https://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=MnhoffThomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]2026-07-04T17:43:43ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.43.6https://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16270ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:08:29Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
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<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. <br />
"Plasmic Hysteresis" thus likely refer to an ambiguously reversible process that defines Ryder Thorn's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16269ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:07:19Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. <br />
"Plasmic Hysteresis" thus refer to an ambiguously reversible process that defines Ryder Thorn's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16268ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:06:35Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. <br />
"Plasmic Hysteresis" thus refer to an ambiguously reversible process that defines the ghost-like intruder's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16267ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:06:15Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. <br />
"Plasmic Hysteresis" thus refer to aN ambiguously reversible process that defines the ghost-like intruder's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16266ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:05:35Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. <br />
"Plasmic Hysteresis" thus refer to a ambiguously reversible process that defines the ghost-like intruder's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_525-556&diff=16265ATD 525-5562021-06-09T07:03:50Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 555 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 525==<br />
<br />
'''Ostend'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Fishermen's Quai'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Boulevard van Isenghem'''<br><br />
A major thoroughfare in Ostend, locally called ''Van Iseghemlaan'', extending diagonally from seafront southwest through the city.<br />
<br />
'''street-plausible'''<br><br />
Presentable.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'empereur'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''estaminet'''<br><br />
According to the OED - A café in which smoking is allowed. Now, any small establishment selling alcoholic liquor. <br />
<br />
'''twelve-centime'''<br><br />
one centime is the French equivalent of one cent. A twelve-centime beer would cost 12/100 of a franc.<br />
<br />
Although the definition above still stands, remember these are Belgian francs, a different currency than French francs.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Quaternions'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_119-148#Page 130|page 130:Quaternions]]. Quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers (Hamilton, 1843).<br><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Kellner'''<br><br />
German: waiter, barman. Use of the German word would be insulting to the Belgian barman.<br />
<br />
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)<br />
<br />
'''''demi'''''<br><br />
A half-pint glass (25 centiliters, actually).<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
Pron. ''lahm-BEEK.'' Unique Belgian beer style, sour and often thin in body.<br />
<br />
'''skimmer'''<br><br />
Straw hat ("Panama").<br />
<br />
==Page 526==<br />
<br />
'''biquaternion'''<br><br />
Or "octonion," an innovation of English mathematician W.K. Clifford, [[ATD_243-272#Page_249|referred to on p. 249.]]<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
A play on the astronomical term ''nebulae'' is just conceivable, but then why "Barry"? <br />
<br />
'''University of Dublin'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
If University College, Dublin, then Joyce had graduated in 1902.<br><br />
<br />
'''Quaternioneers'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers.<br />
<br />
'''Gibbsian Vectors'''<br><br />
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]]).<br><br />
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'',<br />
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.<br />
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]).<br><br />
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):<br><br />
:''a'' = -g ''k''<br><br />
Integrating ''a'' would give the velocity vector, ''v''<br><br />
:''v'' = -g t ''k''<br><br />
for zero initial velocity case, and t standing for time.<br><br />
And integrating ''v'' would yield the position vector, ''h'', for the projectile<br><br />
:''h'' = -½ g t² ''k''<br><br />
toward the sea level.<br />
<br />
'''Quaternionists'''<br><br />
Quaternion believers, same as Quaternioneers.<br />
<br />
'''Tasmania'''<br><br />
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. <br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Having been inseparable from the rise of the electromagnetic'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamiltonian devotees'''<br><br />
The Quaternion faction, after William Hamilton, who devised the scheme.<br />
<br />
'''Grand Hôtel de la Nouvelle Digue'''<br><br />
There is a Hotel Digue in the Seychelles; this is a New Hotel Digue by Pynchon? <br />
<br />
Grand Hotel of New Dyke, may be a made up hotel name.<br />
<br />
'''anterooms of death'''<br><br />
This metaphor is sometimes applied to concentration camps. Here the lyric "feel like I'm fixin' to die" seems more apposite.<br />
<br />
'''Belgian Art Nouveau'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
==Page 527==<br />
<br />
'''dossing'''<br><br />
British slang for "sleeping", "staying overnight"<br />
<br />
'''Russian nihilists'''<br><br />
:The following four are local, Belgian, not Russian, nihilists !<br />
:: It only says Russian in the first edition. Corrected to "Belgian nihilists" in the paperback.<br />
<br />
'''Eugénie'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Fatou'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
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! <br />
However it is more likely that the revolutionaries had taken on new handles, more appropriate to their cause.<br />
<br />
'''Denis'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Policarpe'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
again, possibly African. It was very common for white missionaries in Africa to give their newly converted flock the names of famous Saints. <br />
<br />
'''Young Congo'''<br><br />
Probably in reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks Young Turks], a Turkish revolutionary movement<br />
<br />
'''Garde Civique'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''French Second Bureau boys'''<br><br />
Deuxieme Bureau; French Intelligence.<br />
<br />
'''''phalange'''''<br><br />
French: phalanx. A military (here mock-military) group ready for combat. <br><br />
<br />
It also conjures up memories of the early 19th century utopian socialist <br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''"...until something had happened, something too terrible to remember..."'''<br><br />
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'.<br />
<br />
'''the Digue'''<br><br />
French for "dyke" <br />
<br />
'''Congo... Belgians'''<br><br />
The Belgian colonisation of the Congo was, as Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' makes clear, notable for its greed and brutality. <br />
<br />
'''Leopold, King of the Belgians'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''co-conscious'''<br><br />
mental processes outside the main stream of consciousness but sometimes available to it — from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''rubber worker'''<br><br />
See above: One of the early missions of the FP was to increase rubber export quotas through forced labor and related atrocities.<br />
<br />
==Page 528==<br />
<br />
'''''khâgne'''''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Reclus'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Stirnerite'''<br><br />
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...]]<br />
<br />
'''''Anarcho-individualiste'''''<br><br />
i.e. he has doctrinal differences with Stirnerism, strictly speaking; see P. 324, and "Eigenheit".<br />
<br />
'''Leopold'''<br><br />
See [[#Page 527|p. 527]].<br />
<br />
'''going down lately'''<br><br />
Being assassinated.<br />
<br />
'''Sipido'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Prince... of Wales'''<br><br />
(Maud Gonne's husband claimed to have been involved in another such plot.)<br />
<br />
'''Hippodrome'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Royal Bathing Hut... twenty francs'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''twenty francs'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
==Page 529==<br />
<br />
'''picric family'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Brugère's powder'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Designolle's'''<br><br />
See "picric family" above.<br />
<br />
'''Monsieur Santos-Dumont'''<br><br />
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". <br />
<br />
'''Green Hour''' and '''''l'heure vertigineuse'''''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''Rocco and Pino'''<br><br />
Rabid Quaternionists and sudden friends of Kit Traverse.<br />
:No, they were not mathematicians at all, let alone Quaternionists, but two "Italian naval renegades" !!<br />
::"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''.<br />
<br />
'''Whitehead works in Fiume'''<br><br />
Anticipating GR's V2 works.<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
''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]].<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''''Alberta'''''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Siluro Dirigibile a Lenta Corsa'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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.''<br />
<br />
: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.<br />
<br />
==Page 530==<br />
<br />
'''exfiltrate'''<br><br />
Make a surreptitious escape (as "infiltrate" means to make a surreptitious entrance).<br />
<br />
'''''Macchè'''''<br><br />
Italian: certainly not, not a chance. And in Pynchon's Italian is used as an all-purpose exclamation.<br />
<br />
'''''Ehi, stu gazz', categoria'''''<br><br />
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<br />
<br />
'''''mezzogiornismo'''''<br><br />
Denigrating the Italian South. Mezzogiorno means ''midday'' in Italian but refers generally to Southern Italy.<br />
<br />
==Page 531==<br />
<br />
'''Bruges'''<br><br />
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<br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Raoul's Atelier de la Vitesse'''<br><br />
French: Ralph's Speed Shop.<br />
<br />
'''Ghent'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''Daimler six-cylinder'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''a hundred horsepower'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''guaglion'''''<br><br />
italian (dialectal) = boy, young person<br />
<br />
'''Umeki Tsurigane'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
Or, another terrible name-pun? "You make [m]e sore again." See another on P. [[ATD_748-767#Page_757| 757]]<br />
<br />
'''Professor Knott'''<br><br />
Cargill Knott (1856-1922), professor of physics; seismologist. See his biography [http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/Cargill_Knott.html here].<br />
<br />
==Page 532==<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Kimura]] and [[ATD_318-335#Page 318|page 318:Shunkichi Kimura]].<br />
<br />
'''drover's sombrero'''<br><br />
Cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
'''furoshiki'''<br><br />
Japanese all-purpose cloth. Can be worn, used as wrapping, or used as a bag.<br />
<br />
'''taupe'''<br><br />
A brownish gray.<br />
<br />
'''boilermakers and their helpers'''<br><br />
[[ATD_358-373#Page_360|See annotation to p. 360.]]<br />
<br />
'''Anharmonic Pencil'''<br><br />
''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].<br />
<br />
'''''Comptes rendus'''''<br><br />
''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).<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:De Forest]].<br />
<br />
'''Gibbs'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29:Professor Gibbs]].<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Equations'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page 58|page 58:Maxwell Field Equations]].<br />
<br />
==Page 533==<br />
<br />
'''aniline teal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Heavisiders'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''Grassmanniacs'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''in the mood for a clambake'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Monopole de la Maison'''<br><br />
Monopole of the House, a fanciful name of a fanciful drink.<br><br />
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.<br><br />
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]).<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Idiom Neutral'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''phatic'''<br><br />
Basically, small talk or chatter. Words used to convey fellow-feeling rather than to impart information.<br />
<br />
'''''Kampf ums Dasein'''''<br><br />
German: struggle for existence.<br />
<br />
'''Q-brother'''<br><br />
Fellow Quaternioneer or Fellow Quaternionist.<br />
<br />
'''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''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 534==<br />
<br />
'''Poiret gown'''<br><br />
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], <br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''green and long'''''<br><br />
Pickle, or... what?<br />
: A green and long ''gherkin'' (a small, immature fruit of a variety of cucumber used in pickling).<br />
<br />
==Page 535==<br />
<br />
'''no-name wine'''<br><br />
1970s idiom for common European practice?<br />
<br />
'''set theory'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . early genius'''<br><br />
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".<br />
<br />
'''Hamilton . . . in the grip of a first love'''<br><br />
???<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''the Walt Whitman of English physics'''<br><br />
Whitman pops up again, last seen on [[ATD_489-524#Page_491|page 491]].<br />
<br />
==Page 536==<br />
<br />
'''Oscar Wilde'''<br><br />
Note that Wilde's Dorian Gray also undergoes a kind of bilocation.<br />
<br />
'''Kursaal'''<br><br />
German: "cure hall" &#151; aka a spa or, more generally, a place of healthy amusement, eg casino.<br />
<br />
'''vectors'''<br><br />
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):<br />
:''Many things have more than direction;''<br />
:''The magnitude is also a question.''<br />
:''With acceleration or force,''<br />
:''And many more things, of course,''<br />
:''It's vectors that make the connection.''<br />
<br />
'''Curls'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_318-335#Page 326|page 326: Curl]]: curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.<br />
<br />
'''Laplacians'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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].<br />
<br />
: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'', . . .<br />
<br />
'''beginning to appal'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''baize'''<br><br />
Baize is a coarse woolen felt, used for gaming tables. I.e., heads falling onto tables.<br />
<br />
==Page 537==<br />
<br />
'''broken symmetries'''<br><br />
[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].<br />
<br />
'''''sphinxe Khnopffienne'''''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
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/].<br />
<br />
'''Pléiade Lafrisée'''<br><br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
They are: <br />
Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of Hermes by Zeus.<br />
Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.<br />
Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.<br />
Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.<br />
Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.<br />
Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
Lafrisée translates literally to "The Curly One"<br />
<br />
'''''Conseilleuse'''''<br><br />
Female consultant?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 538==<br />
<br />
chemin-de-fer table<br><br />
A European card game, literal translation railroads. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/chemin-de-fer The Britannica entry]<br />
<br />
'''retroversion matrix'''<br><br />
???<br />
<br />
'''''Ma foi'''''<br><br />
Literally "My faith", i.e. "By my faith!", a mild exclamation of incredulity.<br />
<br />
'''ten thousand francs'''<br><br />
<br />
Based on currency conversions relative to gold, this is equivalent to<br />
about $30,000 US today.<br />
<br />
'''piker'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''what is a Quaternino?'''<br><br />
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.".<br />
<br />
'''Bertie ('Mad Dog') Russell'''<br><br />
'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. <br />
He did little in his public roles (at this time in AtD) that would have <br />
him referred to as "crazy', as we say, beyond the social norm, "mad".<br />
<br />
Russell was an anarchist, however, and therefore maybe deserving the honorific "mad dog".<br />
<br />
It might be argued that his use of 'logic' against philosophers such as Hegel and McTaggart within ''Against the Day'' showed up their 'madness'.<br />
(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<br />
Autobiography that McTaggart said he no longer wanted to meet/talk with him bcause he could no longer stand Russell's opinions.<br />
<br />
[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".<br />
<br />
'''Barry Nebulay'''<br><br />
[[ATD_525-556#Page_526|See annotations to page 526.]]<br />
<br />
'''Hegel... puns'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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....."<br />
<br />
We know from other places that TRP himself seems to 'not like' Cartesianism. See 'cartesian' citations within this wiki.<br />
<br />
==Page 539==<br />
<br />
'''a vector quotient'''<br><br />
The result of one vector divided by another. According to the English dictionary definition of previous page this is just a Quaternion.<br />
<br />
'''unit vector'''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
'''''square root of minus one'''''<br><br />
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]]).<br />
<br />
''''Triangle Asana''''<br><br />
A basic yoga pose. <br />
<br />
[http://yoga.org.nz/postures/yoga_positions_images_page.htm Here are images of several basic poses.]<br />
<br />
''''Dr Rao abruptly vanished''''<br><br />
Might be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner Martin Gardner]'s<br />
[http://www.amazon.com/No-Sided-Professor-Fantasy-Mystery-Philosophy/dp/0879753900 "No-Sided Professor"]<br />
<br />
''''Quadrantal Versor Asana''''<br><br />
A triangle pose taken that extra dimension.<br />
<br />
'''''"Uwe moer!"'''''<br><br />
Looks a lot like the Dutch "Uw moeder!" - a cry of astonishment ("Your mother!"), the equivalent to the black English "yo mama".<br />
<br />
'''noncommutative'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''reticule'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/glossary.htm] <br />
:Isn't that sort of a red herring? "[P]roducing from her reticule a . . . watch" doesn't really allow of that second meaning. <br><br />
: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.<br />
<br />
'''Vacheron & Constantin watch'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''hunting-case'''<br><br />
For a pocket watch, a case with a hinged metal cover. More often called "hunter case" (and such a watch a "hunter").<br />
<br />
==Page 540==<br />
<br />
'''"haar rekening, ja?"'''<br><br />
''Her bill, yes?" (Dutch/Flemish) I.e., give the check to the lady.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Piet Woevre'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
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] .<br />
<br />
If the surname is pronounced as in Dutch, Woevre is another Pynchon villain with a "V"-name (Vond, Weissman, Vibe). <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Force Publique'''<br /><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''made him reach'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
The line is often misattributed to better-known Nazis and others [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst].<br />
<br />
*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."<br />
<br />
* [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.<br />
<br />
'''not unambiguous'''<br><br />
Ie, ambiguous.<br />
<br />
'''''rastaquoueres'''''<br><br />
Social upstarts<br />
<br />
'''de Decker'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 541==<br />
<br />
'''''bobbejaan'''''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''MKIV/ODC... Mark Four''' <br><br />
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!'"<br />
<br />
'''not part of your remit'''<br><br />
Not included in your job description, instructions, authorization. "Remit" (noun) is usually a British usage.<br />
<br />
'''''gatkruiper'''''<br><br />
Dutch/Flemish: brownnose, ass-kisser.<br />
<br />
'''one on her wrist'''<br><br />
All the bruises reflect some refinement or artistry except this one, which may have been inflicted crudely.<br />
<br />
'''over the day'''<br><br />
Title motif?<br />
<br />
==Page 542==<br />
<br />
'''trans-horizontic'''<br /><br />
Across the horizon &#151; " a screaming comes across the sky"<br />
<br />
'''Edmund Whittaker'''<br /><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''louche'''<br><br />
The cloudy effect caused by the addition of water to absinthe. Dictionary definition: "of questionable taste or morality; decadent."<br />
<br />
'''"Now, with no sensible passage of time, the rooms were resonant with absence."'''<br /><br />
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").<br />
<br />
'''cheval-glass'''<br /><br />
Standing mirror in a freestanding vertical frame.<br />
<br />
'''as if someone'''<br /><br />
Sound-cancelling vs opacity-cancelling?<br />
<br />
'''"dressing-gown...faceless, armless, attending him"'''<br /><br />
Not saying this is a deliberate reference by TRP, but this section where Kit appears to see Pli&eacute;iade Lafris&eacute;e'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.<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
==Page 543==<br />
<br />
'''wraith of Pleiade Lafrisee'''<br />
<br />
Pleiade manifests one of her not-visible stars. Perhaps this sister has somehow twisted herself on an imaginary axis ala Dr. V. Ganesh Rao.<br />
<br />
'''monitory'''<br><br />
Warning, giving advice, by extension ominous or menacing.<br />
<br />
'''Against....the day....'''<br />
Note: this phrase happens at the exact halfway point of the novel: p.542.3<br />
