. [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_792-820#Page_792 annotation to page 797]

==Page 908==

'''what some were beginning to call Istanbul''' 
[[ATD_821-848#Page_846|See annotation to page 846.]] 

An amusing bit of musical ephemera in this context:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUsOaB5V2c Istanbul (not Constantinople)]
performed by the Trevor Horn Orchestra,  from Mona Lisa Smile OST

'''Cağaloğlu''' 
District in Istanbul somewhat west of Aya Sophia.

'''Byzantine schemes''' 
Wonderful play on words. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire until the Turkish conquest of 1453; any complex intrigue, said to be typical of the old and very sophisticated Empire, is called "Byzantine" in complexity. Here of course the schemes are both complex and, located in Constantinople, literally Byzantine. A good example of Pynchonian "Temporal Bandwidth"; this is a multicultural, multitemporal joke.

'''Imi and Ernö''' 
Imi is the diminutive for Imre (Emery); Ernő (with double long accent) is the Hungarian equivalent for Ernest.

'''Szeged''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szeged Szeged] is a city in southern border of Hungary, a major center of paprika production.

'''Wagons-Lits''' 
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens (the International Sleeping-Car Company and Great European Expresses). Originally, the company deployed sleeping- and dining-cars in Europe, similar to the Pullman company in the US. The company deployed the first sleeping and dining cars for long-distance train travel in Europe. In 1883 the company started with a service to Constantinople called the Orient Express [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_Internationale_des_Wagons-Lits]. The train followed several routes in its storied history ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express]). Kit and Dally are both on the luxury Wagons-Lits version, running by way of Vienna and Budapest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express]. The European sections of the route were as much subject to political machinations as the proposed Ottoman Empire continuations on to Baghdad and beyond.

==Page 909==

'''Zaharoff ''úr''''' 
Hungarian: Mr. Zaharoff.

'''''Fönök''''' 
Hungarian: chief, boss. Also a slangish form of address, showing friendly intentions to a (male) stranger.

==Page 910==

'''''Bocsánat''''' 
Hungarian: pardon!

'''Euphorbia''' 
Quick thinking, but she may not be flattered. The genus ''Euphorbia'' comprises the spurges, large-leafed plants with milky sap. Yes, and perhaps the best known Euphorbia is the poinsettia, euphorbia pulcherrima, which has large red (like Dally's hair) flowers ([http://flowers109.tripod.com/newquotations1.html pic]). (The red flowers combined with its green leaves make it a popular plant around Christmas time). The poinsettia is beautiful and pulcherrima means most beautiful, so she may be flattered.

'''''chef de brigade''''' 
French: crew chief.

'''''kalabriás''''' 
Hungarian: the complicated card game ''klaberjas'' or "klob." Kalábriász is a more common spelling.

'''Porta Orientalis''' 
The Eastern Gate Pass in the Southern Carpathians (Transylvanian Alps), complete with railway tunnel, connecting historical Translyvania with the Danubian Plain in Walachia (southern Romania).

'''Széchenyi-Tér tramline''' 
Széchenyi tér is a central city square in Szeged, where the first tramline (electric streetcar) was inaugurated in 1908. Recall Merle Rideout's work with streetcars.

'''Kiskúnfélegyháza''' 
Town 70 miles southeast of Budapest on the route to Szeged.

==Page 911==

'''the invisible city ahead of him gripping him ever more surely in its field''' 
Istanbul (was Constantinople...) is another city, like Venice, with enormous Temporal Bandwidth. Ancient, multicultural, politically and historically complex, it (its "field"?) grips Kit as Venice gripped Dally. It is, in fact historically connected to Venice (two poles of the medieval Mediterannean) by trade and competition. Venice had a hand in the destruction of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204-5; Venetian
mercenaries were among its last defenders in the Turkish siege of 1453.

'''Galata Tower''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galata_Tower Galata Tower], one of Istanbul's most striking landmarks, is located on the Galata side of the Golden Horn. Genoese traders built it in 1348, with a height of 220 ft the tallest structure when built.

'''Eminönü''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emin%C3%B6n%C3%BC Eminönü], a district of Istanbul, is the heart of the walled city of Constantine, the focus of a history of incredible richness and a seaport.

'''the Sultan's threatened counterrevolution''' 
April 1909.

'''Pera Palace''' 
[http://www.allaboutturkey.com/perapalas.htm Pera Palas Hotel] in Galata district of Istanbul was originally founded in 1892 for the specific purpose of hosting passengers arriving on the ''Orient Express''. Room 411 of the hotel is now preserved as "Agatha Christie Room" because it was said Agatha Christie wrote ''Murder on the Orient Express'' in that room.

'''the Committee of Union and Progress''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_of_Union_and_Progress The Committee of Union and Progress] (C.U.P.), an umbrella political organization, was found in 1906 by various underground revolutionary factions with the common goal of disolving the Ottoman Empire. It came to power between 1908 and 1918.

'''''komitadji''''' 
Cf [[ATD_557-587#Page_557|page 557: Balkan ''komitadji'']].

'''Viktor Mulciber''' 
Cf [[ATD_557-587#Page_557|page 557: Viktor Mulciber]].

==Page 912==

'''drummer''' 
Salesman.

'''air show in Brescia last year''' 
The competition took place in September 1909.

'''pilots like Calderara and Cobianchi''' 
Mario Calderara (1879-1944) and Mario Cobianchi (1881-1944), Italian pioneers of aviation. For an eerie foreshadowing of ''Inconvenience'' and the Campanile, [http://www.earlyaviators.com/ecobianc.htm look at the photo near the middle of this page.]

'''''meyhane''''' 
A Turkish tavern.

'''''politissas''''' 
A "politissa" is "a woman from Constantinople (Istanbul)." See [http://amanyala.blogspot.com/2006/09/rembetiko-of-month_13.html this article].

==Page 913==

'''the promise . . . year before last''' 
So the promise and Dally and Kit's goodbye took place in 1908?

'''Grand-Hôtel Tisza''' 
Named for the Tisza River.

'''''újházaspár''''' 
Hungarian: new wedded couple (literally). The formation is perfect but there is no such compound word in common usage; seems to be a calque for "newlyweds"

'''Varosi Színház''' 
Hungarian: ''Municipal Theater''. The correct spelling should be Városi.

'''Béla Blaskó . . . from Lugos''' 
In the same way that a man from Miskolc took the name Miskolci, this successful actor in another life will take a new stage name. Born in 1882, his full name was Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó. If you haven't figured out who he would become after crossing the Atlantic, read here[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_lugosi]

==Page 914==

'''Pityu''' 
Diminutive for István (Stephen).

'''''hálaszlé''''' 
Hungarian: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_soup fisherman soup].

'''Temesvár''' 
In Romanian, Timişoara, in Transylvania, another political football in 19th and early 20th century politics; reinforces the Bela Lugosi reference. - In the strict sense Temesvár/Timişoara does not belong to Transylvania proper but to Banat, a particularly multi-ethnic region between the Danube and the southernmost reaches of the Carpathians. Under Habsburg rule it was a garrison town with mostly German population, and in 1989 it was the birthplace of the Romanian revolution.

'''''The Burgher King''''' 
I.e., middle-class.

Also, of course, a play on the fast food chain, similar to the character Muller Hoch-Leben (MIller High Life) in ''GR''.

Interplay between the aristocracy and the middle (or lower) classes was a central theme in the Austro-Hungarian operetta of the age, with titles like Prince Bob, Baroness Lili, Countess Marica, the Count of Luxemburg, the Princess of Circus, and last but not least, the Queen of Csárdás, a perennial classic.

'''Schleppingsdorff''' 
Comic German name: a shlep from shlepville.

'''Machen wir . . . nichts kaufen''' 
German: Let's go for a window-shopping stroll; / Put on something fiddly (or fancy). / In streets and lanes let's just run— / Stare at everything but don't buy anything.

In addition, the German here is not correct. The second line should read "Überwirf Dir irgendeinen Fummel" or "Wirf Dir einen Fummel über", or something like that.

==Page 915==

'''''molto agitato''''' 
Italian musical direction: highly agitated.

'''''ucca''''' 
Hungarian: street.

'''So super-ficially deep...Good time girl from the K and K''' 
The plot is a mash-up of countless operettas. As far as "good time girls, superficially deep": at this point (1900-1910) the art and literature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was replete with complicated women in complicated relationships (cf. the paintings of Gustav Klimt, the stories of Robert Musil, Stefan Zweig; not to mention Sigmund Freud's case histories, particularly "Dora"); mistresses and prostitutes did figure heavily as well.

K and K (k.u.k) stands for kaiserlich und königlich, imperial (Austrian) and royal (Hungarian).

The lyrics resemble (maybe by accident, maybe not) one of the all-time operetta hits, "Girls are angels", basically about flirtation and extramarital sex with chorus girls, from ''The Queen of Csárdás'' (see note to The Burgher King on page 914). The song is traditionally performed "wearing a silk hat at a rakish angle", and contains "superficially deep" lines like "here all existence is just an appearance / here everyone is allowed to play a role".

(the passage reads like a very Pynchonian take on the whole tradition, in a way comparable to "The Courier's Tragedy" in "Lot 49".)

==Page 916==

'''"that piece of business where he bites old Heidi's neck, what was that all about?''' 
Nod to the actor's (who would rename himself Bela Lugosi, see page 913) future defining role of Dracula. Lugosi first played the famous vampire on Broadway in 1927 before scaring movie audiences to death in 1931. When Dally adds "Something they do in these parts?", she unknowingly refers to the long tradition of belief in vampirism in the Balkans, especially in Transylvania (modern day Romania).

'''up the river''' 
The Tisza.

'''Szolnok''' 
Town east of Budapest.

'''Lake Balaton''' 
Long narrow lake in west central Hungary, with reputedly the finest beaches in Central Europe. Popular holiday resorts.

'''Pragerhof''' 
Pragersko in present-day Slovenia.

'''Venezia''' 
Venice.

'''Siófok''' 
Town on the southern shore of Lake Balaton.

==Page 917==

'''gaff-riggers''' 
A gaff-rigger is a boat or ship with gaff-rigged sails. Gaff-rigged denotes a fore-and-aft sail bent to a mast, to a boom at the lower edge, and to a gaff (inclined spar) extending from the mast at the top.

'''''fogások''''' 
Hungarian: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zander zanders] synonymous with (''[http://www.caspianenvironment.org/biodb/eng/fishes/Stizostedion%20lucioperca/main.htm Lucioperca lucioperca]'' or ''sandra''). The correct spelling is ''fogasok'', without an accent.

==Page 918==

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

ATD 525-556

2018-07-20T03:50:47Z

Mattkb: /* Page 540 */Cleaning up entry and speculation without any actual basis

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

==Page 525==

'''Ostend''' 
Cf [[ATD_489-524#Page 521|page 521: Ostend]], a seaport in northwest Belgium. Among English-speaking tourists, Ostend (or Ostende) is best known as a ferry port.

'''Fishermen's Quai''' 
Fishermen's Quay, also called ''De Trap''. The shrimp boats come home here from the sea in the morning. Along the quay many stands sell lots of seafoods.

'''Boulevard van Isenghem''' 
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.

'''street-plausible''' 
Presentable.

'''Quai de l'empereur''' 
Since Ostende is in the Flemish part of Belgium this should be the Keizerskaai, a street along the old part of the harbour, 1919 renamed Vindictivelaan.

'''estaminet''' 
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor.

'''twelve-centime''' 
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.

Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.

'''Quaternions''' 
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843). 

Analogy with the complex numbers (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 132|page 132:complex number]]) being represented as a sum of real and imaginary parts, a + b''i'', where ''i''² = −1, a quaternion is defined as a combination a + b''i'' + c''j'' + d''k'', where ''i''² = ''j''² = ''k''² = ''i j k'' = −1, and a, b, c, d are ''four'' explicit real numbers. The non-commutative property refers to ''i j = −j i = k; j k = −k j = i; k i = −i k = j''. (i.e. ''i j ≠ j i; j k ≠ k j; k i ≠ i k''; etc.) The using of ''i, j, k'', the imaginary numbers (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 133|page 133:imaginary number]]), led to the phrases of "the ''ijk'' lot" of page 533 and "creature of ''i-j-k''" of page 534.

'''Kellner''' 
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.

Well, I don't think it may sound insulting for the waiter, as Ostend is in the part of Belgium were Flemish (Dutch) is spoken and in that language ''kelner'' is the word for waiter, which sounds like the German ''Kellner''. Pynchon misspelling, maybe? (DCB)

'''''demi''''' 
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).

'''Lambic''' 
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.

'''skimmer''' 
Straw hat ("Panama").

==Page 526==

'''biquaternion''' 
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]

'''Barry Nebulay''' 
Pun on a term from heraldry, ''barry nebuly.'' The term barry (rhymes with "starry," not "carry") refers to a shield divided into an even number of parts by horizontal lines. Nebuly, possibly also spelled ''nebulée,'' signals that the lines are deformed into stylized "cloud" shapes. (Actually the dividing line looks more like interlocking parts of a jigsaw puzzle.) [http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/heraldry/partitions.html Here you can see an example.]

A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"?

'''University of Dublin''' 
The Alma Mater of Hamilton, the father of Quaternion. He studied, graduated and taught at Trinity College, the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university.

If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902. 

'''Quaternioneers''' 
Quaternion believers.

'''Gibbsian Vectors''' 
Vector Analysis (or Vector Calculus) developed by Willard Gibbs (Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]]) in 1881 and 1884. It is a branch of calculus that deals with vectors and process involving vectors. It is much more easily applied to phsics and other applied sciences than Hamilton's Quaternions (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]]). 
A vector is defined by not only a magnitude but also a direction, such as a velocity vector, ''v'' is defined by ''v'' = a''i'' + b''j'' + c''k'',
where a, b, and c are the magnitudes of the velocity components in directions of ''i, j'' and ''k'' which are unit vectors, (not imaginary numbers as in Quaternion), with magnitude of 1. In three dimensional cases and ''xyz'' coordinate system is used then ''i, j, k'' are related to ''x, y, z'' directions ("''xyz'' people" of page 533); but they, in general, may be used irrespective of the notation of the coordinates.
Mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication), differentiation (''curl'' — Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326:Curl]] and p. 536, ''Laplacian'' — Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326:Laplacian]] and p. 536, etc) and integration can be applied to vectors. It is interesting to know that one of the two multiplication operations is called cross product; for unit vectors (''i, j, k'') perpendicular to each other, then, ''i × i = j × j = k × k = 0'', ''i × j = k'', ''j × i = -k'', etc. ([http://web.mit.edu/wwmath/vectorc/summary.html Vector Calculus]). 
A simple vector anyalysis example here: if ''k'', the unit vector, stands for the direction upward and g is the gravitational acceleration, then the acceleration vector, ''a'', for a projectile, is defined for downward action, (the ''i'' and ''j'' directions have zero components): 
:''a'' = -g ''k'' 
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v'' 
:''v'' = -g t ''k'' 
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time. 
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile 
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k'' 
toward the sea level.

'''Quaternionists''' 
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.

'''Tasmania''' 
Tasmania is an island of the southern coast of Australia. Known for its relative isolation, it was a prison for English convicts in the 1800s.
This is likely a reference to mathematician Alexander McAuley, who researched biquaternion theory, and was Professor of Physics at the University of Tasmania, Hobart ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McAulay]).

'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic''' 
In his 1865 work ''The Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field'', James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism. He put forth twenty equations, with twenty unknowns, in vector form (though different in notation and form than the equations that now bear his name) that completely described all known electromagnetic phenomena. In his 1873 treatise on the subject, he expressed the equations in the mathematics of quaternions. It appears that the quaternion form of the equations remained popular even though, at the behest of his publisher, Maxwell reverted to the 1865 form in the second edition (1881)--though they remain scattered throughout. In 1892 Oliver Heaviside (On the Forces, Stresses, and Fluxes of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field. ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.'' A, Vol. 183. pp423-480), while spewing scientific vitriol at the Quaternionists, reformulated Maxwell's original 1865 equations (Heaviside chose to remove the vector potential and scalar fields from the equations; the inclusion of these terms had served as Maxwell's justification for the use of quaternions), and provided the notation still in use today. See this [http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=60 PDF] for the evolution of Maxwell's equations.

'''Hamiltonian devotees''' 
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.

'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue''' 
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon?

Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.

'''anterooms of death''' 
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.

'''Belgian Art Nouveau''' 
Art Nouveau, 1890(or 80) to 1914, explores a new style in the visual arts and architecture that developed in Europe and North America at the end of the 19th century. At its height (~1907), Art Nouveau was a concerted attempt to create an international style based on decoration. It was developed by a brilliant and energetic generation of artists and desisgners, who sought to fashion an art form appropriate to the post-Industrial Revolution modern age. 
Brussels was one of the Art Nouveau centers and represented different style from the others. The jewelers there, accepted as artists rahter than craftsmen, (together with those in Paris) defined Art Nouveau in jewelery and achieved the most renown. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau Art Nouveau]).

==Page 527==

'''dossing''' 
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"

'''Russian nihilists''' 
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.

'''Eugénie''' 
Female. Possibly named for Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), consort of French Emperor Napoleon III. Ultimately for St. Eugenia, 3rd-century Roman martyr whose feast is celebrated on December 25.

'''Fatou''' 
Female. A pseudonym? In view of the date of the action, certainly not named after [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatou the mathematician Fatou] (1878-1929).

Although there is no reference to ethnicity in the text, Fatou is an African name, very common in Senegal. It would be highly uncommon to find a white Belgian bearing that name in the early 20th century. And it would make sense if a revolutionary group named Young Congo had at least one or two African members!
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.

'''Denis''' 
Male. Named for St. Denis or Dionysius, patron saint of Paris and of France, 3rd-century bishop of Paris, martyr, beheaded on the hill now called Montmartre. "Montjoie St. Denis!" was a warcry used by French troops in the Middle Ages. His intercession is effective against demonic possession and headache.

'''Policarpe''' 
Male. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarp Saint Polycarp] was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (now İzmir in Turkey) in the second century. He was stabbed and died a martyr after an attempt to burn him at the stake failed. His intercession is sought against earache and dysentery.

again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints.

'''Young Congo''' 
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement

'''Garde Civique''' 
A part of the Belgian army. According to the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Belgium 1911 Britannica], "the mass of the garde civique does not pretend to possess military value. It is a defence against sedition and socialism."

'''French Second Bureau boys''' 
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.

'''''phalange''''' 
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. 

It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist
Charles Fourier, who theorized that people should live communally in "phalanxes" of a specific number based upon their "passions." His solid ideas included equality of the sexes, but he also taught wacky things such as the moon being made of lemonade. Of particular relevance is his rejection of industrial civilization. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopian_socialism]

'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."''' 
Again this theme of an unknowable past transgression, here invoked almost as if the unknown signifies the other 'lateral' (a word which has cropped up at least a dozen times already) 'vector'.

'''the Digue''' 
French for "dyke"

'''Congo... Belgians''' 
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality.

'''Leopold, King of the Belgians''' 
1835-1909, reigned 1865-1909. A man of almost Nixonian fiendishness. In the Congo he acted as sole proprietor and absolute ruler. The positive outcomes of his exploitation include ''Heart of Darkness'' and the phrase "crime against humanity."

'''co-conscious''' 
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.

'''Force Publique''' 
Belgian armed forces operating in the Belgian Congo ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique Wikipedia]). "King Leopold's private army" may be a more accurate description.

'''rubber worker''' 
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.

==Page 528==

'''''khâgne''''' 
an informal term used by French students for Classes Préparatoires Littéraires, the two-year cycle of classes taken after the Baccalaureat (taken at age 17-18), to prepare for the entrance examination to the Ecole Normale Supeieure. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh%C3%A2gne khâgne]).

'''Reclus''' 
J. J. Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), French geographer but mainly educated in Germany. Several times he was forced to leave France because of his political views; he traveled widely in Europe, the British Isles, the United States, and South America and for many years lived in Switzerland. He was professor of comparative geography at the University of Brussels from 1895 to 1905. He had quite an extensive connection with various socialist and anarchist circles (met Bakunin while in Florence).Once he was imprisoned in Versailles in 1871 for his part in the ''Paris Commune''. In 1882 he initiated the ''Anti-marriage movement'' while in Geneva. [[http://academic.reed.edu/formosa/texts/reclusbio.html Reclus]).

'''Stirnerite''' 
Follower of Max Stirner, 19th century German philosopher and author of ''The Ego and Its Own,'' a work influential in anarchist thought. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner Wikipedia entry]. [[Max Stirner|Discussion...]]

'''''Anarcho-individualiste''''' 
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".

'''Leopold''' 
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].

'''going down lately''' 
Being assassinated.

'''Sipido''' 
Jean-Baptiste Sipido (1884-1959), a Belgian socialist. Accusing the Prince of Wales of causing thousands of inocents were killed in the Boer War in South Africa, on April 5, 1900, Sipido leaped onto the foot board of the royal compartment right before the train left the North Railway Station (Gare du Nord), Brussel, and fired two (or one? as reported in ''The Manchester Guardian'', or four? as stated in the text here) shots through the window but missed everyone inside. He was arrested, tried and acquitted. The leader of the House of Commons called the acquittal a "grave and most unfortunate miscarriage of justice." ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Sipido Sipido]).

'''Prince... of Wales''' 
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)

'''Hippodrome''' 
Hippodrome Wellington, a horse racing track in Ostend built in 1883. The facility hosts both harness and flat racing events. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrome_Wellington Hippodrome]).

'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs''' 
A bathing machine ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine bathing machine])? The King of Belgium certainly would not want to be seen in a swimsuit on a public beach... It seems unlikely, though, that such a royal bathing machine would be for hire.

'''twenty francs''' 
???

==Page 529==

'''picric family''' 
The explosive picric acid (2,4,6-trinitrophenol) and its derivatives. For picric acid, Brugère's powder and Designolle's powder, [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/PER_PIG/PICRIC_ACID_or_TRINITROPHENOL_C.html see this Britannica article.]

'''Brugère's powder''' 
See "picric family" above.

'''Designolle's''' 
See "picric family" above.

'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont''' 
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), a pioneer of aviation from Brasil. Check out [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Santos-Dumont Wikipedia] to get a look at the way he was wearing his "trademark Panama hat".

'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse''''' 
Absinthe-drinking time. The liqueur is green. In French, ''l'heure verte,'' so ''vertigineuse'' (vertiginous, causing dizziness) is a pun on the word for "green."

'''Rocco and Pino''' 
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!
::"Rocco and Pino" are, in temperament, something like the "Mason and Dixon" of manned-torpedoes... cf. the "torpedo" (i.e., "Electrick-Eel") of ''Mason & Dixon''.

'''Whitehead works in Fiume''' 
Anticipating GR's V2 works.

''Robert Whitehead'' (1823-1905), an English engineer. He developed the first self-propelled torpedo in 1866. He attended Manchester's Mechanics Institute, worked in a shipyard in Toulon (1844), France, and as a consultant engineer in Milan (1847), Italy. Later he moved to Trieste and in 1856 became a manager of a company called ''Founderia Mettali'' (later, ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'') in Fiume producing ship steam boilers and engines which were the most advanced of that era. He also developed the first self-propelled torpedo which was very popular. Whitehead's torpedo was propelled by a compressed air engine, carried 18lbs dynamites and a self-regulating device which kept the torpedo cruising at a constant preset depth. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whitehead Whitehead]].

''Fiume'' is now Rijeka, Croatia. Trieste is on the northwestern edge of the Istra Peninsula, Rijeka is east of it. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijeka Fiume]].

Interesting sidebar: Whitehead's fortune from Fiume and the torpedo went solely to his granddaughter Agatha Whitehead, who married Baron von Trapp. The Von Trapp money came from Robert Whitehead, and most of the von Trapp singers were his great-grandchildren.

'''''Alberta''''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_yacht Wikipedia] entry on royal yachts goes back to the 17th century but doesn't include ''Alberta.'' The craft does get a mention in [http://www.bouncing-balls.com/timeline/people/nr_leopoldmorel.htm this page on Leopold and the Congo.]

'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa''' 
or S.L.C. "slow course torpedo", "slow-running torpedo". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_torpedo Wikipedia] Italy‘s Navy was among the first to experiment with manned torpedos. Though according to [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/chariots.html this site] this did not happen until 1935, Italian frogmen as early as October 31, 1918 made it into the harbour of Pula with the help of a modified german torpedo and sank the former Austrian but by then since a few hours Croatian/Slovenian/Bosnian battleship SMS ''Viribus Unitis''. [http://www.geocities.com/tegetthoff66/viribus.html website]

The Wikipedia entry linked above doesn't contain the Italian word ''dirigibile'' (steerable), which sets up the torpedo as a counterpart of the dirigible ''Inconvenience.''

:I suspect there's a connection between the torpedo and "Not the usual lateener, in fact appearing to have neither sails, masts, nor oars" in Miles' reversed vision, [[ATD_243-272#Page_250|page 250.]] Needs work, though.

==Page 530==

'''exfiltrate''' 
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).

'''''Macchè''''' 
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.

'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria''''' 
Stu gazz' is a dialect representation of ''sto cazzo'', literally meaning ''this dick here''. Normally you could translate the sense of the sentence as: ''yeah, why not, a fucking category! ''. -- blicero2 - 2007.02.22

'''''mezzogiornismo''''' 
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.

==Page 531==

'''Bruges''' 
An exceptionally beautiful Belgian town of canals which is thus one of several towns known as the 'Venice of the north'. In the 14th cettury Burges already became an international finanacial and trading center, but
started to decline in the 15th century. In the 20th century, however, the city was discovered by the international tourism and the medieval heritage turned out to be a new source of wealth. A new harbor of Zeebrugge, 10 miles outside of Bruges at the North Sea coast, brought new developments and new industries to the region. For the city and its history see ([http://www.trabel.com/brugge.htm Bruges]).

'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse''' 
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.

'''Ghent''' 
Belgian city, less than 30 miles southeast of Bruges, on the rail line about halfway between Ostend and Brussels. It is the fourth largest city of Belgium. It is bigger than Bruges but not as famous as a tourist attraction. But the city is a showcase of medieval Flemish wealth and commercial success. See ([http://www.trabel.com/gent.htm Ghent]).