<br />
'''He Who Must Come'''<br><br />
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.<br><br />
Ah, a lot more and less than capitalism going on here, especially if anyone specific like Hitler is meant. <br />
: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:<br />
:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0361-1299(1985)39%3A4%3C251%3ACFS%22M%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X <br />
<br />
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 ]<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
[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.<br><br />
In ''The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism''<br />
by Matthew Carr, 2007, Boulanger is called the "father" of fascism.<br />
<br />
'''what death and what transfiguration'''<br><br />
Allusion to Richard Strauss' tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" (''Tod und Verklärung''), premiered in 1890.<br />
<br />
'''''"Zeker"'''''<br><br />
Dutch: certainly.<br />
<br />
'''''dead cert'''''<br><br />
Dead certainty, sure thing.<br />
<br />
'''Von Schlieffen'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Wilhelm has offered Leopold part of France, the ancient Duchy of Burgundy'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''lowlands'''<br><br />
Title of Pynchon's first published story. Here, ass?<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The Netherlands and Flandres are known as the Low Lands (Nether/Neder = under, below).<br />
<br />
==Page 544==<br />
<br />
'''Place d'Armes'''<br><br />
Main square of Ostend; literally "drill field".<br />
<br />
'''peau de soie'''<br><br />
"Skin of silk" A heavy, smooth satin with very fine ribbing; somewhat dull in sheen compared with traditional silk finishes.<br />
<br />
'''Krafft-Ebing'''<br><br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''toque'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''guipure'''<br><br />
Lace trim.<br />
<br />
'''midinette'''<br><br />
A shopgirl or dressmakers apprentice. A milliner. <br />
These days, mostly used to describe a naive and sentimental young girl<br />
<br />
'''Lambic'''<br><br />
A distinctive Belgian style of beer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''sous'''<br><br />
<br />
Coins. Originally Roman gold coins, latterly any kind of coin.<br />
<br />
Also an old French currency<br />
<br />
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])<br />
<br />
'''mayonnaise'''<br><br />
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]<br />
<br />
'''ovoöleaginous'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Grenache'''<br><br />
Grape commonly used in Rhone Valley wines e.g. Chateauneuf du Pape.<br />
<br />
in this case, it refers to a deep, dark shade of red<br />
<br />
'''Chantilly'''<br><br />
<br />
Region north of Paris.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''attainder'''<br><br />
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.<br />
[www.historycentral.com/Civics/B.html] <br />
<br />
''''''Aux armes, citoyens''''''<br><br />
''To arms, citizens'', from the French national anthem, ''La Marseillaise'' (1792). Kit confused La Mayonnaise with La Marseillaise.<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
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]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Louis XV'''<br><br />
King of France 1715-1774 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV]. <br />
<br />
'''Cléo de Mérode'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Marquise de Pompadour'''<br><br />
Mistress of Louis XV,once friend of Voltaire and a power behind official scenes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Pompadour].<br />
<br />
'''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.'''<br />
<br />
Cf. Crime and Punishment<br />
<br />
==Page 545==<br />
<br />
'''duc de Richelieu'''<br><br />
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]])<br />
<br />
'''dubious 'victory' in 1756'''<br><br />
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]).<br />
<br />
'''the ill-fated Admiral Byng'''<br><br />
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."<br />
<br />
'''cantharides'''<br><br />
"Spanish fly," contact irritant sometimes ill-advisedly used as aphrodisiac.<br />
<br />
'''Sadean'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''''n'est-ce pas?'''''<br><br />
Right? (Isn't that so?)<br />
<br />
'''vetiver'''<br><br />
A grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) of tropical India, cultivated for its aromatic roots that yield an oil used in perfumery.<br />
[www.answers.com/topic/vetiver]. So, a perfume with, llterallly, roots in India.<br />
<br />
Vetiver makes frequent appearances throughout ''À la recherche du temps perdu.''<br />
<br />
'''pip'''<br><br />
A beaut; in current parlance, a hottie.<br />
<br />
'''Q.P. system'''<br><br />
Quaternion Probability, page 536.<br />
<br />
'''Usine Régionale'''<br><br />
French: as translated in the text.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
==Page 546==<br />
<br />
'''disjunctive effects of thunderstorms'''<br><br />
Folk wisdom says a thunderstorm will cause mayonnaise to separate (oil from yolks).<br />
<br />
'''cottonseed oil'''<br />
<br />
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. <br />
[http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:ATD_525-556 Discussion]<br />
<br />
'''lounge suit'''<br><br />
A lounge suit is another name for business suit consisting of a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.<br />
<br />
'''congress shoes'''<br><br />
ankle high shoes with elastic gussets in the sides (wordweb online)<br />
<br />
'''invisible hand'''<br />
<br />
Suggestive of Adam Smith's metaphor for market forces in economics.<br />
<br />
'''dripping-heads'''<br><br />
[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.<br />
<br />
'''''cuves d'agitation'''''<br><br />
Vat or tank in which the mayonnaise is agitated or beaten.<br />
<br />
'''Clinique d'Urgence pour Sauvetage des Sauces'''<br><br />
French: Emergency Clinic for Salvage of Sauces.<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
Pynchon is having fun here. The simple way to "save" a mayonnaise is to add a spoonful of water. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Mayonnaise!'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 547==<br />
<br />
'''' ...engulfed in thick, slick, sour-smelling mayonnaise. ''''<br />
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].<br />
<br />
'''''Cazzo, cretino'''''<br><br />
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!"<br />
<br />
'''''È il cowboy!'''''<br><br />
Italian: It's the cowboy!<br />
<br />
'''''vero?'''''<br><br />
true? real?<br />
<br />
'''''Le bambole anarchiste, porca miseria'''''<br><br />
Italian: Anarchist babes, oh boy.<br />
<br />
'''Oudenberg'''<br><br />
A southeast suburb of Ostende.<br />
<br />
'''Quai de l'Entrepôt'''<br><br />
Warehouse Quay<br />
<br />
'''''ragazzi'''''<br><br />
Italian: boys, guys.<br />
<br />
==Page 548==<br />
<br />
'''General Boulanger'''<br><br />
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'.<br><br />
See p. 543 above, regarding a 2007 book in which Boulanger is called the 'father of fascism'.<br />
<br />
'''''timbres fictifs'''''<br><br />
French: fictive postage stamps. Cf "Lot 49".<br><br />
Yes, stamps mean something in Pynchon's works; here, it seems important that these stamps are characterized as frauds.<br />
<br />
'''"IIIb"'''<br><br />
As explained in the text.<br><br />
"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. <br />
<br />
'''Germany might stand a better chance...'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''revanchist'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''the somewhat discomposed General'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 549==<br />
'''grow more and more invisible'''<br><br />
What could be meant? Clearly, they inhabit bodies that people interact with?, as well as being characters in works of fiction.<br><br />
Given what happens with the Chums as the story progresses [Spoiler bit, thematically], I suggest that their invisibility here<br />
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'':<br><br />
"Equally difficult for those who might wish to proceed through life<br />
anonymously and without trace has been the continuing assault against<br />
the once-reliable refuge of the cash or non-plastic economy." [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_stone.html]<br />
<br />
'''cackled Darby'''<br><br />
(When did he lose his innocence?)<br />
<br />
'''a modification of any salsician metaphor toward the diminutive'''<br><br />
Salsician: pertaining to sausage. Lindsay says Suckling's penis is better compared to a wiener than a knockwurst.<br />
<br />
'''"Why you little–and I do mean 'little'–"'''<br><br />
Another Simpsons reference? <br />
<br />
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,<br />
is called out, either for real or in a sex-bashing putdown, for homosexuality. cf. homosexuality as a metaphor in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. <br />
<br />
'''dunes between Nieuport and Dunkirk'''<br><br />
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.)<br />
<br />
'''power-receivers'''<br><br />
Not information, energy.<br />
<br />
==Page 550==<br />
<br />
'''Lot's wife''' <br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''preference...for interiors'''<br><br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_35:_349-361 Mason & Dixon, p. 354] <br />
, 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.<br><br />
<br />
'''Italian grotto'''<br><br />
an imitating recess or structure made to resemble a natural Italian grotto.<br />
<br />
'''a highly developed taste, moreover, for human blood'''<br><br />
Since Pugnax developed this taste in the Carpathians, home of Castle Dracula, this seems a clear reference to Bram Stoker's novel. <br />
<br />
'''Carpathians'''<br><br />
Major mountain range running northwest-southeast through Poland, Slovakia, western Ukraine and Romania.<br />
<br />
'''Uhlans'''<br><br />
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.]<br />
<br />
'''Temesvár'''<br><br />
Now Timişoara, extreme western Romania.<br />
<br />
==Page 551==<br />
'''prefiguration...of the holy City'''<br><br />
City of God, ala Augustine? ''The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophers''[http://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503]<br />
, as explored in the book Ian McEwan says he lent Pynchon? [citation needed]<br><br />
<br />
'''...separated by only a slice of Time...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''securing the mess decks'''<br><br />
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).<br />
<br />
'''Ryder Thorn'''<br><br />
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...<br />
<br />
*The name also evokes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<br />
<br />
'''He was at Candlebrow.'''<br><br />
Presumably a 'trespasser.'<br />
<br />
'''the four-note chord in the context of timelessness'''<br><br />
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.<br />
Note: Jazz musicians describe musical improvisations as horizontal (with the melody) or vertical (with the chord). <blockquote>Actually, the words are used by <i>all</i> trained musicians to describe <i>any</i> 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 <i>stasis</i> 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 <i>in time.</i> A sense of time in our musical understanding comes from a <i>succession</i> 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 <i>single tone</i>, 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><br />
<br />
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'']]...<br />
<br />
==Page 552==<br />
<br />
'''the widespread contempt in which ukulele players are held'''<br><br />
Cf. Tiny Tim, of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" fame?<br />
<br />
'''knuckle-duster'''<br><br />
Brass knuckles.<br />
<br />
'''Diksmuide'''<br><br />
20 kilometers south of Ostend (about halfway to Ypres).<br />
<br />
==Page 553==<br />
<br />
'''The terrain was flat...lowlands'''<br><br />
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. <br />
<br />
'''Somewhere up in the sky was Miles' home...'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''retted'''<br><br />
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.<br />
<br />
==Page 554==<br />
<br />
'''Ypres and Menin'''<br><br />
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]. <br />
<br />
'''Ten years from now'''<br><br />
(1914?) through 1918? and beyond?. Another paramorphic mirror--what do we now face. Whatever it is, it is nuclear.<br />
<br />
'''Bosch'''<br><br />
Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter of nightmares. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Brueghel'''<br><br />
Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), Flemish painter.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Brueghel_the_Elder Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''League'''<br><br />
League of Nations? The League of Nations was formed after WWI to prevent future wars. Didn't succeed.<br />
<br />
No. In this case a historical unit of length, approximately three miles - <br />
<br />
No, again; a league here is an association of people joined by common interests and "League on league" means tremendous masses of people.<br />
<br />
'''where the needles went and which way to rotate them'''<br><br />
I.e., how to push Thorn's buttons; the image is from acupuncture.<br />
<br />
==Page 555==<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''simpletons at the fair'''<br><br />
Making Pynchon's metaphor explicit.<br />
<br />
'''Chopin E-minor Nocturne'''<br><br />
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].)<br />
<br />
'''owl-light'''<br><br />
???glimmering or imperfect light or twilight hours.<br />
<br />
''''plasmic hysteresis''''<br><br />
<br />
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]. <br />
<br />
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 <br />
point in time – very similar to the situation of Ryder Thorn. [http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_5q.htm Check it out for yourself!]<blockquote> I would ignore dictionary definitions in favor of the physics definition of hysteresis, that being the idea that two identical process may arrive at the final destination via two different "paths", and the specific path each take is dependent on it's history. Kind of a time loop as mentioned above, although time is not the relevant dependent parameter. A plasma is an gas/fluid with a mixture of positive and negative charge that cancels in its mixture. These point to the ghost-like intruder's ethereal, atemporal qualities<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_81-96&diff=16263ATD 81-962021-05-02T05:51:08Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 92 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 81==<br />
'''July Fourth started hot and grew hotter,...'''<br /><br />
<br />
[[image:Gpynch.jpg|thumb|Guardan Review|right]] On Saturday, 18 November 2006, the UK's Guardian newspaper, in a Review section which featured a drawing of what Pynchon might now look like on its cover, published a full-page excerpt from ''Against the Day''. This comprised pages 81 to 85 (up to "he wondered sometimes if he would've ever signed on."), with the addition of the final paragraph from page 96, ending with "Happy Fourth of July, Webb." This was a much more substantial excerpt than the one which appeared in the Penguin Press catalogue, and was arguably a more alluring one in terms of attracting the general reader. These were the only official excerpts published before ATD itself, on 21 November 2006.<br />
<br />
The Guardian excerpt is now online:<br />
[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,1950566,00.html]<br />
<br />
The timing of this chapter, opening on a summer morning, parallels that of the novel's very first chapter.<br />
<br />
Makes reference to that July Fourth feeling in YR 2000 New York when the internet / new economy / electronic revolution was getting hot while reaching its maximum peak.<br />
<br />
'''nitro beginning to ooze out of dynamite sticks'''<br><br />
The important point about dynamite is when it '''doesn't''' blow up. Alfred Nobel discovered that he could stabilize nitroglycerine by soaking it into a powdered clay; the product was not sensitive to shock or heat. That is, until it separated in hot weather, with greasy-feeling free nitro collecting on the outside of the sticks. (A minor plot point in the TV series ''Lost,'' isn't it?)<br />
<br />
'''Feast of St. Barbara'''<br /><br />
According to legend, Saint Barbara was the extremely beautiful daughter of a wealthy heathen named Dioscorus, who lived near Nicomedia in Asia Minor, in the 4th Century AD. Because of her singular beauty and fearful that she be demanded in marriage and taken away from him, he jealously shut her up in a tower to protect her from the outside world. When Barbara converted to Christianity, her enraged father killed her and was subsequently struck down by lightening. St. Barbara was venerated as early as the seventh century. The legend of the lightning bolt which struck down her father caused her to be regarded as the patron saint in time of danger from thunderstorms, fires and sudden death. When gunpowder made its appearance in the Western world, Saint Barbara was invoked for aid against accidents resulting from explosions &#151; since some of the earlier artillery pieces often blew up instead of firing their projectile, Saint Barbara became the patroness of the artillerymen. [http://sill-www.army.mil/pao/pabarbar.htm]<br />
<br />
'''Propaganda of the Deed'''<br><br />
Anarchist terrorism.<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_deed [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Zarzuela'''<br><br />
Webb's horse is named for a Spanish genre of musical theater. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarzuela [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''cicadas'''<br><br />
[http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/insect/05590.html Cicadas in Colorado] are annual, not 17- or 13-year periodical species, so they don't help pin down the year of the action.<br />
<br />
==Page 82==<br />
'''Skinner'''<br><br />
Commonly, a skinner is a person who skins sections of animals or whole animals, such as cattle, sheep, and pigs, to prepare them for cooking. Historically the term referred to those engaged in the trade of skins and furs.<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner (profession) Wikipedia] However, in this context, "skinner" refers to a more obscure definition: a worker who drives mules. Long teams of mules, up to ten pairs of mules on one wagon &#151; were used to haul borax from the mines to the railroads. A skinner could "skin" or outsmart a mule. ("skin" is old criminal slang for "defraud" or "cheat.")<br />
<br />
'''"Rocky Mountain canaries"'''<br><br />
This was the nickname the miners gave to burros, because of their braying.<br />
<br />
'''Chinaman'''<br><br />
There was a large number of Chinese who worked on the railroads in the Rocky Mountains, especially as dynamiters, in the late 18th and early 20th centuries.<br />
<br />
'''burro-puncher'''<br><br />
See [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=donkey+punch donkey punch].<br />
<br />
Although no sexual metaphor is too crude for Pynchon, in this case I think he is sticking to 19th Century Colorado usage. [http://www.wordnik.com/words/cow-puncher Cow-puncher] is a synonym for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy cowboy] or cattle-herder used particularly in Texas. In [http://books.google.com/books?id=ouhYP06JObQC&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327&dq=burro+puncher&source=bl&ots=NYaO5FUrCl&sig=KPAiT6beEH2SNGkxNFDgCHE_E6Y&hl=en&ei=l_kXTIbsDISsNcjXsJQL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=burro%20puncher&f=false ''Burro Punching in the San Juans''] (ca. 1879), George M. Darley writes<br />
<br />
:Burro punching ... means to walk behind a pack train punching the patient, sure-footed and valuable, although greatly abused little animal. Often I have walked behind a burro when going to preach the Gospel in the "regions beyond." The term "burro-puncher" became so common during the early days of the "Great San Juan Excitement" that all who had anything to do with the little animal were called "burro-punchers." Some who are not [possible typo: now?] counted among the "leading lights" in Colorado were glad to have a burro carry their "grub" and blankets when first they went into the San Juans. This was a safe way of traveling, considering the roughness of the trails....<br />
<br />
'''Eclipse Union mine'''<br><br />
The Eclipse mine was one of many in the Cripple Creek District, Lake County, Colorado, in the late 19th century. From this [http://www.scripophily.net/jaflmiandtuc.html website]:<br />
<br />
:The Ajax vein had been staked over its length by five adjoining claims located in 1878 &#151; the Ajax, Bobtail, Nero, Park View, and Union Flag. All were patented in 1883 by the Eclipse Mining Company, which had been incorporated a year earlier with capital stock of $50,000. A year later the mine was developed via three adits (40, 100, and 400 feet long) and three shafts (each 30 feet deep). Immediately adjacent to the claims along the vein the company owned four patented mill sites of 5 acres each (Corregan and Lingane 1883).<br />
<br />
Doubtful that the "Union" &#151; capital "U" &#151; infers that the mine was unionized, rather the Eclipse Union mine is likely a fictional entity, based on the actual existence of the Eclipse and Union mines, both active in the late 19th century in Lake County, Colorado [http://www.topozone.com/states/Colorado.asp?county=Lake&feature=Mine], with a double-entendre that references the mine owners' drive to ''eclipse'' the unions, i.e., wipe them out. Or perhaps Pynchon simply came across such a named mine in his research...<br />
<br />
[[image:Moses.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo's "Moses"|right|160px]]'''flames issuing out of his head'''<br><br />
This hallucination likely refers to Veikko's "insane fanaticism" "even on his calmest days," his eyes "illuminated from within" [[#Page 83|p.83]]. There's also the allusion to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses Moses] coming from the mountain with fire from his head; this is the source for Michelangelo's "horns" on his statue, as well as other 17th century depictions of Moses. These depictions were based on a mistranslation of a Hebrew word that can mean horns or ray of light. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses#Horned_Moses here]. Veikko carries the word, but won't be allowed into the new "Promised Land." Like Moses, Veikko is fanatical about freeing his people from enslavement, in ''ATD'' from the mine owners and bosses. This is the first we meet Veikko which sounds close to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Vico Giambattista Vico], a possible source of Pynchonian elements. <br><br />
<br />