'''Daimler six-cylinder''' 
Six cylinder engine (most likely a "straight six", as V6 engines weren't made before 1950) manufactured by the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company), German engine and later automobile manufacturer (of the famous Mercedes), in operation from 1890 until 1926. Later merged with the Benz Co. and thus was born the Mercedes Benz. Merged with Chrysler in 1998 and is now know as Daimler AG. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Motoren_Gesellschaft]

'''a hundred horsepower''' 
In the early 1900's, Daimler's top straight six cylinder engines (see above), the only ones being manufactured in continental Europe, could manage an impressive 75 horsepower. So the engine here is most likely a supercharged version of a car engine.

'''''guaglion''''' 
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person

'''Umeki Tsurigane''' 
Umeki is typically made with some combination of the various kanji for "plum" (ume) and "tree" (ki), though one has the ki being the character for "ghost/devil" and one obscure reading that's entirely redundant, where ume is "plant" (usually read ue). There is one where ume is the kanji for "buried or embedded". Tsurigane, means a "temple bell", which can stand alone or be followed by the grass kanji to mean "bellflower" (lots of botanical stuff happening here, if that means anything; hardly the only example in ''AtD''). Given the search for Shambhala going on, "Buried Temple Bell" seems a likely translation, at least at this point; the botanical meanings could perhaps emerge later.

Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]

'''Professor Knott''' 
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].

==Page 532==

'''Kimura''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].

'''drover's sombrero''' 
Cowboy hat.

'''furoshiki''' 
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.

'''taupe''' 
A brownish gray.

'''boilermakers and their helpers''' 
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]

'''Anharmonic Pencil''' 
''Pencil'' is a term commonly used in Synthetic Geometry. Straight lines incident with a plane - coplanar lines - and passing through a common point are said to be concurrent lines and the set of all such concurrent coplanar lines is called the ''pencil''. (Cf [[ATD_429-459#Page 456|page 456:Pencil]]). For a figure and a not quite precise definition see [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pencil.html pencil]. If a, b, c and d, are four distinct coplanar lines and their double ratio λ = (abcd) = -1, then a, b, c, d are called a harmonic quadruple of lines; they are said to constitute a ''harmonic pencil''. A ''pencil'' which is not harmonic then is known as ''anharmonic pencil''. See Pencil (lines 8-9), Double Ratio λ (lines 32-35) and Harmonic Pencil (line 39) of [http://ca.geocities.com/ingsaler6/mathworld.html Mathworld].

'''''Comptes rendus''''' 
''Comptes rendus des séances hebdomadaires,'' Proceedings of the weekly sessions (of the Academy of Sciences), published from 1835, later (ca. 1935) retitled ''Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences,'' Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences. (Notice that the academy didn't see the need to specify "French." Take that, Royal Society of London!) For about a century, one of two journals so universally circulated and recognized that bibliographies nearly always cited them in nickname form: ''C.R.'' The other was ''Ber.,'' short for ''Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft,'' Reports of the German Chemical Society (from 1868).

'''De Forest''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].

'''Gibbs''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].

'''Maxwell Equations''' 
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].

==Page 533==

'''aniline teal''' 
The wallpaper dye; aniline dyes were the first synthetic dyes, discovered by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Perkin William Perkin] in 1858. Their intense and fade-resistant colors were very fashionable at the end of the nineteenth century. The dyes are also significant in ''GR'' as the products of I.G. Farben.

'''Heavisiders''' 
Oliver Heaviside (May 18, 1850 – February 3, 1925) was a self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, developed techniques for applying Laplace transforms to the solution of differential equations, reformulated Maxwell's field equations in terms of electric and magnetic forces and energy flux, and independently co-formulated vector analysis. Although at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of mathematics and science for years to come.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside].

'''Grassmanniacs''' 
Nineteenth century German mathematician and linguist, essentially the inventor/discoverer of vector space. Grassmann showed that once geometry is put into the algebraic form he advocated, then the number three has no privileged role as the number of spatial dimensions; the number of possible dimensions is in fact unbounded.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann].

'''in the mood for a clambake''' 
Anachronistic Broadway show tune? If so, the clambake in ''Carousel'' turns into a brawl; the assembled factions of mathematicians could be in the mood for either a party or a brawl, apparently.

'''Monopole de la Maison''' 
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink. 
Heidsieck & Co. Monopole is one of the oldest Champagne firms in all of France's Champagne region. The origins go back to the 18th century. 
There is, since 1898, a well known restaurant called ''Monopole Lunch & Sea Grill'' in Plattsburgh of upper New York state. ([http://www.monopole.org Monopole Restaurant]). 
Most probably, it's the Magnetic monopole being referred here. In physics, a monopole is a magnet with a net magnetic charge, i.e. there is only one pole instead of two (so no net magnetic charge) as usual. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole Monopole]). It's existence had been theoretically predicted by various particle theories (superstring theory, etc) but never been proved experimentally. Proving the existence of a monopole would certainly earn a Nobel Prize.

'''Idiom Neutral''' 
An invented language, like Esperanto. Idiom Neutral dictionaries first appeared in 1902. It looks like a simplified Latinate language and it grew out of Volapuk, another "auxiliary language." It was abandoned by the ''Akademi Internasional de Lingu Universal'' in 1908.

For a list of all the invented languages that linguists are keeping track of, including Klingon, try [http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/GetListOfConstructedLgs.html Eastern Michigan's Linguist List]. And don't forget to click on the link to "Browse sites devoted to constructed languages."

'''phatic''' 
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.

'''''Kampf ums Dasein''''' 
German: struggle for existence.

'''Q-brother''' 
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.

'''We are the Jews of mathematics, wandering out here in our diaspora--some destined for the past, others the future, even a few able to set out at unknown angles from the simple line of Time, upon journeys that no one can predict''' 
In keeping with the analogy of Judaism, those "few" people within the Quaternionists "able to set out at unknown angles" are most likely being compared to Kabbalists who claim to partake in a mystic "journey to the Throne of God through the mythological realm of the seven heavens" (Armstrong, A History of God--p. 247). Throne Mysticism in Kabbalah is explored extensively in Gravity's Rainbow.

Perhaps this is obvious to some, but these "Jews of Mathematics" worship the Hamiltonian Tetractys [http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/dublin/]; those other Jews worshipped the Tetragrammatron. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton] The proliferation of 4s continues.

==Page 534==

'''Poiret gown''' 
A gown designed by Paul Poiret (1879-1944), a French fashion designer based in Paris. "In the annals of fashion history, Paul Poiret is best remembered for freeing women from corsets and further liberating them through pantaloons . . . it was Poiret's remarkable innovations in the cut and construction of clothing . . . Working with fabric directly onto the body, Poiret helped to pioneer a radical approach to dressmakeing that relied more on the skills of drapery than on those of tailoring." (from [http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={0DC3D00F-4611-4F91-8DC2-CC3C1A5C48D5} MetMuseum],
New York Metropolitan Museum's Special Exhibitions, ''Poiret: King of Fashion'', May 9, 2007 to August 5, 2007). For a picture of Poiret gown see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Poiretgown.jpg Poiret Gown]. ''The New York Times'' reported on February 1, 2007 that A Poiret Gown Brings $5,500 at [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EFDA1538F93AA15756C0A967948260 Christie's Auction] - the gown was made in 1913 when Poiret was at the height of his career. For his bio see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Poiret Poiret].

'''''green and long''''' 
Pickle, or... what?
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).

==Page 535==

'''no-name wine''' 
1970s idiom for common European practice?

'''set theory''' 
Set theory deals with the properties of well-defined collections, or ''sets'', of entities - the ''elements'' or ''members'' of the set - conceived as a whole. The elements may be of a mathematical nature or non-mathematical. The set theory grew out of the German mathematician Georg Cantor's (1845-1918) study of infinite sets of real numbers.

The ''language of sets'' has become an important tool for all branches of mathematics, but is of very little relevance to the practice of mathematics in everyday life. As a source of metaphors, however, it's been quite productive; "subset," "superset," "universe," "intersection" and "Venn diagram" have found varying degrees of acceptance. Recasting Aristotle's syllogisms in set-theoretic language also makes them easier for many people to understand.

'''Hamilton . . . early genius''' 
Hamilton, according to ''Chambers Biographical Dictionary'', "at fifteen knew thirteen languages, had read Newton's ''Principia'', and commenced original investigations". At twenty-two, "while still an undergraduate, he was appointed professor of Astronomy at Dublin and Irish Astronomer-Royal"; at thirty "he was knighted".

'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love''' 
??? 
Pynchon probably didn't mean Quaternion was Hamilton's first love, but its effect on him was similar to that of a first love. In 1843 at the age of 38 Hamilton invented the Quaternion, the first non-communtative algebra to be studied. He felt this would revolutionise mathematical physics, and he spent the rest of his life working on it. In 1853 he published a large volume, ''Lectures on Quaternions'', on his grand invention. The last seven years of his life, Hamilton was writing an 800-page book ''Elements of Quaternions'' modeling on Euclid's ''Elements''. The last chapter of the book was completed by his son after his death.

'''the Walt Whitman of English physics''' 
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].

==Page 536==

'''Oscar Wilde''' 
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.

'''Kursaal''' 
German: "cure hall" aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.

'''vectors''' 
For serious minds, see Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 526|page 526: Gibbsian Vectors]], but let's follow Pynchon's lighter mood, here is a non-mathematical definition by Kamen (1995):
:''Many things have more than direction;''
:''The magnitude is also a question.''
:''With acceleration or force,''
:''And many more things, of course,''
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''

'''Curls''' 
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.

'''Laplacians''' 
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (March 23, 1749 – March 5, 1827); French mathematician and astronomer who summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics) (1799-1825), translating the geometrical study of mechanics used by Isaac Newton to one based on calculus, known as physical mechanics.

He is also the discoverer of Laplace's equation. Although the Laplace transform is named in honor of Laplace, who used the transform in his work on probability theory, the transform was discovered originally by Leonhard Euler. The Laplace transform appears in all branches of mathematical physics — a field he took a leading role in forming. The Laplacian differential operator, much relied-upon in applied mathematics, is likewise named after him. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace].

:Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Laplacian]]: Laplacian is a differential operator named after Laplace. The text here was talking about mathematical operations and operators — rates of change, rotations, partial differentials, Curls, ''Laplacians'', . . .

'''beginning to appal''' 
By 1905 there had been years of outrage at conditions in the Belgian Congo, King Leopold's private fief. Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' had been published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899 and as a book in 1902. There were missionaries' accounts of the brutality, and newspaper reports. Leopold and his apologists published rebuttals. The Norton Critical Edition of ''Heart of Darkness'' contains an extensive collection of both.

'''baize''' 
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.

==Page 537==

'''broken symmetries''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_symmetry Broken symmetry] is a concept used widely in mathematics and physics. For a simplest explanation (good enough for the text here), this term means that an object breaks either rotational symmetry or translational sysmetry - when one can only rotate an object in certain angles or when one is able to tell if the object has been shifted sideways. For a little bit more detailed explanation see [http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/OrderParameters/BrokenSymmetry.html Identify the Broken Symmetry]; or even more [http://scienceweek.com/2005/sw050708-6.htm On Broken Symmetry].

'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne''''' 
refers to the Belgian symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921), famous for his painting "The Caress", in which a female sphinx erotically lures a young man. The painting can be seen in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Khnopff wikipedia entry]

Or, possibly another oblique reference to Yeats' poem 'The Second Coming,' which starts with a 'gyre,' ends with a 'sphinx,' and is widely seen as expressing the poet's appalled reaction to the human violence unleashed by WWI. The sphinx in the poem appears to be the incarnation of the baffling spirit of human cruelty, as well as out-of-control technology, of the newborn 20th Century. [http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/780/].

'''Pléiade Lafrisée''' 
in French, "friser" means to curl or twist. "La frisée" could mean "curled," by extension "twisted." The Pleiades is a cluster of hundreds of stars, though only a few are visible, sometimes referred to as The Seven Sisters. If Pleiades are Sisters, Pléiade is ''one'' Sister, so her name means Twisted Sister!

In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas (you kow, the guy who was condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders for eternity) and the sea-nymph Pleione.

They are:
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.
Merope, youngest of the seven Pleiades, wooed by Orion. In other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. She bore to Sisyphus several sons.

Pléïade is also used in French to describe a group of talented people. When capitalized, it refers to a group of poets. It is also the name of the most prstigious collection of books published in French. If you make it to the Pléïade, you become an immortal author.

Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"

'''''Conseilleuse''''' 
Female consultant?

Not an actual French word, but it's tolerable. If we were to describe somebody who counsels or gives advice (in the female form), it would be "conseillère". The suffix "euse" is sometimes used in French to denote a lesser form. In French Canada, for example, the word "violoniste" is used to describe a "violonist", and "violonneux" is used to describe a "fiddler". Therefore, "Conseilleuse" would suggest an unofficial counseler of sorts.

==Page 538==

chemin-de-fer table 
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]

'''retroversion matrix''' 
???

'''''Ma foi''''' 
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.

'''ten thousand francs''' 

Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to
about $30,000 US today.

'''piker''' 
Someone cheap or cautious, possibly named after people from PIke County, Missouri, who came to California in the 1800s, looking for work. They were poor, hence cheap.

'''what is a Quaternino?''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]] for a mathematical definition. From ''The Random House Dictionary of the English Languages'', The Unabridged Edition (1966): Quaternion is "a quantity or operator expressed as the sum of a real number and three complex numbers, equivalent to the ''quotient of two vectors''. The field of quaternions is not commutative under multiplication.".

'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell''' 
'Mad Dog' seems to be used with heavy irony here. Bertrand Russell was known most for his rationalism, so to speak, his work in modern logic.
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".

Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".

It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.
(Many did think McTaggart was a bit...different...for seriously not believing in Time.) McTaggart broke with Russell after an early influential friendship---Russell was the younger man and the influenced one. He said he was an Hegelian because of McTaggart--Russell wrote in his
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.

[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html Bertrand Russell] (1872-1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician and social critic. Best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. In late spring of 1901 he discovered the so-called [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell-paradox/ Russell Paradox], "the most famous of the logical or set-theoretical paradoxes. The paradox arises within naive set theory by considering the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. Such a set appears to be a member of itself if and only if it is not a member of itself, hence the paradox." (On-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature in "recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought".

'''Barry Nebulay''' 
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]

'''Hegel... puns''' 
Probably refers to the fact that quite a lot of Hegel's philosophy deals with the is-ness of the world as we know and experience it.

On page 787 of Bertrand Russell's ''History of Western Philosophy'' is a summary, perhaps, of this remark about Hegel's puns: "as a result of analysis of the concept "existence", modern logic has proved this [Cartesianism, refuted by Kant, reinstated by Hegel] argument invalid....."

We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.

==Page 539==

'''a vector quotient''' 
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.

'''unit vector''' 
Unit vector is a vector with magnitude of one. The unit vectors in 3-dimensional space, ''i, j, k'', associated with ''x, y, z'' directions are used in defining a general 3D vector (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 526|page 526:Gibbsian Vectors]]).

'''''square root of minus one''''' 
Imaginary number (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 132|page 133:Imaginary Number]]). The imaginary numbers ''i, j, k'' are used in defining a Quaternion (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]]).

''''Triangle Asana'''' 
A basic yoga pose.

[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]

''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished'''' 
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]

''''Quadrantal Versor Asana'''' 
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.

'''''"Uwe moer!"''''' 
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".

'''noncommutative''' 
A term typical to mathematics. A commutative equation is one that can operate in exact reverse and still yield the same results. 'Noncommutative' then suggests unidirectionality. The ability to go from point A to point B, but not from B to A.

'''reticule''' 
A woman's drawstring handbag; usually made of net or beading or brocade; also: A system of lines forming a pattern of squares at the focal plane of a telescope, used in micrometers.
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm]
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. 
:It could be a pun, since a reticule/ handbag always shows its pattern of lines, and a watch (timepiece) is drawn from it. Remember that, e.g. railroad lines of tracks, are a sign of industrialism encroaching on the natural and the spiritual.

'''Vacheron & Constantin watch''' 
Made by a Swiss company founded in 1755. From 1819 to 1970 the name was as in the text, then the & dropped out. See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacheron_Constantin Wikipedia entry.]

'''hunting-case''' 
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").

==Page 540==

'''"haar rekening, ja?"''' 
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.

Given the presence of Chris 'Kit' Traverse here, this might suggest a reference to Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, Elizabethan poet, playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare. Marlowe was stabbed to death in 1593, in murky circumstances, ostensibly over a bill or 'reckoning', though he was widely believed to have been involved in some form of espionage.

'''Piet Woevre''' 
The Woëvre is a natural region of Lorraine in north-east France. It forms part of Lorraine plateau and lies largely in the department of Meuse. During World War I, there was much fighting there due to vast mineral resources that had been discovered in the Briey basin or Eastern Woevre at the end of the 19th century. "Piet" is Dutch for "rock" or "stone" and is a fairly common Dutch name, the English equivalent being Peter.

Piet doesn't have a meaning as a name in Dutch, it is just a fairly common name and denotes that he is from humble origin (whereas he superior de Decker may be from nobility).

Woevre is not a common name in Flandres. Interestingly the sound reminds one immidiately of Woeste, which is a better know name. Charles Woeste (1837-1922) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Woeste] was a conservative catholic politician in Belgium trying to stop the struggle of the liberation of the Flemish textile workers in Aalst by Priester Daens[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Daens] .

If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe).

This is not correct, neither in Dutch nor in French (which would be the language spoken by the upper class in Belgium at that time) is the W pronounced as a V. So it is not a "V"-name.

'''Force Publique''' 
The Force Publique (FP) was the official armed force for what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885, (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of direct Belgian rule (1908-60), until the beginning of the Second Republic in 1965. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique Wikipedia entry]

'''made him reach''' 
Possible allusion to a famous line, "When I hear the word culture I reach for my gun." From Hanns Johst's biographical play ''Schlageter''. The original line is slightly different: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning," "Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1). It is spoken by another character in conversation with the young Schlageter. In the scene Schlageter and his wartime comrade Friedrich Thiemann are studying for a college examination, but then start disputing whether it's worthwhile doing so when the nation is not free.

The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].

*In Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film [http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0997/09057.html ''Le Mépris'' (''Contempt'')], Jack Palance's character "Jeremy Prokosch," an American movie-producer, intones to Fritz Lang: "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my checkbook."

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That's_When_I_Reach_For_My_Revolver That's When I Reach for My Revolver] is a song written in the beginning of the 1980ies by Clint Conley of Mission of Burma. It has been covered many times, most prominently by Moby.

'''not unambiguous''' 
Ie, ambiguous.

'''''rastaquoueres''''' 
Social upstarts

'''de Decker''' 
In Dutch/Flemish, the name means "roofer." (''De'' in these names almost never means "of, from" as in French; it's nearly always the definite article.)

The small "d" in "de Decker" denotes that he is from the upper-class, likely nobility. Piet Woevre, on the contrary, is a much more common name.

==Page 541==

'''''bobbejaan''''' 
Afrikaans: baboon. (Afrikaans is the language spoken by descendants of Dutch colonists in present-day South Africa. Some items identified as Dutch or Flemish in this wiki may really be Afrikaans.)

The South African song "Bobbejaan klim die berg" ("Bobbejaan climbed the hill") is the source of the stage name of Belgium's most famous country and western musician, Bobbejaan Schoepen (b. 1925). In 1943 he was suppressed by the Nazis after performing a South African song, "Mamma, 'k wil 'n man hê" ("Mama, I want a man"), which contains the line "No, Mama, I don't want a German, because I don't like pork." He founded the Bobbejaanland theme park in Belgium, where he still lives.

'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' 
This would be the Mark IV Ohmic Drift Compensator ([[ATD 557-587#Page 565|Page 565]]), a key component of the Q-weapon, which "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!'"

'''not part of your remit''' 
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.

'''''gatkruiper''''' 
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.

'''one on her wrist''' 
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.

'''over the day''' 
Title motif?

==Page 542==

'''trans-horizontic''' 
Across the horizon " a screaming comes across the sky"

'''Edmund Whittaker''' 
Edmund Whittaker (1873-1956), an English mathematician. He is best known for his work in numerical analysis. And he contributed widely to applied mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of special functions. He also worked on celestial mechanics and the history of applied mathermatics and physics. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._T._Whittaker Whittaker]).

The Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize is awarded every four years by the Edinburgh Mathematical Society to an outstanding young mathematician having a specified connection with Scotland [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edmund_Whittaker_Memorial_Prize].

'''louche''' 
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."

'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."''' 
Cf. [[ATD_397-428#Page_414|page 414]], where Chick Counterfly first encounters the Trespassers at Candlebrow U. ("as if positive expressions of silence and absence were being deployed against him").

'''cheval-glass''' 
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.

'''as if someone''' 
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?

'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"''' 
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pliéiade Lafrisée's dressing-gown standing by itself in the moonlight against the window reminds me strongly of a particular image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany ''A Prayer for Owen Meany''] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Irving John Irving]. Without going on forever here, if you know that book, you probably know the image I'm talking about, and it's uncannily similar to this section of ''AtD''...a faceless, armless mannequin holding a dress belonging to the narrator's mother, taken by Owen to be an angel of death. It's a central image in that novel that recurs in various ways.

Isn't there an apparition like this in one of the ghost stories of M.R. James? James (1862-1936) is the British author famous for, among other things, the story ("Casting of the Runes") which was turned into the 1957 horror film "Night of the Demon." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.R._James]

==Page 543==

'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''

Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.

'''monitory''' 
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.

'''Against....the day....'''
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3

'''He Who Must Come''' 
The evil-doer who must come might be Adolf Hitler. It would make sense. The implication being that Europe is precipitating into a no-return situation. Capitalism cannot but end in WW2. 
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant.
:When French writers use this phrase (''celui qui doit venir'') they '''do''' mean the Messiah . . . although a few devout quibblers point out that the Messiah has already come. It's rather tiresome Googling the phrase; the first 83 hits definitely refer to Christ and most of them quote the first verses of Matthew 11. But there's also a Camus reference (in English, I think) down at No. 90, if anyone has a JSTOR account:
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

Recalls Yeats' 'The Second Coming' once again: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/05/casino-royale-in-flanders-field.html#c3637134446204467798 ]

What this had *me* thinking of was the aria "Es gibt ein Reich" in the Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannstal opera "Ariadne auf Naxos" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne_auf_Naxos]. When Ariadne sings this, in Act II, she has been abandoned by her lover and she awaits the arrival of the god Hermes, who will surely carry her off into The Land of the Dead. A portion of the von Hofmannstal text can be translated as "Soon a herald will come, / Hermes is his name [...] It is you who will save me, / My captive soul freed of this burden of being." Here's some good writing that places the aria in context. [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1680.html ] The opera had its premiere in 1912, but Strauss and von Hofmannstal were *very* much a part of this period. And, of course, Strauss-iana does pop up around here.

'''General Boulanger''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Boulanger Georges Boulanger], French military man, and War Minister in the late 19th century. He was one of those men "on a white horse" that some conservatives looked to, as he urged an attack on Germany and the end of the French Republic with a return to monarchy. He was also notorious for his harsh reprisals against workers' demonstrations. "'Boulangisme'" threatened a coup in 1889, but the general's procrastination brought the crisis to an end. 
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.

'''what death and what transfiguration''' 
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.

'''''"Zeker"''''' 
Dutch: certainly.

'''''dead cert''''' 
Dead certainty, sure thing.

'''Von Schlieffen''' 
Alfred von Schlieffen was the author of a German war plan to win a two-front war against both France and Russia by quickly defeating France before Russian troops could be mobilized. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_Plan Schlieffen Plan] included an attack on France through Belgium, disregarding its neutrality.

'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy''' 
[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fr-bg.html History of the duchy.] [http://www.freiburg-madison.de/freiburg_history/1386-1517_The%20Early%20Habsburgs.htm Map,] with portrait of Duke Charles the Rash.

'''lowlands''' 
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?

Actually the second published story, being "The Small Rain" the first in '59. And I think it means literally lowlands, as they are below sea level.

The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).

==Page 544==

'''Place d'Armes''' 
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".

'''peau de soie''' 
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.

'''Krafft-Ebing''' 
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, Austro-German psychiatrist and author of ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1886), a pioneering study of deviant sexual behavior and fetishism. Coined both ''sadism'' and ''masochism'' as terms for these respective behaviors. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Freiherr_von_Krafft-Ebing Wikipedia entry].

'''toque''' 
Toque here refers to a lady's hat, originally of fur but here in velvet, which is rather like a flattened chef's hat in shape.

Proust: in ''À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs'' the narrator first sees Albertine wearing a toque. There seem to be quite a few Proust themes and references running throughout the novel. Indeed '''Pléiade''' is the French publisher of Proust's works.

'''guipure''' 
Lace trim.

'''midinette''' 
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner.
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl

'''Lambic''' 
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]

'''sous''' 

Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.

Also an old French currency

Specifically small change. She is affecting modesty by claiming that a hat like hers can be had for pennies in any unpretentious shop. In France "sou is used as slang for money, as in ''sans le sou''. 'I'm broke', 'without money'. It is also a slang term for the Canadian cent (standard French, cent)." ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sou Wikipedia])

'''mayonnaise''' 
Brautigan's "Trout Fishing in America" famously ends with the word mayonnaise. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0395500761&id=rbEjDovfyNMC&pg=RA2-PA111&lpg=RA2-PA111&ots=ELKl5b_6Tx&dq=mayonnaise+trout.fishing&num=100&sig=BiyXRqJXRGrMWbrBNgn8de2kpCo#PRA2-PA112,M1 GoogleBooks]

'''ovoöleaginous''' 
Another Pynchonic word combination, here denoting the two main ingredients of mayonnaise: 1) eggs, and 2) oil. It's not "fecoventilatory collision" as seen in "Vineland," but it's nice.

'''Grenache''' 
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.

in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red

'''Chantilly''' 

Region north of Paris.

Here the reference is to crème chantilly otherwise known as whipped cream. Chantilly mayonnaise is made by incorporating the beaten egg whites for extra lightness.

'''attainder''' 
Legislative act declaring that a person is guilty of a crime and setting punishment without the benefit of a formal trial. The Constitution forbids the federal government (Article I, Section 9, clause 3) and the state governments (Article I, Section 10, clause 1) from passing bills of attainder.
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html]

''''''Aux armes, citoyens'''''' 
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise. 
I don't think he's confused - he suspects Pleiade and is making a point ironically. A James-Bondish sort of quip. In fact this whole incident is Bondish and Pleiade is a Bond-type seductress. And let's not forget, Kit is surrounded by Flemings...

Interesting foresight from Thomas Pynchon. The Belgian Federal Elections of June 10th 2007 led to very long and difficult coalition negotiations. Yves Leterme, the leader of the Flemish Christian Deomocratic Party CD&V was the big winner of the elections in Flandres with a very much pro-Flemish programme (some would say, an alomost separatist programme). Mr Leterme encountered enormous difficulty setting up a government and was not popular at all in the southern (French-speaking) part of Belgium. When asked on July 21st 2007 (the Belgian National Holiday) if he knew the Belgian National Hymn in French, he started singing the French National Hymn, The Marseillaise instead of the Belgian National Hymn, The Brabançonne, shocking a large part of the Belgian population. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABTR2Xe_sGw]

'''Louis XV''' 
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV].

'''Cléo de Mérode''' 
Glamorous French ballerina (1875-1966), later Follies Bergere dancer and famous beauty. Her reputed intimacy with King Leopold was only a rumor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleo_de_Merode]. The character Madame Leonora Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'' has some features in common with her.

'''Marquise de Pompadour''' 
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].

'''Neuropathists would recognize in both kings a desire to construct a self-consistent world to live inside, which allows them to continue the great damage they are inflicting on the world the rest of us must live in.'''

Cf. Crime and Punishment

==Page 545==

'''duc de Richelieu''' 
Duc de Richelieu (1696-1788), marshal of France, was a grandnephew of Cardinal Richelieu, and born in Paris. Apart from his reputation as a man of exceptionally loose morals, he attained, in spite of a defective education, distinction as a diplomatist and general. ([http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Louis_Francois_Armand_du_Plessis,_duc_de_Richelieu duc de Richelieu] and cf [[ATD_489-524#Page 490|page 490:duc de Richelieu]])

'''dubious 'victory' in 1756''' 
As part of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), duc de Richelieu (1696-1788), a Marshal of France, won a victory in the Battle of Minorca (May 20, 1756) over John Byng (1704-1757), a British Admiral. In spring of 1756 John Byng was sent with a small and undermanned fleet to relieve the British ''Port Mahon'' on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. During the battle ensued, several British ships were badly damaged by the French squadron while others, including Byng's flagship, were still out of effective firing range. Instead of engaging the enemy directly, Byng decided to keep the formation, allowing the French fleet to get away undamaged. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Minorca Battle of Minorca]).

'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng''' 
John Byng, convicted by court-martial of failure "to do his utmost" in the battle, shot in 1757. Remembered because of (1) his being the last officer of flag rank to be put to death for conduct in battle and (2) Voltaire's gag in ''Candide:'' "In this country it is good to kill an admiral from time to time in order to encourage the others."

'''cantharides''' 
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.

'''Sadean''' 
Pertaining to the Marquis de Sade. The acts the chef performs on the egg and oil have the same names as acts of Sadean sex.

'''''n'est-ce pas?''''' 
Right? (Isn't that so?)

'''vetiver''' 
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.

Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''

'''pip''' 
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.

'''Q.P. system''' 
Quaternion Probability, page 536.

'''Usine Régionale''' 
French: as translated in the text.

Actually, this is not proper French at all! Regional Mayonnaise Works should translate as "Usine Régionale de Mayonnaise" or, even better "Fabrique Régionale de Mayonnaise". "Usine ''à la'' mayonnaise" means mayo flavored factory, which makes no sense at all... or does it?

==Page 546==

'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms''' 
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).

'''cottonseed oil'''

Mayonnaise like Smegmo and Crisco is a hydrogenated fat; cottonseed oil is a common factor to all three. Indeed, the name Crisco derives from the intial sounds of "'''crys'''tallized '''c'''ottonseed '''o'''il". Note in the next few pages a mention of Candlebrow -- underscoring a tie-in between Mayonnaise and Smegmo.
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]

'''lounge suit''' 
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.

'''congress shoes''' 
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)

'''invisible hand'''

Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.

'''dripping-heads''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise To make mayonnaise,] beat together egg yolks, salt, mustard and vinegar, then drip in oil while beating to form the emulsion. If you scale the process up for industrial production, you will automate the introduction of the oil, using nozzles that release it a drop at a time—but in a large vat you can have many such nozzles.

'''''cuves d'agitation''''' 
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.

'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces''' 
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.

If I were to nitpick (which I always do when it comes to my mother tongue), I would point out that it should read Clinique d'Urgence pour '''le''' Sauvetage des Sauces (i.e.: Emergency Clinic for '''the''' Salvage of Sauces).

Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water.

'''Mayonnaise!''' 
This scene reminds one of the famous scene in the Tricatel factory in the French movie "l'Aile ou la cuisse" with Louis de Funes and Coluche. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/]. Charles Duchemin (Louis de Funes) is a famous restaurant critic in a struggle with the industrial food producer Jacques Tricatel (Julien Guiomar). During the movie Charles Duchemin ends with his son Gerard (Coluche) in the Tricatel factory to discover how this food is being made. The factory has no visible workers, but Tricatel discovers them and tries to get them killed. The end up in giant pastries, tanks of thick sauses etc.

==Page 547==

'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''
The whole Kit's experience in the mayonnaise factory is very much reminiscent to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl Roald Dahl]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_the_Chocolate_Factory Charlie and the Chocolate Factory].

'''''Cazzo, cretino''''' 
Literally, "Dick, cretin." ''Cazzo'' is a common Italian interjectionary obscenity, especially in the south. "Cazzo, cretino," is akin to someone saying, "Well shit, dummy," or "F-ing moron!"

'''''È il cowboy!''''' 
Italian: It's the cowboy!

'''''vero?''''' 
true? real?

'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria''''' 
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.

'''Oudenberg''' 
A southeast suburb of Ostende.

'''Quai de l'Entrepôt''' 
Warehouse Quay

'''''ragazzi''''' 
Italian: boys, guys.

==Page 548==

'''General Boulanger''' 
That the General was 'reactionary' and that the C of C bureaucracy had a 'defiant residue' of Boulangism, continues the characterization of the organization for which the Chums 'work'. 
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.

'''''timbres fictifs''''' 
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49". 
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.

'''"IIIb"''' 
As explained in the text. 
"Section IIIB (Intelligence) of the German High Command. After WWI, was funded by Alfred Hugenberg (financial backer of Nazi party)". From ''Sabotage'' by Sayers & Kahn, 1942.[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22IIIB%27+%2B+INTELLIGENCE&btnG=Search]. The authors state in the Forward, in 1942, "that 'Nazi Germany' is the creation of spies and saboteurs". See ''V.'' & ''Gravity's Rainbow'', of course.

'''Germany might stand a better chance...''' 
That is, if the French were to push into Alsace (per Boulanger) as the Germans executed the Schlieffen Plan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_plan] for the encirclement of Paris, it would put the French at an even greater disadvantage...as actually happened in 1914. Had the Belgians and British not delayed the Germans in Flanders, and had the French railroads not performed speedily to bring the French troops back to the Marne, World War I could have had a very different outcome...an alternate history.

'''revanchist''' 
Policies based on revenge, or a person following such policies. In General Boulanger's case, revenge against Germany for the Franco-Prussian War (that is, retaking Alsace, lost in 1871).

'''the somewhat discomposed General''' 
Having died in 1891, the General by the time of the action is certainly somewhat '''de'''composed; brief biographies do not suggest he was ''non compos mentis,'' that is, mentally discomposed.

==Page 549==
'''grow more and more invisible''' 
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction. 
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here
means the entering of simple human life, to live out their lives 'anonymously' in history. I want to suggest this is largely a positive vision, indicated in other ways and places as well in TRPs work. Here is an overt bit of circumstantial evidence from Pynchon's introduction to Jim Dodge's novel ''Stone Junction'': 
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]

'''cackled Darby''' 
(When did he lose his innocence?)

'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive''' 
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.

'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"''' 
Another Simpsons reference?

Noseworth, the Master-At-Arms of the Chums division of this organization with a defiant residue of 'fascism', who had no smell to Pugnax early on,
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk''' 
Nieuport is a Belgian seaport about 10 miles southwest of Ostend. Dunkirk is a French port (less than 10 miles inside the French border) about 20 miles southwest of Nieuport. The latter was a site of one of the bloodest battle in World War I. The general area between Niewport and Dunkirk was the well traversed battle fields of two world wars. (Dunkirk was (in)famous for the British Army's escape from the Nazi German's assault in World War II.)

'''power-receivers''' 
Not information, energy.

==Page 550==

'''Lot's wife''' 
Angels of God led Lot and his family out of Sodom as it was being destroyed and told them not to look back at the mayhem. Lot's wife, Edith, imprudently looked back and was transfigured into a pillar of salt.

'''preference...for interiors''' 
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354]
, the interiors of some coaches were larger than their exterior dimensions. Interiors have importance in Pynchon's worldview. Cf. "invisibility", and a 'human life' above. 

'''Italian grotto''' 
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.

'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood''' 
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel.

'''Carpathians''' 
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.

'''Uhlans''' 
Uhlan regiments belonged to the light cavalry. They wore splendid uniforms (model for some U.S. marching band uniforms). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan Wikipedia article.]

'''Temesvár''' 
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.

==Page 551==
'''prefiguration...of the holy City''' 
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed] 

'''...separated by only a slice of Time...''' 
Miles is beginning to experience Time almost as a spatial dimension, his personal vector as traversing (!) 4-dimensional space, or perhaps multidimensional space, the mathematics for which is being debated in Ostend.

'''securing the mess decks''' 
The Chums follow U.S. Navy idiom in orders (frequently prefixed with "Now") and shipboard activities ("secure" meaning "whatever you did before, undo it now," in this case put away the dishes and fold up the tables).

'''Ryder Thorn''' 
Tolkienesque name? Or perhaps it's a nod to the Ryder-Waite Tarot deck and to Kevin Thorn (Kevin Matthew Fertig, 1977-), the American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Kevin Thorn who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand. He has appeared in vigniettes with Ariel (Shelly Martinez, 1980-), the tarot card reader, who spits blood at the camera while she "predicted the future of ECW." Yup, a stretch...

*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

'''He was at Candlebrow.''' 
Presumably a 'trespasser.'

'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness''' 
A melody is formed by notes following one another in time; a chord on the ukulele violates that practice by having all the notes sound at once. A really clever little passage.
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by all trained musicians to describe any music. The passage is quite profound and an indication (beyond the pervasive and—amazing!—correctly used references to musical terms) of how thoughtful Pynchon is on the subject. Briefly, there is a time paradox in the very nature of music in that a single tone tends to represent for us stasis or "timelessness" (like a three-dimensional object, which it is—or rather a series of rapidly expanding spheres of differential air pressure that register with our ears as they pass and are interpreted by our brains as one thing as long as the rate remains constant). Yet, as a phenomenon of vibration, this apparent timelessness can only exist in time. A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a succession of tones (melody), but even in that case, we seem to perceive a single "thing" undergoing change—what musicians call the "horizontal" more resembling motion of an object in three-dimensional space. Chords (the "vertical") are implicit in the overtones (partials, or whole-number-fractional vibrations) of a single tone, and the implicit hierarchy of relationships among the overtones can be extrapolated by giving each of them its own chord, based on its own partials. In psychological space, these tend to seem like objects that displace one another, or if time is thought of as a fourth dimension, they sit "next" to each other in time. If anything is clear from the foregoing, one hopes it is that the "horizontal" and the "vertical" are completely interwoven. This may remind some of space-time itself, and to strain at a metaphor, it is perhaps no accident that like quaternions, music is not normally commutative. (Some of the otherworldly—crystalline?—beauty of Webern's music is due to its being intentionally constructed such that it does "work" in both directions.) [[User:Dezama125|Dezama125]] 17:36, 15 October 2009 (PDT)</blockquote>

References to ukuleles and Hawaii and its culture abound in Pynchon's novels [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Hawaiian_Islands_and_Ukuleles ''Vineland''] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Hawaiian_Islands_and_Ukuleles ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii & ukulele references in ''Against the Day'']]...

==Page 552==

'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held''' 
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?

'''knuckle-duster''' 
Brass knuckles.

'''Diksmuide''' 
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).

==Page 553==

'''The terrain was flat...lowlands''' 
Not, this time, a reference to Pynchon's ''Lowlands'', but to the two-dimensionality of Flanders, as in Edwin A. Abbott's ''Flatland'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland]; most humans, like the inhabitants of Flanders and Abbott's Flatlanders, experience life in two dimensions.

'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...''' 
Whereas Miles and the Chums of Chance, in contrast, live in three dimensions. The mathematicians gathered in Ostend are trying to calculate how to experience and use vectors to live in four dimensions; in a way, to experience Time as a kind of spatial dimension. Miles, on P. 551, is demonstrating the beginnings of an intuitive discovery of how to experience Time as an almost spatial dimension. Which would be a sort of "time travel", or at least an expanded view of life and history.

'''retted''' 
soaked in water or exposed to moisture (as flax or hemp) to facilitate the removal of the fiber from the woody tissue by partial rotting.

==Page 554==

'''Ypres and Menin''' 
Municipalities in West Flanders that were sites of some of the bloodiest battles of WWI. At the beginning of the war, the British and Belgian stand helped save Paris from encirclement by the Germans, and saved the Channel ports, but as Thorn points out, the area became the western anchor of the Western Front trench system. The several Battles of Ypres saw the first uses of poison gas (Mustard Gas, dichlorodiethylsulfide, was first called Yperite), the use of enormous mines, and the legendary mud of Passchendaele [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passchendaele].

'''Ten years from now''' 
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.

'''Bosch''' 
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].

'''Brueghel''' 
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].

'''League''' 
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.

No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles -

No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.

'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them''' 
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.

==Page 555==

'''simpletons at the fair''' 
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.

'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne''' 
Frédéric Chopin (1810-49), a Polish pianist and composer ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin Chopin]). He was born in Warsaw, Poland to a Polish morther and a French father. He went to Paris at the age of 20 and died there at the age of 39. He was widely regarded as one of the most famous and influential composers for the piano. From 1837-47 he had a 10-year stormy relationship with the French writer George Sand. His E-minor Nocturne is a 4-minute long Romantic style piano solo composed in 1827. (A ''nocturne'' is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturne Nocturne].)

'''owl-light''' 
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.

''''plasmic hysteresis'''' 

A coined term, apparently similar in meaning to Miles’ phrase “failure of physical translation.” Plasma would take an older meaning of “form” or “shape." Hysteresis, according to Webster's, refers to “a retardation in effect when the forces on an object are changed.” Hysteresis is used to describe magnetic phenomenon as well as plastic or elastic materials, that involve changes to a rest state that last beyond the forces that cause them. Examples include recordings on magnetic tape or a thumbprint slowly disappearing from putty. In the context of this passage, plasmic hysteresis appears to describe the lingering visage of someone who is no longer present – a hysteresis of form only and thus a failed physical translation. See [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=plasma&searchmode=none etymology of plasma] and this nifty explanation of [http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/hysteresis/WhatIsHysteresis.html hysteresis].

Hysteresis has also been used to refer to “loops” in time, certainly apropos in this case. I stumbled across an excellent example in a 1980 episode of Dr. Who, in which the eponymous Dr. is trapped in “chronic hysteresis,” an endless loop or return to a previous
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]

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

ATD 525-556

2018-07-20T03:42:47Z

Mattkb: /* Page 538 */New entry on chermin de fer

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

==Page 525==

'''Ostend''' 
Cf [[ATD_489-524#Page 521|page 521: Ostend]], a seaport in northwest Belgium. Among English-speaking tourists, Ostend (or Ostende) is best known as a ferry port.

'''Fishermen's Quai''' 
Fishermen's Quay, also called ''De Trap''. The shrimp boats come home here from the sea in the morning. Along the quay many stands sell lots of seafoods.

'''Boulevard van Isenghem''' 
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.

'''street-plausible''' 
Presentable.

'''Quai de l'empereur''' 
Since Ostende is in the Flemish part of Belgium this should be the Keizerskaai, a street along the old part of the harbour, 1919 renamed Vindictivelaan.

'''estaminet''' 
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor.

'''twelve-centime''' 
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.

Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.

'''Quaternions''' 
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843). 

Analogy with the complex numbers (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 132|page 132:complex number]]) being represented as a sum of real and imaginary parts, a + b''i'', where ''i''² = −1, a quaternion is defined as a combination a + b''i'' + c''j'' + d''k'', where ''i''² = ''j''² = ''k''² = ''i j k'' = −1, and a, b, c, d are ''four'' explicit real numbers. The non-commutative property refers to ''i j = −j i = k; j k = −k j = i; k i = −i k = j''. (i.e. ''i j ≠ j i; j k ≠ k j; k i ≠ i k''; etc.) The using of ''i, j, k'', the imaginary numbers (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 133|page 133:imaginary number]]), led to the phrases of "the ''ijk'' lot" of page 533 and "creature of ''i-j-k''" of page 534.

'''Kellner''' 
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.

Well, I don't think it may sound insulting for the waiter, as Ostend is in the part of Belgium were Flemish (Dutch) is spoken and in that language ''kelner'' is the word for waiter, which sounds like the German ''Kellner''. Pynchon misspelling, maybe? (DCB)

'''''demi''''' 
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).

'''Lambic''' 
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.

'''skimmer''' 
Straw hat ("Panama").

==Page 526==

'''biquaternion''' 
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]

'''Barry Nebulay''' 
Pun on a term from heraldry, ''barry nebuly.'' The term barry (rhymes with "starry," not "carry") refers to a shield divided into an even number of parts by horizontal lines. Nebuly, possibly also spelled ''nebulée,'' signals that the lines are deformed into stylized "cloud" shapes. (Actually the dividing line looks more like interlocking parts of a jigsaw puzzle.) [http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/heraldry/partitions.html Here you can see an example.]

A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"?

'''University of Dublin''' 
The Alma Mater of Hamilton, the father of Quaternion. He studied, graduated and taught at Trinity College, the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university.

If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902. 

'''Quaternioneers''' 
Quaternion believers.

'''Gibbsian Vectors''' 
Vector Analysis (or Vector Calculus) developed by Willard Gibbs (Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]]) in 1881 and 1884. It is a branch of calculus that deals with vectors and process involving vectors. It is much more easily applied to phsics and other applied sciences than Hamilton's Quaternions (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]]). 
A vector is defined by not only a magnitude but also a direction, such as a velocity vector, ''v'' is defined by ''v'' = a''i'' + b''j'' + c''k'',
where a, b, and c are the magnitudes of the velocity components in directions of ''i, j'' and ''k'' which are unit vectors, (not imaginary numbers as in Quaternion), with magnitude of 1. In three dimensional cases and ''xyz'' coordinate system is used then ''i, j, k'' are related to ''x, y, z'' directions ("''xyz'' people" of page 533); but they, in general, may be used irrespective of the notation of the coordinates.
Mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication), differentiation (''curl'' — Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326:Curl]] and p. 536, ''Laplacian'' — Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326:Laplacian]] and p. 536, etc) and integration can be applied to vectors. It is interesting to know that one of the two multiplication operations is called cross product; for unit vectors (''i, j, k'') perpendicular to each other, then, ''i × i = j × j = k × k = 0'', ''i × j = k'', ''j × i = -k'', etc. ([http://web.mit.edu/wwmath/vectorc/summary.html Vector Calculus]). 
A simple vector anyalysis example here: if ''k'', the unit vector, stands for the direction upward and g is the gravitational acceleration, then the acceleration vector, ''a'', for a projectile, is defined for downward action, (the ''i'' and ''j'' directions have zero components): 
:''a'' = -g ''k'' 
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v'' 
:''v'' = -g t ''k'' 
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time. 
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile 
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k'' 
toward the sea level.

'''Quaternionists''' 
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.

'''Tasmania''' 
Tasmania is an island of the southern coast of Australia. Known for its relative isolation, it was a prison for English convicts in the 1800s.
This is likely a reference to mathematician Alexander McAuley, who researched biquaternion theory, and was Professor of Physics at the University of Tasmania, Hobart ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McAulay]).

'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic''' 
In his 1865 work ''The Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field'', James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism. He put forth twenty equations, with twenty unknowns, in vector form (though different in notation and form than the equations that now bear his name) that completely described all known electromagnetic phenomena. In his 1873 treatise on the subject, he expressed the equations in the mathematics of quaternions. It appears that the quaternion form of the equations remained popular even though, at the behest of his publisher, Maxwell reverted to the 1865 form in the second edition (1881)--though they remain scattered throughout. In 1892 Oliver Heaviside (On the Forces, Stresses, and Fluxes of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field. ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.'' A, Vol. 183. pp423-480), while spewing scientific vitriol at the Quaternionists, reformulated Maxwell's original 1865 equations (Heaviside chose to remove the vector potential and scalar fields from the equations; the inclusion of these terms had served as Maxwell's justification for the use of quaternions), and provided the notation still in use today. See this [http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=60 PDF] for the evolution of Maxwell's equations.

'''Hamiltonian devotees''' 
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.

'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue''' 
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon?

Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.

'''anterooms of death''' 
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.

'''Belgian Art Nouveau''' 
Art Nouveau, 1890(or 80) to 1914, explores a new style in the visual arts and architecture that developed in Europe and North America at the end of the 19th century. At its height (~1907), Art Nouveau was a concerted attempt to create an international style based on decoration. It was developed by a brilliant and energetic generation of artists and desisgners, who sought to fashion an art form appropriate to the post-Industrial Revolution modern age. 
Brussels was one of the Art Nouveau centers and represented different style from the others. The jewelers there, accepted as artists rahter than craftsmen, (together with those in Paris) defined Art Nouveau in jewelery and achieved the most renown. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau Art Nouveau]).

==Page 527==

'''dossing''' 
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"

'''Russian nihilists''' 
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.

'''Eugénie''' 
Female. Possibly named for Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), consort of French Emperor Napoleon III. Ultimately for St. Eugenia, 3rd-century Roman martyr whose feast is celebrated on December 25.

'''Fatou''' 
Female. A pseudonym? In view of the date of the action, certainly not named after [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatou the mathematician Fatou] (1878-1929).

Although there is no reference to ethnicity in the text, Fatou is an African name, very common in Senegal. It would be highly uncommon to find a white Belgian bearing that name in the early 20th century. And it would make sense if a revolutionary group named Young Congo had at least one or two African members!
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.

'''Denis''' 
Male. Named for St. Denis or Dionysius, patron saint of Paris and of France, 3rd-century bishop of Paris, martyr, beheaded on the hill now called Montmartre. "Montjoie St. Denis!" was a warcry used by French troops in the Middle Ages. His intercession is effective against demonic possession and headache.

'''Policarpe''' 
Male. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarp Saint Polycarp] was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (now İzmir in Turkey) in the second century. He was stabbed and died a martyr after an attempt to burn him at the stake failed. His intercession is sought against earache and dysentery.

again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints.

'''Young Congo''' 
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement

'''Garde Civique''' 
A part of the Belgian army. According to the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Belgium 1911 Britannica], "the mass of the garde civique does not pretend to possess military value. It is a defence against sedition and socialism."

'''French Second Bureau boys''' 
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.

'''''phalange''''' 
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. 

It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist
Charles Fourier, who theorized that people should live communally in "phalanxes" of a specific number based upon their "passions." His solid ideas included equality of the sexes, but he also taught wacky things such as the moon being made of lemonade. Of particular relevance is his rejection of industrial civilization. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopian_socialism]

'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."''' 
Again this theme of an unknowable past transgression, here invoked almost as if the unknown signifies the other 'lateral' (a word which has cropped up at least a dozen times already) 'vector'.

'''the Digue''' 
French for "dyke"

'''Congo... Belgians''' 
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality.

'''Leopold, King of the Belgians''' 
1835-1909, reigned 1865-1909. A man of almost Nixonian fiendishness. In the Congo he acted as sole proprietor and absolute ruler. The positive outcomes of his exploitation include ''Heart of Darkness'' and the phrase "crime against humanity."

'''co-conscious''' 
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.

'''Force Publique''' 
Belgian armed forces operating in the Belgian Congo ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique Wikipedia]). "King Leopold's private army" may be a more accurate description.

'''rubber worker''' 
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.

==Page 528==

'''''khâgne''''' 
an informal term used by French students for Classes Préparatoires Littéraires, the two-year cycle of classes taken after the Baccalaureat (taken at age 17-18), to prepare for the entrance examination to the Ecole Normale Supeieure. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh%C3%A2gne khâgne]).

'''Reclus''' 
J. J. Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), French geographer but mainly educated in Germany. Several times he was forced to leave France because of his political views; he traveled widely in Europe, the British Isles, the United States, and South America and for many years lived in Switzerland. He was professor of comparative geography at the University of Brussels from 1895 to 1905. He had quite an extensive connection with various socialist and anarchist circles (met Bakunin while in Florence).Once he was imprisoned in Versailles in 1871 for his part in the ''Paris Commune''. In 1882 he initiated the ''Anti-marriage movement'' while in Geneva. [[http://academic.reed.edu/formosa/texts/reclusbio.html Reclus]).

'''Stirnerite''' 
Follower of Max Stirner, 19th century German philosopher and author of ''The Ego and Its Own,'' a work influential in anarchist thought. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner Wikipedia entry]. [[Max Stirner|Discussion...]]

'''''Anarcho-individualiste''''' 
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".

'''Leopold''' 
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].

'''going down lately''' 
Being assassinated.

'''Sipido''' 
Jean-Baptiste Sipido (1884-1959), a Belgian socialist. Accusing the Prince of Wales of causing thousands of inocents were killed in the Boer War in South Africa, on April 5, 1900, Sipido leaped onto the foot board of the royal compartment right before the train left the North Railway Station (Gare du Nord), Brussel, and fired two (or one? as reported in ''The Manchester Guardian'', or four? as stated in the text here) shots through the window but missed everyone inside. He was arrested, tried and acquitted. The leader of the House of Commons called the acquittal a "grave and most unfortunate miscarriage of justice." ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Sipido Sipido]).