This can also allude to the Pentecost, as described in the second chapter of Acts: "Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them." [http://mamalong.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pentecost1.jpg Here] is a typical image of the disciples with flames on their heads. <br />
<br />
'''dynamite headache'''<br><br />
In the early 20th century, the nitroglycerin in dynamite was discovered to cause severe headaches. Dynamite (DNT) is highly skin-penetrating and such headaches, dubbed "dynamite headaches," were often suffered by workers in plants manufacturing explosives. Dynamite headaches were also common among miners, who were often exposed to vaporized nitroglycerin when detonating dynamite.<br />
<br />
The headaches result from the vasodilation effect of nitroglycerin, the same mechanism that makes it effective in the treatment of angina, myocardial infarction [heart attack], and pulmonary edema. Headache is considered an overdose effect.<br />
<br />
'''Cour d'Alene bullpens'''<br><br />
Spelled ''Coeur'', actually. During the July 1892 strikes, the violence provided the mine owners and the governor with an excuse to bring in six companies of the Idaho National Guard to "suppress insurrection and violence." Federal troops also arrived, and they confined six hundred miners in bullpens without any hearings or formal charges. Some were later "sent up" for violating injunctions, others for obstructing the United States mail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d'Alene_miners'_dispute Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Cripple Creek'''<br><br />
Cripple Creek was the location of a miner's strike in 1894. It was a significant labor event and it was the first time that a state Militia was called out in support of the miners. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners'_strike_of_1894 Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''side-door pullman'''<br><br />
Boxcar.<br />
<br />
==Page 83==<br />
<br />
'''They thought it was funny'''<br><br />
Many authorities report that Indians think almost everything whites do is funny. In particular:<br />
<br />
'''Colorado . . . created as a reservation for whites'''<br><br />
Drawing straight lines on the ground and calling them limits. Most of the reservations in the West and on the Plains are bounded by such lines rather than "natural" boundaries like crestlines. So is Colorado: "four straight lines on paper" -- a Cartesian state of geography.<br />
<br />
'''General Bobrikoff'''<br><br />
Or Bobrikov, N.I. (1839-1904), given dictatorial powers in Finland, viewed there as oppressor, assassinated on June 16, 1904, the day of the action in Joyce's <i>Ulysses</i>.<br />
<br />
'''mean and cold, same wealth without conscience, same poor people in misery, army and police free as wolves to commit cruelties on behalf of the bosses, bosses ready to do anything to protect what they had stolen'''<br><br />
So simple and yet so truthful. History keeps repeating itself... One endless vicious cycle of the same lame old... One reason for James Joyce spend years writing thousand pages of sophisticated {Finnegan/Ulyssean} gibberish in defense of such unvarnished genuine statement. John Zorn once said... "governments have been thinking for thousands of years on how to fuck us up." And its the artist role to break away from that and say... now look...<br />
<br />
'''neuræsthenic'''<br><br />
Neurasthenia (Fatigue syndrome) is a neurotic disorder. [http://www.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/?gf40.htm+f480 Definition/Symptoms]<br />
<br />
This word appears again on [[ATD_171-198#Page_188|page 188]]. It may be a reference to Proust, who was neurasthenic. It may also simply be a fancy word for disinterested in this context.<br><br />
:The diagnosis was frequently used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for men (women were "hysterics"). In World War I, soldiers suffering what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder were diagnosed as neurasthenic -- if they weren't refused medical aid and/ or executed as deserters. See Elaine Showalter, '''''The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980''''' (NY: Pantheon, 1985)<br />
<br />
==Page 84==<br />
<br />
'''1900'''<br><br />
So the current Fourth of July must be 1901 or later (not 1899).<br><br />
And not 1904: Gen. Bobrikoff (preceding page) was assassinated in June of that year, so Veikko's toast goes stale. Therefore 1901, '02 or '03.<br />
<br />
On August 14, 1900, American, British, Russian and American troops entered Beijing to quell the Boxer Rebellion.<br />
<br />
'''''Minneskort'''''<br><br />
Modern Swedish word for computer memory cards. Swedish is a minority language in Finland. (TRP likely saw it on a Nokia phone.)<br />
<br />
'''Fink trusses'''<br><br />
This [http://pghbridges.com/basics.htm perfectly delightful site] for bridge spotters identifies the Fink truss as a design by Albert Fink dating from the 1860s. It's illustrated way down toward the bottom of the page. All the compression and tension members lie below the plane of the deck where the tracks are laid.<br />
<br />
'''...it bein a three-day holiday'''<br><br />
Indicates that this passage takes place in 1902, as the Fourth of July fell on a Friday. ([http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1902 Source])<br />
<br />
==Page 85==<br />
<br />
'''nippers'''<br><br />
Boys who assist a costermonger, carter, etc. Later (more generally): the most junior members of a group of workmen, esp. one employed in menial tasks. (def.4a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.) <br />
<br />
'''swampers'''<br><br />
Workmen who clear a road for lumberers in a ‘swamp’ or forest. Though the OED doesn't specify mining work in it definition, it is probable that swampers also clear the roads and paths for miners. (def.1a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.)<br />
<br />
'''Innocent Victims . . . Monsters That Did the Deed'''<br><br />
Use of capitals seems to emphasize the fact that these persons are simply convenient stock characters in the forwarding of the owners'/government's agenda.<br />
<br />
'''"some of these explosions, the more deadly of them, in fact, were really set off to begin with not by Anarchists but by the owners themselves."'''<br><br />
Is this an allusion to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_demolition_hypothesis_for_the_collapse_of_the_World_Trade_Center Controlled demolition hypothesis] for the collapse of the WTC?<br><br />
<br />
NO! In labor history, many 'accidents' and some planned deeds by owners were blamed on radicals, anarchists, etc. It was common in the early days of the labor movement for owners to conspire to make the unions look bad in this manner. One such example is cited [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_labor_issues_and_events here] in 1910, and it is certainly far from the only one. <br />
<br />
See, however, a much more straightforward allusion in [[ATD_171-198#Page_175|page 175]].<br />
:While it's true that many "anarchist" explosions were planned by the owners of industry, to suggest that this is NOT! an allusion to the possibility of US Government involvement in the 9-11 attacks seems rather limiting. Pynchon hinted strongly that this novel is an allegory for our own time in the jacket blurb, and much of what makes this chapter interesting is the way it creates a disturbing analogy between the terrorism carried out by Webb, a highly sympathetic figure, and that carried out by the 9-11 hijackers, whom we so love to hate. <br />
<br />
'''Which left precious few targets except for the railroad.'''<br><br />
Frank Norris's 1901 novel ''The Octopus'' is summed up in one short paragraph. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octopus_%28Frank_Norris%29 Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
==Page 86==<br />
'''faro'''<br><br />
An old card game that was very popular in the nineteenth-century American West. For example, the great [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Jay Ricky Jay] plays a faro dealer in the TV show ''Deadwood''. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_(card_game) here]. <br />
<br />
'''Shorty's Billiard Saloon'''<br><br />
This is based on real accounts of billiard balls sparking and exploding in saloons. The balls in question used a then-new thermoplastic compound of cellulose nitrate and camphor developed and patented under the trademark "celluloid" by John Wesley Hyatt as a substitute for ivory. See [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=C Celluloid] for Wikipedia links to Hyatt and Celluloid.<br />
<br />
'''without being hit once'''<br><br />
Similar to a pivotal scene in the film ''Pulp Fiction''. Samuel Jackson's character is shot at in fairly close range and is not hit even once. This prompts a spiritual awakening and his decisions to leave his life of crime. <br />
<br />
'''a state of heightened receptivity'''<br><br />
People who talk about enlightenment and unsubstantiated alternative "therapies" use this phrase a lot—[http://www.enlightenment.com/forums/msgs.cfm?msg=708&forum=6&tz=240 example]—but in simplest terms it just means [http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/pdf%2F8004%2F8004r2.pdf hypnosis.]<br />
<br />
'''pernicious'''<br><br />
Of a thing, action, intent, etc.: causing or likely to cause harm, esp. in a gradual or insidious manner; dangerous, destructive; evil. Also in weakened use: having a harmful influence; undesirable. (def.2a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.)<br />
<br />
==Page 87==<br />
<br />
'''those French Anarchists . . . Emile Henry . . . Vaillant'''<br><br />
Emile Henry (1872 - May 21, 1894) was a French anarchist who on February 12, 1894 detonated a bomb at the Café Terminus in the Parisian Gare Saint-Lazare killing one person and wounding twenty. Henry was angered over the execution of another Anarchist, Auguste Vaillant, for the destruction of a government building that hurt no one, and took it upon himself to strike back to avenge his fellow revolutionary's death. He saw the Cafe as a representation of the bourgeois itself and his intent was to kill as many people as possible in the bombing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Henry Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''how can anyone set off a bomb that will take innocent lives?'''<br><br />
Rev. Moss Gatlin's rhetorical question and its wisecrack response, "Long fuse" seems a calculated echo of Kubrick's ''Full Metal Jacket.'' ("How you shoot women and children?" "Easy -- don't lead 'em so much.") Discussion here also recalls the Weathermen, a violent off-shoot of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) during the Vietnam Era.<br />
<br />
'''listening . . . to the sermon . . . those absolute terms'''<br><br />
While there is a movement or school called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_anarchism Christian anarchism] (use the Wikipedia article with caution), Gatlin's ideas do not harmonize with it. As his sermon on pages 86-87 makes plain, he follows quite a different line.<br />
<br />
'''Mason-Dixon line'''<br><br />
We learn that the Traverse family had been "an old ridegerunning clan from southern Pennsylvania, close to the Mason-Dixon." No Traverses appear, however, in Pynchon's ''Mason & Dixon'' (except in the sense that the whole M-D survey was conducted by the traverse method), but one can speculate that had they been, the Traverse ancestors may have been victims of the Line's bad Feng Shui. From this, one could infer a connection between the Line and Colorado Anarchism.<br />
<br />
'''Civil War'''<br><br />
This is the first instance of the term, for a war so far in the novel being referred to as "The Rebellion".<br />
<br />
==Page 88==<br />
<br />
'''westward drift'''<br><br />
Webb Traverse's wanderings are referred to as "this westward drift". The phrase is probably not accidental: in scientific circles "westward drift" is used for either of two geophysical phenomena: the gradual westward [http://home.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~dacheson/res2.html movement of the magnetic north pole] and the westward [http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/1-2/199 rotation of the outer layers of the Earth] (the lithosphere) relative to the inner layers.<br />
<br />
In Frederick Jackson Turnerian circles, this westward momentum would be in harmony with both the progress of the US frontier as well as the westward transfer, according to Bishop Berkeley, of empire.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also a very common theme in Pynchon's works, the idea of the american Westerly drift, primarily in Mason & Dixon, but also in IV. Likely others?<br />
<br />
'''twelve-cylinder Confederate Colt'''<br><br />
A hard weapon to identify. Some Colt revolvers were sold to the Southern forces in the first few days after Fort Sumter, but it's far more likely that this is a knockoff of Colt's 1851 design made, for example, at Augusta, Georgia. Plenty of these got into service. Caliber is probably .36 or .44, but there are other possibilities. "Twelve-cylinder" is nonsense; there is a rare version of the Colt cylinder with ''twelve cylinder stops,'' but it holds ''six'' percussion rounds (ball and cap system). The cylinder stops are depressions on the outer surface of the cylinder forming part of the mechanism that aligns the chamber with the barrel for firing. Photos of sidearms online are ephemeral (many vanish once the auction concludes), so no link here, even if any of the available images did show the variant. To see today's selection, trying [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22confederate+revolver%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a googling "Confederate revolver"]...<br />
<br />
==Page 89==<br />
<br />
'''silver-boom babies'''<br><br />
Assuming the silver boom of 1890-1892 is meant, Webb's kids were aged about 9 to 16. [[Timeline|Timeline with spoilers]]<br />
<br />
'''Ace of spades...death card'''<br><br />
The ace of spades seems to have been considered the "death card" in the Vietnam War. [http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp Article]<br />
<br />
Oh, ''long'' before that. Schoolchildren in the 1950s (who would pretty reliably believe anything) believed in the association, and aren't there about a shelf's worth of spy and mystery novels where the Ace of Spades portends death?<br />
<br />
Going back farther, <br />
:''In Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Suicide Club" (1878), the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_of_Spades Ace of Spades] functions as the "sign of death" within a secret society whose members commit "suicide" by submitting to be killed, if they draw the Ace of Spades from a pack of 52 cards during a club meeting, by another member drawing the Ace of Clubs.'' <br />
<br />
Also, as the highest card in the deck, it commonly defeats everything else, as does death.<br><br />
Why Mayva should be likened to the Ace of Spades is still to be explained.<br />
<br />
'''fancy briar pipe . . . beat-up old corncob'''<br><br />
Briar pipes appeared in Europe from the 1850s on. The Missouri Meerschaum brand of corncob pipe dates from 1869. Until close to 1900, clay pipes were probably more common than either.<br />
<br />
'''took the cog railway up Pike's Peak'''<br><br />
Something you can still do today. Make your reservations [http://www.cograilway.com/ here]! <br />
<br />
'''Bob Ford's Funeral'''<br><br />
Robert Ford assassinated his famous fellow outlaw Jesse James. His funeral took place in June 1892. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ford_(outlaw) [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Creede'''<br><br />
Central Colorado mining town, now a ski resort.<br />
<br />
'''Telluride'''<br><br />
Far southwestern Colorado mining town, now a ski and mountain resort, with an annual film festival. Named for the telluride ores typical of the vicinity, but the name has more possible significance in AtD.<br />
<br />
Used as an adjective, Telluric: Of or belonging to the earth; terrestrial; pertaining to the earth as a planet; also, arising from the earth or soil (OED). In turn the origin of Tellurism: Magnetic influence or principle supposed by some to pervade all nature, and to produce the phenomenon of Animal Magnetism; also the theory of Animal Magnetism based on this, propounded in 1822 by Keiser in Germany (OED). "Animal Magnetism" is referred to in English as Mesmerism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Magnetism].<br />
<br />
'''extreme and unmerciful whiteness'''<br><br />
It doesn't seem to be accidental that "white" and "whiteness" are hard to endure in ''AtD.'' Consider [[ATD_26-56#Page_52|"the whiteness of the place nearly unbearable";]] the White City and White City Investigations; and other uses.<br />
<br />
'''repeal of the Silver Act'''<br><br />
Prior to 1892, both Silver and Gold were used as a metallic standard for currency in the United States. The Sherman Act authorized the treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month. This inflated the price of silver, causing eastern investors to start hoarding gold as a hedge. The unrest this caused in the Colorado mines resulted in the repeal of the Act. When this happened, the mining of silver began to rapidly decline, causing further destabilization in the silver mining industry.<br />
<br />
'''tiresome moral exercise'''<br><br />
May be a preterite association with President Clinton's impeachment and Senate trial over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.<br />
<br />
==Page 90==<br />
<br />
'''before he got shot'''<br><br />
1899. [http://www.butchandsundance.com/players/ketchumgang.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''the Cornish wives in Jacktown'''<br><br />
Many Western miners came from Cornwall. The stock nickname for any Cornishman was "Cousin Jack." So Jacktown is the area where the Cornish families live.<br />
'''singlejacker'''<br><br />
A miner who drilled holes in the rock by hiting a drill with a hammer making a 1/4 turn after every blow. Miners could also (chose to) work in pairs, known as doublejacking, though narrow conditions sometimes prevented this. See this [http://crownkinghiker.blogspot.com/2011/05/single-jack-miner-according-to-frank.html?m=1 blog entry] which has a description and a photo roughly contemporaneous to the time here.<br />
<br />
'''Lake'''<br>@<br />
'Lake Traverse' is a real lake between Minnesota and South Dakota. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Traverse Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''dynamited carny jump up out of that blast good as new'''<br><br />
This passage recalls Daffy Duck cartoons.<br />
<br />
==Page 91==<br />
<br />
'''theory and practice of resistance to power'''<br /><br />
[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/maotsetun138236.html Mao Tse-tung] (or Mao Zedong) said, "The guerrilla must move among the people as a fish swims in the sea." Gatlin anticipates the principle, with a kicker that's especially pertinent to ''AtD:'' to succeed at invisibility, you must first succeed at visibility.<br />
<br />
'''"Sleep? is when you sleep"'''<br /><br />
Not likely this is a typo. We often include a question in our answer, in this case summarising the question with "sleep?" then immediately answering. And just as it does falling at the end of a sentence, the "?" reflects a change of vocal pitch/stress. As for the sentence fragment, Webb is a man of few words, and "The reservation I have about what you say is" are not some of them.<br />
<br />
Alludes Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki's teachings on Zen... "shower is when you shower." First pages of William Burroughs' The Ticket That Exploded comes to mind ~ the notion about sleep, heartbeat and mind/spiritual/innerSelf survivalism... that fearful feeling of falling asleep and never waking up again to fulfill your true revolutionary objectives.<br />
<br />
==Page 92==<br />
<br />
'''$3-blessed-50 a day'''<br><br />
This might be an over-estimate; in 2006 dollars, that comes to over $86 a day, not a bad wage indeed. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ Calculator]<br />
<br />
$86 dollars a day not a bad wage?? Assuming an 8-12 hour day, that comes out to about today's minimum wage -- which is hardly a living wage. This seems about right. Just enough to keep body, soul and family together. Maybe. The text implies that $3.50/day was just barely a "living wage."<br />
<br />
<br />
Compare $3.50 in context on [[ATD_374-396|p. 378]]...<br />
<br />
Wages at the time immediately prior to the Cripple Creek strike of 1884 were $3 a day for an 8 hour day. The initial cause of the strike was an attempt by mine owners to increase the working day to 10 hours with no increase in pay. [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894]. Wikipedia mentions that at the time of the Couer d'Alene strike of 1892 wages were typically $3 - $3.50. The latter was demanded for all workers, by the strikers, as a "living wage". [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d%27Alene,_Idaho_labor_strike_of_1892#section_1]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Western Federation of Miners'''<br><br />
A radical labor union created in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Federation_of_Miners Wikipedia] They played a leading part in the founding of the IWW. They fought many bitter disputes and were often the subject of violence by mine owners agents and others.<br />
<br />
'''. . . a mule dropping on the edge of life's mountain trail, ready to be either squashed flat or kicked into the void.'''<br><br />
Brings directly to mind a scene from Cormac McCarthy's 1985 highly praised novel ''Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness In The West'': <br />
:"The following evening as they rode up onto the western rim they lost one of the mules. It went skittering off down the canyon wall with the contents of the panniers exploding soundlessly in the hot dry air and it fell through sunlight and through shade, turning in that lonely void until it fell from sight into a sink of cold blue space that absolved it forever of memory in the mind of any living thing that was." (Modern Library Edition 2001, p. 147). <br />
The novel is considered as one of the 20th century American masterpieces ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian Wikipedia entry]). It is set about 45 years before the beginning of AtD (1849-50) at the Mexico - Texas borderlands. In fact, partly due to Pynchon's frequent references to ''red'' light, ''west'' and ''sunset'' (see [[Red%2C_West_and_Sunsets|here]] for a growing list), I suspect a kind of deeper relation between the two novels, but more evidence is required.<br />
:I hate to mention this, because the McCarthy connection is so cogent, but doesn't that phrase in ''AtD'' refer to a "mule dropping" rather than a mule that drops? Or rather: doesn't that phrase ''refract'' (or bi-refract) the passage from ''Blood Meridian,'' bringing the mule's flight to mind while overtly talking about a turd? (A mule doesn't have the option of being squashed flat, but a dropping does.)<br />
<br />