'''Prince... of Wales''' 
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)

'''Hippodrome''' 
Hippodrome Wellington, a horse racing track in Ostend built in 1883. The facility hosts both harness and flat racing events. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrome_Wellington Hippodrome]).

'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs''' 
A bathing machine ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine bathing machine])? The King of Belgium certainly would not want to be seen in a swimsuit on a public beach... It seems unlikely, though, that such a royal bathing machine would be for hire.

'''twenty francs''' 
???

==Page 529==

'''picric family''' 
The explosive picric acid (2,4,6-trinitrophenol) and its derivatives. For picric acid, Brugère's powder and Designolle's powder, [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/PER_PIG/PICRIC_ACID_or_TRINITROPHENOL_C.html see this Britannica article.]

'''Brugère's powder''' 
See "picric family" above.

'''Designolle's''' 
See "picric family" above.

'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont''' 
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), a pioneer of aviation from Brasil. Check out [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Santos-Dumont Wikipedia] to get a look at the way he was wearing his "trademark Panama hat".

'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse''''' 
Absinthe-drinking time. The liqueur is green. In French, ''l'heure verte,'' so ''vertigineuse'' (vertiginous, causing dizziness) is a pun on the word for "green."

'''Rocco and Pino''' 
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!
::"Rocco and Pino" are, in temperament, something like the "Mason and Dixon" of manned-torpedoes... cf. the "torpedo" (i.e., "Electrick-Eel") of ''Mason & Dixon''.

'''Whitehead works in Fiume''' 
Anticipating GR's V2 works.

''Robert Whitehead'' (1823-1905), an English engineer. He developed the first self-propelled torpedo in 1866. He attended Manchester's Mechanics Institute, worked in a shipyard in Toulon (1844), France, and as a consultant engineer in Milan (1847), Italy. Later he moved to Trieste and in 1856 became a manager of a company called ''Founderia Mettali'' (later, ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'') in Fiume producing ship steam boilers and engines which were the most advanced of that era. He also developed the first self-propelled torpedo which was very popular. Whitehead's torpedo was propelled by a compressed air engine, carried 18lbs dynamites and a self-regulating device which kept the torpedo cruising at a constant preset depth. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whitehead Whitehead]].

''Fiume'' is now Rijeka, Croatia. Trieste is on the northwestern edge of the Istra Peninsula, Rijeka is east of it. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijeka Fiume]].

Interesting sidebar: Whitehead's fortune from Fiume and the torpedo went solely to his granddaughter Agatha Whitehead, who married Baron von Trapp. The Von Trapp money came from Robert Whitehead, and most of the von Trapp singers were his great-grandchildren.

'''''Alberta''''' 
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_yacht Wikipedia] entry on royal yachts goes back to the 17th century but doesn't include ''Alberta.'' The craft does get a mention in [http://www.bouncing-balls.com/timeline/people/nr_leopoldmorel.htm this page on Leopold and the Congo.]

'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa''' 
or S.L.C. "slow course torpedo", "slow-running torpedo". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_torpedo Wikipedia] Italy‘s Navy was among the first to experiment with manned torpedos. Though according to [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/chalcraft/sm/chariots.html this site] this did not happen until 1935, Italian frogmen as early as October 31, 1918 made it into the harbour of Pula with the help of a modified german torpedo and sank the former Austrian but by then since a few hours Croatian/Slovenian/Bosnian battleship SMS ''Viribus Unitis''. [http://www.geocities.com/tegetthoff66/viribus.html website]

The Wikipedia entry linked above doesn't contain the Italian word ''dirigibile'' (steerable), which sets up the torpedo as a counterpart of the dirigible ''Inconvenience.''

:I suspect there's a connection between the torpedo and "Not the usual lateener, in fact appearing to have neither sails, masts, nor oars" in Miles' reversed vision, [[ATD_243-272#Page_250|page 250.]] Needs work, though.

==Page 530==

'''exfiltrate''' 
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).

'''''Macchè''''' 
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.

'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria''''' 
Stu gazz' is a dialect representation of ''sto cazzo'', literally meaning ''this dick here''. Normally you could translate the sense of the sentence as: ''yeah, why not, a fucking category! ''. -- blicero2 - 2007.02.22

'''''mezzogiornismo''''' 
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.

==Page 531==

'''Bruges''' 
An exceptionally beautiful Belgian town of canals which is thus one of several towns known as the 'Venice of the north'. In the 14th cettury Burges already became an international finanacial and trading center, but
started to decline in the 15th century. In the 20th century, however, the city was discovered by the international tourism and the medieval heritage turned out to be a new source of wealth. A new harbor of Zeebrugge, 10 miles outside of Bruges at the North Sea coast, brought new developments and new industries to the region. For the city and its history see ([http://www.trabel.com/brugge.htm Bruges]).

'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse''' 
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.

'''Ghent''' 
Belgian city, less than 30 miles southeast of Bruges, on the rail line about halfway between Ostend and Brussels. It is the fourth largest city of Belgium. It is bigger than Bruges but not as famous as a tourist attraction. But the city is a showcase of medieval Flemish wealth and commercial success. See ([http://www.trabel.com/gent.htm Ghent]).

'''Daimler six-cylinder''' 
Six cylinder engine (most likely a "straight six", as V6 engines weren't made before 1950) manufactured by the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company), German engine and later automobile manufacturer (of the famous Mercedes), in operation from 1890 until 1926. Later merged with the Benz Co. and thus was born the Mercedes Benz. Merged with Chrysler in 1998 and is now know as Daimler AG. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Motoren_Gesellschaft]

'''a hundred horsepower''' 
In the early 1900's, Daimler's top straight six cylinder engines (see above), the only ones being manufactured in continental Europe, could manage an impressive 75 horsepower. So the engine here is most likely a supercharged version of a car engine.

'''''guaglion''''' 
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person

'''Umeki Tsurigane''' 
Umeki is typically made with some combination of the various kanji for "plum" (ume) and "tree" (ki), though one has the ki being the character for "ghost/devil" and one obscure reading that's entirely redundant, where ume is "plant" (usually read ue). There is one where ume is the kanji for "buried or embedded". Tsurigane, means a "temple bell", which can stand alone or be followed by the grass kanji to mean "bellflower" (lots of botanical stuff happening here, if that means anything; hardly the only example in ''AtD''). Given the search for Shambhala going on, "Buried Temple Bell" seems a likely translation, at least at this point; the botanical meanings could perhaps emerge later.

Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]

'''Professor Knott''' 
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].

==Page 532==

'''Kimura''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].

'''drover's sombrero''' 
Cowboy hat.

'''furoshiki''' 
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.

'''taupe''' 
A brownish gray.

'''boilermakers and their helpers''' 
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]

'''Anharmonic Pencil''' 
''Pencil'' is a term commonly used in Synthetic Geometry. Straight lines incident with a plane - coplanar lines - and passing through a common point are said to be concurrent lines and the set of all such concurrent coplanar lines is called the ''pencil''. (Cf [[ATD_429-459#Page 456|page 456:Pencil]]). For a figure and a not quite precise definition see [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pencil.html pencil]. If a, b, c and d, are four distinct coplanar lines and their double ratio λ = (abcd) = -1, then a, b, c, d are called a harmonic quadruple of lines; they are said to constitute a ''harmonic pencil''. A ''pencil'' which is not harmonic then is known as ''anharmonic pencil''. See Pencil (lines 8-9), Double Ratio λ (lines 32-35) and Harmonic Pencil (line 39) of [http://ca.geocities.com/ingsaler6/mathworld.html Mathworld].

'''''Comptes rendus''''' 
''Comptes rendus des séances hebdomadaires,'' Proceedings of the weekly sessions (of the Academy of Sciences), published from 1835, later (ca. 1935) retitled ''Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences,'' Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences. (Notice that the academy didn't see the need to specify "French." Take that, Royal Society of London!) For about a century, one of two journals so universally circulated and recognized that bibliographies nearly always cited them in nickname form: ''C.R.'' The other was ''Ber.,'' short for ''Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft,'' Reports of the German Chemical Society (from 1868).

'''De Forest''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].

'''Gibbs''' 
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].

'''Maxwell Equations''' 
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].

==Page 533==

'''aniline teal''' 
The wallpaper dye; aniline dyes were the first synthetic dyes, discovered by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Perkin William Perkin] in 1858. Their intense and fade-resistant colors were very fashionable at the end of the nineteenth century. The dyes are also significant in ''GR'' as the products of I.G. Farben.

'''Heavisiders''' 
Oliver Heaviside (May 18, 1850 – February 3, 1925) was a self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits, developed techniques for applying Laplace transforms to the solution of differential equations, reformulated Maxwell's field equations in terms of electric and magnetic forces and energy flux, and independently co-formulated vector analysis. Although at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of mathematics and science for years to come.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaviside].

'''Grassmanniacs''' 
Nineteenth century German mathematician and linguist, essentially the inventor/discoverer of vector space. Grassmann showed that once geometry is put into the algebraic form he advocated, then the number three has no privileged role as the number of spatial dimensions; the number of possible dimensions is in fact unbounded.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann].

'''in the mood for a clambake''' 
Anachronistic Broadway show tune? If so, the clambake in ''Carousel'' turns into a brawl; the assembled factions of mathematicians could be in the mood for either a party or a brawl, apparently.

'''Monopole de la Maison''' 
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink. 
Heidsieck & Co. Monopole is one of the oldest Champagne firms in all of France's Champagne region. The origins go back to the 18th century. 
There is, since 1898, a well known restaurant called ''Monopole Lunch & Sea Grill'' in Plattsburgh of upper New York state. ([http://www.monopole.org Monopole Restaurant]). 
Most probably, it's the Magnetic monopole being referred here. In physics, a monopole is a magnet with a net magnetic charge, i.e. there is only one pole instead of two (so no net magnetic charge) as usual. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole Monopole]). It's existence had been theoretically predicted by various particle theories (superstring theory, etc) but never been proved experimentally. Proving the existence of a monopole would certainly earn a Nobel Prize.

'''Idiom Neutral''' 
An invented language, like Esperanto. Idiom Neutral dictionaries first appeared in 1902. It looks like a simplified Latinate language and it grew out of Volapuk, another "auxiliary language." It was abandoned by the ''Akademi Internasional de Lingu Universal'' in 1908.

For a list of all the invented languages that linguists are keeping track of, including Klingon, try [http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/GetListOfConstructedLgs.html Eastern Michigan's Linguist List]. And don't forget to click on the link to "Browse sites devoted to constructed languages."

'''phatic''' 
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.

'''''Kampf ums Dasein''''' 
German: struggle for existence.

'''Q-brother''' 
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.

'''We are the Jews of mathematics, wandering out here in our diaspora--some destined for the past, others the future, even a few able to set out at unknown angles from the simple line of Time, upon journeys that no one can predict''' 
In keeping with the analogy of Judaism, those "few" people within the Quaternionists "able to set out at unknown angles" are most likely being compared to Kabbalists who claim to partake in a mystic "journey to the Throne of God through the mythological realm of the seven heavens" (Armstrong, A History of God--p. 247). Throne Mysticism in Kabbalah is explored extensively in Gravity's Rainbow.

Perhaps this is obvious to some, but these "Jews of Mathematics" worship the Hamiltonian Tetractys [http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/dublin/]; those other Jews worshipped the Tetragrammatron. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton] The proliferation of 4s continues.

==Page 534==

'''Poiret gown''' 
A gown designed by Paul Poiret (1879-1944), a French fashion designer based in Paris. "In the annals of fashion history, Paul Poiret is best remembered for freeing women from corsets and further liberating them through pantaloons . . . it was Poiret's remarkable innovations in the cut and construction of clothing . . . Working with fabric directly onto the body, Poiret helped to pioneer a radical approach to dressmakeing that relied more on the skills of drapery than on those of tailoring." (from [http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={0DC3D00F-4611-4F91-8DC2-CC3C1A5C48D5} MetMuseum],
New York Metropolitan Museum's Special Exhibitions, ''Poiret: King of Fashion'', May 9, 2007 to August 5, 2007). For a picture of Poiret gown see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Poiretgown.jpg Poiret Gown]. ''The New York Times'' reported on February 1, 2007 that A Poiret Gown Brings $5,500 at [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EFDA1538F93AA15756C0A967948260 Christie's Auction] - the gown was made in 1913 when Poiret was at the height of his career. For his bio see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Poiret Poiret].

'''''green and long''''' 
Pickle, or... what?
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).

==Page 535==

'''no-name wine''' 
1970s idiom for common European practice?

'''set theory''' 
Set theory deals with the properties of well-defined collections, or ''sets'', of entities - the ''elements'' or ''members'' of the set - conceived as a whole. The elements may be of a mathematical nature or non-mathematical. The set theory grew out of the German mathematician Georg Cantor's (1845-1918) study of infinite sets of real numbers.

The ''language of sets'' has become an important tool for all branches of mathematics, but is of very little relevance to the practice of mathematics in everyday life. As a source of metaphors, however, it's been quite productive; "subset," "superset," "universe," "intersection" and "Venn diagram" have found varying degrees of acceptance. Recasting Aristotle's syllogisms in set-theoretic language also makes them easier for many people to understand.

'''Hamilton . . . early genius''' 
Hamilton, according to ''Chambers Biographical Dictionary'', "at fifteen knew thirteen languages, had read Newton's ''Principia'', and commenced original investigations". At twenty-two, "while still an undergraduate, he was appointed professor of Astronomy at Dublin and Irish Astronomer-Royal"; at thirty "he was knighted".

'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love''' 
??? 
Pynchon probably didn't mean Quaternion was Hamilton's first love, but its effect on him was similar to that of a first love. In 1843 at the age of 38 Hamilton invented the Quaternion, the first non-communtative algebra to be studied. He felt this would revolutionise mathematical physics, and he spent the rest of his life working on it. In 1853 he published a large volume, ''Lectures on Quaternions'', on his grand invention. The last seven years of his life, Hamilton was writing an 800-page book ''Elements of Quaternions'' modeling on Euclid's ''Elements''. The last chapter of the book was completed by his son after his death.

'''the Walt Whitman of English physics''' 
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].

==Page 536==

'''Oscar Wilde''' 
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.

'''Kursaal''' 
German: "cure hall" aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.

'''vectors''' 
For serious minds, see Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 526|page 526: Gibbsian Vectors]], but let's follow Pynchon's lighter mood, here is a non-mathematical definition by Kamen (1995):
:''Many things have more than direction;''
:''The magnitude is also a question.''
:''With acceleration or force,''
:''And many more things, of course,''
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''

'''Curls''' 
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.

'''Laplacians''' 
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (March 23, 1749 – March 5, 1827); French mathematician and astronomer who summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics) (1799-1825), translating the geometrical study of mechanics used by Isaac Newton to one based on calculus, known as physical mechanics.

He is also the discoverer of Laplace's equation. Although the Laplace transform is named in honor of Laplace, who used the transform in his work on probability theory, the transform was discovered originally by Leonhard Euler. The Laplace transform appears in all branches of mathematical physics — a field he took a leading role in forming. The Laplacian differential operator, much relied-upon in applied mathematics, is likewise named after him. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace].

:Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Laplacian]]: Laplacian is a differential operator named after Laplace. The text here was talking about mathematical operations and operators — rates of change, rotations, partial differentials, Curls, ''Laplacians'', . . .

'''beginning to appal''' 
By 1905 there had been years of outrage at conditions in the Belgian Congo, King Leopold's private fief. Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' had been published as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899 and as a book in 1902. There were missionaries' accounts of the brutality, and newspaper reports. Leopold and his apologists published rebuttals. The Norton Critical Edition of ''Heart of Darkness'' contains an extensive collection of both.

'''baize''' 
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.

==Page 537==

'''broken symmetries''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_symmetry Broken symmetry] is a concept used widely in mathematics and physics. For a simplest explanation (good enough for the text here), this term means that an object breaks either rotational symmetry or translational sysmetry - when one can only rotate an object in certain angles or when one is able to tell if the object has been shifted sideways. For a little bit more detailed explanation see [http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/OrderParameters/BrokenSymmetry.html Identify the Broken Symmetry]; or even more [http://scienceweek.com/2005/sw050708-6.htm On Broken Symmetry].

'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne''''' 
refers to the Belgian symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921), famous for his painting "The Caress", in which a female sphinx erotically lures a young man. The painting can be seen in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Khnopff wikipedia entry]

Or, possibly another oblique reference to Yeats' poem 'The Second Coming,' which starts with a 'gyre,' ends with a 'sphinx,' and is widely seen as expressing the poet's appalled reaction to the human violence unleashed by WWI. The sphinx in the poem appears to be the incarnation of the baffling spirit of human cruelty, as well as out-of-control technology, of the newborn 20th Century. [http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/780/].

'''Pléiade Lafrisée''' 
in French, "friser" means to curl or twist. "La frisée" could mean "curled," by extension "twisted." The Pleiades is a cluster of hundreds of stars, though only a few are visible, sometimes referred to as The Seven Sisters. If Pleiades are Sisters, Pléiade is ''one'' Sister, so her name means Twisted Sister!

In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas (you kow, the guy who was condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders for eternity) and the sea-nymph Pleione.

They are:
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.
Merope, youngest of the seven Pleiades, wooed by Orion. In other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. She bore to Sisyphus several sons.

Pléïade is also used in French to describe a group of talented people. When capitalized, it refers to a group of poets. It is also the name of the most prstigious collection of books published in French. If you make it to the Pléïade, you become an immortal author.

Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"

'''''Conseilleuse''''' 
Female consultant?

Not an actual French word, but it's tolerable. If we were to describe somebody who counsels or gives advice (in the female form), it would be "conseillère". The suffix "euse" is sometimes used in French to denote a lesser form. In French Canada, for example, the word "violoniste" is used to describe a "violonist", and "violonneux" is used to describe a "fiddler". Therefore, "Conseilleuse" would suggest an unofficial counseler of sorts.

==Page 538==

chemin-de-fer table 
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]

'''retroversion matrix''' 
???

'''''Ma foi''''' 
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.

'''ten thousand francs''' 

Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to
about $30,000 US today.

'''piker''' 
Someone cheap or cautious, possibly named after people from PIke County, Missouri, who came to California in the 1800s, looking for work. They were poor, hence cheap.

'''what is a Quaternino?''' 
Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]] for a mathematical definition. From ''The Random House Dictionary of the English Languages'', The Unabridged Edition (1966): Quaternion is "a quantity or operator expressed as the sum of a real number and three complex numbers, equivalent to the ''quotient of two vectors''. The field of quaternions is not commutative under multiplication.".

'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell''' 
'Mad Dog' seems to be used with heavy irony here. Bertrand Russell was known most for his rationalism, so to speak, his work in modern logic.
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".

Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".

It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.
(Many did think McTaggart was a bit...different...for seriously not believing in Time.) McTaggart broke with Russell after an early influential friendship---Russell was the younger man and the influenced one. He said he was an Hegelian because of McTaggart--Russell wrote in his
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.

[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html Bertrand Russell] (1872-1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician and social critic. Best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. In late spring of 1901 he discovered the so-called [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell-paradox/ Russell Paradox], "the most famous of the logical or set-theoretical paradoxes. The paradox arises within naive set theory by considering the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. Such a set appears to be a member of itself if and only if it is not a member of itself, hence the paradox." (On-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). He won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature in "recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought".

'''Barry Nebulay''' 
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]

'''Hegel... puns''' 
Probably refers to the fact that quite a lot of Hegel's philosophy deals with the is-ness of the world as we know and experience it.

On page 787 of Bertrand Russell's ''History of Western Philosophy'' is a summary, perhaps, of this remark about Hegel's puns: "as a result of analysis of the concept "existence", modern logic has proved this [Cartesianism, refuted by Kant, reinstated by Hegel] argument invalid....."

We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.

==Page 539==

'''a vector quotient''' 
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.

'''unit vector''' 
Unit vector is a vector with magnitude of one. The unit vectors in 3-dimensional space, ''i, j, k'', associated with ''x, y, z'' directions are used in defining a general 3D vector (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 526|page 526:Gibbsian Vectors]]).

'''''square root of minus one''''' 
Imaginary number (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 132|page 133:Imaginary Number]]). The imaginary numbers ''i, j, k'' are used in defining a Quaternion (Cf [[ATD_525-556#Page 525|page 525:Quaternions]]).

''''Triangle Asana'''' 
A basic yoga pose.

[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]

''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished'''' 
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]

''''Quadrantal Versor Asana'''' 
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.

'''''"Uwe moer!"''''' 
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".

'''noncommutative''' 
A term typical to mathematics. A commutative equation is one that can operate in exact reverse and still yield the same results. 'Noncommutative' then suggests unidirectionality. The ability to go from point A to point B, but not from B to A.

'''reticule''' 
A woman's drawstring handbag; usually made of net or beading or brocade; also: A system of lines forming a pattern of squares at the focal plane of a telescope, used in micrometers.
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm]
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. 
:It could be a pun, since a reticule/ handbag always shows its pattern of lines, and a watch (timepiece) is drawn from it. Remember that, e.g. railroad lines of tracks, are a sign of industrialism encroaching on the natural and the spiritual.

'''Vacheron & Constantin watch''' 
Made by a Swiss company founded in 1755. From 1819 to 1970 the name was as in the text, then the & dropped out. See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacheron_Constantin Wikipedia entry.]

'''hunting-case''' 
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").

==Page 540==

'''"haar rekening, ja?"''' 
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.

Given the presence of Chris 'Kit' Traverse here, this very much suggests a reference to Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, Elizabethan poet, playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare. Marlowe was stabbed to death in 1593, in murky circumstances, ostensibly over a bill or 'reckoning', though he was widely believed to have been involved in some form of espionage.

Strictly speaking "haar rekening" means that the lady pays for herself only. If Root wanted to make sure that Pléiade pays for the whole company he would have to say "de hele rekening voor de dame".

That is not correct; "haar rekening, ja?" unambiguously means that they are making sure that the entire bill will be for her.

'''Piet Woevre''' 
The Woëvre is a natural region of Lorraine in north-east France. It forms part of Lorraine plateau and lies largely in the department of Meuse. During World War I, there was much fighting there due to vast mineral resources that had been discovered in the Briey basin or Eastern Woevre at the end of the 19th century. "Piet" is Dutch for "rock" or "stone" and is a fairly common Dutch name, the English equivalent being Peter.

Piet doesn't have a meaning as a name in Dutch, it is just a fairly common name and denotes that he is from humble origin (whereas he superior de Decker may be from nobility).

Woevre is not a common name in Flandres. Interestingly the sound reminds one immidiately of Woeste, which is a better know name. Charles Woeste (1837-1922) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Woeste] was a conservative catholic politician in Belgium trying to stop the struggle of the liberation of the Flemish textile workers in Aalst by Priester Daens[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Daens] .

If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe).

This is not correct, neither in Dutch nor in French (which would be the language spoken by the upper class in Belgium at that time) is the W pronounced as a V. So it is not a "V"-name.

'''Force Publique''' 
The Force Publique (FP) was the official armed force for what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885, (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of direct Belgian rule (1908-60), until the beginning of the Second Republic in 1965. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Publique Wikipedia entry]

'''made him reach''' 
Possible allusion to a famous line, "When I hear the word culture I reach for my gun." From Hanns Johst's biographical play ''Schlageter''. The original line is slightly different: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning," "Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1). It is spoken by another character in conversation with the young Schlageter. In the scene Schlageter and his wartime comrade Friedrich Thiemann are studying for a college examination, but then start disputing whether it's worthwhile doing so when the nation is not free.

The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].

*In Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film [http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0997/09057.html ''Le Mépris'' (''Contempt'')], Jack Palance's character "Jeremy Prokosch," an American movie-producer, intones to Fritz Lang: "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my checkbook."

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That's_When_I_Reach_For_My_Revolver That's When I Reach for My Revolver] is a song written in the beginning of the 1980ies by Clint Conley of Mission of Burma. It has been covered many times, most prominently by Moby.

'''not unambiguous''' 
Ie, ambiguous.

'''''rastaquoueres''''' 
Social upstarts

'''de Decker''' 
In Dutch/Flemish, the name means "roofer." (''De'' in these names almost never means "of, from" as in French; it's nearly always the definite article.)

The small "d" in "de Decker" denotes that he is from the upper-class, likely nobility. Piet Woevre, on the contrary, is a much more common name.

==Page 541==

'''''bobbejaan''''' 
Afrikaans: baboon. (Afrikaans is the language spoken by descendants of Dutch colonists in present-day South Africa. Some items identified as Dutch or Flemish in this wiki may really be Afrikaans.)

The South African song "Bobbejaan klim die berg" ("Bobbejaan climbed the hill") is the source of the stage name of Belgium's most famous country and western musician, Bobbejaan Schoepen (b. 1925). In 1943 he was suppressed by the Nazis after performing a South African song, "Mamma, 'k wil 'n man hê" ("Mama, I want a man"), which contains the line "No, Mama, I don't want a German, because I don't like pork." He founded the Bobbejaanland theme park in Belgium, where he still lives.

'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' 
This would be the Mark IV Ohmic Drift Compensator ([[ATD 557-587#Page 565|Page 565]]), a key component of the Q-weapon, which "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!'"

'''not part of your remit''' 
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.

'''''gatkruiper''''' 
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.

'''one on her wrist''' 
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.

'''over the day''' 
Title motif?

==Page 542==

'''trans-horizontic''' 
Across the horizon " a screaming comes across the sky"

'''Edmund Whittaker''' 
Edmund Whittaker (1873-1956), an English mathematician. He is best known for his work in numerical analysis. And he contributed widely to applied mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of special functions. He also worked on celestial mechanics and the history of applied mathermatics and physics. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._T._Whittaker Whittaker]).

The Sir Edmund Whittaker Memorial Prize is awarded every four years by the Edinburgh Mathematical Society to an outstanding young mathematician having a specified connection with Scotland [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edmund_Whittaker_Memorial_Prize].

'''louche''' 
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."

'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."''' 
Cf. [[ATD_397-428#Page_414|page 414]], where Chick Counterfly first encounters the Trespassers at Candlebrow U. ("as if positive expressions of silence and absence were being deployed against him").

'''cheval-glass''' 
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.

'''as if someone''' 
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?

'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"''' 
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pliéiade Lafrisée's dressing-gown standing by itself in the moonlight against the window reminds me strongly of a particular image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany ''A Prayer for Owen Meany''] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Irving John Irving]. Without going on forever here, if you know that book, you probably know the image I'm talking about, and it's uncannily similar to this section of ''AtD''...a faceless, armless mannequin holding a dress belonging to the narrator's mother, taken by Owen to be an angel of death. It's a central image in that novel that recurs in various ways.

Isn't there an apparition like this in one of the ghost stories of M.R. James? James (1862-1936) is the British author famous for, among other things, the story ("Casting of the Runes") which was turned into the 1957 horror film "Night of the Demon." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.R._James]

==Page 543==

'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''

Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.

'''monitory''' 
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.

'''Against....the day....'''
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3

'''He Who Must Come''' 
The evil-doer who must come might be Adolf Hitler. It would make sense. The implication being that Europe is precipitating into a no-return situation. Capitalism cannot but end in WW2. 
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant.
:When French writers use this phrase (''celui qui doit venir'') they '''do''' mean the Messiah . . . although a few devout quibblers point out that the Messiah has already come. It's rather tiresome Googling the phrase; the first 83 hits definitely refer to Christ and most of them quote the first verses of Matthew 11. But there's also a Camus reference (in English, I think) down at No. 90, if anyone has a JSTOR account:
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

Recalls Yeats' 'The Second Coming' once again: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/05/casino-royale-in-flanders-field.html#c3637134446204467798 ]

What this had *me* thinking of was the aria "Es gibt ein Reich" in the Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannstal opera "Ariadne auf Naxos" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne_auf_Naxos]. When Ariadne sings this, in Act II, she has been abandoned by her lover and she awaits the arrival of the god Hermes, who will surely carry her off into The Land of the Dead. A portion of the von Hofmannstal text can be translated as "Soon a herald will come, / Hermes is his name [...] It is you who will save me, / My captive soul freed of this burden of being." Here's some good writing that places the aria in context. [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1680.html ] The opera had its premiere in 1912, but Strauss and von Hofmannstal were *very* much a part of this period. And, of course, Strauss-iana does pop up around here.

'''General Boulanger''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Boulanger Georges Boulanger], French military man, and War Minister in the late 19th century. He was one of those men "on a white horse" that some conservatives looked to, as he urged an attack on Germany and the end of the French Republic with a return to monarchy. He was also notorious for his harsh reprisals against workers' demonstrations. "'Boulangisme'" threatened a coup in 1889, but the general's procrastination brought the crisis to an end. 
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.

'''what death and what transfiguration''' 
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.

'''''"Zeker"''''' 
Dutch: certainly.

'''''dead cert''''' 
Dead certainty, sure thing.

'''Von Schlieffen''' 
Alfred von Schlieffen was the author of a German war plan to win a two-front war against both France and Russia by quickly defeating France before Russian troops could be mobilized. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_Plan Schlieffen Plan] included an attack on France through Belgium, disregarding its neutrality.

'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy''' 
[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fr-bg.html History of the duchy.] [http://www.freiburg-madison.de/freiburg_history/1386-1517_The%20Early%20Habsburgs.htm Map,] with portrait of Duke Charles the Rash.

'''lowlands''' 
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?

Actually the second published story, being "The Small Rain" the first in '59. And I think it means literally lowlands, as they are below sea level.

The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).

==Page 544==

'''Place d'Armes''' 
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".

'''peau de soie''' 
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.

'''Krafft-Ebing''' 
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, Austro-German psychiatrist and author of ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1886), a pioneering study of deviant sexual behavior and fetishism. Coined both ''sadism'' and ''masochism'' as terms for these respective behaviors. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Freiherr_von_Krafft-Ebing Wikipedia entry].

'''toque''' 
Toque here refers to a lady's hat, originally of fur but here in velvet, which is rather like a flattened chef's hat in shape.

Proust: in ''À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs'' the narrator first sees Albertine wearing a toque. There seem to be quite a few Proust themes and references running throughout the novel. Indeed '''Pléiade''' is the French publisher of Proust's works.

'''guipure''' 
Lace trim.

'''midinette''' 
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner.
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl

'''Lambic''' 
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]

'''sous''' 

Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.

Also an old French currency

Specifically small change. She is affecting modesty by claiming that a hat like hers can be had for pennies in any unpretentious shop. In France "sou is used as slang for money, as in ''sans le sou''. 'I'm broke', 'without money'. It is also a slang term for the Canadian cent (standard French, cent)." ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sou Wikipedia])

'''mayonnaise''' 
Brautigan's "Trout Fishing in America" famously ends with the word mayonnaise. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0395500761&id=rbEjDovfyNMC&pg=RA2-PA111&lpg=RA2-PA111&ots=ELKl5b_6Tx&dq=mayonnaise+trout.fishing&num=100&sig=BiyXRqJXRGrMWbrBNgn8de2kpCo#PRA2-PA112,M1 GoogleBooks]

'''ovoöleaginous''' 
Another Pynchonic word combination, here denoting the two main ingredients of mayonnaise: 1) eggs, and 2) oil. It's not "fecoventilatory collision" as seen in "Vineland," but it's nice.

'''Grenache''' 
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.

in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red

'''Chantilly''' 

Region north of Paris.

Here the reference is to crème chantilly otherwise known as whipped cream. Chantilly mayonnaise is made by incorporating the beaten egg whites for extra lightness.

'''attainder''' 
Legislative act declaring that a person is guilty of a crime and setting punishment without the benefit of a formal trial. The Constitution forbids the federal government (Article I, Section 9, clause 3) and the state governments (Article I, Section 10, clause 1) from passing bills of attainder.
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html]

''''''Aux armes, citoyens'''''' 
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise. 
I don't think he's confused - he suspects Pleiade and is making a point ironically. A James-Bondish sort of quip. In fact this whole incident is Bondish and Pleiade is a Bond-type seductress. And let's not forget, Kit is surrounded by Flemings...

Interesting foresight from Thomas Pynchon. The Belgian Federal Elections of June 10th 2007 led to very long and difficult coalition negotiations. Yves Leterme, the leader of the Flemish Christian Deomocratic Party CD&V was the big winner of the elections in Flandres with a very much pro-Flemish programme (some would say, an alomost separatist programme). Mr Leterme encountered enormous difficulty setting up a government and was not popular at all in the southern (French-speaking) part of Belgium. When asked on July 21st 2007 (the Belgian National Holiday) if he knew the Belgian National Hymn in French, he started singing the French National Hymn, The Marseillaise instead of the Belgian National Hymn, The Brabançonne, shocking a large part of the Belgian population. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABTR2Xe_sGw]

'''Louis XV''' 
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV].

'''Cléo de Mérode''' 
Glamorous French ballerina (1875-1966), later Follies Bergere dancer and famous beauty. Her reputed intimacy with King Leopold was only a rumor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleo_de_Merode]. The character Madame Leonora Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'' has some features in common with her.

'''Marquise de Pompadour''' 
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].

'''Neuropathists would recognize in both kings a desire to construct a self-consistent world to live inside, which allows them to continue the great damage they are inflicting on the world the rest of us must live in.'''

Cf. Crime and Punishment

==Page 545==

'''duc de Richelieu''' 
Duc de Richelieu (1696-1788), marshal of France, was a grandnephew of Cardinal Richelieu, and born in Paris. Apart from his reputation as a man of exceptionally loose morals, he attained, in spite of a defective education, distinction as a diplomatist and general. ([http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Louis_Francois_Armand_du_Plessis,_duc_de_Richelieu duc de Richelieu] and cf [[ATD_489-524#Page 490|page 490:duc de Richelieu]])

'''dubious 'victory' in 1756''' 
As part of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), duc de Richelieu (1696-1788), a Marshal of France, won a victory in the Battle of Minorca (May 20, 1756) over John Byng (1704-1757), a British Admiral. In spring of 1756 John Byng was sent with a small and undermanned fleet to relieve the British ''Port Mahon'' on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. During the battle ensued, several British ships were badly damaged by the French squadron while others, including Byng's flagship, were still out of effective firing range. Instead of engaging the enemy directly, Byng decided to keep the formation, allowing the French fleet to get away undamaged. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Minorca Battle of Minorca]).

'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng''' 
John Byng, convicted by court-martial of failure "to do his utmost" in the battle, shot in 1757. Remembered because of (1) his being the last officer of flag rank to be put to death for conduct in battle and (2) Voltaire's gag in ''Candide:'' "In this country it is good to kill an admiral from time to time in order to encourage the others."

'''cantharides''' 
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.

'''Sadean''' 
Pertaining to the Marquis de Sade. The acts the chef performs on the egg and oil have the same names as acts of Sadean sex.

'''''n'est-ce pas?''''' 
Right? (Isn't that so?)

'''vetiver''' 
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.

Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''

'''pip''' 
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.

'''Q.P. system''' 
Quaternion Probability, page 536.

'''Usine Régionale''' 
French: as translated in the text.

Actually, this is not proper French at all! Regional Mayonnaise Works should translate as "Usine Régionale de Mayonnaise" or, even better "Fabrique Régionale de Mayonnaise". "Usine ''à la'' mayonnaise" means mayo flavored factory, which makes no sense at all... or does it?

==Page 546==

'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms''' 
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).

'''cottonseed oil'''

Mayonnaise like Smegmo and Crisco is a hydrogenated fat; cottonseed oil is a common factor to all three. Indeed, the name Crisco derives from the intial sounds of "'''crys'''tallized '''c'''ottonseed '''o'''il". Note in the next few pages a mention of Candlebrow -- underscoring a tie-in between Mayonnaise and Smegmo.
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]

'''lounge suit''' 
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.

'''congress shoes''' 
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)

'''invisible hand'''

Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.

'''dripping-heads''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise To make mayonnaise,] beat together egg yolks, salt, mustard and vinegar, then drip in oil while beating to form the emulsion. If you scale the process up for industrial production, you will automate the introduction of the oil, using nozzles that release it a drop at a time—but in a large vat you can have many such nozzles.

'''''cuves d'agitation''''' 
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.

'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces''' 
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.

If I were to nitpick (which I always do when it comes to my mother tongue), I would point out that it should read Clinique d'Urgence pour '''le''' Sauvetage des Sauces (i.e.: Emergency Clinic for '''the''' Salvage of Sauces).

Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water.

'''Mayonnaise!''' 
This scene reminds one of the famous scene in the Tricatel factory in the French movie "l'Aile ou la cuisse" with Louis de Funes and Coluche. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074103/]. Charles Duchemin (Louis de Funes) is a famous restaurant critic in a struggle with the industrial food producer Jacques Tricatel (Julien Guiomar). During the movie Charles Duchemin ends with his son Gerard (Coluche) in the Tricatel factory to discover how this food is being made. The factory has no visible workers, but Tricatel discovers them and tries to get them killed. The end up in giant pastries, tanks of thick sauses etc.

==Page 547==

'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''
The whole Kit's experience in the mayonnaise factory is very much reminiscent to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl Roald Dahl]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_the_Chocolate_Factory Charlie and the Chocolate Factory].

'''''Cazzo, cretino''''' 
Literally, "Dick, cretin." ''Cazzo'' is a common Italian interjectionary obscenity, especially in the south. "Cazzo, cretino," is akin to someone saying, "Well shit, dummy," or "F-ing moron!"

'''''È il cowboy!''''' 
Italian: It's the cowboy!

'''''vero?''''' 
true? real?

'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria''''' 
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.

'''Oudenberg''' 
A southeast suburb of Ostende.

'''Quai de l'Entrepôt''' 
Warehouse Quay

'''''ragazzi''''' 
Italian: boys, guys.

==Page 548==

'''General Boulanger''' 
That the General was 'reactionary' and that the C of C bureaucracy had a 'defiant residue' of Boulangism, continues the characterization of the organization for which the Chums 'work'. 
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.

'''''timbres fictifs''''' 
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49". 
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.

'''"IIIb"''' 
As explained in the text. 
"Section IIIB (Intelligence) of the German High Command. After WWI, was funded by Alfred Hugenberg (financial backer of Nazi party)". From ''Sabotage'' by Sayers & Kahn, 1942.[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22IIIB%27+%2B+INTELLIGENCE&btnG=Search]. The authors state in the Forward, in 1942, "that 'Nazi Germany' is the creation of spies and saboteurs". See ''V.'' & ''Gravity's Rainbow'', of course.

'''Germany might stand a better chance...''' 
That is, if the French were to push into Alsace (per Boulanger) as the Germans executed the Schlieffen Plan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_plan] for the encirclement of Paris, it would put the French at an even greater disadvantage...as actually happened in 1914. Had the Belgians and British not delayed the Germans in Flanders, and had the French railroads not performed speedily to bring the French troops back to the Marne, World War I could have had a very different outcome...an alternate history.

'''revanchist''' 
Policies based on revenge, or a person following such policies. In General Boulanger's case, revenge against Germany for the Franco-Prussian War (that is, retaking Alsace, lost in 1871).

'''the somewhat discomposed General''' 
Having died in 1891, the General by the time of the action is certainly somewhat '''de'''composed; brief biographies do not suggest he was ''non compos mentis,'' that is, mentally discomposed.

==Page 549==
'''grow more and more invisible''' 
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction. 
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here
means the entering of simple human life, to live out their lives 'anonymously' in history. I want to suggest this is largely a positive vision, indicated in other ways and places as well in TRPs work. Here is an overt bit of circumstantial evidence from Pynchon's introduction to Jim Dodge's novel ''Stone Junction'': 
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]

'''cackled Darby''' 
(When did he lose his innocence?)

'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive''' 
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.

'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"''' 
Another Simpsons reference?

Noseworth, the Master-At-Arms of the Chums division of this organization with a defiant residue of 'fascism', who had no smell to Pugnax early on,
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk''' 
Nieuport is a Belgian seaport about 10 miles southwest of Ostend. Dunkirk is a French port (less than 10 miles inside the French border) about 20 miles southwest of Nieuport. The latter was a site of one of the bloodest battle in World War I. The general area between Niewport and Dunkirk was the well traversed battle fields of two world wars. (Dunkirk was (in)famous for the British Army's escape from the Nazi German's assault in World War II.)

'''power-receivers''' 
Not information, energy.

==Page 550==

'''Lot's wife''' 
Angels of God led Lot and his family out of Sodom as it was being destroyed and told them not to look back at the mayhem. Lot's wife, Edith, imprudently looked back and was transfigured into a pillar of salt.

'''preference...for interiors''' 
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354]
, the interiors of some coaches were larger than their exterior dimensions. Interiors have importance in Pynchon's worldview. Cf. "invisibility", and a 'human life' above. 

'''Italian grotto''' 
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.

'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood''' 
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel.

'''Carpathians''' 
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.

'''Uhlans''' 
Uhlan regiments belonged to the light cavalry. They wore splendid uniforms (model for some U.S. marching band uniforms). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan Wikipedia article.]

'''Temesvár''' 
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.

==Page 551==
'''prefiguration...of the holy City''' 
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed] 

'''...separated by only a slice of Time...''' 
Miles is beginning to experience Time almost as a spatial dimension, his personal vector as traversing (!) 4-dimensional space, or perhaps multidimensional space, the mathematics for which is being debated in Ostend.

'''securing the mess decks''' 
The Chums follow U.S. Navy idiom in orders (frequently prefixed with "Now") and shipboard activities ("secure" meaning "whatever you did before, undo it now," in this case put away the dishes and fold up the tables).

'''Ryder Thorn''' 
Tolkienesque name? Or perhaps it's a nod to the Ryder-Waite Tarot deck and to Kevin Thorn (Kevin Matthew Fertig, 1977-), the American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Kevin Thorn who is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its ECW brand. He has appeared in vigniettes with Ariel (Shelly Martinez, 1980-), the tarot card reader, who spits blood at the camera while she "predicted the future of ECW." Yup, a stretch...

*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

'''He was at Candlebrow.''' 
Presumably a 'trespasser.'

'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness''' 
A melody is formed by notes following one another in time; a chord on the ukulele violates that practice by having all the notes sound at once. A really clever little passage.
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by all trained musicians to describe any music. The passage is quite profound and an indication (beyond the pervasive and—amazing!—correctly used references to musical terms) of how thoughtful Pynchon is on the subject. Briefly, there is a time paradox in the very nature of music in that a single tone tends to represent for us stasis or "timelessness" (like a three-dimensional object, which it is—or rather a series of rapidly expanding spheres of differential air pressure that register with our ears as they pass and are interpreted by our brains as one thing as long as the rate remains constant). Yet, as a phenomenon of vibration, this apparent timelessness can only exist in time. A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a succession of tones (melody), but even in that case, we seem to perceive a single "thing" undergoing change—what musicians call the "horizontal" more resembling motion of an object in three-dimensional space. Chords (the "vertical") are implicit in the overtones (partials, or whole-number-fractional vibrations) of a single tone, and the implicit hierarchy of relationships among the overtones can be extrapolated by giving each of them its own chord, based on its own partials. In psychological space, these tend to seem like objects that displace one another, or if time is thought of as a fourth dimension, they sit "next" to each other in time. If anything is clear from the foregoing, one hopes it is that the "horizontal" and the "vertical" are completely interwoven. This may remind some of space-time itself, and to strain at a metaphor, it is perhaps no accident that like quaternions, music is not normally commutative. (Some of the otherworldly—crystalline?—beauty of Webern's music is due to its being intentionally constructed such that it does "work" in both directions.) [[User:Dezama125|Dezama125]] 17:36, 15 October 2009 (PDT)</blockquote>

References to ukuleles and Hawaii and its culture abound in Pynchon's novels [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Hawaiian_Islands_and_Ukuleles ''Vineland''] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Hawaiian_Islands_and_Ukuleles ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii & ukulele references in ''Against the Day'']]...

==Page 552==

'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held''' 
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?

'''knuckle-duster''' 
Brass knuckles.

'''Diksmuide''' 
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).

==Page 553==

'''The terrain was flat...lowlands''' 
Not, this time, a reference to Pynchon's ''Lowlands'', but to the two-dimensionality of Flanders, as in Edwin A. Abbott's ''Flatland'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland]; most humans, like the inhabitants of Flanders and Abbott's Flatlanders, experience life in two dimensions.

'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...''' 
Whereas Miles and the Chums of Chance, in contrast, live in three dimensions. The mathematicians gathered in Ostend are trying to calculate how to experience and use vectors to live in four dimensions; in a way, to experience Time as a kind of spatial dimension. Miles, on P. 551, is demonstrating the beginnings of an intuitive discovery of how to experience Time as an almost spatial dimension. Which would be a sort of "time travel", or at least an expanded view of life and history.

'''retted''' 
soaked in water or exposed to moisture (as flax or hemp) to facilitate the removal of the fiber from the woody tissue by partial rotting.

==Page 554==

'''Ypres and Menin''' 
Municipalities in West Flanders that were sites of some of the bloodiest battles of WWI. At the beginning of the war, the British and Belgian stand helped save Paris from encirclement by the Germans, and saved the Channel ports, but as Thorn points out, the area became the western anchor of the Western Front trench system. The several Battles of Ypres saw the first uses of poison gas (Mustard Gas, dichlorodiethylsulfide, was first called Yperite), the use of enormous mines, and the legendary mud of Passchendaele [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passchendaele].

'''Ten years from now''' 
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.

'''Bosch''' 
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].

'''Brueghel''' 
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].

'''League''' 
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.

No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles -

No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.

'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them''' 
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.

==Page 555==

'''simpletons at the fair''' 
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.

'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne''' 
Frédéric Chopin (1810-49), a Polish pianist and composer ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin Chopin]). He was born in Warsaw, Poland to a Polish morther and a French father. He went to Paris at the age of 20 and died there at the age of 39. He was widely regarded as one of the most famous and influential composers for the piano. From 1837-47 he had a 10-year stormy relationship with the French writer George Sand. His E-minor Nocturne is a 4-minute long Romantic style piano solo composed in 1827. (A ''nocturne'' is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturne Nocturne].)

'''owl-light''' 
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.

''''plasmic hysteresis'''' 

A coined term, apparently similar in meaning to Miles’ phrase “failure of physical translation.” Plasma would take an older meaning of “form” or “shape." Hysteresis, according to Webster's, refers to “a retardation in effect when the forces on an object are changed.” Hysteresis is used to describe magnetic phenomenon as well as plastic or elastic materials, that involve changes to a rest state that last beyond the forces that cause them. Examples include recordings on magnetic tape or a thumbprint slowly disappearing from putty. In the context of this passage, plasmic hysteresis appears to describe the lingering visage of someone who is no longer present – a hysteresis of form only and thus a failed physical translation. See [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=plasma&searchmode=none etymology of plasma] and this nifty explanation of [http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/hysteresis/WhatIsHysteresis.html hysteresis].

Hysteresis has also been used to refer to “loops” in time, certainly apropos in this case. I stumbled across an excellent example in a 1980 episode of Dr. Who, in which the eponymous Dr. is trapped in “chronic hysteresis,” an endless loop or return to a previous
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]

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

ATD 489-524

2018-07-20T03:36:54Z

Mattkb: /* Page 524 */New info about Antonio Smareglia

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

==Page 489==

'''Neville . . . Nigel''' 
Lew's rescuers after the attempt to blow him up in Colorado, page 185. These two characters remind one of Looney Tunes Goofy Gophers.

'''stage left or audience left?''' 
A theater has two directions called left. "Stage left" is to the left of the performers as they face the audience. "House left" or "audience left" is to the left of an audience member facing the stage.

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

'''embryo Apostlet''' 
The Cambridge Apostles, also known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, is an elite intellectual secret society at Cambridge University, founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who went on to become the Bishop of Gibraltar. Undergraduates being considered for membership are called "embryos" and are invited to "embryo parties," where members judge whether the student should be invited to join. "-let" is a common suffix that denotes smallness or youth, like droplet (small drop) or piglet or eyelet &c &c..., thus, a young Apostle. [[Cambridge Apostles|More on the Cambridge Apostles and the Cambridge spy ring...]]

'''Cyprian Latewood''' 
The name connects the character to the Greek demigod Orpheus.

'''"Cyprian":''' 
:After Orpheus loses Eurydice forever by turning to see if she's still following him out of the underworld, he never loves another woman, turning instead to young boys. One of Greek god Apollo's beloved boys, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyparissus Cyparissus], loves a beautiful tame stag that he accidentally kills with a spear. In his grief, Apollo turns him into a cypress tree. The Cypress was one of the trees Orpheus charmed with song, according to [[Cyprian Latewood|Ovid in his ''Metamorphoses'']].

'''"Latewood":''' 
:The "late wood" is the outer portion of the growth ring on a tree, more dense than the "early wood" which appears early in the growing season, appearing later in the season, usually summer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_ring Wikipedia entry]. The tree connection is strong. It was said that Orpheus could even charm the trees, and Rilke (who figures prominently in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']) in the first of his ''Sonnets to Orpheus'', begins:

::Tree arising! O pure ascendance!
::Orpheus Sings! Towering tree within the ear!
::Everywhere stillness, yet in this abeyance:
::seeds of change and new beginnings near.

[[Cyprian Latewood|More about this connection...]]

All very interesting, but let's not forget the obvious:
'the Cyprian' in classical literature is a standard name for Aphrodite/Venus, goddess of love, because she was born in Cyprus, from the waves, as in the famous picture by Botticelli that plays a role in 'V' ('She hangs on the Western Wall'). 
And so, by association, 'a follower of Aphrodite', and in later usage, according to Webster, a prostitute.

:if we were looking for yet another sexual innuendo, it would be interesting to note that the French word "cyprine" (the pronounciation of which is very similar to "Cyprian") describes the vaginal secretions that occur during the period of sexual arousal. The origin of this word can be traced back to the explanation above (i.e. Aphrodite). As for Late''wood'', well, that's kind of self-explanatory, no?

'''sod''' 
Common use; short for ''sodomite.''

'''Eastern wog''' 
Cf p222.

'''The German Sea''' 
A public house; the name occurs again with a different meaning at the end of this chapter.

'''sub-Clerkenwell''' 
Clerkenwell is a neighborhood in London that has a reputation for producing the highest quality of watches, clocks and jewellery. A sub-Clerkenwell trinket would be a poorly made trinket

'''annoyance''' 
(Why?)
:the other's penis seemed larger than one's own?
::Annoyance not because of the penises but because they are rivals. Lethargic not because of the penises but because they aren't getting anywhere in their courtship. Finally, "each regarding the other's penis" because even straight men can't deny that that's one of the things they look at in the steamroom.

Note that ''annoyance'' is a synonym for ''inconvenience''.

==Page 490==

'''gyps''' 
A gyp is a college servant, whose office is that of a gentleman's valet, waiting on two or more collegians in the University of Cambridge. He differs from a bed-maker, inasmuch as he does not make beds; but he runs on errands, waits at table, wakes men for morning chapel, brushes their clothes, and so on. His perquisites are innumerable, and he is called a "gyp" (Greek: vulture) because he preys upon his employer like a vulture. At Oxford they are called scouts. [http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/gyp.html]

[[image:ByronsPool.jpg|thumb|Byron's Pool|100px|right]]'''Byron's Pool''' 
A conservation area in Cambridge. The pool is named after the romantic poet Lord Byron, who is believed to have enjoyed swimming there. Byron studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, starting in 1805.

'''"Div!"''' 
Probably short for "divine!" Of course, if these kids were Vectorists they would be aware of the double ''entendre'' with the '''div''' (divergence) operator.

'''"Whizzo!"''' 
An early-twentieth century English slang expression of delight. Uttered earlier, by Neville or Nigel, on introducing Lew to the Tarot deck, page 186.

'''''"That'' is that of which ''I'' speak!"''' 
prob. homosexuality. cf. "I am the Love that dare not speak its name." -- Lord Alfred Douglas's poem 'Two Loves' in ''Chameleon'' ca. 1896.