:This entry spurred me to read ''Blood Meridian,'' and while ''AtD'' is completely independent of that work, yes, the two novels do reflect a ruddy western light on each other. A really voracious reader will find, I suspect, that ''AtD'' is subtly linked to many other late-20th/early-21st century fictions. Contributors to this wiki have noted some such parallels; one that I found by chance is described in the [[ATD_119-148#Page_142|annotations to p. 142]] ("scentless snow walls"). These relationships suggest yet another interpretation of the title, if we needed another: The book is to be read as object against ground, ''against'' the literature of ''the day.''—[[User:Volver|Volver]]<br />
<br />
:I agree, apart from the 'late-20th/early-21st century' point - I think that the link you suggest does exist but extends much beyond. See for example [http://againsttheday.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/child-of-the-storm-ii/ this] extremely interesting entry in the AtD Weblog. [[User:Ctsats|Ctsats]] 01:45, 2 May 2007 (PDT)<br />
<br />
: Doesn't hurt that I re-read Blood Meridian about a year ago - this passage definitely reminded my of the mountain pass scene<br />
<br />
'''no fugitive laws for them'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_slave_law Fugitive Slave Law] allowed Southern slave owners to chase their escaped slaves into free territory and retrieve their "property."<br />
<br />
'''That's wicked, Rev.'''<br><br />
Switch that around and you've got Rev. Wicks (Cherrycoke), the narrator of '''Mason & Dixon'''.<br />
<br />
==Page 93==<br />
'''Labor produces all wealth . . .'''<br><br />
This was [http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=178 the slogan] for the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Federation_of_Miners Western Federation of Miners]. <br />
<br />
'''plutes'''<br><br />
Plutocrats: members of the wealthy class controlling a government<br />
<br />
'''Labor produces all wealth. Wealth belongs to the producer thereof.'''<br><br />
Reviewers of ATD have quoted this line, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601252.html] but Pynchon did not make it up. It comes from authentic miner's union literature of the time. [http://laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=178]<br />
<br />
'''Compassion'''<br><br />
With 'Republicans' below, a possible reference to 'compassionate conservatism' of the Bush administration. "...starving, homeless, and dead..." is what the Republicans mean by compassion, demonstrating the need for the "foreign phrase book". Has always been thus,historically and now?<br />
<br />
'''Republicans'''<br><br />
William McKinley was elected in 1896 on the Republican ticket, defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan, ushering in a chain of Republican Presidents until Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912. Obviously, could also be interpreted as a jab at the current Republican Party.<br />
<br />
==Page 94==<br />
<br />
'''duster'''<br><br />
Long coat. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duster_(clothing) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''the people's work, if not God's, the two forces according to Reverend Gatlin having the same voice'''<br><br />
Gatlin has in mind the proverb ''Vox populi vox Dei,'' "the voice of the people is the voice of God." There's a twist, though; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_populi see Wikipedia.]<br />
<br />
'''"Don't beg, you hear me? Don't any of you ever, fucking, beg, me or nobody, for nothin."<br><br />
Could have easily been TRP's response to interview requests!!!<br />
<br />
:I think it's about honor, not annoyance.<br />
<br />
'''There's a master list in Washington, D.C...maintained by the U.S. Secret Service.'''<br><br />
The Secret Service, founded in 1865 as a treasury force, was not a presidential protection force until 1902. Prior to this, it functioned more or less like the FBI today. This passage suggests that we are after McKinley's assassination (1901) and the period when the Secret Service began protecting the president, though page 97 suggests that this occurred in 1899.<br />
<br />
'''Say, open up em peepers 'fore you walk over a cliff someplace'''<br><br />
Card 0 of the Rider-Waite Tarot depicts The Fool walking in bright sunlight, his eyes shut, about to fall over a precipice if he doesn't heed the little dog who's trying to warn him of the peril. It isn't out of the question that Webb has encountered the Tarot, but if he has not, his use of the image speaks strongly for its archetypal nature.<br />
<br />
==Page 95==<br />
<br />
'''dynamite rounders'''<br><br />
Rounders was a precursor to baseball. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
Consider the alternative, that the "rounders" are the kids; "every sheriff has at least a dozen in his county" can refer to the game of rounders only by a stretch of meaning. Rounders: rascals, mischief-makers, in this case making mischief with dynamite.<br />
<br />
'''waiting for the rest of the joke'''<br><br />
Cf Dally and Lindsay, p27.<br />
<br />
==Page 96==<br />
<br />
'''"We ready?"'''<br><br />
The destruction of the railroad bridge is reminiscent of scenes in Edward Abbey's anarchistic 1975 novel ''The Monkey Wrench Gang.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey_Wrench_Gang Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Sufficient unto the day'''<br /><br />
From [http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/matthew.htm#c6 The Gospel According to Saint Matthew: 6:34]. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall<br />
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (The New Testament of the King James Bible). This phrase also appears in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']:<br />
<br />
:"No one knows exactly when the hit will come &#151; every morning, before the markets open, out before the milkmen, They make Their new update and decide on what's going to be sufficient unto the day." &#151; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_537-548#Page_544 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', page 544].<br />
<br />
'''Happy Fourth of July, Webb'''<br /><br />
Endearing? Veikko is eight years older than Webb.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_81-96&diff=16262ATD 81-962021-05-02T05:45:16Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 88 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 81==<br />
'''July Fourth started hot and grew hotter,...'''<br /><br />
<br />
[[image:Gpynch.jpg|thumb|Guardan Review|right]] On Saturday, 18 November 2006, the UK's Guardian newspaper, in a Review section which featured a drawing of what Pynchon might now look like on its cover, published a full-page excerpt from ''Against the Day''. This comprised pages 81 to 85 (up to "he wondered sometimes if he would've ever signed on."), with the addition of the final paragraph from page 96, ending with "Happy Fourth of July, Webb." This was a much more substantial excerpt than the one which appeared in the Penguin Press catalogue, and was arguably a more alluring one in terms of attracting the general reader. These were the only official excerpts published before ATD itself, on 21 November 2006.<br />
<br />
The Guardian excerpt is now online:<br />
[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,1950566,00.html]<br />
<br />
The timing of this chapter, opening on a summer morning, parallels that of the novel's very first chapter.<br />
<br />
Makes reference to that July Fourth feeling in YR 2000 New York when the internet / new economy / electronic revolution was getting hot while reaching its maximum peak.<br />
<br />
'''nitro beginning to ooze out of dynamite sticks'''<br><br />
The important point about dynamite is when it '''doesn't''' blow up. Alfred Nobel discovered that he could stabilize nitroglycerine by soaking it into a powdered clay; the product was not sensitive to shock or heat. That is, until it separated in hot weather, with greasy-feeling free nitro collecting on the outside of the sticks. (A minor plot point in the TV series ''Lost,'' isn't it?)<br />
<br />
'''Feast of St. Barbara'''<br /><br />
According to legend, Saint Barbara was the extremely beautiful daughter of a wealthy heathen named Dioscorus, who lived near Nicomedia in Asia Minor, in the 4th Century AD. Because of her singular beauty and fearful that she be demanded in marriage and taken away from him, he jealously shut her up in a tower to protect her from the outside world. When Barbara converted to Christianity, her enraged father killed her and was subsequently struck down by lightening. St. Barbara was venerated as early as the seventh century. The legend of the lightning bolt which struck down her father caused her to be regarded as the patron saint in time of danger from thunderstorms, fires and sudden death. When gunpowder made its appearance in the Western world, Saint Barbara was invoked for aid against accidents resulting from explosions &#151; since some of the earlier artillery pieces often blew up instead of firing their projectile, Saint Barbara became the patroness of the artillerymen. [http://sill-www.army.mil/pao/pabarbar.htm]<br />
<br />
'''Propaganda of the Deed'''<br><br />
Anarchist terrorism.<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_deed [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Zarzuela'''<br><br />
Webb's horse is named for a Spanish genre of musical theater. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarzuela [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''cicadas'''<br><br />
[http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/insect/05590.html Cicadas in Colorado] are annual, not 17- or 13-year periodical species, so they don't help pin down the year of the action.<br />
<br />
==Page 82==<br />
'''Skinner'''<br><br />
Commonly, a skinner is a person who skins sections of animals or whole animals, such as cattle, sheep, and pigs, to prepare them for cooking. Historically the term referred to those engaged in the trade of skins and furs.<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner (profession) Wikipedia] However, in this context, "skinner" refers to a more obscure definition: a worker who drives mules. Long teams of mules, up to ten pairs of mules on one wagon &#151; were used to haul borax from the mines to the railroads. A skinner could "skin" or outsmart a mule. ("skin" is old criminal slang for "defraud" or "cheat.")<br />
<br />
'''"Rocky Mountain canaries"'''<br><br />
This was the nickname the miners gave to burros, because of their braying.<br />
<br />
'''Chinaman'''<br><br />
There was a large number of Chinese who worked on the railroads in the Rocky Mountains, especially as dynamiters, in the late 18th and early 20th centuries.<br />
<br />
'''burro-puncher'''<br><br />
See [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=donkey+punch donkey punch].<br />
<br />
Although no sexual metaphor is too crude for Pynchon, in this case I think he is sticking to 19th Century Colorado usage. [http://www.wordnik.com/words/cow-puncher Cow-puncher] is a synonym for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy cowboy] or cattle-herder used particularly in Texas. In [http://books.google.com/books?id=ouhYP06JObQC&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327&dq=burro+puncher&source=bl&ots=NYaO5FUrCl&sig=KPAiT6beEH2SNGkxNFDgCHE_E6Y&hl=en&ei=l_kXTIbsDISsNcjXsJQL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=burro%20puncher&f=false ''Burro Punching in the San Juans''] (ca. 1879), George M. Darley writes<br />
<br />
:Burro punching ... means to walk behind a pack train punching the patient, sure-footed and valuable, although greatly abused little animal. Often I have walked behind a burro when going to preach the Gospel in the "regions beyond." The term "burro-puncher" became so common during the early days of the "Great San Juan Excitement" that all who had anything to do with the little animal were called "burro-punchers." Some who are not [possible typo: now?] counted among the "leading lights" in Colorado were glad to have a burro carry their "grub" and blankets when first they went into the San Juans. This was a safe way of traveling, considering the roughness of the trails....<br />
<br />
'''Eclipse Union mine'''<br><br />
The Eclipse mine was one of many in the Cripple Creek District, Lake County, Colorado, in the late 19th century. From this [http://www.scripophily.net/jaflmiandtuc.html website]:<br />
<br />
:The Ajax vein had been staked over its length by five adjoining claims located in 1878 &#151; the Ajax, Bobtail, Nero, Park View, and Union Flag. All were patented in 1883 by the Eclipse Mining Company, which had been incorporated a year earlier with capital stock of $50,000. A year later the mine was developed via three adits (40, 100, and 400 feet long) and three shafts (each 30 feet deep). Immediately adjacent to the claims along the vein the company owned four patented mill sites of 5 acres each (Corregan and Lingane 1883).<br />
<br />
Doubtful that the "Union" &#151; capital "U" &#151; infers that the mine was unionized, rather the Eclipse Union mine is likely a fictional entity, based on the actual existence of the Eclipse and Union mines, both active in the late 19th century in Lake County, Colorado [http://www.topozone.com/states/Colorado.asp?county=Lake&feature=Mine], with a double-entendre that references the mine owners' drive to ''eclipse'' the unions, i.e., wipe them out. Or perhaps Pynchon simply came across such a named mine in his research...<br />
<br />
[[image:Moses.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo's "Moses"|right|160px]]'''flames issuing out of his head'''<br><br />
This hallucination likely refers to Veikko's "insane fanaticism" "even on his calmest days," his eyes "illuminated from within" [[#Page 83|p.83]]. There's also the allusion to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses Moses] coming from the mountain with fire from his head; this is the source for Michelangelo's "horns" on his statue, as well as other 17th century depictions of Moses. These depictions were based on a mistranslation of a Hebrew word that can mean horns or ray of light. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses#Horned_Moses here]. Veikko carries the word, but won't be allowed into the new "Promised Land." Like Moses, Veikko is fanatical about freeing his people from enslavement, in ''ATD'' from the mine owners and bosses. This is the first we meet Veikko which sounds close to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Vico Giambattista Vico], a possible source of Pynchonian elements. <br><br />
<br />
This can also allude to the Pentecost, as described in the second chapter of Acts: "Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them." [http://mamalong.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pentecost1.jpg Here] is a typical image of the disciples with flames on their heads. <br />
<br />
'''dynamite headache'''<br><br />
In the early 20th century, the nitroglycerin in dynamite was discovered to cause severe headaches. Dynamite (DNT) is highly skin-penetrating and such headaches, dubbed "dynamite headaches," were often suffered by workers in plants manufacturing explosives. Dynamite headaches were also common among miners, who were often exposed to vaporized nitroglycerin when detonating dynamite.<br />
<br />
The headaches result from the vasodilation effect of nitroglycerin, the same mechanism that makes it effective in the treatment of angina, myocardial infarction [heart attack], and pulmonary edema. Headache is considered an overdose effect.<br />
<br />
'''Cour d'Alene bullpens'''<br><br />
Spelled ''Coeur'', actually. During the July 1892 strikes, the violence provided the mine owners and the governor with an excuse to bring in six companies of the Idaho National Guard to "suppress insurrection and violence." Federal troops also arrived, and they confined six hundred miners in bullpens without any hearings or formal charges. Some were later "sent up" for violating injunctions, others for obstructing the United States mail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d'Alene_miners'_dispute Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Cripple Creek'''<br><br />
Cripple Creek was the location of a miner's strike in 1894. It was a significant labor event and it was the first time that a state Militia was called out in support of the miners. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners'_strike_of_1894 Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''side-door pullman'''<br><br />
Boxcar.<br />
<br />
==Page 83==<br />
<br />
'''They thought it was funny'''<br><br />
Many authorities report that Indians think almost everything whites do is funny. In particular:<br />
<br />
'''Colorado . . . created as a reservation for whites'''<br><br />
Drawing straight lines on the ground and calling them limits. Most of the reservations in the West and on the Plains are bounded by such lines rather than "natural" boundaries like crestlines. So is Colorado: "four straight lines on paper" -- a Cartesian state of geography.<br />
<br />
'''General Bobrikoff'''<br><br />
Or Bobrikov, N.I. (1839-1904), given dictatorial powers in Finland, viewed there as oppressor, assassinated on June 16, 1904, the day of the action in Joyce's <i>Ulysses</i>.<br />
<br />
'''mean and cold, same wealth without conscience, same poor people in misery, army and police free as wolves to commit cruelties on behalf of the bosses, bosses ready to do anything to protect what they had stolen'''<br><br />
So simple and yet so truthful. History keeps repeating itself... One endless vicious cycle of the same lame old... One reason for James Joyce spend years writing thousand pages of sophisticated {Finnegan/Ulyssean} gibberish in defense of such unvarnished genuine statement. John Zorn once said... "governments have been thinking for thousands of years on how to fuck us up." And its the artist role to break away from that and say... now look...<br />
<br />
'''neuræsthenic'''<br><br />
Neurasthenia (Fatigue syndrome) is a neurotic disorder. [http://www.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/?gf40.htm+f480 Definition/Symptoms]<br />
<br />
This word appears again on [[ATD_171-198#Page_188|page 188]]. It may be a reference to Proust, who was neurasthenic. It may also simply be a fancy word for disinterested in this context.<br><br />
:The diagnosis was frequently used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for men (women were "hysterics"). In World War I, soldiers suffering what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder were diagnosed as neurasthenic -- if they weren't refused medical aid and/ or executed as deserters. See Elaine Showalter, '''''The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980''''' (NY: Pantheon, 1985)<br />
<br />
==Page 84==<br />
<br />
'''1900'''<br><br />
So the current Fourth of July must be 1901 or later (not 1899).<br><br />
And not 1904: Gen. Bobrikoff (preceding page) was assassinated in June of that year, so Veikko's toast goes stale. Therefore 1901, '02 or '03.<br />
<br />
On August 14, 1900, American, British, Russian and American troops entered Beijing to quell the Boxer Rebellion.<br />
<br />
'''''Minneskort'''''<br><br />
Modern Swedish word for computer memory cards. Swedish is a minority language in Finland. (TRP likely saw it on a Nokia phone.)<br />
<br />
'''Fink trusses'''<br><br />
This [http://pghbridges.com/basics.htm perfectly delightful site] for bridge spotters identifies the Fink truss as a design by Albert Fink dating from the 1860s. It's illustrated way down toward the bottom of the page. All the compression and tension members lie below the plane of the deck where the tracks are laid.<br />
<br />
'''...it bein a three-day holiday'''<br><br />
Indicates that this passage takes place in 1902, as the Fourth of July fell on a Friday. ([http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1902 Source])<br />
<br />
==Page 85==<br />
<br />
'''nippers'''<br><br />
Boys who assist a costermonger, carter, etc. Later (more generally): the most junior members of a group of workmen, esp. one employed in menial tasks. (def.4a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.) <br />
<br />
'''swampers'''<br><br />
Workmen who clear a road for lumberers in a ‘swamp’ or forest. Though the OED doesn't specify mining work in it definition, it is probable that swampers also clear the roads and paths for miners. (def.1a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.)<br />
<br />
'''Innocent Victims . . . Monsters That Did the Deed'''<br><br />
Use of capitals seems to emphasize the fact that these persons are simply convenient stock characters in the forwarding of the owners'/government's agenda.<br />
<br />
'''"some of these explosions, the more deadly of them, in fact, were really set off to begin with not by Anarchists but by the owners themselves."'''<br><br />
Is this an allusion to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_demolition_hypothesis_for_the_collapse_of_the_World_Trade_Center Controlled demolition hypothesis] for the collapse of the WTC?<br><br />
<br />
NO! In labor history, many 'accidents' and some planned deeds by owners were blamed on radicals, anarchists, etc. It was common in the early days of the labor movement for owners to conspire to make the unions look bad in this manner. One such example is cited [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_labor_issues_and_events here] in 1910, and it is certainly far from the only one. <br />
<br />
See, however, a much more straightforward allusion in [[ATD_171-198#Page_175|page 175]].<br />
:While it's true that many "anarchist" explosions were planned by the owners of industry, to suggest that this is NOT! an allusion to the possibility of US Government involvement in the 9-11 attacks seems rather limiting. Pynchon hinted strongly that this novel is an allegory for our own time in the jacket blurb, and much of what makes this chapter interesting is the way it creates a disturbing analogy between the terrorism carried out by Webb, a highly sympathetic figure, and that carried out by the 9-11 hijackers, whom we so love to hate. <br />
<br />
'''Which left precious few targets except for the railroad.'''<br><br />
Frank Norris's 1901 novel ''The Octopus'' is summed up in one short paragraph. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octopus_%28Frank_Norris%29 Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
==Page 86==<br />
'''faro'''<br><br />
An old card game that was very popular in the nineteenth-century American West. For example, the great [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Jay Ricky Jay] plays a faro dealer in the TV show ''Deadwood''. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faro_(card_game) here]. <br />
<br />
'''Shorty's Billiard Saloon'''<br><br />
This is based on real accounts of billiard balls sparking and exploding in saloons. The balls in question used a then-new thermoplastic compound of cellulose nitrate and camphor developed and patented under the trademark "celluloid" by John Wesley Hyatt as a substitute for ivory. See [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=C Celluloid] for Wikipedia links to Hyatt and Celluloid.<br />
<br />
'''without being hit once'''<br><br />
Similar to a pivotal scene in the film ''Pulp Fiction''. Samuel Jackson's character is shot at in fairly close range and is not hit even once. This prompts a spiritual awakening and his decisions to leave his life of crime. <br />