Made more famous as an utterance by Oscar Wilde during his trial for sodomy. His response: '"The Love that dare not speak its name" in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare.[...]. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him."

: This seems wrong, given the typical Pynchon scene of males ogling/desiring women. There is no homosexuality invloved with these guys
but a "'range' [again] of remarks" and 'all-night rhapsodizing' over the beauty of naked women. This line "That, etc." seems more likely a comic spin on a famous line which we know Pynchon has alluded to before [V.]: Wittgenstein's "whereof I can not speak, thereof I must remain silent" from the Tractatus. He could NOT not speak of their nakedness.

This whole scene is reminiscent, perhaps, of the biblically famous Susannah and the Elders, where she, too, is watched appreciatively bathing. Wallace Stevens, among others, has a famous poem about it.

::All this about homosexuality is useful knowledge, but (a) the men here are motivated by lust directed at ''women'' and (b) this is among the "catchphrases of [a] day" when Oscar Wilde's love could not yet even speak its name. "''That'' is that of which ''I'' speak!" is a Pynchon trick, taking a 20th-21st century expression and paramorphically projecting it back in time. At the university it was upper-class and refined; today it has become a vulgarism, "That's what I'm talkin' about!" Other examples: "high susceptibility to primordial variables," page 801 (today "extreme sensitivity to initial conditions"); "as cheerful as a finch," page 21 ("as happy as a lark").

Exactly as in the last paragraph, a poke at the currently colloquial:
"That's what I'm talkin' about!"

::Late to the conversation, I know, but homosexuality is important here -- I believe that TRP was being historically accurate. Our early 21st century notion of homosexuality is different from the early 20th century notion, where people like, for example, Oscar Wilde were both married to women and certainly engaged in homosexual activity with men. The sexuality is more fluid. Therefore I find it completely believable that N&N could sometimes be engaging in homosexual behaviour with each other but also interested in a woman.

'''Cloisters Court''' 
Cloisters Court, part of Girton College, Cambridge University.

'''King's''' 
King's College, Cambridge University.

'''Queen Anne's Gate''' 
Some part of the British Home Office is, or was, located in the London (Westminster) street named Queen Anne's Gate.
: According to Wikipedia the British Home Office resided there from 1978 to 2004, so this is unlikely. Since the 1860's until recently, however, parts of the British secret service had their offices at Queen Anne's Gate - the context suggests that the N's report to that.

'''inconvenience''' 
Not sure what connection Pynchon is making here, but the word inconvenience could not come up accidentally in this novel.

True enough. The word seems to keep cropping up, too, but nonchalantly. By this point in the novel, I had already been kicking myself for not circling every prior use of the word.

For what it's worth, one of my Google searches for "inconvenience" yielded this bit of Pynchon-worthy information:

:John Evelyn, one of members of the Invisible College (the group that founded the Royal Society of the United Kingdom), published one of the first books on pre-industrial air pollution in 1661, '''''Fumufugium''': or, The Inconvience of the Aer, and Smoak of London Dissipated''.

:The first two paragraphs of Part I:

:It is not without some considerable ''Analogy'', that sundry of the ''Philosophers'' have named the ''Aer'' the ''Vehicle of the Soul'', as well as that of the Earth, and this frail Vessell of ours which contains it; since we all of us finde the benefit which we derive from it, not onely for the necessity of Respiration and functions of the Organs; but likewise for the use of the ''Spirits'' and ''Primigene Humors'', which doe most neerly approach that Divine particle. But we shall not need to insist, or refine much on this sublime Subject; and, perhaps, it might scandalize scrupulous Persons to pursue to the height it may possibly reach (as ''Diogenes'' and ''Anaximenes'' were wont to ''Deifie'' it) after we are past the ''Aetherial'', which is a certain ''Aer'' of ''Plato's'' denomination, as well as that of the lesse pure, more turbulent and dense, which, for the most part, we live and breath in, and which comes here to be examined as it relates to the design in hand, the City of ''London'', and the environs about it.

:It would doubtlesse be esteemed for a strange and extravagant ''Paradox'', that one should affirme, that the ''Aer'' itself is many times a potent and great disposer to ''Rebellion'' [note JE's book was printed right after Prince Charles' restoration]; and that ''Insulary people'', and indeed, most of the ''Septentrion Tracts'', where this ''Medium'' is grosse and heavy, are extremely versatile and obnoxious to change both in Religious and Secular Affaires: Plant the Foote of your Compasses on the very ''Pole'', and extend the other limb to 50 ''degrees of Latitude'': bring it about 'till it describe the Circle, and then reade the Histories of those Nations inclusively, and make the Calculation.

'''Newnham''' 
An all-women's college at Cambridge, founded in 1871.

'''Wrangleresses''' 
Made-up: top female Math Scholars at Cambridge. Top students were called Wranglers, all male at this time. "Cambridge University and within it of the Mathematics Tripos, the competitive graduation examination process that ranked candidates in order of “Wrangler”" ...

'''Phillippa Fawcett''' 
Typo, should be Philippa Fawcett (1868-1948). She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1890, she was the first woman to score the highest mark at Mathematics Tripos at Cambridge. She served as a College Lecturer in mathematics at Newnham College for 10 years. [http://www.agnesscott.edu/Lriddle/WOMEN/fawcett.htm]

'''Grace Chisholm and Will Young''' 
Grace Chisholm (1868-1944), an English mathematician. She went to Girton College, Cambridge in 1889 to study mathematics. Since no women were accepted to graduate schools in England, after graduation She went to the University of Göttingen to continue her mathematics education and received her PhD there in 1895. The following year she married William Young (1863-1942), one of her tutors at Girton and also a mathematician. (''romances with one's tutors à la . . .'') Grace Chisholm and Will Young formed a mathematical married partnetship of real significance. Husband and wife played a major role in set theory research. Between them they wrote 214 mathematical articles and several books, including one on geometry and one on set theory. [http://www.agnesscott.edu/LRIDDLE/WOMEN/young.htm Grace Chisholm] and [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Young.html William Young].

'''nautch-girl''' 
The nautch girl was an Indian traditional dancer in Hindu temple or court performing ritual and religious dances. Her costume generally was of bright color. Pynchon probably refered to Yahsmeen's beautiful but exotic, extraordinary look and poise.
[[http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/india_art/starter/nautch_girls.htm nautch girl]].

And then, through the medium of carnivals, she became an exotic dancer. This whole phrase "nautch-girl extravagance of looks and self-possession" refers to the sense of dominance the stripper feels over the yawps in the audience. Which figures in the key scene of the musical ''Gypsy'' (1959, book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim).
And an [[ATD_119-148#Page_125|annotation to p. 125]] ("red as a cursed ruby") points to a weird ''AtD'' nautch girl connection.

'''socio-acrobatic aggrandizement''' 
'social climbing'

'''''opium beer''''' 
laudanum?, if not literally.

'''duc de Richelieu''' 
Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu (September 9, 1585 – December 4, 1642), was a French clergyman, noble, and statesman.

Consecrated as a bishop in 1607, he later entered politics, becoming a Secretary of State in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Church and the state, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642;
from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Wikipedia].

:Wrong Richelieu. The duke in question won his big battle at Mahon in 1756. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Fran%C3%A7ois_Armand_du_Plessis%2C_duc_de_Richelieu Here's the Wikipedia link for the right one.]

'''Line and staff''' 
Cyprian's father sees his work in the City as analogous to the profession of arms. Officers in the British and most other armies of the time were classified as "line," those commanding troops, and "staff," those performing administrative and planning functions.

==Page 491==

'''the City''' 
Major banks and other big-money institutions are located in the City of London, a fairly small subset of Metropolitan London.

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

'''Reginald "Ratty" McHugh''', '''fifteen years or so later'''
Reginald nodded appreciatively FIFTEEN YEARS OR SO LATER?...What is going
on here time-wise? 
All the conversation before this line, between Cyprian and his father, is "recalled", having taken place some "fifteen years or so" earlier.

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

I was thinking perhaps his father was trying to bring up the subject of his sodomitical activities, where the "enemy" in this case are "hidden" homosexuals, and this is how he was "dishonoring" the flag.

'''Balkan Sobranies''' 
An upscale brand of cigarette.

'''lilies-and-lassitude humor of the '90s''' 
Cult of Oscar Wilde?
Aubrey Beardsley and the pre-Raphaelites? 
More generally, the 'Aesthetes', not the same as the Pre-Raphaelites. People like Wilde. In Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Patience' the Wilde-like character is described as follows:

Though the Philistines may jostle, 
you will rank as an apostle 
in the high aesthetic band, 
If you walk down Piccadilly 
with a poppy or a lily 
in your medieval hand. 

And ev'ryone will say, 
As you walk your flow'ry way, 
"If he's content with a vegetable love 
which would certainly not suit me, 
Why, what a most particularly pure young man 
this pure young man must be!" 

'''table d'hôte''' 
French: host's table. In a restaurant, a meal chosen by the management, no substitutions please. If the appetizer is shrimp and you don't like shrimp, then don't eat the appetizer.

'''Very well, I contradict myself.''' 
Walt Whitman allusion. See Leaves of Grass. Next line in ADT affirms this.

==Page 492==

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

'''xanthocroid''' 
Prefix xantho- is from Greek and means yellow. Does the whole word mean "yellow-haired"? Yes, i.e. blondes.

'''Capsheaf''' 
Is this a third speaker, or another name for Ratty? Third speaker. Ratty puts in some words a little bit down the page.

In mathematics, a sheaf is the basic tool for expressing relationships between small regions of a space and large regions. Beginning with a topological space X, a sheaf assigns to every region (technically, open set) U of X some data F(U), such as a set, a group, or a ring. Often these data are a collection of geometric objects defined on that region, such as functions, vector fields, or differential forms. The data can be restricted to smaller regions, and compatible collections of data can be glued to give data over larger regions. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheaf_%28mathematics%29 wikipedia entry]

'''viva''' 
Slangy short form of ''viva voce,'' an oral examination. At Oxbridge, this would have been one standard method of examination for most degrees, and they are often intimidating, demanding experiences.

'''Crayke''' 
Crayke is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, about two miles east of Easingwold. Relevant?

Also, "crake" designates various species in the family [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crake Rallidae], which also includes rails, coots, gallinules, and swamphens. Crakes and rails generally are medium-sized, ground-dwelling birds, with adaptations of the foot suited to wetlands.

'''spot of audit''' 
[http://www.andrewcusack.com/blog/2006/12/drink_audit_ale.php Audit ale,] a strong ale served on a few special days. Some colleges at British universities brew their own or contract it out.

'''Shetland''' 
Shetland Islands, an island group northeast of the Orkney Islands, comprising a county of Scotland.

'''Shetland ponies''' 
one of a breed of small but sturdy, rough-coated ponies raised originally in the Shetland Islands.

'''''D'accord''''' 
French: right, OK.

'''reputation for viciousness''' 
The Shetland pony breed has a repuation for viciousness, even if this reputation isn't entirely accurate.

'''Arab''' 
Arabian hourse. One of a breed of horses, raised originally in Arabia and adjacent countries, noted for their intellegence, grace, and speed.

'''Thoroughbred''' 
One of a breed of horses, to which all race horse belong, originally developed in England by crossing Arbian stallions with European mares.

'''croft''' 
Farm.

'''Mainland''' 
The name of one of the 29 inhabited islands in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK. It is the largest island in Shetland Islands, the third largest in Great Britian.

'''Mavis Grind''' 
A narrow isthmus joining the Northmavine peninsula to the rest of Mainland in the Shetland Islands, UK. The name means "gate of the narrow isthmus" in the local dialect. Mavis Grind is said to be the only place in the UK where you can toss a stone across land from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

'''orthopædic journals''' 
Both prof and pony have to do some twisting in order to get the act done. Their skeletal disorders will, erhhm, ''spur'' the interest of orthopædists. Especially if she kicks.

'''Dymphna''' 
After [http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/saintd01.htm St. Dymphna,] whose intercession is effective against insanity, possession and epilepsy. Her shrine at Gheel, Belgium, has since the 11th century been a refuge for persons with mental illness and intellectual disability. The afflicted wealthy went to the shrine to be cured; they were boarded with townspeople, beginning a tradition of adult foster care for persons with mental illness which continues to this day; Gheel is a designated state psychiatric hospital center, at which all the patients live in foster family homes.

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

==Page 493==

'''Thucydides... remind me''' 
Thucydides' book is an account of the Peloponnesian war, organized in a rather difficult method in which all the actions of one season are described before proceeding to the next. Here are some erotic possibilities in it, however: 
-Pericles, in his famous funeral oration, says the citizen ought to have an eros for the city. 
-At one point some Athenians are lured out of a garrison by way of a gymnastic (that is male, nude) demonstration. 
-On the eve of the fateful Sicilian expedition, all the oversized phalloi of the hermes are mysteriously knocked off. One of the generals on the expedition, Alcibiades, is accused of the offense and is eventually called called back. In Plato's Symposium Alcibiades drunkenly crashes the party and confesses that Socrates has consistently spurned his sexual advances.

In this context, Thucydides is proposed specifically for its non-erotic qualities. In writing his histories, Thucydides attempted to produce a clinical account of the Peloponnesian war without the passion and inaccuracies of previous histories, such as those of Herodotus. Indeed it is hard to imagine a less erotic work. It is suggested for Cyprian Latewood to help him get over his infatuation with Yashmeen.

'''McHugh''' 
Talking to self?

'''''Peeng''-kyeah''' 
Pinky, name given to Yashmeen by the blonde girls, Lorelei, Noellyn an Faun.

'''alfresceehwh''' 
An alfresco, an outdoor gathering. ''-eehwh'' is a rendering of the accent for comic effect.

'''Lorelei, Noellyn, and Faun''' 
Lorelei, more frequently "Loreley": In a famous German myth, a mermaid sitting on a rock by the river Rhine. The rock itself is also named Loreley. With her song, she bewitches the captains of passing ships, who then steer into the rock. The syllable "Ley" derives from a Celtic word for "stone".

Faun: Faunus, the Roman god of fertility, also responsible for nightmares. Fauns are also the Romans counterparts of the Greek "satyrs", followers of Dionysos. Faunus is playing a flute, another connection to music.

Noellyn ?? 
She is No Ellen? 
Echo of Noel?

'''"all blonde, of course"''' 
with all the Germanic mythology around here, possibly a reference to the "blonde/blue-eyed"-cliche of German women. Possible play on light-theme? Blonde (light, reflection) opposed to the dark (absence of light, absorption) Yashmeen?

'''High Albedo''' 
Albedo: power of reflecting light. Blondes reflect more light than brunettes. 
Possibly a citation of ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p. 152 (Viking), "high-albedo stockings".

'''"dark rock...again and again"''' 
cf "Lorelei"

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

''''''sans merci'''''' 
a reference to Keats's 19th century Romantic ballad 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci'. The lady of the title entraps men by making them fall in love with her and abandoning them.

French for "no mercy" or "no pity", or, more precisely in this case: "without mercy". Alludes to Pinky's cold and unforgiving nature.

==Page 494==

'''wrong altar''' 
She, a lesbian, tells him that he 'worships' a woman who is wrong for him.

'''gnomic tenses''' 
Gnomic = marked by aphorisms; aphoristic...'gnomic verse, a gnomic style".
American Heritage Dictionary.

: In Greek the gnomic tense is the timeless aorist, i.e. an aorist indicating no special time. In English there is the timeless present tense, e.g. in proverbs. Since the gnomic aorist differs from the usual aorist only in its usage the term "gnomic tenses" seems a little stressed.

'''circs''' 
Short form (typically British): circumstances.

''''If she's not content with a vegetable love'''' 
a reference to Marvell's seventeenth century poem 'To His Coy Mistress'. "Vegetable love" refers to the slow, slow way he would let his love grow, to become "vaster than empires and more slow" had they "world enough and time", but since they don't, since they are in human time, he is trying to 'convince' her to make love with him now. Another interpretation would be female masturbation via vegetables. 
True, but more directly, quoting Gilbert and Sullivan. See comments on p. 491 (lilies-and-lassitude).

'''Rugby blue''' 
To be a 'Rugby blue' means to have represented Oxford (colour: dark blue) or Cambridge (light blue) at Rugby, which is a major European sport, invented, supposedly, at Rugby school in England in the nineteenth century.

'''Mâconnais''' 
This refers to a bargain sub-Burgundian wine that comes from the Macon region of France.

:Bargain? You've obviously never enjoyed a good bottle of Mâcon Villages Cuvée Botrytis Domaine de la Bongran 2000, which, if you decide to treat yourself to a great bottle of white, will set you back at least 180$. It is true, though, that some wine snobs look down on Mâcon Wines because the region doesn't have any Grand Crus or Premier Crus.

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

The elder George Grossmith performed in Gilbert and Sullivan works. He was not university-educated. The younger G.G. was also a noted performer and collaborated with P.G. Wodehouse.

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

==Page 495==

'''Junior or Senior?''' 
expressions used at traditional English (independent) schools to refer to younger and older brothers. Thus Smith Junior or Smith Senior.—

I don't think this is correct - the junior/senior here just refers to the question of whether it's Grossmith the father or Grossmith the son. The traditional expression for younger and older brothers is minor/major. So Smith major would be the elder Smith brother, Smith minor the younger brother.[[User:Geb|Geb]] 19:49, 10 April 2008 (PDT)geb

See [[#grossmith|Grossmith entry]] on preceding page.

'''"Small hands, some evidence of early trauma, cp. Wilhelm II file"''' 
Wilhelm II suffered an injury at birth and had a withered arm. All his photographs show him with the "small hand" in his pocket.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II_of_Germany From Wikipedia]: 
William II, German Emperor (1859-1941), Reigned 1888-1918.

The role of William II in German history is sometimes a controversial issue in historical scholarship. Initially seen as an important, but embarrassing figure in German history until the late 1950s, for many years after that, the dominant view was that he had little or no influence on German policy leading up to the First World War. This has been challenged since the late 1970s, particularly by Professor John C. G. Röhl who saw William II as the key figure in understanding the recklessness and subsequent downfall of Imperial Germany.

'''"Map of the World"''' 
Like it says in the text, simply what Renfrew calls all his data.

Although the name is possibly of some significance! Renfrew's dossiers could act as a way of divining holistic truth from a series of perspectives or projections. Obviously interpreting this data requires the correct viewing individual, or "lens." In this way, Renfrew's "Map" is not unlike the Sfinciuno Itinerary.

Ah, I think it worth pointing out that Renfrew's dossiers on "everyone' is a paranoid's nightmare. The map is a "map" of what Refrew learns about everyone, not a common meaning of 'map", and reminding this reader of They/Them in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' who have a map of everywhere Slothrop--
and others?--appear to be/have been. At least. [[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 06:55, 3 October 2007 (PDT)

Also brings to mind the Wittgenstein line that TRP alludes to in ''The Crying of Lot 49'': "The world is all that is the case". If Renfrew
could map everything everyone does, he would have the whole [human] world
'mapped'.

'''Newmarket''' 
A famous English race-course, hence the following reference to the 'racing season'. 
And very close to Cambridge.

'''Morse and Vassilev''' 
In 1896-97 the first radio-telegraphic equipment was imported into Bulgaria for the needs of the armed forces and large postal offices. This was the start of Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). At that time, the equipment was used only to transmit Morse code on electro-magnetic waves. Samuel F. B. Morse, an English speaking American, invented Morse code and the telegraph.(On May 24, 1844 he transmitted the first telegraph message: "What hath God wrought!"). BNR at one time was headed by Orlin Vassilev, a Bulgarian playwright. BNR at one time also employed former (Bulgarian) environment minister Valentin Vassilev. 
Charles Morse published a full textbook of Bulgarian grammar in 1860, and compiled the first Bulgarian-English dictionary.#REDIRECT [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian-American_relations]]

'''East Rumelian''' 
Cf [[ATD_336-357#Page_356|page 356: East Rumelia. ]] Rumelia was a Turkish province in the Balkan Peninsula. East Rumelia lay mostly in what is now Bulgaria.

'''the Treaty of Berlin''' 
In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 Russia crushed Turkey and forced it to accept the Treaty of San Stefano. This created a greatly expanded Bulgaria under Russian protection. Britain feared that Russia might spread its control to Constantinople (now Istanbul) and to the Suez Canal, and therefore, with Austria, demanded a revised treaty. Weakened by war, Russia consented. The Treaty of San Stefano was replaced thus by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berlin_%281878%29 the Treaty of Berlin] (1878), the final act of the Congress of Berlin of the Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The new treaty recognized the complete independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. The autonomy of Bulgaria was also recognized but it remained under formal Ottoman overlordship and divied between the Principality of Bulgaria and the autonomous province of ''East Rumelia''. And the Ottoman province of Bosnia was placed uner Austro-Hungarian administration.

'''''zadruga''''' 
Bulgarian: labor cooperative.

'''''tchifliks''''' 
Bulgarian: farms.

'''''gradinarski druzhini''''' 
Bulgarian: gardening (or farming?) associations.

'''gossamer''' 
Sheer, light, delicate, flimsy, airy, tenuous, like a cobweb.

==Page 496==

'''sod . . . pouffe''' 
Derogatory terms for homosexual ("sod" from "sodomite").

'''failed canards''' 
Discredited rumors.

'''Lent . . . Easter . . . Long Vacation''' 
''Lent'' is an anual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for ''Easter'', beginning at Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter. After ''Lent'', ''Easter'' the school terms would soon glide into the summer recess, the ''Long Vacation.''
 
::At Cambridge University 'Lent Term' is the second term of the academic year (after Christmas), and 'Easter Term' is the third (between Easter and Summer - or 'Long' - vacations.) So 'Lent and Easter' qualifies 'The Terms' in the previous clause: the sense is 'Lent Term and Easter Term went gliding...' (The first term of the Cambridge year, incidentally, is called 'Michaelmas'.)

'''Colonial Office''' 
Defunct British Ministry, later Foreign & Colonial Office, now Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

'''Okhrana''' 
a secret police force of the Russian Empire and part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana Wikipedia Entry]

'''Ballhausplatz''' 
Location of the Austrian State Chancellery and Foreign Ministry [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballhausplatz Wikipedia Entry]

'''Wilhelmstrasse''' 
Administrative Center of the Kingdom of Prussia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmstrasse Wikipedia Entry]

'''G.F.B. Riemann''' 
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann. A German mathematician who did extensive work in differential geometry. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Riemann Wikipedia Entry]

[http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Riemann.html Bernhard Riemann] (1826-66), a German mathematician. He studied mathematics at the University of Göttingen and later taught that subject there. He did important work in geometry, complex analysis, and mathematical physics. Riemanm's work on Riemann geometry laid the foundation for Einstein's general relativity. He investigated the Riemann zeta function about which he stated the famous (and still not completely proven) Riemann hypothesis (see below). He died of tuberculosis in Selasca, Italy, at the age of 39.

'''Zeta function . . . conjecture''' 
The Riemann zeta function. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function/ Wikipedia Entry]

The Riemann zeta function is an extremely important special function of mathematics and physics that arises in definite integration and is intimately related with very deep results surrounding the prime number theorem. While many of the properties of this function have been investigated, there remain important fundamental ''conjectures'' (most notably the Riemann hypothesis) that remain unproved to this day. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function Zeta function]].

The Riemann hypothesis (''conjecture'') is a conjecture about the distribution of zeros of the Riemann zeta function. The Riemann zeta function is defined for all complex numbers (Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page132|page 132]]) not equal to zero. It has zeros at the negative even integers, (-2, -4, -6 and so on), called trivial zeros. The Riemann hypothesis is concerned with the non-trivial zeros, saying, ''"The real part of any non-trivial zero of the Riemann zeta function is 1/2."'' This conjecture remains unproved. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_hypothesis Riemann conjecture]].

Riemann's zeta function is also used in the Zipf Probability Distribution [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ZipfDistribution.html], which itself led to the formulation of Zipf's Principle of Least Effort that TRP mined for semantic resonances in GR. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Zipf%27s_Principle_of_Least_Effort]

''''joint'''' 
Opium den.

'''Bob's your uncle''' 
An English and Commonwealth expression referring to the ease with which something can be done. Still used, though probably more common in the time in which ''Against the Day'' is set. Possible [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/70100.html derivations].

'''Limehouse''' 
An area of East London that borders on the River Thames near the Isle of Dogs. The name may derive from the lime kilns, or lime "oasts", that once flourished there. In the late 19th century the area was famous for opium dens [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limehouse Wikipedia].

==Page 497==

'''Knightsbridge''' 
Knightsbridge is a street in Westminster borough, London. Notable for its super rich and famous high profile residents and its exclusive shops. (Recent residents included members of the Saudi royal family, Joan Collins, Gucci, Prince Diana and so on; it's shops included Egyptian Fayed's Harrods, etc . . . ) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knightsbridge Knightsbridge]].

'''Hôtel Alsace''' 
The propre name is Hôtel d'Alsace. It was, and still is, located at number 13 rue des Beaux-Arts, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Oscar Wilde died there, under an assumed named, on november 30th, in 1900, following a two-day agony. Note some similarity of letters between the names Griswold and Wilde (both "sodomite"…). 

Also, Wilde's famous last words (well, recounted as last words but really uttered months before his death) was "either that wallpaper goes, or I do." Cyprian's uncle, Griswold, it seems, had the atrocious decorative taste that shoved Wilde into the great beyond. This is post-Wilde; the avant-garde pose has calcified into a tacky schtick, the "lilies-and-lassitude" 90s, like the foreclosed frontier, a dead duck in the sodomite water.

see "Gris"--four associative definitions that interestingly modify/play with, the name Wilde: gray; a pale rose' (as in vin gris)and Juan Gris, Spanish painter. [http://www.google.com/search?q=define:gris&hl=en&oi=definel&defl=all gris]

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

'''Coronation Red''' 
The Peer‘s traditional robes at Coronation Day are made of crimson red velvet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_the_British_Monarch Wikipedia] [http://www.geocities.com/noelcox/Peers_Robes.htm website]. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VII_of_the_United_Kingdom Wikipedia]

'''Ranji and C.B. Fry''' 
Two notable cricketers who would have been in their prime when the novel is set. Both played for England. 'Ranji' is short for Ranjitsinhji and is how he was familiarly known. [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/12930.html C.B. Fry] [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/19331.html Ranji]

'''Australian season''' 
A reference to the Australian cricket season which runs throughout their summer and the European winter.

More likely to refer to the tour of the Australian cricket team to England in the Summer of 1902. Of particular interest is the fact that the Aussies played a match against Cambridge University on June 9-10. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_England_in_1902 1902 Ashes Tour]

'''New Court''' 
A major building in St John's College (founded 1511), University of Cambridge. It was completed in 1831. It's style is Gothic, a romantic version of a mediaeval building; its basic plan is classical. For pictures and more info [http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/about/tour/new_court New Court].

'''Tavernier-Gravet slide rules''' 
French-made, some with special scales (slope conversions, etc.). [http://discover.com/issues/aug-03/features/featslide/ Photograph.]

'''High Church''' 
Anglican

'''Mags and Nuncs and Matins responsories''' 
A responsory is a form of (Christian) chant (call and response, perhaps), which is here qualified by Latin designations for specific prayers. 
Mags: possibly for ''Magnificat,'' the hymn beginning "My soul doth magnify the Lord"? 
Nunc = Now. For ''Nunc dimittis,'' the prayer beginning "Let thy servant now depart." 
Matin = Morning.

'''Trinity''' 
Trinity College, was founded by Henry VIII in 1546 as part of the Univeristy of Cambridge. Most of its major buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries. "Princes, spies, poets and prime-ministers have all been taught here." (Trinity's own website [http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=2 Trinity])

'''King's''' 
King's College, Cambridge University, was found by Henry VI in 1441. From the first, the College's buildings were intened to be a magnificent display of the power of royal patronage. King's College Chapel, wanted by the King to be without equal in size and beauty and took nearly a century to complete, is one of the greatest examples of gothic architecture. It is also home to the world famous Choir, envisaged by Henry VI for daily singing of services in the chapel. [[http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/visitors/history.html King's]].

'''not Zion''' 
The context indicated that the original meaning Mount Zion, a hill near Jerusalem, was used; i.e. "not Mount Zion".

'''Compline hour''' 
Bedtime. Compline is the last prayers or service of the day.

'''Te Deum''' 
Te Deum = Thou, O God (Latin).

Since "the Te Deum" was used in the text, it meant the ancient Latin hymn of praise to God, in the form of a psalm, sung regularly at matins in the Roman Catholic Church and, usually in an English translation, at Morning Prayer in the Anglican Church, as well as on special occasions as a service of thanksgiving or commemoration. First words of the hymn, which begin; ''Te Deum laudāmus'' (we praise thee God). Te Deum also refers to the musical setting or form of this hymn with a certain structure which Filtham had blotched. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Deum Wikipedia]

Coincidence? According to the [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14468c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia] there is a discussion among scholars whether the hymn of the Te Deum goes back to a text written by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cyprian St. Cyprian of Carthage] : "...if the hymn was borrowed from St. Cyprian, why did it not include the "virgines" instead of stopping with "martyrum"?".

'''Khaki Election''' 
A term in British political history. It refered to the British general election of 1900. The reason for this name was that the issues of the election were overshadowed totally by the issue of the (2nd) Boer War (South African War, 1899-1902 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War Boer War]]), as ''khaki'' was the color of the new army uniform. A ''Khaki Election'' is now applied to any British national election which is heavily influenced by wartime or postwar sentiment. 1918 general election (end of World War I) and 1945 election (end of Wordl War II) were both described as Khaki Elections.

'''Filtham''' 
???

==Page 498==

'''violation of . . . child-labor statutes''' 
If such laws applied to children in the choirs of Cambridge colleges, the great length of the composition would keep them at work too many hours.

'''chromaticism . . . Richard Strauss''' 
Chromaticism refers to the use of the chromatic scale in composing music. Ever since Baroque Period (17th to early 18th century) almost all music were compsoed either in major or minor scale, in which only seven of the twelve tones of the octave were used. Beginning in the late Romanic Period (mid 19th to 20th century) the chromatic scale including all 12 tones of the octave was used. By using the tones that are not "supposed" to be in a certain key, the music thus composed had stronger dissonance and exaggerated tension. 

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was a German composer of the late Romantic era well known for his tone poems and operas. His ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (1896), a symphonic poem, was made widely popular by Stanley Kubrick's film ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' in 1968 — the music (especially the brass fanfare opening) introduced the memorable ape/man sequence of the film. His many operas include ''Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio'' and others. Chromaticism was not that new to Richard Strauss, but "relentless chromaticism" just might be too "modern" for him.

'''Staindrop''' 
Home of Jeremiah Dixon.

'''"Filtham's Tedium"''' 
(Talk about overlabored puns...)
:"Tedium" is a common humorous way to refer to somebody-or-other's "Te Deum."

'''dress regulations''' 
???

'''Gauss''' 
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), a German mathematician and scientist, and one of the all-time greats. He worked in a wide variety of fields in both mathematics and physics including number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, magnetism, astronomy and optics. His work has had an immense influence in many areas. Riemann was a student of his at Göttingen. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss Wikipedia].

'''Ramanujan''' 
Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920), one of India's greatest mathematical geniuses. Long before he came to Cambridge and though without any formal university education, Ramanujan made substantial contributions to the anlytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions and infinite series. He, a poor savant from India, was invited in 1914 to Cambridge by G.H. Hardy after he wrote him a letter asking abstruse mathematical questions. In his letter, Ramanujan enclosed a long list of then unproved theorems which he had solved. After his arriving at Cambridge Ramanujan collaborated with G.H. Hardy resulting in important results. He was allowed to enroll in 1914 in Cambridge despite not having the proper qualifications and received a PhD degree in 1916. Plagued by health problems all his life, his health deteriorated rapidly from 1917, and he returned to India in 1919 and died there the following year. Two years before his death, however, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. [[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Ramanujan.html Ramanujan]]. Therefore,
". . . Ramanujan here at Trinity . . ." could have happened only between 1914 - 1919.

'''revisited, in some way 'relighted' the scene''' 
Light, mental light.

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

==Page 499==

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

'''ζ-function''' 
Another reference to the Riemann zeta function.

'''Hilbert thinks of nothing else''' 
The Riemann hypothesis is one of the 20 problems put forth by Hilbert in 1900.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_problem Wikipedia Entry]

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

'''Great Eastern''' 
Railway linking Cambridge and London.

==Page 500==

'''Weierstrass and Sofia Kovalevskaia''' 
Sofia Kovalevskaia was the first woman to apply for a mathematics degree at the University of Goettingen in Germany. She was not accepted at the university, but was allowed to tutor under one of the university's math professors. She wrote a paper there that became an important part of the theory of differential equations.

:Kovalevskaia's private math tutor was Weierstrass at Berlin (see below).

''Karl Weierstrass'' (1815-97), a German mathermatician. He attended the University of Bonn studying law, finance and economics instead of mathermatics, the subject he was really interested in and studied out of school. He left the Univeristy of Bonn without a degree and went to the University of Münster for mathematics. Later he became a teacher in the city of Münster. Around 1850 he took a chair at the Technical University of Berlin. For four years (1870-1874) he gave private mathematics lessons to Sofia Kovalevskaia while she was denied the university entrance in Berlin. His investigations were mainly on the topic of "Special Functions": Weierstrass Elliptic Function, Weierstrass Zeta Function, Weierstrass Product Theroem, etc.

''Sofia Kovalevskaia'' (1850-91) Russian mathematician and novelist. She was born in Moscow and showed an interest in mathematics from an early age. When 11 she studied differential and integral analysis from her father's calculus lecture notes that were used as wallpaper in the family house. She was given a special tutor of higher mathematics. At age 18 she entered a "false" marriage (it became genuine later) in order to be able to attend college abroad. In 1869 she enrolled as a provisional student at Heidelberg University. In 1870 she moved to Berlin attempting to study under ''Weierstrass'' and enroll at Berlin University. But the university refused to accept her because of her gender. However, Weierstrass was so impressed by her talent that he gave her private mathematics lessons twice a week for four years. By the spring of 1874, Kovalevskaia had completed three papers. Weierstrass deemed each of these worthy of a doctorate. And with his help, in Kovaleskaia's absence, University of Göttingen granted her a PhD in Mathematics (a historical first) and Master (''summa cum laude'') in Fine Art. In the same year she returned to Russia but failed to get an academic job. She did not practice mathematics for six years but pursued literary work instead. In 1880 she returned to mathematics and applied to teach at universities in Russia but was denied again. Finaly she found employment at Sweden's Stockholm University in 1883. She died of pneumonia in Stockholm in 1891. 
In her short life Kovalevskaia had won a historic place in mathermatics. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate in mathermatics, the first woman to obtain a permanent position on a university faculty in mathematics, the first woman having a place on the editorial staff of a mathematical journal, the first female member of St. Petersburg Academy of Science, and the first woman to win the most prestigeous mathematical contest of her day, an honor equivalent to the winning of a Nobel Prize. Her literary achievements was quite substantial. Her ''Russian Childhood'' won wide acclaim and was translated into many languages (the English edition still available). She had a couple of novels (''Nihilist Girl'' etc.) published as well. She dabbled in playwriting and produced a steady stream of both fiction and nonfiction publications for Russian journals.

'''Pythagorean doctrine''' 
From the text it refers to Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration of souls. Pythagoras and his disciples believed in reincarnation (or metempsychosis), according to which human souls are immortal and are reborn into other animals after death. ("reborn as a vegetable" may be questionable.) 
Perhaps not so questionable. There is, after all, the Pythagorean prohibition against eating beans, wind being 'pneuma' = spirit.

[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagora Pythagoras], one of the most famous and controversial ancient Greek philosophers, lived from ca. 570 to ca. 490 BC. He spent his early years on the island of Samos, off the coast of modern Turkey. At the age of 40, he moved to Crotona in southern Italy and most of his philosophical activity occurred there. His philosophical thinking exercised an important influence on the work of Plato. "Pythagoras was famous (1) as an expert on the fate of the soul after death . . .; (2) as an expert on religious ritual; (3) as a wonder-worker who had a thigh of gold and who could be two places at the same time; (4) as the founder of a strict way of life that emphasized dietary restrictions, . . . and rigorous self discipline." (on-line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). 
Pythagoras was also a famous mathematician best known for the Pythagorean Theorem and the Music of the Spheres. Known as the father of numbers, his philosophy encompassed harmonics in mathematics, music, cosmology, geometry and had a lasting impact on hermeticism, gnosticism and alchemy.

'''sounds like maths''' 
Yashmeen seems to see 'maths' as otherwordly.

'''folio''' 
an edition of a book in pages that fold in half to make the leaves of a codex.

'''four-color chromolithograph''' 
Chromo--in Chemistry, chromium
 
:Nothing to do with chromium. Chromolithography means 'The art of printing in colours from stone' (OED), an early technique for printing in more than one colour. The chromo- prefix is a shortened form of chromato-, a Greek-derived prefix denoting 'to do with colour'.

'''Snazzbury''' 
???

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

'''toilette''' 
No longer in use in modern english, the term 'toilette' indicated a dressing table covered to the floor with cloth (toile) and lace, on which stood a dressing glass, which might also be draped in lace. Wikipedia

It's still used, and in addition to the dressing table meaning, it refers to how somebody is "got up"--dress, makeup and all.

==Page 501==

'''green, white, and mauve stripes''' 
Colors associated with the Suffragette Movement of the time.Diane Atkinson, one of the leading contemporary scholars on the suffrage movement, edited a book, Suffragettes in the Purple, White, and Green London 1906-1914, which served as a catalog at an exhibition of suffrage memorabilia at the Museum of London and which discusses the symbolism. Atkinson notes that the color scheme was devised by Mrs. Pethick-Lawrence, treasurer and co-editor of the weekly newspaper Votes for Women. In the spring 1908 issue of that paper, Pethick-Lawrence explained the symbolism of the colors:

"Purple as everyone knows is the royal colour. It stands for the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette, the instinct of freedom and dignity...white stands for purity in private and public life...green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring."

'''black crepon''' 
The shell is made of black rayon crepon and fully lined to within 2" of bottom hem. From a description of a black [nursing] dress online.

'''Italian-cloth''' 
The Champagne fairs were a circuit of six cloth fairs in the towns of Champagne and Brie, changing location every two months and spanning the year from January to October. At their height, in the 13th century, the Champagne fairs linked the cloth-producing cities of the Low Countries with the Italian dyeing and exporting centers. The fairs, which were already well-organized at the start of the century, were one of the earliest manifestations of a linked European economy, a characteristic of the High Middle Ages.

The towns provided huge warehouses, still to be seen at Provins. From the north came woolens and linen cloth. Wikipedia.

==Page 502==

'''modern lettering''' 
Refers to Art Nouveau lettering popular at the turn of the 20th century and still commonly used on entrance signs for Paris metro stations.

'''L'ARIMEAUX ET QUEURLIS''' 
Larry, Moe, and Curly's

'''Mademoiselles''' 
Should be ''Mesdemoiselles''. The plural form ''mademoiselles'' does exist in French, but only as a substantive, not as a title (it cannot be used to address people).

'''"a kind of helical ramp"''' 
Possibly a reference to the Riemann Sphere, which is built in large part upon complex numbers and which look something like a helix. 
[[Image:Riemann Sphere.jpg]]

'''twilling''' 
Twill = A fabric with diagonal parallel ribs. 2. The weave used to produce such a fabric.
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: twilled, twill·ing, twills
To weave (cloth) so as to produce a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs. From The American Heritage Dictionary

==Page 503==

'''Earl's Court Wheel''' 
The apostrophe is an error.
Go to "List All Pages" and enter "Great Wheel of Earl's Court" for an excellent write-up elucidating much of this page.

Earl's Court is an area of London. A Ferris Wheel there. See "The Great Wheel of Earls Court" page.

Another "paramorphic" parallel to our time: The London Eye, a huge Ferris Wheel built for the Millenium Exposition of 2000. The trip around is not, as Yasmeen notes, thermodynamically reversible, since one would be "changed forever" in the course of the journey around the wheel (in the Heraclitean sense that "No man steps in the same river twice"--the river changes.) 
This is the connection between entropy in thermodynamics and entropy in information theory, embodied in Maxwell's Demon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_Demon], at the center of Pynchon's ''Crying of Lot 49'', now back as a problem in non-Euclidean geometries and multiple dimensions.

'''whelks''' 
A whelk is a large marine gastropod (snail) found in temperate waters. 
Popular in the early 20th C as fast food sold from stalls in the street. You extracted the somewhat bogey-like creature with a pin and ate it.

'''five pound note, like in the song''' 
Music hall song "I've Got the Five-Pound Note" based on 1896 stranding of passengers for 4-10 hours [accounts vary].

'''Chinese Turkestan railway shares''' 
Chinese Turkestan is where the Chums of Chance are currently, in the sub-desertine vehicle.

'''jellied eel''' 
An East End of London delicacy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellied_eels Wikipedia]

'''West Ham, the Park, Upton Lane, lads all in claret and blue''' 
The "lads in claret and blue" are kicking a football around, as they are players of current Premiership side West Ham United. Founded in 1895, the "Hammers" are playing their home games at Boleyn Ground aka "Upton Park". Yep, soccer. However, it's highly dubious that Upton Park could be seen from Earl's Court, even at 300 feet. Much easier to see Chelsea, Fulham or Queen's Park Rangers grounds, all very close to Earl's Court.

'''lupine liminality''' 
Latin: lupus = wolf, limen = threshold. Allusion to the proverbial wolf at the door.

Lupine = any of a genus (Lupinus) of leguminous herbs including some poisonous forms and others cultivated for their long showy racemes of usually blue, purple, white, or yellow flowers or for green manure, fodder, or their edible seeds; also : an edible lupine seed.

The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. One's sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation. Liminality is a period of transition, during which your normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed, opening the way to something new.

'''hydrangeas''' 
a kind of flower. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrangea Wikipedia]

'''Hardy,''' 
Cf. [[ATD_219-242#Page 239|page 239:McTaggart . . . Hardy]]. G.H. (Godfrey Harold) Hardy (1877-1947),famous Cambridge mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._H._Hardy Wikipedia]. He wrote "A Mathematician's Apology" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology Wikipedia] [http://www.math.ualberta.ca/~mss/books/A%20Mathematician's%20Apology.pdf Full Text]. Knew all the most famous intellectuals and was himself very influential.

==Page 504==

'''Harwich... German Sea''' 
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east.The North Sea historically also known as the German Ocean. By the late nineteenth century, German Sea was a rare, scholarly usage ...

"The German Sea" is also a public house (p. 489).

'''Hook of Holland''' 
Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands. It is not a hook but the southwest ''corner'' of South-Holland province (Dutch ''hoek'' = corner).

''Hook of Holland'' is also the name of the ferry port, an entry point into Holland and Europe. It is served by ferry sailings from Harwich and is the main entry port when travelling from the UK. It is less than 15 miles southwest of The Hague. [[http://www.eurodrive.co.uk/ports.asp?ID=39&p=Hook-Of-Holland Port of Hook of Holland]].

'''madhouse at Osnabrück''' 
OSNABRUCK, a town and episcopal see of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, situated on the Hase, 70 m. W. of the city of Hanover, 31 m. by rail N.E. of Munster, and at the junction of the lines Hamburg-Cologne and BerlinAmsterdam. Pop. (1905) 59,5 80. The lunatic asylum occupies a former nunnery.

==Page 505==

'''plug hats''' 
a plug hat may be a top hat or a bowler hat.

'''Cobh''' 
the historic port town of Cobh Ireland. Many ocean liners sailed from there, including the Titanic... the port of Queenstown (now known as Cobh)

==Page 506==

'''Euclid''' 
Avenue of classy mansions in Cleveland

Euclid (300 BC) is also the father of geometry. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid wikipedia entry] check out the section on optics and the theory of mirrors.

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

'''went on for years''' 
the Krakatoa eruption put dust and ashes aloft for years.

'''Krakatoa''' 
The correct name is Krakatau. It is a volcanic, uninhabited Indonesia's island lies between Java and Sumatra. A series of cataclysmic explosions of August 26 - 27, 1883, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, collapsed the northern two-thirds of the island beneath the sea, generating an immense tsunamis that ravaged adjeacent coastlines and killed over 36,000 perople. Tephra (volcanic rock and glass fragments) from the eruption fell as far as 1,500 miles downwind in the days following the explosion. The finest fragments were propelled high into the stratosphere, spreading outward as a broad cloud acroos the entire equatorial belt in only two weeks. These particles would remain suspended in the atmosphere for a long time. For years, the earth experienced exotic colors in the sky, halos around the sun and moon, and a spectacular array of anomalous sunsets and sunrises. In the year following the equption, average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2° Celsius. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years and temperature did not return to normal until 1888. For more about 1883 eruption, map, pictures, current volcanic activities etc see [http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Krakatau.html Krakatau 1] and [http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/krakatau/krakatau.html Krakatau 2].

'''Krakatoa...child's story'''

''The 21 Balloons''? which could have been a Chums of Chance adventure!

'''Shorty''' 
the 'short-order' cook?

==Page 507==
'''I thought sunsets were just supposed to look like that...

Suggestive of the sentiments in Wordsworth's ''Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood'' [http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww331.html]

Also brought to mind The Orb's ''Little Fluffy Clouds'' (1990) in which Rickie Lee Jones answers the question.....

What were the skies like when you were young? [by saying]

''They went on forever
And ''they -- when I
We lived in Arizona
And the skies always had little fluffy clouds
And they were long and clear
And there were lots of stars, at night
And when it rained it would all turn
It -- they were beautiful
The most beautiful skies as a matter of fact
The sunsets were purple and red
And yellow and on fire
And the clouds would catch the colors everywhere
That's -- it's neat
Because I used to look at them all the time
When I was little
You don't see that''''

Circling the rabbit hole....In this song, The Orb uses a harmonica sample from the song ''The Man With The Harmonica'' from the film '''Once Upon a Time in the West''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Fluffy_Clouds]. The film in turn seems to have strong Pynchon/AtD overtones, (pre-tones??) --
Frank vs. Harmonica, the railroads destroying the Old West...etc. Pynchon showing a strong preference for harmonicas, old movies and songs and protagonists named Frank.

'''how little I cared''' 
(Blaming Krakatoa???)Seems to me she is saying that her feelings for Bert faded, as everything was, maybe, supposed to, as had the fantastic sunsets
caused by Krakatoa when they got back to ordinary.

'''palm upward''' 
One of many "old wives' tales" described in [http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/pregnancy/oldwives/index.php this web page.]

'''Prospect Avenue''' 
Once fashionable street in Cleveland, Ohio.

'''leaf-spring suspension''' 
A form of suspension for wheeled vehicles. Still very occasionally used in automobiles, but more likely nowadays to be seen on a perambulator. A "leaf" here is a long thin strip of tempered steel (they may also be stacked for greater strength).

'''overrun''' 
the excess kerosene when made.

'''Flats''' 
lands around the Cuyahoga River.

==Page 508==

'''Cuyahoga''' 
Major river in Ohio that goes around Cleveland. Famous in the 60's for literally catching on fire from the combustible pollutants in it. Here, Pynchon shows that industrial pollution and its effect on the river. "It's like looking down into the sky".

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

'''allowing Erlys do the work''' 
Error in first edition. Should be "allowing Erlys to do the work..."

==Page 509==

'''descending minor triad''' 
in music, an interval of three half tones. 
No, the triad is a chord, so it's three notes moving downwards (soh-mi-doh) forming a minor chord.

'''Svengali''' 
In George Du Maurier's novel ''Trilby'' (1894), the hypnotist who makes the title character a great singer but keeps her under rigorous control.

'''tea roses''' 
Yellow-orange roses.

'''cosmos''' 
any composite plant of the genus ''Cosmos'', of tropical America, some species of which are cultivated for their showy flowers.

==Page 510==

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

'''Elis''' 
Yale University students, called so after founder Eli Yale.

'''snooting''' 
the act of snubbing, treating scornfully or with disdain (OED)

'''tuned to a 440 A''' 
the elusive 440 A. ... Today's A above middle C has been set at 440 cycles per second or 440 Hertz. ...

==Page 511==

'''preferring''' 
Cf Rose in James Cameron's ''Titanic''.

'''Root Tubsmith''' 
Most likely a fictional character.

'''Fuchs''' 
Lazarus Fuchs (1833-1902), a German mathematician. He worked on differential equations and the theory of functions, ordinary differential equations with complex functions as coefficients, elliptic integrals, etc. [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fuchs.html Fuchs].

'''Schwarz''' 
Herman Schwarz (1843-1921), a German mathematician, known for his work in complex analysis. He worked in Halle, Göttingen and then Berlin, dealing with the subjects of function theory, differential geometry and the calculus of variation. [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Schwarz.html Schwarz].

'''Frobenius''' 
Ferdinand Frobenius (1849-1917), a German mathematician. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Georg_Frobenius], possibly important here for his contributions to Group Theory and to topology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frobenius_theorem_%28differential_topology%29]. He received his doctorate from the Univeristy of Berlin supervised by Weierstrass. Later, he taught mathematics there as well. He combined results from the theory of algebraic equations, geometry and number theory, which led him to the representation theory and the character theory of groups. [http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Frobenius.html Frobenius].

'''Professor Manning''' 
Henry Parker Manning (1859-1956) In 1889 he entered Johns Hopkins University to study mathematics, astronomy and physics. When he received his Ph.D. degree in 1891, his first printed paper had already appeared in the ''American Journal of Mathematics''. He was appointed instructor in mathematics at Brown that same year, and “with his advent,” Professor Raymond C. Archibald would later write, “a new era in the development of mathematics at Brown was ushered in.” From 1893 to 1908 Manning offered courses in higher mathematics never previously available at Brown, courses with names like “Theory of functions: algebraic functions, Riemann surfaces, and Abelian functions,” “Substitutions and transformation groups,” and “Quaternions, non-Euclidean geometry, and hyperspace.” After 1908 there were others in the department able to teach higher mathematics. His publications included ''Non-Euclidean Geometry'' in 1901, the first English language text in this subject, ''Irrational Numbers and their Representation by Sequences and Series'' in 1906, and ''Geometry of Four Dimensions'' in 1914. [http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=M0090]

'''language difference''' 
Kit and Root both speak English, but in different mathematical dialects.

'''Marseilles''' 
Second largest city of France; Mediterannean port, legendarily corrupt.

'''species of tarantella''' 
Tarantella is a fast dance or dance tune in 6/8 time. Probably named for Taranto, not tarantula.

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

Page 349, at R.W. Vibe's "Italianate town house." Dally confirms this on page five hundred and twelve.

'''Cigar Deck''' 
A deck on a luxury yacht, hotel or residence where 'gentlemen' went to smoke cigars.... "venue has everything - including a full bar, cigar deck, and dance floor. ..."

==Page 512==

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

'''lobelias''' 
Plant or flower of the genus Lobelia. At least one member of the genus is blue (Blue Lobelia.

'''Victor Herbert''' 
Irish-born American composer (1859-1924) of songs, operettas, light classics.

'''Wolf-Ferrari''' 
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), born in Venice, composer of many extremely popular operas.

==Page 513==

'''She smelled falsely''' 
Error in first edition. Should be "She smiled falsely."

'''Reuben''' 
A hick, as in the carnie's cry, "Hey, Rube".
 
:Maybe, but given that Kit's ''age'' is at issue, may refer to the fact that Reuben was the eldest of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel (Genesis 29.32).

'''sailing along on Moonlight Bay''' 
Apparently someone overheard Kit's dialog. This phrase would become part of the song "On Moonlight Bay," Madden (lyrics) and Weinrich (music), 1912.

==Page 515==

'''high-hatting''' 
Snubbing, cutting.

'''memories of desert plateau, mountian peaks...some unexpected river''' 
Instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the back-country Rocky Mountains.
Cf also the description of the landscape Frank's riding through on page 394/395.

'''twenty-knot push''' 
The ship is making twenty knots (20 nautical miles per hour), hence generating a twenty knot wind toward the stern.

'''uncreated''' 
Featureless? ongoing present becoming the future as compared to his memories.