<br />
'''a state of heightened receptivity'''<br><br />
People who talk about enlightenment and unsubstantiated alternative "therapies" use this phrase a lot—[http://www.enlightenment.com/forums/msgs.cfm?msg=708&forum=6&tz=240 example]—but in simplest terms it just means [http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/pdf%2F8004%2F8004r2.pdf hypnosis.]<br />
<br />
'''pernicious'''<br><br />
Of a thing, action, intent, etc.: causing or likely to cause harm, esp. in a gradual or insidious manner; dangerous, destructive; evil. Also in weakened use: having a harmful influence; undesirable. (def.2a. ''The Oxford English Dictionary.'' 2nd ed. 1989.)<br />
<br />
==Page 87==<br />
<br />
'''those French Anarchists . . . Emile Henry . . . Vaillant'''<br><br />
Emile Henry (1872 - May 21, 1894) was a French anarchist who on February 12, 1894 detonated a bomb at the Café Terminus in the Parisian Gare Saint-Lazare killing one person and wounding twenty. Henry was angered over the execution of another Anarchist, Auguste Vaillant, for the destruction of a government building that hurt no one, and took it upon himself to strike back to avenge his fellow revolutionary's death. He saw the Cafe as a representation of the bourgeois itself and his intent was to kill as many people as possible in the bombing. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Henry Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''how can anyone set off a bomb that will take innocent lives?'''<br><br />
Rev. Moss Gatlin's rhetorical question and its wisecrack response, "Long fuse" seems a calculated echo of Kubrick's ''Full Metal Jacket.'' ("How you shoot women and children?" "Easy -- don't lead 'em so much.") Discussion here also recalls the Weathermen, a violent off-shoot of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) during the Vietnam Era.<br />
<br />
'''listening . . . to the sermon . . . those absolute terms'''<br><br />
While there is a movement or school called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_anarchism Christian anarchism] (use the Wikipedia article with caution), Gatlin's ideas do not harmonize with it. As his sermon on pages 86-87 makes plain, he follows quite a different line.<br />
<br />
'''Mason-Dixon line'''<br><br />
We learn that the Traverse family had been "an old ridegerunning clan from southern Pennsylvania, close to the Mason-Dixon." No Traverses appear, however, in Pynchon's ''Mason & Dixon'' (except in the sense that the whole M-D survey was conducted by the traverse method), but one can speculate that had they been, the Traverse ancestors may have been victims of the Line's bad Feng Shui. From this, one could infer a connection between the Line and Colorado Anarchism.<br />
<br />
'''Civil War'''<br><br />
This is the first instance of the term, for a war so far in the novel being referred to as "The Rebellion".<br />
<br />
==Page 88==<br />
<br />
'''westward drift'''<br><br />
Webb Traverse's wanderings are referred to as "this westward drift". The phrase is probably not accidental: in scientific circles "westward drift" is used for either of two geophysical phenomena: the gradual westward [http://home.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~dacheson/res2.html movement of the magnetic north pole] and the westward [http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/1-2/199 rotation of the outer layers of the Earth] (the lithosphere) relative to the inner layers.<br />
<br />
In Frederick Jackson Turnerian circles, this westward momentum would be in harmony with both the progress of the US frontier as well as the westward transfer, according to Bishop Berkeley, of empire.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also a very common theme in Pynchon's works, the idea of the american Westerly drift, primarily in Mason & Dixon, but also in IV. Likely others?<br />
<br />
'''twelve-cylinder Confederate Colt'''<br><br />
A hard weapon to identify. Some Colt revolvers were sold to the Southern forces in the first few days after Fort Sumter, but it's far more likely that this is a knockoff of Colt's 1851 design made, for example, at Augusta, Georgia. Plenty of these got into service. Caliber is probably .36 or .44, but there are other possibilities. "Twelve-cylinder" is nonsense; there is a rare version of the Colt cylinder with ''twelve cylinder stops,'' but it holds ''six'' percussion rounds (ball and cap system). The cylinder stops are depressions on the outer surface of the cylinder forming part of the mechanism that aligns the chamber with the barrel for firing. Photos of sidearms online are ephemeral (many vanish once the auction concludes), so no link here, even if any of the available images did show the variant. To see today's selection, trying [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22confederate+revolver%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a googling "Confederate revolver"]...<br />
<br />
==Page 89==<br />
<br />
'''silver-boom babies'''<br><br />
Assuming the silver boom of 1890-1892 is meant, Webb's kids were aged about 9 to 16. [[Timeline|Timeline with spoilers]]<br />
<br />
'''Ace of spades...death card'''<br><br />
The ace of spades seems to have been considered the "death card" in the Vietnam War. [http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp Article]<br />
<br />
Oh, ''long'' before that. Schoolchildren in the 1950s (who would pretty reliably believe anything) believed in the association, and aren't there about a shelf's worth of spy and mystery novels where the Ace of Spades portends death?<br />
<br />
Going back farther, <br />
:''In Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Suicide Club" (1878), the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_of_Spades Ace of Spades] functions as the "sign of death" within a secret society whose members commit "suicide" by submitting to be killed, if they draw the Ace of Spades from a pack of 52 cards during a club meeting, by another member drawing the Ace of Clubs.'' <br />
<br />
Also, as the highest card in the deck, it commonly defeats everything else, as does death.<br><br />
Why Mayva should be likened to the Ace of Spades is still to be explained.<br />
<br />
'''fancy briar pipe . . . beat-up old corncob'''<br><br />
Briar pipes appeared in Europe from the 1850s on. The Missouri Meerschaum brand of corncob pipe dates from 1869. Until close to 1900, clay pipes were probably more common than either.<br />
<br />
'''took the cog railway up Pike's Peak'''<br><br />
Something you can still do today. Make your reservations [http://www.cograilway.com/ here]! <br />
<br />
'''Bob Ford's Funeral'''<br><br />
Robert Ford assassinated his famous fellow outlaw Jesse James. His funeral took place in June 1892. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ford_(outlaw) [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Creede'''<br><br />
Central Colorado mining town, now a ski resort.<br />
<br />
'''Telluride'''<br><br />
Far southwestern Colorado mining town, now a ski and mountain resort, with an annual film festival. Named for the telluride ores typical of the vicinity, but the name has more possible significance in AtD.<br />
<br />
Used as an adjective, Telluric: Of or belonging to the earth; terrestrial; pertaining to the earth as a planet; also, arising from the earth or soil (OED). In turn the origin of Tellurism: Magnetic influence or principle supposed by some to pervade all nature, and to produce the phenomenon of Animal Magnetism; also the theory of Animal Magnetism based on this, propounded in 1822 by Keiser in Germany (OED). "Animal Magnetism" is referred to in English as Mesmerism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Magnetism].<br />
<br />
'''extreme and unmerciful whiteness'''<br><br />
It doesn't seem to be accidental that "white" and "whiteness" are hard to endure in ''AtD.'' Consider [[ATD_26-56#Page_52|"the whiteness of the place nearly unbearable";]] the White City and White City Investigations; and other uses.<br />
<br />
'''repeal of the Silver Act'''<br><br />
Prior to 1892, both Silver and Gold were used as a metallic standard for currency in the United States. The Sherman Act authorized the treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month. This inflated the price of silver, causing eastern investors to start hoarding gold as a hedge. The unrest this caused in the Colorado mines resulted in the repeal of the Act. When this happened, the mining of silver began to rapidly decline, causing further destabilization in the silver mining industry.<br />
<br />
'''tiresome moral exercise'''<br><br />
May be a preterite association with President Clinton's impeachment and Senate trial over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.<br />
<br />
==Page 90==<br />
<br />
'''before he got shot'''<br><br />
1899. [http://www.butchandsundance.com/players/ketchumgang.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''the Cornish wives in Jacktown'''<br><br />
Many Western miners came from Cornwall. The stock nickname for any Cornishman was "Cousin Jack." So Jacktown is the area where the Cornish families live.<br />
'''singlejacker'''<br><br />
A miner who drilled holes in the rock by hiting a drill with a hammer making a 1/4 turn after every blow. Miners could also (chose to) work in pairs, known as doublejacking, though narrow conditions sometimes prevented this. See this [http://crownkinghiker.blogspot.com/2011/05/single-jack-miner-according-to-frank.html?m=1 blog entry] which has a description and a photo roughly contemporaneous to the time here.<br />
<br />
'''Lake'''<br>@<br />
'Lake Traverse' is a real lake between Minnesota and South Dakota. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Traverse Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''dynamited carny jump up out of that blast good as new'''<br><br />
This passage recalls Daffy Duck cartoons.<br />
<br />
==Page 91==<br />
<br />
'''theory and practice of resistance to power'''<br /><br />
[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/maotsetun138236.html Mao Tse-tung] (or Mao Zedong) said, "The guerrilla must move among the people as a fish swims in the sea." Gatlin anticipates the principle, with a kicker that's especially pertinent to ''AtD:'' to succeed at invisibility, you must first succeed at visibility.<br />
<br />
'''"Sleep? is when you sleep"'''<br /><br />
Not likely this is a typo. We often include a question in our answer, in this case summarising the question with "sleep?" then immediately answering. And just as it does falling at the end of a sentence, the "?" reflects a change of vocal pitch/stress. As for the sentence fragment, Webb is a man of few words, and "The reservation I have about what you say is" are not some of them.<br />
<br />
Alludes Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki's teachings on Zen... "shower is when you shower." First pages of William Burroughs' The Ticket That Exploded comes to mind ~ the notion about sleep, heartbeat and mind/spiritual/innerSelf survivalism... that fearful feeling of falling asleep and never waking up again to fulfill your true revolutionary objectives.<br />
<br />
==Page 92==<br />
<br />
'''$3-blessed-50 a day'''<br><br />
This might be an over-estimate; in 2006 dollars, that comes to over $86 a day, not a bad wage indeed. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ Calculator]<br />
<br />
$86 dollars a day not a bad wage?? Assuming an 8-12 hour day, that comes out to about today's minimum wage -- which is hardly a living wage. This seems about right. Just enough to keep body, soul and family together. Maybe. The text implies that $3.50/day was just barely a "living wage."<br />
<br />
<br />
Compare $3.50 in context on [[ATD_374-396|p. 378]]...<br />
<br />
Wages at the time immediately prior to the Cripple Creek strike of 1884 were $3 a day for an 8 hour day. The initial cause of the strike was an attempt by mine owners to increase the working day to 10 hours with no increase in pay. [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894]. Wikipedia mentions that at the time of the Couer d'Alene strike of 1892 wages were typically $3 - $3.50. The latter was demanded for all workers, by the strikers, as a "living wage". [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d%27Alene,_Idaho_labor_strike_of_1892#section_1]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Western Federation of Miners'''<br><br />
A radical labor union created in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Federation_of_Miners Wikipedia] They played a leading part in the founding of the IWW. They fought many bitter disputes and were often the subject of violence by mine owners agents and others.<br />
<br />
'''. . . a mule dropping on the edge of life's mountain trail, ready to be either squashed flat or kicked into the void.'''<br><br />
Brings directly to mind a scene from Cormac McCarthy's 1985 highly praised novel ''Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness In The West'': <br />
:"The following evening as they rode up onto the western rim they lost one of the mules. It went skittering off down the canyon wall with the contents of the panniers exploding soundlessly in the hot dry air and it fell through sunlight and through shade, turning in that lonely void until it fell from sight into a sink of cold blue space that absolved it forever of memory in the mind of any living thing that was." (Modern Library Edition 2001, p. 147). <br />
The novel is considered as one of the 20th century American masterpieces ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian Wikipedia entry]). It is set about 45 years before the beginning of AtD (1849-50) at the Mexico - Texas borderlands. In fact, partly due to Pynchon's frequent references to ''red'' light, ''west'' and ''sunset'' (see [[Red%2C_West_and_Sunsets|here]] for a growing list), I suspect a kind of deeper relation between the two novels, but more evidence is required.<br />
:I hate to mention this, because the McCarthy connection is so cogent, but doesn't that phrase in ''AtD'' refer to a "mule dropping" rather than a mule that drops? Or rather: doesn't that phrase ''refract'' (or bi-refract) the passage from ''Blood Meridian,'' bringing the mule's flight to mind while overtly talking about a turd? (A mule doesn't have the option of being squashed flat, but a dropping does.)<br />
<br />
:This entry spurred me to read ''Blood Meridian,'' and while ''AtD'' is completely independent of that work, yes, the two novels do reflect a ruddy western light on each other. A really voracious reader will find, I suspect, that ''AtD'' is subtly linked to many other late-20th/early-21st century fictions. Contributors to this wiki have noted some such parallels; one that I found by chance is described in the [[ATD_119-148#Page_142|annotations to p. 142]] ("scentless snow walls"). These relationships suggest yet another interpretation of the title, if we needed another: The book is to be read as object against ground, ''against'' the literature of ''the day.''—[[User:Volver|Volver]]<br />
<br />
:I agree, apart from the 'late-20th/early-21st century' point - I think that the link you suggest does exist but extends much beyond. See for example [http://againsttheday.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/child-of-the-storm-ii/ this] extremely interesting entry in the AtD Weblog. [[User:Ctsats|Ctsats]] 01:45, 2 May 2007 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''no fugitive laws for them'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_slave_law Fugitive Slave Law] allowed Southern slave owners to chase their escaped slaves into free territory and retrieve their "property."<br />
<br />
'''That's wicked, Rev.'''<br><br />
Switch that around and you've got Rev. Wicks (Cherrycoke), the narrator of '''Mason & Dixon'''.<br />
<br />
==Page 93==<br />
'''Labor produces all wealth . . .'''<br><br />
This was [http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=178 the slogan] for the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Federation_of_Miners Western Federation of Miners]. <br />
<br />
'''plutes'''<br><br />
Plutocrats: members of the wealthy class controlling a government<br />
<br />
'''Labor produces all wealth. Wealth belongs to the producer thereof.'''<br><br />
Reviewers of ATD have quoted this line, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601252.html] but Pynchon did not make it up. It comes from authentic miner's union literature of the time. [http://laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=178]<br />
<br />
'''Compassion'''<br><br />
With 'Republicans' below, a possible reference to 'compassionate conservatism' of the Bush administration. "...starving, homeless, and dead..." is what the Republicans mean by compassion, demonstrating the need for the "foreign phrase book". Has always been thus,historically and now?<br />
<br />
'''Republicans'''<br><br />
William McKinley was elected in 1896 on the Republican ticket, defeating Democrat William Jennings Bryan, ushering in a chain of Republican Presidents until Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912. Obviously, could also be interpreted as a jab at the current Republican Party.<br />
<br />
==Page 94==<br />
<br />
'''duster'''<br><br />
Long coat. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duster_(clothing) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''the people's work, if not God's, the two forces according to Reverend Gatlin having the same voice'''<br><br />
Gatlin has in mind the proverb ''Vox populi vox Dei,'' "the voice of the people is the voice of God." There's a twist, though; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_populi see Wikipedia.]<br />
<br />
'''"Don't beg, you hear me? Don't any of you ever, fucking, beg, me or nobody, for nothin."<br><br />
Could have easily been TRP's response to interview requests!!!<br />
<br />
:I think it's about honor, not annoyance.<br />
<br />
'''There's a master list in Washington, D.C...maintained by the U.S. Secret Service.'''<br><br />
The Secret Service, founded in 1865 as a treasury force, was not a presidential protection force until 1902. Prior to this, it functioned more or less like the FBI today. This passage suggests that we are after McKinley's assassination (1901) and the period when the Secret Service began protecting the president, though page 97 suggests that this occurred in 1899.<br />
<br />
'''Say, open up em peepers 'fore you walk over a cliff someplace'''<br><br />
Card 0 of the Rider-Waite Tarot depicts The Fool walking in bright sunlight, his eyes shut, about to fall over a precipice if he doesn't heed the little dog who's trying to warn him of the peril. It isn't out of the question that Webb has encountered the Tarot, but if he has not, his use of the image speaks strongly for its archetypal nature.<br />
<br />
==Page 95==<br />
<br />
'''dynamite rounders'''<br><br />
Rounders was a precursor to baseball. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounders [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
Consider the alternative, that the "rounders" are the kids; "every sheriff has at least a dozen in his county" can refer to the game of rounders only by a stretch of meaning. Rounders: rascals, mischief-makers, in this case making mischief with dynamite.<br />
<br />
'''waiting for the rest of the joke'''<br><br />
Cf Dally and Lindsay, p27.<br />
<br />
==Page 96==<br />
<br />
'''"We ready?"'''<br><br />
The destruction of the railroad bridge is reminiscent of scenes in Edward Abbey's anarchistic 1975 novel ''The Monkey Wrench Gang.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey_Wrench_Gang Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Sufficient unto the day'''<br /><br />
From [http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/matthew.htm#c6 The Gospel According to Saint Matthew: 6:34]. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall<br />
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (The New Testament of the King James Bible). This phrase also appears in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']:<br />
<br />
:"No one knows exactly when the hit will come &#151; every morning, before the markets open, out before the milkmen, They make Their new update and decide on what's going to be sufficient unto the day." &#151; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_537-548#Page_544 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', page 544].<br />
<br />
'''Happy Fourth of July, Webb'''<br /><br />
Endearing? Veikko is eight years older than Webb.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_57-80&diff=16261ATD 57-802021-05-02T05:33:41Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 78 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 57==<br />
<br />
'''Her name was never far from the discourse of the day.'''<br><br />
Another reference to something with respect to ''the day''.<br />
<br />
'''Dally's questions...'''<br><br />
...seem a tad complex for her age, if this is just after she was first seen, when she is said to be four or five.<br />
<br />
==Page 58==<br />
'''a couple of professors at the Case Institute in Cleveland, who were planning an experiment'''<br><br />
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
In oversimplified form: Michelson and Morley built an instrument that would signal any change in the speed of light traveling along its axis. They measured no change when the instrument was rotated. Now a wave in the æther should appear to go faster if you are moving against it, slower if you are moving with it (like ripples in a pond: walk beside the pond in the same direction as the ripples, and you catch up to them, finding a lower speed; walk the other way and they come toward you at a higher rate, seeming to move faster). By the theory that was then accepted, the instrument certainly should have reported a difference. After repeating the experiment many times, M&M concluded that the æther was somehow always moving the same way relative to the instrument, an absurd behavior, or that light was not, after all, a wave in the æther. And if the æther doesn't convey light waves, there is no justification for including it in physical theory.<br />
<br />
'''the luminiferous Æther'''<br><br />
This passage recalls Pynchon's discussion of the "soniferous aether" in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (695).<br />
<br />
:Michelson and Morley, in [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html their original ''American Journal of Science'' article,] spelled the word "ether." ''Aether'' and ''æther'' have hung on as minority spellings. Most people say EE-ther, but William Vermillion Houston, a venerable professor of mathematical physics in the middle 1960s, pronounced it EH-ther to avoid confusion with the anesthetic. Most writers don't capitalize the word.<br />
'''Michelson'''<br><br />
<br />
Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931), American physicist. He was born in Strelno, Prussia (now Strzelno, Poland). His family emigrated to the US in 1854. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1873. After some studies in Europe (Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris) he became Professor of Physics in Case School of Applied Science (1883-89), Clark Univeristy (1889-92) and University of Chicago (1892-1931). He invented an interferometer and an echelon grating, and did important experimental work on the spectrum, but is chiefly remembered for the Michelson-Morley experiment to determine æther drift, the negative result of which set Einstein on the road to the Theory of Relativity. In 1907 he became the first American scientist to win a Nobel prize "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid." ([http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html Michelson].)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac'''<br><br />
Ammonium chloride. A solution served as electrolyte in storage batteries such as the Leclanché cell, which could be used to store the charge generated by the Toepler machine (next entry).<br />
<br />
'''[[T%C3%B6pler_influence_machine|Töpler influence machine]]'''<br><br />
A machine for producing electrical charge. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Toepler [Wikipedia]]. Also spelled Toepler.<br />
<br />
'''if light were particulate, it could just go blasting through empty space'''<br><br />
While the austrian Ludwig Boltzmann stated in 1877 stated that energy states of a physical system can be discrete, light as a discrete energy packet (quanta) wasn't discovered by Planck until 1900.<br />
So Vanderjuice is either nuts or a genius ahead of his time. Or both<br />
<br />
Michelson and Morley (and everyone else at the time) thought light would travel faster if pointed in the direction of earth motion (revolution, rotation) rather than against, as if it's stuck in a weird air-glue luminiferous aether. But light had the same speed, so vacuum and The Constant Speed Of Light. And <br />
<br />
'''one finds in the devout Ætherist a propensity of character ever toward the continuous as against the discrete'''<br><br />
Particle or Wave? Aether is the medium that light would move in, if it were a wave. This enters the question of whether light is a particle or a wave into the discussion. Pynchon sets up the dichotomy: (aether/wave/continuous vs. empty space/particle/discrete) (also, see page 61)<br />
<br />
'''all those tiny whirlpools the theory has come to require'''<br><br />
People still write articles and books about physics based on the æther. Many physics departments put such papers in the "crank file," but now the World Wide Web [http://www.aetherpress.com/physics.htm makes them available to everybody.] One way of finagling the æther to accommodate "real" matter is to postulate vortices or whirlpools in the medium, corresponding to electrons and other particles.<br />
<br />
Ætherism escaped the fate of Ptolemaic astronomy, which collapsed gradually—over a matter of centuries—as it had to grow in complexity to keep up with the technology of observation. Ideas about the æther, in contrast, could not be rigged up to fit Michelson and Morley's results: one experiment spelled the death of the theory, and it became untenable between a summer and the next spring.<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Field Equations'''<br><br />
In 1864, Maxwell advanced a set of four equations that would describe almost all phenomena involving electricity and magnetism. They not only explained the interrelationship of these two but also showed these two could not be separated. There was only a single ''electromagnetic field''. These equations predicted the existence of ''electromagnetic radiation''. By taking the ratio of certain corresponding values in the equations describing the force between electric charges and the force between magnetic poles one can calculate the velocity at which the electromagnetic wave would have to move. This ratio turned out to be precisely equal to the velocity of light. In 1865 Maxwell wrote that "light itself is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves<br />
propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws".<br />
<br />
'''in Berlin'''<br><br />
Although Pynchon says that the Michelson-Morley experiment was first carried out in Berlin, this is not completely correct; he first tried it there at the Institute of Physics but there was too much noise due to traffic so the interferometer did not produce any results. Therefore, in 1881, Michelson moved to the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam on Potsdam's Telegraph Hill where he succeeded finally for the first time to show the Null event: no ether out there.<br />
[http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~thomas/michelson/Michelson.html Source] In the basement of what is now Building A31, at the very place where Michelson had set up his experiment, one can find a reproduction of the instrument, though, for health reasons, without the original quicksilver lamp.<br />
<br />
==Page 59==<br />
<br />
'''Ohio'''<br><br />
Harks back to Mason & Dixon's visit with George Washington.<br />
<br />
Pynchon spends an inordinate amount of time in Ohio in ''Against the Day''. Why?<br />
I don't know. An idea: in addition to the Mason & Dixon connection, Ohio dominated US politics from 1869 to 1923 producing 7 of the 11 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_presidents presidents] (counting Grover Cleveland -- who ironically was not from Ohio -- once). Most of them were riddled with scandal. <br />
<br />
[What, pray, would be an appropriate amount of time for Pynchon to spend in Ohio? Is there something inherently unliterary about Ohio?] Of late, although Ohio has not dominated US politics, it has received a lot of attention as a "battleground" state in presidential elections.<br />
TRP<br />
In ''Against the Day'', Pynchon seems to mention things that are connected with some of these presidents without naming the president outright. Spotting them is what is hereafter named the "Hidden Ohio President" -- sort of like "find the pope in the pizza." The only president mentioned by name (to the best of my recollection) is William McKinley -- an Ohio president, but not hidden. <br />
<br />
'''This strip of Ohio due west of Connecticut'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Western_Reserve Western Reserve of Connecticut.]<br />
<br />
'''Blinky Morgan'''<br><br />
The Blinky Morgan episode is not invented; it was a sensation in parts of Ohio in 1887-88. (New York Times archive page: [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C04E5D71E38E033A25756C2A9679D94669FD7CF].) For a spoiler, [[M|see M in the Alphabetical Index.]]<br />
<br />
'''bravos in blue'''<br><br />
A bravo is defined as a villain, especially a hired killer. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bravo Definition] Here, it's the men in blue who earn that sobriquet. <br />
<br />
'''Northern Ohio Insane Asylum'''<br><br />
Full of light enthusiastes who invented light-powered bicycles (see p 76), believe light to have consciousness and personality, and who eat light.<br />
<br />
"Originally known as the [http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/cleveland_oh/index.html Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum], this was the second of 6 public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850's. In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital because it was located in Newburgh Township as recompense for Cleveland having been awarded the location of Cuyahoga County Seat. The main building, containing 100 beds, was completed in 1855 on land in Newburgh" donated by the family of James Garfield, later US president -- who ironically was gunned down by a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garfield "delusional religious fanatic."] <br />
<br />
Hidden Ohio Presidents: this is the first (not) mentioned president from Ohio in ''Against the Day'', James Garfield. <br />
<br />
Could there exist some subtly altered version of the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum, filled with scientists? A university perhaps, from which physicists sometimes escape to wreak havoc upon the world? Surely, not: that would be Para-NOIA.<br />
<br />
==Page 60==<br />
<br />
'''Lightarians'''<br><br />
see Breatharians [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inedia Wikipedia entry], who claim that it is possible to live without food.<br />
<br />
'''Aether reports'''<br><br />
Associations of light with "wind."<br />
<br />
'''Roswell Bounce'''<br><br />
GR includes a character named Hillary Bounce.<br />
<br />
The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 61==<br />
<br />
'''intervals of invisibility'''<br><br />
When you blink, the world becomes invisible momentarily. Blinky - intervals of no light?<br />
<br />
'''but attentiveness to duty being negotiable in those days, there were intervals of invisibility for anyone who could afford it'''<br><br />
Implies that the police could be bought off to look the other way.<br />
<br />
'''international scramble to ''corner light'''''<br><br />
Corner a commodity, or make a corner in it: to gain possession or just control of so much gold or silver, say, that you can dictate the price. In 1869 Jay Gould and James Fisk almost cornered gold; their success depended on the federal government locking down its gold reserves, but [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1991/1/1991_1_20.shtml in the end it didn't.] The whole market collapsed. In the 1970s the Hunt brothers [http://www.wallstraits.com/main/viewarticle.php?id=1298 nearly made a corner in silver.]<br />
<br />
'''Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the Michelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected.'''<br><br />
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_735-760#Page_741 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p. 741], insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.<br />
It also ties the criminal underground (out of the light) with the properties of light. <br />
<br />
'''box job'''<br><br />
Safecracking. [http://www.skepticfiles.org/faq/twists.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Each of Blinky's eyes . . . a walking interferometer'''<br><br />
The instrument used by Michelson and Morley (see annotations to page 58) was called an interferometer. It worked by leading light along two paths, then back to the source. Light also reaches Blinky by two distinct paths.<br />
<br />
Blinky's damaged left eye indicates the 12th house in Vedic medical astrology, the house of invisible enemies, hospitals, insane asylums, imprisonment, bankruptcy, expenses, convents/monasteries, pleasures of the bedroom. The 4th, 8th (see Columbus below) and 12th form the triad of moksha houses, houses of final release and liberation. Being next to the 1st, the house of dawn and the day, the 12th is alongside the day, and a great place to disappear into.<br />
<br />
Cf. Vera Meroving in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=M#meroving ''V.'', p.237] has an artificial left eye the iris of which is encircled by the zodiac and seems to operate like a watch.<br><br />
Cf. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_17-19#Page_18 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.18] where we first visit Tyrone Slothrop's desk &#151; among the items described are "lost pieces of different jigsaw puzzles showing parts of the amber left eye of a Weimaraner". Also, as Pudding makes his way to Katje he passes a tattered [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_226-236 Tommy up on White Sheet Ridge]whose left eye is damaged.<br />
<br />
==Page 62==<br />
<br />
'''A walking interferometer'''<br><br />
Blinky Morgan is a walking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry#Interferometer interferometer].<br><br />
Incidentally, while you may not be able to become a walking interferometer, you can apparently train yourself to see light polarity, whether the polarization is linear or circular and in which direction thanks to [http://www.polarization.com/haidinger/haidinger.html Haidinger's Brush.]<br />
<br />
'''double-refractor'''<br><br />
In physics, the word ''birefringence'' describes a substance that refracts light differently as a function of its direction or polarization. If the difference has to do with color or wavelength, the term used is ''dispersion'' (a prism disperses white light into a rainbow).<br />
<br />
'''Edward Morley'''<br><br />
Edward W. Morley (1838-1912), American chemist and physicist. He was born in Newark, N.J. He was a professor at Western Reserve (1869-1906) and conducted researches in the variations of atmosphere oxygen content, thermal expansion of gases, vapor tension of mercury, desities of oxygen and hydrogen. He was best known for collaboration with Michelson on æther effect experiment (1887).<br />
<br />
'''''goes somewhere else'' . . . where Blinky was when he was invisible'''<br><br />
Suggesting that Blinky's mechanism for invisibility—and Lew's stepping [[ATD_26-56#Page_44|"to the side of the day"]] as well—involves moving a little distance along some unconventional dimension, so that the light by which people ''would'' see him doesn't arrive with the rest of the light they perceive.<br />
<br />
'''when Michelson and Morley were making their final observations'''<br><br />
M&M's paper appeared in a November 1887 journal and reported observations dated January and July, presumably also 1887. (Publication lag was much shorter then than it is today.)<br />
<br />
'''Alpena, Michigan'''<br><br />
Town where Blinky Morgan is apprehended. One of two anchor cities in Northern Michigan. The other, across the peninsula, its rival, Traverse City. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpena%2C_Michigan Alpena link] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City%2C_Michigan Traverse City link] <br />
<br />
'''''emerged from invisibility'''''<br><br />
Blinky "emerges from invisibility" thus dooming the existence of aether. Aether is then "Against the Day" undetectable, unknowable, invisible.<br />
<br />
'''the moment he reentered the world . . . experiment was fated to have a negative outcome'''<br><br />
The phrasing points to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroedinger%27s_cat Schrödinger's infamous cat experiment,] where the fate of the creature is not determined until the chamber is opened and the system inside it reenters the observer's world.<br />
<br />
'''cults who believe the world will end on such and such a day'''<br><br />
Such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerites Millerites], who thought this would occur on October 22, 1844.<br />
<br />
==Page 63==<br />
<br />
'''O.D. Chandrasekhar'''<br><br />
Perhaps a nod to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar] (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekharlimit Chandrasekhar Limit] which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.<br />
The initials O.D.C. refer to the novel "2001: A space odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke, where [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Chandra Chandra] is the inventor of the HAL computer system.<br />
In ATD p. 63 O.D.Chandrasekhar mentions akasa as the solution for the problems the aetherists have discussing implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment, akasa referring to [http://ignca.nic.in/ps_05013.htm space] in hindu cosmology, alas O.D. is proposing space itself here as the medium for light.<br />
<br />
O.D. may be named after Shiva, the destructive or transformative deity of the Hindu Trimurti. "Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the moon. Thus Shiva is known by the names of Somasundara and Chandrashekara."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva#Attributes_of_Shiva wiki]<br />
<br />
Chandra means moon. Punning, chandra "sekhar" might be "moon seeker."<br><br />
According to a colleague from India, "sekhar" means "light." <br>So, <br />
O.D. Chandrasekhar means "o.d. on moonlight" or "o.d. on moonshine."<br />
<br />
'''If we can explain . . . why keep it?'''<br><br />
If Roswell doesn't engage his internal censor pretty quickly, he will be asking this question about God indeed.<br />
<br />
'''directionless drift…Mia Culpepper…astrology…void of course…mid October'''<br><br />
TRP is taking some poetic license with the term void of course. The moon is Void of Course when it does not make any major aspect with a planet from the moment of its last aspect to the end of the sign it is passing through. The moon passes through each sign approximately every 2.5 days. Thus, void of course is an astrological situation that can last from a few minutes to a day or two at most – not until “mid-October” which sounds like more than two days into the future. And as it says in the book, it is a period of directionless drift. <br />
<br />
“Void of course” can also be a pun on the reality of the aether, it's void, of course, akasa. <br />
<br />
'''Madge and Mia Culpepper'''<br><br />
May be descended from the noted astrologer, botanist and original wildcrafter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654)],through his only surviving child, Mary.<br />
<br />
They present another duality around light.<br><br />
<br />
Madge derives from the Greek ''margaron'' meaning pearl or "child of light" and has some resonance if not relation to Magdalene. Madge as a pet-form of Magaret has been considered the [http://www.babynamer.com/Madgethe national Scottish female name].<br />
<br />
Mia, strictly speaking, is derived from the Hebrew Miryam meaning "the wished-for child." It might be traced back to ancient Egyptian, and is a form of Maria/Mary. Other interpretations are "rebellion" or "sea of bitterness." It might also simply be a pun on M.I.A. -- missing in action.<br />
<br />
Maybe 'Mea Culpa'? or to expand 'Mea Maxim Culpa' as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa here]<br />
<br />
'''fundament'''<br><br />
Buttocks.<br />
<br />
==Page 64==<br />
<br />
'''hoosier'''<br><br />
An inexperienced, awkward, or unsophisticated person.<br />
<br />
'''Photography'''<br><br />
Light tied to silver and chemistry and a bit of alchemy.<br />
<br />
'''saw the image appear . . . out of the pale Invisible'''<br><br />
The chemical processes of photography, a kind of alchemy, become the mechanism by which the visible becomes invisible (when the plate is exposed) and the invisible becomes visible (when it is developed). The chemistry of the silver salts may be the "dimension" Lew and Blinky move along.<br />
<br />
'''As if light had been witched somehow into its opposite...'''<br><br />
Darkness becomes light, and light becomes darkness. The essence of light is dark, and vice versa, and this might be a key hermeneutic for AtD.<br />
<br />
==Page 65==<br />
<br />
'''Merle’s all-night illumination'''<br><br />
Distant echo of Blundell’s quote from p. 24 with inspiration (Merle’s new found obsession with photography) being like physical electricity, here like a light bulb. A glowing that keeps him awake.<br />
<br />
'''Murray Hill'''<br><br />
A street in Cleveland bordering both Case Western Reserve University and Little Italy.<br />
<br />
'''dip-fingered'''<br><br />
A dip is a pickpocket. Merle has magic fingers for extracting information.<br />
<br />
'''Cleveland Library'''<br><br />
The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869, its mission, "to be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Public_Library Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
The open-stacks system is deeply subversive and a great enabler of writers and other anarchists.<br />
<br />
==Page 66==<br />
<br />
'''seeking admission to the hanging'''<br><br />
This whole scene, with Blinky's Hanging memorabilia, people in town walking around in a trance, etc, strongly echoes the beginning verse of "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan. [http://bobdylan.com/songs/desolation-row/ "They're selling postcards of the hanging..." (Dylan's lyrics)]<br />
<br />
'''murders in Ravenna'''<br><br />
Ravenna is the county seat of Portage County, Ohio (home to the famous Kent State University). Blinky Morgan and his gang broke into a train at the Ravenna Station to free a fellow gang member who was in-transit to be questioned regarding a recent robbery of a Cleveland area business. One officer was killed and another brought within an inch of his life [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BMC [Encyclopedia of Cleveland History]].<br />
<br />
'''light of Heaven'''<br><br />
By Merle ruining the plates of the hanging (where his photography obsession has led him) by over-exposure of physical light, his brain is lit up by a spiritual light.<br />
<br />
'''If the U.S. was a person . . . and it ''sat down,'' Columbus, Ohio would instantly be plunged into darkness.'''<br><br />
Merle stole this gag from ''Mason & Dixon.''<br><br />
Note that the bars in Columbus are said to close at 8 o'clock. In astrology (both Western and Vedic) the 8th house rules among other things, death, hemorroids, the anus and rectum.<br />
<br />
'''youthful folly'''<br><br />
The name of the 4th hexagram of the I Ching (Yi Jing) in the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. Mentioned in GR as well.<br />
<br />
'''Lorain County'''<br><br />
Greater Cleveland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorain_County%2C_Ohio [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
==Page 67==<br />
<br />
'''Beast Without Shame'''<br><br />
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."<br />
<br />
Given that Merle is involved with photography and that the ladies of indignation and male town folk are out to get him, one possibility, reading between the lines, is that Merle might be involved in risque photography, the late 19th century version of porn.<br />
<br />
Merle's backstory probably got rewritten very late in the game (see also pp. [[#ATD_26-56#Page_30|30]], [[#Page 58|58]], [[#Page 64|64]] and [[#Page 75|75]]).<br />
<br />
'''East Fullmoon, Iowa'''<br><br />
The full moon (fool moon) is usually associated with lunacy and strange behaviour. The moon is full when it is in direct opposition to the sun (against the day, so to say), and east is the direction of ascendancy (lunar, solar, planetary, etc.). An east full moon would be big and bright just after sunset (the death of the day).<br />
<br />
The moon also, traditionally in both western and eastern astrology, represents silver and the feminine -- the waxing moon, the growing young woman; the full moon, the pregnant mother; the waning moon, the mature woman becoming a crone; the new moon, the hidden cycle between death and rebirth/resurrection. <br />
<br />
The eastern houses of an astrological chart are the 1st, 2nd, and 12th. Only the 1st and 12th are above the horizon.<br />
<br />
Full moon in the first house, the ascendant, represents the rise of lunacy, anarchy, the growing importance of silver and the empowerment of women. This is when the moon is big on the horizon. <br><br />
<br />
As the moon moves higher into the sky, its apparent size diminishes as it transverses the twelfth house, and so the moon in the twelfth represents the loss of silver and the disappearance of women and mothers, and here in East Fullmoon we see the disappearance of two women, Roxana and Erlys. The 12th being a house of loss, "there is little hope on the horizon...for any replacement." Venus is not rising on this particular night. However, "Lucky" Luca Zombini gets a replacement, while "Miserable" Merle Rideout does not.<br />
<br />
'''tenor sax player from the pit band at the local opera house'''<br><br />