The watery void of Genesis, before creation of the land and life.

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

'''S.M.S. ''Emperor Maximilian''''' 
S.M.S.: Seiner Majestäts Schiff, His Majesty's Ship (German or, as in this case, Austrian). One Habsburg Emperor Maximilian was set up in Mexico, then deposed and killed.

'''25,000-ton''' 
The ship's displacement (measure of its size).

'''dreadnoughts''' 
''HMS Dreadnought'' gave her name to a new philosophy that governed the design of capital ships beginning in the 1890s and continuing past the 1920s: high speed, heavy armor, heavy investment in the "main battery" and de-emphasis of secondary battery, main battery comprising the largest practicable guns mounted in turrets on the ship's centerline.

'''Slavonian''' 
Perhaps a deceptive name for the company; Slavonia was an inland province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, northwest of Croatia; Trieste would have been in Slovenia.

'''Schultz-Thorneycroft''' 
Apparently a maker of steamships' boilers.

'''Parsons turbines''' 
Cf. The Steam Turbine, by Sir Charles A. Parsons ---The Rede Lecture, 1911.
Was manufactured and named for Parsons--this lecture was after its extensive use.

'''British men-o'-war''' 
Warships.

==Page 516==

'''shell-rooms-to-be and giant powder magazines''' 
''Stupendica'' contains spaces that will belong to ''Maximilian'' on her transformation. (Indeed, she must contain the shells and powder too.)

'''circular cabins''' 
A battleship turret extends several decks below the gunhouse. No doubt there were stacks of these circular cabins.

'''twelve-inch barrels''' 
The typical main armament for dreadnoughts in this period (1904) was 12 inch guns - the guns having barrels. By WWI, newer dreadnoughts had 14-16" armament.

'''shelter deck''' 
???

'''to fold upward''' 
Transformer fashion.

'''casemates''' 
Turrets.

'''freeboard''' 
The amount of the ship above the water. You need a certain amount of freeboard to maintain balance, but battleships try to limit it as much as possible (so as to present a smaller target).

'''"Dazzle" camouflage''' 
Patterns as described in the text, meant to confuse enemy eyes. [http://www.bobolinkbooks.com/Camoupedia/DazzleCamouflage.html] Camouflage techniques used in World War I were developed in part by magician Jasper Maskelyne, a descendant of the Astronomer Royal in ''Mason & Dixon.''

'''dihedrals''' 
A dihedral is the figure formed by two planes intersecting in a line. The bow of a ship is pretty close.

'''Fangsley''' 
???

'''less horizontally disposed''' 
less level

Passenger liner has as many decks as possible above waterline. Warship has as many as possible ''below'' waterline, hence it's "taller."

'''Trieste''' 
Trieste is a city and port in northeastern Italy right on the border with Slovenia. It is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, about 70 miles east of Venice across the Gulf of Venice. The city had been occupied, administrated, annexed by various countries in the past. As late as early 19th century Napoleon took it for France, and in 1813 Austrian empire annexed it and kept it until the end of World War I. In 1920 it was transfered to Italy. During World War II German occupied the city until 1945 when Yugoslav partisans under Tito briefly occupied the city. Between 1947 to 1954 Trieste was governed by British and American. Finally, in 1954 the city of Trieste went to Italy and the southern suburb went to Yugoslavia (now Slovenia).

'''Lloyd Arsenale''' 
Lloyd Shipyard, Austria's commercial counterpart of Stabilimento Tecnico. In 1833 a company with the name ''Lloyd Austriaco'' was founded as a maritime insurance organization. Three years later a new section, the Shipping Section was established and running company's own vessels. In 1853 Lloyd Austriaco started buidling its own shipyard, called ''Arsenale'', both for building new ships and maintenance of the fleet. The shipyard was completed and fully operative in 1861. In 1919 ''Lloyd Austriaco'' changed its name to ''Lloyd Triestino'', currently still operating in Trieste. [[http://www.italiamarittima.it/newhistory.asp?ordernum=10 Lloyd Arsenale]].

'''Stabilimento Tecnico''' 
Technical Plant, a shipyard. Stabilimento Tecnico was an Austro-Hungarian shipbuilding company based in Trieste. It served the Austro-Hungarian Navy on a large scale and was the largest shipyard of that country. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabilimento_Tecnico_Triestino Stabilimento]]. Four Tegetthoff class dreadnoughts were built by Stabilimento Tecnico for the Austro-Hungarian Navy: ''SMS Viribus Unitis, SMS Tegetthoff, SMS Prinz Eugen'' and ''SMS Szent Istvan''. They were of about 21,000 ton displacement and a speed of 20 kt with twelve 12-inch guns. Tegetthoff was a 19th century Austrian admiral.[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegetthoff_class_battleship Tegetthoff battleships]]. 
Stabilimento Tecnico and Lloyd Triestino are both currently active. In fact these two establishments are the largest industrial organizations in Trieste.

==Page 517==

'''''merged''''' 
Pynchon writes about bilocation in a peculiar sense: not necessarily one person being in two places, but one ''place'' being two (or one language being two, Dutch/Flemish, Serbian/Croatian).

'''Different witnesses.....no longer in either, simply appearing unforseen...''' 
Sounds a lot like the quantum mechanical measurement process. An electron can't be located until a measurement. May be easiest unerstood via the "Schroedinger's cat" picture.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat]

'''Promontorio''' 
In Italian promontorio is headland, a small stripe of mountain-like terrain surrounded on all but one side by see.

'''O.I.C. Bodine''' 
Gotta be Pig Bodine from ''V.'' and ''GR'' and descendant of Fender-Belly Bodine in [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Mason & Dixon''].
:Naw, three different Bodines. (1) Fender-Belly is the patriarch (flourished in the 1760s); (2) the stoker O.I.C. is in his prime in the decade around 1910; (3) Pig serves in WW2 and is still around to go roistering with Benny in the 1960s. The strangest thing about the Bodines—a family with saltwater in their DNA—is that they dropped anchor in Minnesota . . . or ever even visited such an inland spot as [http://www.city.albertlea.org/home.html Albert Lea.]

"O.I.C." is an initialism for Ohio Improved Chester, which is a breed of hog. Jack London actually [http://www.jacklondons.net/palace.html raised them on his ranch]. As has been pointed out, "O.I.C." standing for "Officer in Charge" in the Bodine context is a non-starter, as Bodine is neither an officer nor in charge of anything. He's a stoker, one of the lowest class of laborers aboard. Also, "oic" does have a piggish ring to it ("oink" without the "n"). And of course it also works as Internet slang: "Oh, I see," although this sounds a bit too cutesy for Pynchon, IMHO, and besides, as pointed out above, O.I.C. Bodine ain't the Bodine seen in other Pynchon novels, but most likely the father or uncle of Pig of ''V.'' and ''Gravity's Rainbow''.

In ''V.'', Pig's first appearance in a Pynchon novel (he also appears in "Lowlands," a Pynchon short story Flange's "big gaping [[Idiots and Idiocy in Against the Day|idiot]] buddy"), he brags of his Harley motorcycle (called Hogs, in the vernacular): "Ain't an SP car made that can take my Harley." (p.15) Perhaps this Bodine was given the nickname "O.I.C." by his Navy buddies as a joke, ''because'' the initialism stands for a breed of hog ''and'' "Officer in Charge" (which he's far from) ''and'' sounds like a pig's utterance (We know his putative son's or nephew's laugh sounds like a pig ("Hyeugh, hyeugh ... it was, as Pig intended, horribly obscene" ''V.'', p.14 so maybe it's inherited). And perhaps Pynchon gave him the last name of Bodine to connect him visually and/or temperamentally with the character Jethro Bodine of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies''] (1962-1971), also a big, not-too-smart goofball.

'''fermented potato mash''' 
Cf Veikko's vodka, [[ATD 81-96#Page 82|page 82]].

'''four shafts''' 
Four propellers.

'''''Mauretania''''' 
HMS Mauretania, launched 1907, sister ship of the ill-fated Lusitania (the sinking of the latter propelled the US into WW I). Served as Cunard liner, troopship, hospital ship in WW I.

'''''Zu befehl, Herr Hauptheitzer''''' 
German: Ready for orders, Chief Stoker. (Should be ''Zu Befehl, Herr Hauptheizer.'')

'''Black Gang''' 
The stoking crew, turned black by coal dust.

'''Oberhauptheitzer''' 
German: Master Chief Stoker. (Should be: ''Oberhauptheizer.'')

'''Mannlicher''' 
German military pistol.

'''''"Dampf mehr!"''''' 
German for "more steam!" (Should be: ''Mehr Dampf!'')
:If this is an error, as it appears to be (and as it's marked by [http://www.glanzundelend.de/glanzneu/pynchonpalm.htm German native speakers]), it may stem from a common phrase such as ''Wir haben keinen Dampf mehr,'' we have no more steam. Is there any remote possibility that ''Dampf mehr!'' was a form used in shipboard orders (spoken or telegraphed) at the time of the action?
:Following up this nagging question, I have found some photos of engine room telegraphs with German on the dials: [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiffstelegraf here] and [http://www.digitalstock.de/detail.php?bildnummer=178966&seite=5&abilder=20&uid=&kategorie= here]. Neither refers to ''Dampf'' at all (instead ''volle Kraft'' = full power, ''volle Fahrt'' = full speed). These finds seem to eliminate the possibility that ''Dampf mehr'' is a phrase Pynchon collected in this context.

'''singlet''' 
Undershirt.

'''syntonic wireless''' 

See [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_397-428#Page_397 p.397] and [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_219-242#Page_229 p. 229]. The comparison of wireless communications with messages from the spirit world echoes Kipling's short story [http://www.benlo.com/ham/wireless.html Wireless], Scribner's Magazine, August 1902. There are many Kipling echoes in AtD.

==Page 518==

'''ignorant off''' 
Error in first edition. Should be "ignorant of".

'''Marconi room''' 
Radio shack.

'''British and German battle groups were engaged off the Moroccan coast''' 
This could be a reference to the First Moroccan Crisis (a.k.a. Tangier Crisis) taking place between March 1905 and May 1906. This would be in keeping with the timeline of the novel, however, there seems to have been no engagement of troops between British and German forces. On the other hand, this could also be a reference to the Agadir Crisis (a.k.a. The Second Moroccan Crisis) of 1911 where the German gunboat, Panther, was deployed to the Moroccan port of Agadir, threatening British naval supremacy. Although the later altercation seems unlikely given the timeline of the story, Pynchon notes that the S.S. Stupendica received its message "from somewhere else not quite in the world, more like from a continuum lateral to it."

'''design maximum of nine degrees''' 
''Maximilian'' will right herself from a nine-degree heel but may be in trouble if she leans over farther.

'''nymphs''' 
Stage in the life cycle of many insects, including the cockroach.

'''''"Porca miseria"''''' 
Italian: good grief, for heaven's sake, dammit.

==Page 519==

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

'''southeast by east''' 
The compass rose has 32 points, each 11 and a quarter degrees from the next. Southeast by east is one point to the east of southeast, i.e., 123 and three-quarters degrees clockwise from north.

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

'''A "deeper level" where dualities are resolved''' 
Engine room is far below the main deck, therefore a deeper level. The ''Stupendica/Maximilian'' duality is resolved there because it's a shared space.

'''Chinese''' 
???

Maybe the allusion refers to Chinese boxes, one box containing another box, containing another, etc? In the last box, at the "deeper level" dualities are resolved... don't know...

'''''nicht wahr''''' 
German: aint it true?

'''Graz''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz Graz] is the capital of the Austrian province of Styria. It is the second largest city, after Vienna, in Austria. Graz's old town is one of the best-preserved city centers in Central Europe and is on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites.

'''bilge-crab''' 
Most likely an insult meaning "below-decks crew".

==Page 520==

'''a Teutonic''' 
Ethnically a German.

'''Tangier''' 
a seaport in Northern Morocco on the west end of the Strait of Gibralta, about 500 miles northeast from Agadir, another Atlantic seaport. (Casablanca is midway between them.)

'''Mulai Ahmed er-Raisuli''' 
Infamous Morrocan outlaw/warlord. From this [http://www.explorers.org/publications/books_club/imprint/housetears.php website]: "Several decades before Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and Islamic insurgents, an international crisis ignited between the United States and the Middle East. In May 1904 Moroccan warlord Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli kidnapped Ion Perdicaris, a wealthy Greek-American resident of Tangier, in an attempt to extort money from the Sultan of Morocco. President Theodore Roosevelt responded with his "big stick" approach to diplomacy by dispatching a squadron of seven battleships to the Moroccan coast with the order: "Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." The nine-week standoff, with US troops and ships in Tangier Bay and Raisuli holding fort in the mountains, exposed the impotence of emerging American power and a critical misunderstanding about Moroccan politics. When it was discovered that Perdicaris was not an American citizen after all, the US government kept the embarrassing episode a secret until 1933. Profiting royally from the conflict, Raisuli built his palace, which he called the "House of Tears"." [http://www.capitalcentury.com/1904.html another source]

'''Agadir, Queen of the Iron Coast''' 
Agadir is a city in southwest Morocco, capital of the Souss-Massa-Dra region. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir Wikipedia] From the [http://www.jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia_Britannica/MOL_MOS/MOROCCO.html Encyclopedia Britannica]: "Sixty miles farther south lies Mogador, beyond which the coast becomes more and more inaccessible and dangerous in winter, being known to navigators as the " Iron Coast." From Cape Sim (Ras Tagriwalt), to m. south of Mogador, the direction is due south to Cape Ghir (Ighir Ufrani), the termination of Jebel Ida u Taman, a spur of the Atlas. Beyond this headland lies Agadir (Agadir Ighir), the Santa Cruz Mayor or Santa Cruz de Berberia
of the Spaniards, formerly known as the Gate of the Sudan.' It is a little town with white battlements three-quarters of a mile in circumference, on a steep eminence 600 ft. high." [http://www.rabat-maroc.net/marocautrefois/index.php?rep=AGADIR old postcards from Agadir]

'''''colonists''...justify German interests...shadow-colonists''' 
In July 1911, the german gunboat "Panther" approached the harbour of Agadir under the pretext to protect german citizens from Sus-tribesmen, resulting in the "Agadir-Crisis" and nearly triggering WW I three years early. As there were no german citizens to protect in Agadir, so one had to be dispatched from Mogador. See [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos137.htm Morocco Crisis of 1911.] and [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/23/its_not_the_first_war_under_false_pretenses/ source]

'''...destined for plantation...''' 
Typo in First Edition.
???

'''Sus... Susi''' 
The Sous Basin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souss Wikipedia] and it‘s inhabitants, probably.

'''Abdel Aziz''' 
Sultan of Morocco 1894-1908 (aged 10-24yrs.) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelaziz_of_Morocco Wikipedia]

'''Canaries''' 
Canary Islands, about 80 miles off Morocco‘s Atlantic coast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_islands Wikipedia]

'''Many would go crazy and set out in small boats...''' 
Another paramorpic mirror image of our century. The Canaries, a Spanish possession, are the goal of untold thousands of would-be African entrants to the EU, i.e. a route of illegal immigration.

'''Lübeck''' 
Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein (northern Germany). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCbeck Wikipedia]

'''Berbers''' 
The Berbers (also called Amazigh people or Imazighen, "free men") are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. In actuality, Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogeneous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices. It is not a term originated by the group itself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_people Wikipedia]. Berbers of southwestern Morocco usually belong to the ones known as Chleuhs [http://c.1asphost.com/imazighen/chleuhs/algeria.htm pics]

==Page 521==

'''tree-climbing goats''' 
Can be seen often, esp. in Morocco [http://www.markhorrell.com/travel/morocco/antiatlas/goats3.html Pic]

'''argan trees''' 
The Argan (Argania spinosa, syn. A. sideroxylon Roem. & Schult.) is a species of tree endemic to the calcareous semi-desert Sous valley of southwestern
Morocco. It is the sole species in the genus Argania. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argan_tree Wikipedia]

'''Gnaoua''' 
The Gnawa or Gnaoua refers at once to a style of Moroccan music with sub-Saharan Africa origins or influence, an ethnic group and religious order at least in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans migrated in caravans with the Trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnawa Wikipedia] [http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/gallery/music/gnawa.html more on Gnaoua] [http://www.mincom.gov.ma/french/galerie/musique/mp3/gnaoua.mp3 Gnaoua music sample mp3] [http://www.ibiblio.org/gnawastories/GNAWA%20STORIES20cDRIVE.swf nicely made site on Gnawa]

'''''mlouk gnaoui''''' 
Mlouk is the plural of melk, a supernatural entity envoked in the Gnawa rituals. Various types are known and they are distinguished by colors. The following is a google translation of the relevant paragraph from [http://www.bladi.net/2556-les-differents-aspects-de-la-culture-gnaouie.html this site]: "The mlouk are of male or female sex, Moslems or Jews. Their color corresponds to their origins. Thus one distinguishes the mlouks from the sea (bahriyin) to which one allots the light blue; the celestial ones (samaouiyin), have as a color dark blue; the mlouk of the forest (rijal el ghaba), originating in Africa, have as a color the black just like the mlouk pertaining to the troop of Sidi Mimoun, finally the red mlouk (Al homar), related to blood and which haunt the slaughter-houses, have as a color the red. The white and the green, colors symbols of Islam sunnite, are reserved to the called upon saints, in particular Moulay Abdelkader Jilali and Chorfa. To the female mlouk three colors are allotted: the yellow for the coquettery of Lala Reflected, the red for Lala Rkia for its capacity to cure the menorrhagia and the black for Lala Aïcha Kendisha because of its Sudanese origin. The Jewish mlouks which are sometimes called upon after the troop of the female mlouk have the black color. Incense fumigations of various perfumes accompany the invocations by these mlouks, with a preference however for the benzoin or jaoui."

'''Seigneurs Noirs''' 
French: Black Lords. According to the above translation, those most probably are jewish mlouks.

'''Bardo State''' 
Tibetan Bhuddist belief in a state between two mortal incarnations, during which one has direct perception of reality--for better or worse, Karmically speaking. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo]

'''Habsburg navy''' 
Austrian Navy

'''Mogador road''' 
Mogador" is a city and tourist resort in Morocco, near Marrakech on the Atlantic coast. (31°30′47″N)
Mogador is another name for Essaouira [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogador Wkipedia] about 70 miles north of Agadir. [http://www.rabat-maroc.net/marocautrefois/index.php?rep=MOGADOR old postcards Mogador]

'''Tawil Balak''' 
In the Liner Notes for the Album "Love Songs of Lebanon" [http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=29129 downloadable from this site] the song ''Tawil Balak Ya Habboub'' translates as "Patience, My Love" - Tawil Balak being the Patience part. (Thats one nice soundtrack, btw!)

"Tawil", according to web-searches, is arabic for "allegorical explanation/interpretation/exegese" (of the Qu‘ran and Sunna texts). "Balak" might refer to the according Tora reading (Parsah) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balak_%28parsha%29 Wikipedia]. cf. Balaam‘s Ass p. 432. Do the cosmopolitan regulars at the bar like Moises spend their time interpreting holy texts?

'''Rahman''' 
???

'''Ostend''' 
a seaport in northwest Belgium. ''Ostende'' in German and French. It is the largest city at the Belgian North Sea coast. (It is about 1,700 miles from Agadir, Morocco.)

'''''Fomalhaut''''' 
The Maritime Digital Encyclopedia lists a "Dutch Vessel" named "Formalhaut" [http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/photolibrary/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=688&pos=0 pic].

According to several websites [http://skytonight.com/news/3310401.html?showAll=y&c=y 1] [http://www.skyscript.co.uk/pis_aus.html 2] [http://www.icoproject.org/star.html 3] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomalhaut Wikipedia] etc. Fomalhaut is the 17th or 18th brightest star as seen from our planet and is located in the constellation called Pisces Austrinus (Southern Fish). The name derives from the Arabic Fum (or Fam) al-Hut, meaning "Mouth of the Fish" or according to a few web-resources the contributor has just visited, "Mouth of the Whale". The latter would mean its a strong connotation with the Biblical Legend of Jonah and the Whale (see annotations for this page below (not a spoiler, i hope).

Among most readers of Science-Fiction "Fomalhaut" is a location as common as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran "Aldebaran"] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopeia_%28constellation%29 "Cassiopeia"].

As per today (07 01 10) the Wikipedia-Entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Fomalhaut Demon Fomalhaut] is just a stub. According to most sites the contributor just visited, claiming credibility in the Book of Enoch [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch Wikipedia] and due to some more non-canonical catergorizations, Fomalhaut seems to be a member of the infamous gang of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_angel Fallen Angels], a daredevil companero to Lucifer that is. This sub-summation in a hierarchy of angels might refer to some astrological/-nomical constellations of the star Fomalhaut as is.

As usual, with TP, we dont know for sure if theres some outlandish pun intended/-cluded in the name of a person or thing. What, to give variety to it, about a german compositive noun? Ger. "formal" = formal (like in formal behavior) + "haut" = skin; "Formal Skin".

'''Moïsés''' 
???

'''Jonah... Massa''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah Jonah Wikipedia Entry] [http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/jonah/jonah.html "Jonah on the Web"] From the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Morocco website]: "Some 60 m. farther south (from Agadir), at the mouth of a river known by the same name, is the roadstead of Massa, with a mosque popularly reputed the scene of Jonah's restoration to terra firma."

==Page 522==

'''Two Fishes, two Jonahs, two Agadirs?''' 
The Jewish Encyclopedia 1901-1906 mentions rabbinic literature regarding two fishes - one male, one female - having swallowed Jonah: check out the "fish" paragraph [http://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:8_12F1Yp1YoJ:www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp%3Fartid%3D388%26letter%3DJ+jonah+encyclopedia&hl=de&gl=at&ct=clnk&cd=1 here]. Both Tarshish (Cadiz), the "Agadir" in southwestern Spain, and Agadir in Morocco likely were founded by the Phoenicians: "Cadiz bears a Phoenician name, a deformation of Gaddir (wall), which we find in the Berber city of Agadir in Morroco." [http://faculty.uml.edu/jgarreau/50.315/Europ1.htm source]

Pynchon is riffing on Ch. 9 of Moby Dick where Father Mapple reads the biblical story of Jonah and talks about Tarshish being Cadiz and how that shows that he was trying to escape his fate for some unnammed "disobedience". Melville bilocates "god" and "man", insisting that the two forces are at odds. Melville also implicitly draws a parallel between Jonah and Ahab who rails against his being peglegged by Moby Dick and seeks revenge against the whale who ultimately consumes him, and Ishmael who humbly accepts his punishment and so survives to tell his tale. In AtD, the Moby Dick resonances ring most clearly in the Traverse bros/sis seeking revenge against sociocultural pieties for inflicting loss & grief & pain on the undeserving; the correspondence b/w the anarchist preacher Moss Gatlin and the ex-harpooner minister Mapple; Lew's mysterious penance and Webb's divided loyalties and now the story of Jonah and his fugitive flight, not unlike Kit's running from his troubles. Also, the name Fom al-Haut comes from scientific Arabic فم الحوت fam al-ħūt (al-janūbī) "the mouth of the (southern) fish/whale"

'''kashbah''' 
Wikipedia entries on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbah Kasbah] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casbah Casbah] [http://www.rabat-maroc.net/marocautrefois/AGADIR/agadir-la-casbah-vue-en-avion.jpg The Casbah of Agadir as seen from above]

'''Ighir Ufrani''' 
a.k.a Cape Ghir, a cape north of Agadir.

'''''Mogador herring''...''alimzah''...''tasargelt''''' 
From the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Morocco Morocco Entry]: "Occasionally a small shoal (of mackarel) may be found as far south as Mogador. Soles, turbot, bream, bass, conger eel and mullet are common along the coast, and southern Morocco is visited occasionally by shoals of a large fish called the azlimzah (sciaena aquila), rough scaled and resembling a cod, and the tasargelt (Temnodon saltator), the "blue fish" of North America. Crayfish, prawns, oysters and mussels swarm in the rocky places, but the natives have no proper method of catching them, and edible crabs seem unknown. The tunny, pilchard and sardine, and a kind of shad known as the "Mogador herring," all prove at times of practical importance."

azlimzah (sciaena aquila) [http://www.finerareprints.com/animals/histoire_naturelle/vol_hn_fish_4999.htm pic] (the lower one).

tasargelt (Temnodon saltator) [http://www.amatorbalikci.net/resimupload/lufer.jpg pic] (not sure if this is the real thing!)

'''scruff''' 
???

'''Staketsel''' 
According to the [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staketsel Dutch Wikipedia] and its link to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier english site] this means "pier". [http://arglist.com/cgi-bin/image?gallery=oostende&name=20040909-004 pic]

'''lazarettes''' 
Below-decks storage space in the stern of a vessel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarette].

'''''mon chou''''' 
"My cabbage." A french term of affection.

==Page 523==

'''moon deck''' 
???

'''lower orlop''' 
Lowest deck of a multi-decked vessel (OED).

'''lateen-riggers''' 
Boats or larger craft with triangular sails rigged fore-and-aft (picture: [http://www.carfilhiot.co.uk/media/1/20050607-rig.jpg]common in the Mediterannean [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateen] after introduction by the Romans in the 3rd century.

'''Dally had expected Bria would be the first...''' 
Editorial error? If one substitutes "Dally" with "Erlys" this sentence makes much more sense.

I hesitate to assign such sloppiness to the notoriously meticulous Pynchon and his editorial team. Note that the previous sentence conflates Dally and Erlys's uncertainty about the romantic setback. And note earlier (p 512) Dally was scandalized (facetiously) over Bria's shameless and un-chaperon-like interest in Root.

==Page 524==

'''exhilirated''' 
Second occurrence of this misspelling of ''exhilarated.'' (Cf. page 236, line 38: "exhiliration".)

'''Piazza Grande''' 
The central square in many Italian cities.

'''Denza''' 
Cf [[ATD_336-357#Page 353|page 353]]. Luigi Denza (1846-1922), Italian composer, most famous for his "Funiculi, funicula".

'''Antonio Smareglia''' 
Italian opera composer (1854-1929). His most famous work Nozze istriane premiered in Triste in 1895, and he was from the same contested territory as Triste.

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