The "opera house" is not a venue for opera, then.<br />
:Actually, in opera, the orchestra plays in the pit in front of the stage. The use of "band" may just be colloqial, although tenor sax in an opera orchestra ''does'' seem a bit odd...<br />
<br />
==Page 68==<br />
<br />
'''. . . have you ever felt that you wished to suddenly disappear . . . ?'''<br><br />
While Merle is getting obsessed with revealing images from darkrooms and chemicals, Zombini comes and makes Erlys "disappear."<br><br />
<br><br />
'''He didn't know what was happening. He did know.'''<br><br />
Perhaps a subtle reference to the extramarital tryst between Anna Sergeyevna and Dmitry Dmitrich in Anton Chekhov's "The Lady With the Dog", specifically the first paragraph of part IV, where Anna tells her hubby that she is going to Moscow "to consult a specialist on female diseases, and her husband believed her and did not believe her."<br />
<br />
==Page 69==<br />
<br />
'''some larger plan'''<br><br />
May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself.<br />
<br />
'''winter skies . . . Through the falling snow'''<br><br />
Above the white space we're in winter 1887-88 (after Blinky Morgan's execution); below it, winter 1893-94 (after the Fair closed).<br />
<br />
'''hieratic'''<br><br />
Pertaining to or used by the priestly class; used in connexion with sacred subjects. (From the same root as ''hieroglyphics''.)<br />
<br />
==Page 70==<br />
<br />
'''scantlings'''<br><br />
Framing lumber.<br />
<br />
'''man-made bad times'''<br><br />
The Panic of 1893 and the 1893-95 depression. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 The Wikipedia article] goes into causes and effects.<br />
<br />
'''giant spokes'''<br><br />
This illusion, only with straight streets instead of straight planted rows, was described by the ''Chums'' author [[ATD_1-25#Page_10|on page 10.]]<br />
<br />
A very similar experience occurred for the titular characters in M&D, I believe after Dixon whipped the slave driver and they were on the run out of town.<br />
<br />
'''The skies were interrupted by dark gray storm clouds with a flow like molten stone, swept and liquid, and light that found its way through...<br><br />
This whole paragraph is one majestic passage of sumptuous Pynchonian Poetry. Full of beauty, dignity and glorious sentimental value: nostalgic, evocative and yet so romantic. One of those things anyone will miss after vanishing from human existence. Yes! Life is worth fighting for. Its a Gift. The thing is people are too blind and stupid to see it. We wonder why? ($$$) Merle sees hope and life worth living through Dahlia presence. You could write millions of books from this little vessel ending:<br><br />
'''They lived for different futures, but they were each other's unrecognized halves, and what fascination between them did come to pass was lit up, beyond question, with grace.<br><br />
Immutable! ''The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace ~ Mary, star of the sea'' James Joyce Ulysses passage comes to mind.<br />
<br />
''''seng'''<br><br />
Ginseng. ''Panax sp.'' The [http://www.wfbf.com/media_center/photo_gallery/ginseng%20closeup.jpg "red berries"] Merle refers to.<br><br />
[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay1c.html American Ginseng and the Idea of the Commons] at the LOC.<br />
<br />
'''. . . herbs the wildcrafters knew the names and market prices of . . .'''<br><br />
"Wildcrafting" here means the harvest of any plant parts from non-cultivated medicinal plants, plants which have essentially planted themselves in any location". ([http://www.ryandrum.com/wildcrafting.htm wildcrafting] also contains a detailed explanation of the author's wildcrafting.)<br />
<br />
==Page 71==<br />
<br />
'''Inner American Sea'''<br><br />
The Great Plains. <br />
<br />
Melville in ''Moby Dick'' likens the sea to the prairie:<br />
<br />
Chapter 14: A Nantucker (sic) ''"lives on the sea, as prairie cocks in the prairie, he hides among the waves, he climbs them ...like the Alps."''<br />
<br />
Chapter 114: ''"in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not though high rolling waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the western emigrants' horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure. The long-drawn virgin vales; the mild blue hill-sides; as over these there steals the hush, the hum; you almost swear that play-wearied children lie sleeping in these solitudes, in some glad May-time, when the flowers of the woods are plucked."'' <br />
<br />
But perhaps Melville was only following common usage as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_Wagon travelers] crossing the prairie often described their wagons as "ships upon the ocean," or ships on "rolling waves of green from horizon to horizon," or as resembling "dim sails crossing a rolling sea." <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ottumwa'''<br><br />
City in Iowa. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottumwa,_Iowa [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Albert Lea'''<br><br />
City in Minnesota. Hometown of Seaman Bodine from ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (710) and ''V.''.<br />
<br />
'''before the sun had moved a minute of arc'''<br><br />
''Pedantry alert:'' The sun moves 1 minute of arc in 4 clock seconds.<br />
<br />
==Page 72==<br />
<br />
'''parquetry'''<br><br />
Inlaid work of blocks of wood arranged in a geometric pattern, esp. in furniture and flooring.<br />
<br />
'''brightly lit against the stormy days'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page_57|page 57]].<br />
<br />
'''witch hazel'''<br><br />
Astringent distilled from leaves and bark of the witch hazel shrub (genus ''Hamamelis'') and used as a skin care product.<br />
<br />
'''thorned helixes'''<br><br />
An allusion to Thurn and Taxis?<br />
<br />
'''Premo'''<br><br />
1903. [http://westfordcomp.com/classics/filmpackhawkeye/index.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Brownie'''<br><br />
1900.<br />
<br />
'''calm as a sharpshooter'''<br><br />
Allusion of camera as a gun. Also, perhaps the idea of breathing out when shooting to ensure calm when pulling the trigger (or pressing the shutter button).<br />
<br />
'''There was always plenty of bell-hanger work'''<br><br />
In this and the subsequent pages we see Merle getting involved, apart from his usual ''light-related'' job (photography), to ''sound-related'' and ''electricity-related'' jobs.<br />
<br />
==Page 73==<br />
<br />
'''frog-bonding'''<br><br />
Can mean a technique in brick masonry. [http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20061106081517AAscjfG [source]], but when referring to streetcars, "frogs" are the heavy metal flangeways that connect track to switches, diamonds, cross-overs and other track structures. Frogs guide wheels from one track structure to another. Pynchon may be confusing the term. (Frog-bonding here is probably the electrician's task of installing cables to link the frog and the tracks to either side of it, so that the car's front and rear wheels are at the same potential relative to the catenary wire.)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac battery'''<br><br />
Wet storage cell using sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) solution as electrolyte. A well-known form is the Leclanché cell. Prof. Vanderjuice got mixed up with such a battery [[ATD_57-80#Page_58|on page 58.]]<br />
<br />
'''Skip'''<br><br />
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Also possibly the movie "Ghostbusters".<br />
Also recalls Insane Asylum where he is told light has "consciousness and personality."<br />
But Merle's "hitch as a lightning-rod salesman" also may be read as Pynchon's<br />
tip-of-the-hat (or the copper rod) to a certain nineteenth-century American<br />
predecessor, the author of a story called "The Lightning Rod Man" (1854).<br />
Come to think of it, Pynchon may be the one contemporary author able to match<br />
Melville in whimsy, satire, melancholia, encryption, Jehovah-like ambition, and periodic<br />
sentences that are light on their feet yet labyrinthine. Cf. M&D's link to Melville's<br />
''Israel Potter'' (now, sadly, unread), or GR's line trailing back toward that book about a whale.... Cf. ATD, p. 123.<br />
This 'Skip' episode is not to be skipped or skimmed; it sets ATD's readers briefly aglow with sweetness and light &#151; and sadness.<br />
<br />
'''Ball Lightning'''<br><br />
Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a short-lived, glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball size or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on whether it is the same phenomenon. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning Ball Lightning], <br />
[http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s520317.htm Ball lightning explained] and<br />
[http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020209/bob8.asp Anatomy of a lightning ball].<br />
<br />
:Great balls of fire [http://searchlight.anomalyresponse.org/2007/03/physicists-create-great-balls-of-fire.html]! Sort of reminds one of that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Balls_of_Fire Jerry Lee Lewis song]. Recall The Killer's 1973 tune [[Meat Man]], and one [[ATD 397-428#meatman|Alonzo Meatman]]...<br />
<br />
==Page 74==<br />
<br />
'''two bits'''<br><br />
The equivalent of an absurdly generous $5 in today's money. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ [calculator]]<br />
Merle's proposition to Dahlia echoes the old saw about marriage: if you put a penny in a jar for every time "you do it" in the first year of marriage and take a penny out for every time you do it thereafter, you'd never empty the jar.<br />
<br />
'''Indian grass'''<br><br />
A North American prairie grass [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Grass Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 75==<br />
<br />
'''She watched the invisible force at work'''<br><br />
This subchapter, in which we have watched Merle getting involved in jobs about ''sound'' and ''electricity'', on top of his usual job about ''light'', closes with an image of the blowing ''wind'', the "invisible force". A couple of lines back, we have Merle saying "There's your gold, Dahlia", pointing to the wind "blowing in the high Indian grass" and Dally thinking "what an ''alchemist'' [he] was" (italics mine). It is the first allusion of Merle as an alchemist.<br />
<br />
'''San Juans'''<br><br />
[http://www.americansouthwest.net/colorado/san_juan_mountains/index.html [map]]<br />
<br />
'''Dishforth's Illustrated Weekly'''<br><br />
"dish" - gossip. Also, Dishforth is an English cricket club in the Nidderdale and District Amateur Cricket League.<br />
<br />
'''some new kind of gravure process'''<br><br />
In gravure (rotogravure, photogravure) printing, the ink is applied to the paper via tiny pits or "cells" in the metal gravure cylinder. The equipment costs way more than hot-lead or offset plant, but the image quality ranges from very good up to astounding and the cylinder is good for extremely long runs. Gravure differs from halftone in pits versus raised dots. At the time of the action, gravure was used for premium materials such as lifestyle magazines.<br />
<br />
If anyone remembers the song "Easter Parade," the lines<br />
<blockquote>The photographers will snap us,<br><br />
And you'll find that you're<br><br />
in the rotogravure,</blockquote><br />
refer to a gravure-printed fashion section in a newspaper.<br />
<br />
The halftone, which became common in the 1890s, revolutionized magazines, no longer requiring more complex and expensive engravings. Pictures were finer, as explained in this section, as they were reduced to "a grain so fine" that the dots were almost invisible. Light and dark were therefore split into tiny atoms of ink, allowing for subtle gradations of tone. [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/advertising-14.shtml Article on the history of the halftone.]<br />
<br />
'''approach the gates of the laughing academy'''<br><br />
Echoes "approach the gates of the Penitentiary" (used by the ''Chums'' author) [[ATD_1-25#Page_7|on page 7.]]<br />
<br />
==Page 76==<br />
<br />
'''charge slowly building up on a condenser plate'''<br><br />
Condensers are now more often called capacitors. You store charge by taking electrons from one plate and depositing them on the other.<br />
<br />
'''photographer's or, if you like, alchemist's stuff'''<br><br />
Second allusion to Merle as an alchemist (see also previous and next page).<br />
<br />
'''Electric Generator hooked to an old bicycle'''<br><br />
Don't know if this is that important, but similar to Insane Asylum light-bicycle. (There was one in GR, too-- somebody giving a haircut.)<br />
<br />
'''annealing oven'''<br><br />
Equipment that definitely pertains to alchemy and metal fabrication more than photography. The alchemist who creates his/her own glassware (alembics, coils, etc.) has an annealing oven, in which newly made wares are allowed to cool very slowly (many hours) so that internal stresses are relieved. Unannealed glass shatters too readily. A similar treatment is applied to metal parts that have been made brittle by working (bending, hammering, etc.), and for a similar reason. <br />
<br />
'''burnishing machine'''<br><br />
In darkroom times, very high-gloss prints got that way by being pressed against a bright, smooth, chrome-plated drum that was heated from the inside.<br />
<br />
==Page 77==<br />
<br />
'''Webb Traverse'''<br><br />
The character is introduced mere paragraphs after the description of spiderwebs "that when the early daylight was right cause you to stand there just stupefied." As "traverse" means to travel across or through, perhaps the character's name signifies his ability to navigate the complicated webs of so-called reality.<br />
<br />
In law, to "traverse" means to deny, and a "traverse" to a pleading is a denial of its allegations. This appellation fits Webb Traverse, whose anarchism is a denial of industrial capitalism.<br />
<br />
[http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ Mason and Dixon's] survey was a traverse, as opposed to a triangulation.<br />
<br />
The Traverse family plays a significant role in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland'']. Frenesi Gates' grandfather is Reef Traverse, thus her great-grandfather is Webb. [[Traverse Family Tree]]<br />
<br />
See note on [[#Page 62|p.62]] in regards to Traverse City, MI (Alpena's cross-peninsula rival). Significant, or not?<br />
<br />
Webb Traverse's homophonic name paronomasia connects to the rhetorical idea of '''World-System''' in [[ATD_26-56#Page_33|Page 33]] and revolutionary internet geeks in pre-911 America at the turn of this century. Yeah, the ones who usually indulge good electronic downtown music and intellectually happy conversations.<br />
<br />
'''bloviate'''<br /><br />
to speak or write verbosely and windily (from Merriam-Webster)<br />
<br />
'''cupel'''<br><br />
A porous ceramic cup used in refining noble metals like gold. When the contents are melted, "base" metals oxidize and the material of the cupel absorbs them, leaving the gold in the cup.<br />
<br />
'''the famous Philosopher's Stone'''<br><br />
Not famous enough: When Scholastic Books acquired the ''Harry Potter'' series for U.S. publication, the company insulted American readers by changing the name of the first book from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''] to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' The Sorcerer's Stone is not famous at all. Most likely they thought Americans would be scared off by anything involving "philosophy." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_Stone Wikipedia on the Philosopher's Stone]<br />
<br />
:This guess is correct as I heard from colleagues in publishing.<br />
<br />
'''traprock'''<br><br />
In geology, a dark-colored, fine-grained igneous rock like basalt.<br />
<br />
'''alchemists keep tryin, it's what we do'''<br><br />
Photography as alchemy. Mercury and the Philosopher's stone.<br />
<br />
'''Fulminate I believe it's called'''<br><br />
Merle gets almost everything right (and a good thing, too &#151; these substances are lethal). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_fulminate Mercury fulminate] was discovered in 1799 and came into use in detonators by 1814. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate Wikipedia] has a good entry on silver fulminate and fulminating silver. Some fulminates are so sensitive that their own weight will cause them to detonate. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulminic_acid Fulminic acid,] discovered in 1824, is not the same as prussic (hydrocyanic) acid but does smell like it. Fulminating gold, not very closely related to these, is a material of alchemy.<br />
<br />
==Page 78==<br />
<br />
'''The Anti-Stone'''<br><br />
Probably anticipates the atom bomb. See page 79 on "politics through chemistry"...."temples of Mammon all in smithereens".<br />
<br />
This statement that Anti-Stone, if it is an allusion to the atomic bomb, "has another name that we'd just get into trouble saying out loud" <br />
reminds of Oppenheimer and what he said the detonation of the first atomic bomb "Trinity" in the New Mexico desert made him think of: "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that one way or another."[11] <br />
<br />
:The A-bomb is just not convincing. No one—not even proficient alchemists—knew until the 1930s that elements could be transmuted explosively. And at the time of the action (1890s) the only way to get into trouble by saying "atom bomb" would be to say it to a conservative English teacher. While using an atomic bomb does result in "smithereens," its action is not based on chemistry. If you dissect this conversation, going all the way back to "In Colorado they found a farm outbuilding," it seems more likely that Merle and Webb are thinking of a process that deconstructs gold and silver and turns plutocrats' fortunes into rubble. Two alternatives: (a) Just as triple-rectified mercury is a step along the way to the Stone, fulminating silver is a step along the way to the Anti-Stone, some ideal or essential chemical explosive. Or (b) what demolishes fortunes and turns gold into just a shiny metal: revolution and anarchy.<br />
<br />
Anti-Stone seems to be a watchword. Merle and Webb are sizing each other up, looking for a "countersign" sniffing each other out as members of a conspiracy. Similar to Masonic (brick/stone) practice where signs and countersigns are used so that members may recognize one another in public without revealing themselves, "Anti-Stone" and "alchemist" stand in as coded references for "anarchist" -- a word, that if spoken, would get them in trouble.<br />
<br />
If the Philosopher's Stone is a "figure of speech for God and salvation" in everyday, "Christian" society, "why then the other --" the Antichrist is the Anarchist, who seeks to overturn that social order. In a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinistic Calvinistic]- Pynchonian world, the Philosopher Stone of God and Salvation represents the Elect, the "pre-saved" and the "other" is the preterite, totally depraved and ruined, common man. <br />
<br />
From ''V.'', p.533: The Jesuit Father Fairing states: "Any tug in the direction of anarchy is anti-Christian." and a couple pages later:<br />
"In the matter of Caesar and God...there's no conflict of interests," implying that they are one and the same. <br />
<br />
<br />
I'll go with the latter explanation: if the Philosopher's stone is a figure of speech for god and salvation, then the Anti-stone represents Satan and damnation. The potential destructive qualities of this substance, and the hint that they should not speak the word (Satan) lends to this theory. A-bomb is wayyy off, 40 years away.<br />
<br />
[http://www.3rd1000.com/alchemy/alchemyterms2.htm Handy Alchemy Dictionary]<br><br />
Compare ''Lapis Philosophorum'' and ''Infernal Stone''<br><br />
AntiStone might be thought of as the ''Infernal Stone'' which is an alkali hydroxide such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) used to make soap or potassium hydroxide aka potash. They are both alkali salts. Another alkali salt (but not an hydroxide) is calcium carbonate, better known as Iceland Spar.<br />
<br />
What about Pro-Soul?<br />
<br />
'''amalgamator work'''<br><br />
Extracting silver from its ore by combining it with mercury. (Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989.)<br />
<br />
'''breathin in those fumes'''<br><br />
Mercury fumes are what made hatters mad. Just like the smell of pesticide in subway stations near any ghetto of every single city in America.<br />
<br />
==Page 79==<br />
'''Telluride . . . Hell with electric lights'''<br><br />
The mountain town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado Telluride] was home to the world's first commercial-grade alternating-current power plant. The world "telluride" also means something in chemistry. <br />
<br />
'''poor folks on the march, bigger than Coxey’s Army'''<br /><br />
Group of unemployed men who marched to Washington, D.C., in the depression year of 1894. Jacob S. Coxey (1854–1951), a businessman, led the group, which hoped to persuade Congress to authorize public-works programs to provide jobs. It left Ohio on March 25 and reached Washington on May 1 with about 500 men, the only one of several groups to reach its destination. It attracted much attention but failed to bring about any legislation [http://www.answers.com/topic/coxey-s-army Answers.com], [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9026696/Coxeys-Army Britannica]<br />
<br />
==Page 80==<br />
<br />
'''not the result of any idle drift but more of a secret imperative, like the force of gravity'''<br><br />
Ties into the central scientific metaphor of GR, that the laws of physics and fate are somehow connected.<br />
<br />
'''as if silver were alive, with a soul and a voice'''<br><br />
. . . like Skip the ball lightning.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_57-80&diff=16260ATD 57-802021-05-02T05:18:35Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 70 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 57==<br />
<br />
'''Her name was never far from the discourse of the day.'''<br><br />
Another reference to something with respect to ''the day''.<br />
<br />
'''Dally's questions...'''<br><br />
...seem a tad complex for her age, if this is just after she was first seen, when she is said to be four or five.<br />
<br />
==Page 58==<br />
'''a couple of professors at the Case Institute in Cleveland, who were planning an experiment'''<br><br />
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
In oversimplified form: Michelson and Morley built an instrument that would signal any change in the speed of light traveling along its axis. They measured no change when the instrument was rotated. Now a wave in the æther should appear to go faster if you are moving against it, slower if you are moving with it (like ripples in a pond: walk beside the pond in the same direction as the ripples, and you catch up to them, finding a lower speed; walk the other way and they come toward you at a higher rate, seeming to move faster). By the theory that was then accepted, the instrument certainly should have reported a difference. After repeating the experiment many times, M&M concluded that the æther was somehow always moving the same way relative to the instrument, an absurd behavior, or that light was not, after all, a wave in the æther. And if the æther doesn't convey light waves, there is no justification for including it in physical theory.<br />
<br />
'''the luminiferous Æther'''<br><br />
This passage recalls Pynchon's discussion of the "soniferous aether" in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (695).<br />
<br />
:Michelson and Morley, in [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html their original ''American Journal of Science'' article,] spelled the word "ether." ''Aether'' and ''æther'' have hung on as minority spellings. Most people say EE-ther, but William Vermillion Houston, a venerable professor of mathematical physics in the middle 1960s, pronounced it EH-ther to avoid confusion with the anesthetic. Most writers don't capitalize the word.<br />
'''Michelson'''<br><br />
<br />
Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931), American physicist. He was born in Strelno, Prussia (now Strzelno, Poland). His family emigrated to the US in 1854. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1873. After some studies in Europe (Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris) he became Professor of Physics in Case School of Applied Science (1883-89), Clark Univeristy (1889-92) and University of Chicago (1892-1931). He invented an interferometer and an echelon grating, and did important experimental work on the spectrum, but is chiefly remembered for the Michelson-Morley experiment to determine æther drift, the negative result of which set Einstein on the road to the Theory of Relativity. In 1907 he became the first American scientist to win a Nobel prize "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid." ([http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html Michelson].)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac'''<br><br />
Ammonium chloride. A solution served as electrolyte in storage batteries such as the Leclanché cell, which could be used to store the charge generated by the Toepler machine (next entry).<br />
<br />
'''[[T%C3%B6pler_influence_machine|Töpler influence machine]]'''<br><br />
A machine for producing electrical charge. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Toepler [Wikipedia]]. Also spelled Toepler.<br />
<br />
'''if light were particulate, it could just go blasting through empty space'''<br><br />
While the austrian Ludwig Boltzmann stated in 1877 stated that energy states of a physical system can be discrete, light as a discrete energy packet (quanta) wasn't discovered by Planck until 1900.<br />
So Vanderjuice is either nuts or a genius ahead of his time. Or both<br />
<br />
Michelson and Morley (and everyone else at the time) thought light would travel faster if pointed in the direction of earth motion (revolution, rotation) rather than against, as if it's stuck in a weird air-glue luminiferous aether. But light had the same speed, so vacuum and The Constant Speed Of Light. And <br />
<br />
'''one finds in the devout Ætherist a propensity of character ever toward the continuous as against the discrete'''<br><br />
Particle or Wave? Aether is the medium that light would move in, if it were a wave. This enters the question of whether light is a particle or a wave into the discussion. Pynchon sets up the dichotomy: (aether/wave/continuous vs. empty space/particle/discrete) (also, see page 61)<br />
<br />
'''all those tiny whirlpools the theory has come to require'''<br><br />
People still write articles and books about physics based on the æther. Many physics departments put such papers in the "crank file," but now the World Wide Web [http://www.aetherpress.com/physics.htm makes them available to everybody.] One way of finagling the æther to accommodate "real" matter is to postulate vortices or whirlpools in the medium, corresponding to electrons and other particles.<br />
<br />
Ætherism escaped the fate of Ptolemaic astronomy, which collapsed gradually—over a matter of centuries—as it had to grow in complexity to keep up with the technology of observation. Ideas about the æther, in contrast, could not be rigged up to fit Michelson and Morley's results: one experiment spelled the death of the theory, and it became untenable between a summer and the next spring.<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Field Equations'''<br><br />
In 1864, Maxwell advanced a set of four equations that would describe almost all phenomena involving electricity and magnetism. They not only explained the interrelationship of these two but also showed these two could not be separated. There was only a single ''electromagnetic field''. These equations predicted the existence of ''electromagnetic radiation''. By taking the ratio of certain corresponding values in the equations describing the force between electric charges and the force between magnetic poles one can calculate the velocity at which the electromagnetic wave would have to move. This ratio turned out to be precisely equal to the velocity of light. In 1865 Maxwell wrote that "light itself is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves<br />
propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws".<br />
<br />
'''in Berlin'''<br><br />
Although Pynchon says that the Michelson-Morley experiment was first carried out in Berlin, this is not completely correct; he first tried it there at the Institute of Physics but there was too much noise due to traffic so the interferometer did not produce any results. Therefore, in 1881, Michelson moved to the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam on Potsdam's Telegraph Hill where he succeeded finally for the first time to show the Null event: no ether out there.<br />
[http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~thomas/michelson/Michelson.html Source] In the basement of what is now Building A31, at the very place where Michelson had set up his experiment, one can find a reproduction of the instrument, though, for health reasons, without the original quicksilver lamp.<br />
<br />
==Page 59==<br />
<br />
'''Ohio'''<br><br />
Harks back to Mason & Dixon's visit with George Washington.<br />
<br />
Pynchon spends an inordinate amount of time in Ohio in ''Against the Day''. Why?<br />
I don't know. An idea: in addition to the Mason & Dixon connection, Ohio dominated US politics from 1869 to 1923 producing 7 of the 11 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_presidents presidents] (counting Grover Cleveland -- who ironically was not from Ohio -- once). Most of them were riddled with scandal. <br />
<br />
[What, pray, would be an appropriate amount of time for Pynchon to spend in Ohio? Is there something inherently unliterary about Ohio?] Of late, although Ohio has not dominated US politics, it has received a lot of attention as a "battleground" state in presidential elections.<br />
TRP<br />
In ''Against the Day'', Pynchon seems to mention things that are connected with some of these presidents without naming the president outright. Spotting them is what is hereafter named the "Hidden Ohio President" -- sort of like "find the pope in the pizza." The only president mentioned by name (to the best of my recollection) is William McKinley -- an Ohio president, but not hidden. <br />
<br />
'''This strip of Ohio due west of Connecticut'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Western_Reserve Western Reserve of Connecticut.]<br />
<br />
'''Blinky Morgan'''<br><br />
The Blinky Morgan episode is not invented; it was a sensation in parts of Ohio in 1887-88. (New York Times archive page: [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C04E5D71E38E033A25756C2A9679D94669FD7CF].) For a spoiler, [[M|see M in the Alphabetical Index.]]<br />
<br />
'''bravos in blue'''<br><br />
A bravo is defined as a villain, especially a hired killer. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bravo Definition] Here, it's the men in blue who earn that sobriquet. <br />
<br />
'''Northern Ohio Insane Asylum'''<br><br />
Full of light enthusiastes who invented light-powered bicycles (see p 76), believe light to have consciousness and personality, and who eat light.<br />
<br />
"Originally known as the [http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/cleveland_oh/index.html Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum], this was the second of 6 public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850's. In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital because it was located in Newburgh Township as recompense for Cleveland having been awarded the location of Cuyahoga County Seat. The main building, containing 100 beds, was completed in 1855 on land in Newburgh" donated by the family of James Garfield, later US president -- who ironically was gunned down by a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garfield "delusional religious fanatic."] <br />
<br />
Hidden Ohio Presidents: this is the first (not) mentioned president from Ohio in ''Against the Day'', James Garfield. <br />
<br />
Could there exist some subtly altered version of the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum, filled with scientists? A university perhaps, from which physicists sometimes escape to wreak havoc upon the world? Surely, not: that would be Para-NOIA.<br />
<br />
==Page 60==<br />
<br />
'''Lightarians'''<br><br />
see Breatharians [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inedia Wikipedia entry], who claim that it is possible to live without food.<br />
<br />
'''Aether reports'''<br><br />
Associations of light with "wind."<br />
<br />
'''Roswell Bounce'''<br><br />
GR includes a character named Hillary Bounce.<br />
<br />
The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 61==<br />
<br />
'''intervals of invisibility'''<br><br />
When you blink, the world becomes invisible momentarily. Blinky - intervals of no light?<br />
<br />
'''but attentiveness to duty being negotiable in those days, there were intervals of invisibility for anyone who could afford it'''<br><br />
Implies that the police could be bought off to look the other way.<br />
<br />
'''international scramble to ''corner light'''''<br><br />
Corner a commodity, or make a corner in it: to gain possession or just control of so much gold or silver, say, that you can dictate the price. In 1869 Jay Gould and James Fisk almost cornered gold; their success depended on the federal government locking down its gold reserves, but [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1991/1/1991_1_20.shtml in the end it didn't.] The whole market collapsed. In the 1970s the Hunt brothers [http://www.wallstraits.com/main/viewarticle.php?id=1298 nearly made a corner in silver.]<br />
<br />
'''Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the Michelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected.'''<br><br />
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_735-760#Page_741 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p. 741], insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.<br />
It also ties the criminal underground (out of the light) with the properties of light. <br />
<br />
'''box job'''<br><br />
Safecracking. [http://www.skepticfiles.org/faq/twists.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Each of Blinky's eyes . . . a walking interferometer'''<br><br />
The instrument used by Michelson and Morley (see annotations to page 58) was called an interferometer. It worked by leading light along two paths, then back to the source. Light also reaches Blinky by two distinct paths.<br />
<br />
Blinky's damaged left eye indicates the 12th house in Vedic medical astrology, the house of invisible enemies, hospitals, insane asylums, imprisonment, bankruptcy, expenses, convents/monasteries, pleasures of the bedroom. The 4th, 8th (see Columbus below) and 12th form the triad of moksha houses, houses of final release and liberation. Being next to the 1st, the house of dawn and the day, the 12th is alongside the day, and a great place to disappear into.<br />
<br />
Cf. Vera Meroving in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=M#meroving ''V.'', p.237] has an artificial left eye the iris of which is encircled by the zodiac and seems to operate like a watch.<br><br />
Cf. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_17-19#Page_18 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.18] where we first visit Tyrone Slothrop's desk &#151; among the items described are "lost pieces of different jigsaw puzzles showing parts of the amber left eye of a Weimaraner". Also, as Pudding makes his way to Katje he passes a tattered [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_226-236 Tommy up on White Sheet Ridge]whose left eye is damaged.<br />
<br />
==Page 62==<br />
<br />
'''A walking interferometer'''<br><br />
Blinky Morgan is a walking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry#Interferometer interferometer].<br><br />
Incidentally, while you may not be able to become a walking interferometer, you can apparently train yourself to see light polarity, whether the polarization is linear or circular and in which direction thanks to [http://www.polarization.com/haidinger/haidinger.html Haidinger's Brush.]<br />
<br />
'''double-refractor'''<br><br />
In physics, the word ''birefringence'' describes a substance that refracts light differently as a function of its direction or polarization. If the difference has to do with color or wavelength, the term used is ''dispersion'' (a prism disperses white light into a rainbow).<br />
<br />
'''Edward Morley'''<br><br />
Edward W. Morley (1838-1912), American chemist and physicist. He was born in Newark, N.J. He was a professor at Western Reserve (1869-1906) and conducted researches in the variations of atmosphere oxygen content, thermal expansion of gases, vapor tension of mercury, desities of oxygen and hydrogen. He was best known for collaboration with Michelson on æther effect experiment (1887).<br />
<br />
'''''goes somewhere else'' . . . where Blinky was when he was invisible'''<br><br />
Suggesting that Blinky's mechanism for invisibility—and Lew's stepping [[ATD_26-56#Page_44|"to the side of the day"]] as well—involves moving a little distance along some unconventional dimension, so that the light by which people ''would'' see him doesn't arrive with the rest of the light they perceive.<br />
<br />
'''when Michelson and Morley were making their final observations'''<br><br />
M&M's paper appeared in a November 1887 journal and reported observations dated January and July, presumably also 1887. (Publication lag was much shorter then than it is today.)<br />
<br />
'''Alpena, Michigan'''<br><br />
Town where Blinky Morgan is apprehended. One of two anchor cities in Northern Michigan. The other, across the peninsula, its rival, Traverse City. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpena%2C_Michigan Alpena link] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City%2C_Michigan Traverse City link] <br />
<br />
'''''emerged from invisibility'''''<br><br />
Blinky "emerges from invisibility" thus dooming the existence of aether. Aether is then "Against the Day" undetectable, unknowable, invisible.<br />
<br />
'''the moment he reentered the world . . . experiment was fated to have a negative outcome'''<br><br />
The phrasing points to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroedinger%27s_cat Schrödinger's infamous cat experiment,] where the fate of the creature is not determined until the chamber is opened and the system inside it reenters the observer's world.<br />
<br />
'''cults who believe the world will end on such and such a day'''<br><br />
Such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerites Millerites], who thought this would occur on October 22, 1844.<br />
<br />
==Page 63==<br />
<br />
'''O.D. Chandrasekhar'''<br><br />
Perhaps a nod to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar] (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekharlimit Chandrasekhar Limit] which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.<br />
The initials O.D.C. refer to the novel "2001: A space odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke, where [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Chandra Chandra] is the inventor of the HAL computer system.<br />
In ATD p. 63 O.D.Chandrasekhar mentions akasa as the solution for the problems the aetherists have discussing implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment, akasa referring to [http://ignca.nic.in/ps_05013.htm space] in hindu cosmology, alas O.D. is proposing space itself here as the medium for light.<br />
<br />
O.D. may be named after Shiva, the destructive or transformative deity of the Hindu Trimurti. "Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the moon. Thus Shiva is known by the names of Somasundara and Chandrashekara."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva#Attributes_of_Shiva wiki]<br />
<br />
Chandra means moon. Punning, chandra "sekhar" might be "moon seeker."<br><br />
According to a colleague from India, "sekhar" means "light." <br>So, <br />
O.D. Chandrasekhar means "o.d. on moonlight" or "o.d. on moonshine."<br />
<br />
'''If we can explain . . . why keep it?'''<br><br />
If Roswell doesn't engage his internal censor pretty quickly, he will be asking this question about God indeed.<br />
<br />
'''directionless drift…Mia Culpepper…astrology…void of course…mid October'''<br><br />
TRP is taking some poetic license with the term void of course. The moon is Void of Course when it does not make any major aspect with a planet from the moment of its last aspect to the end of the sign it is passing through. The moon passes through each sign approximately every 2.5 days. Thus, void of course is an astrological situation that can last from a few minutes to a day or two at most – not until “mid-October” which sounds like more than two days into the future. And as it says in the book, it is a period of directionless drift. <br />
<br />
“Void of course” can also be a pun on the reality of the aether, it's void, of course, akasa. <br />
<br />
'''Madge and Mia Culpepper'''<br><br />
May be descended from the noted astrologer, botanist and original wildcrafter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654)],through his only surviving child, Mary.<br />
<br />
They present another duality around light.<br><br />
<br />
Madge derives from the Greek ''margaron'' meaning pearl or "child of light" and has some resonance if not relation to Magdalene. Madge as a pet-form of Magaret has been considered the [http://www.babynamer.com/Madgethe national Scottish female name].<br />
<br />
Mia, strictly speaking, is derived from the Hebrew Miryam meaning "the wished-for child." It might be traced back to ancient Egyptian, and is a form of Maria/Mary. Other interpretations are "rebellion" or "sea of bitterness." It might also simply be a pun on M.I.A. -- missing in action.<br />
<br />
Maybe 'Mea Culpa'? or to expand 'Mea Maxim Culpa' as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa here]<br />
<br />
'''fundament'''<br><br />
Buttocks.<br />
<br />
==Page 64==<br />
<br />
'''hoosier'''<br><br />
An inexperienced, awkward, or unsophisticated person.<br />
<br />
'''Photography'''<br><br />
Light tied to silver and chemistry and a bit of alchemy.<br />
<br />
'''saw the image appear . . . out of the pale Invisible'''<br><br />
The chemical processes of photography, a kind of alchemy, become the mechanism by which the visible becomes invisible (when the plate is exposed) and the invisible becomes visible (when it is developed). The chemistry of the silver salts may be the "dimension" Lew and Blinky move along.<br />
<br />
'''As if light had been witched somehow into its opposite...'''<br><br />
Darkness becomes light, and light becomes darkness. The essence of light is dark, and vice versa, and this might be a key hermeneutic for AtD.<br />
<br />
==Page 65==<br />
<br />
'''Merle’s all-night illumination'''<br><br />
Distant echo of Blundell’s quote from p. 24 with inspiration (Merle’s new found obsession with photography) being like physical electricity, here like a light bulb. A glowing that keeps him awake.<br />
<br />
'''Murray Hill'''<br><br />
A street in Cleveland bordering both Case Western Reserve University and Little Italy.<br />
<br />
'''dip-fingered'''<br><br />
A dip is a pickpocket. Merle has magic fingers for extracting information.<br />
<br />
'''Cleveland Library'''<br><br />
The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869, its mission, "to be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Public_Library Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
The open-stacks system is deeply subversive and a great enabler of writers and other anarchists.<br />
<br />
==Page 66==<br />
<br />
'''seeking admission to the hanging'''<br><br />
This whole scene, with Blinky's Hanging memorabilia, people in town walking around in a trance, etc, strongly echoes the beginning verse of "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan. [http://bobdylan.com/songs/desolation-row/ "They're selling postcards of the hanging..." (Dylan's lyrics)]<br />
<br />
'''murders in Ravenna'''<br><br />
Ravenna is the county seat of Portage County, Ohio (home to the famous Kent State University). Blinky Morgan and his gang broke into a train at the Ravenna Station to free a fellow gang member who was in-transit to be questioned regarding a recent robbery of a Cleveland area business. One officer was killed and another brought within an inch of his life [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BMC [Encyclopedia of Cleveland History]].<br />
<br />
'''light of Heaven'''<br><br />
By Merle ruining the plates of the hanging (where his photography obsession has led him) by over-exposure of physical light, his brain is lit up by a spiritual light.<br />
<br />
'''If the U.S. was a person . . . and it ''sat down,'' Columbus, Ohio would instantly be plunged into darkness.'''<br><br />
Merle stole this gag from ''Mason & Dixon.''<br><br />
Note that the bars in Columbus are said to close at 8 o'clock. In astrology (both Western and Vedic) the 8th house rules among other things, death, hemorroids, the anus and rectum.<br />
<br />
'''youthful folly'''<br><br />
The name of the 4th hexagram of the I Ching (Yi Jing) in the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. Mentioned in GR as well.<br />
<br />
'''Lorain County'''<br><br />
Greater Cleveland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorain_County%2C_Ohio [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
==Page 67==<br />
<br />
'''Beast Without Shame'''<br><br />
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."<br />
<br />
Given that Merle is involved with photography and that the ladies of indignation and male town folk are out to get him, one possibility, reading between the lines, is that Merle might be involved in risque photography, the late 19th century version of porn.<br />
<br />
Merle's backstory probably got rewritten very late in the game (see also pp. [[#ATD_26-56#Page_30|30]], [[#Page 58|58]], [[#Page 64|64]] and [[#Page 75|75]]).<br />
<br />
'''East Fullmoon, Iowa'''<br><br />
The full moon (fool moon) is usually associated with lunacy and strange behaviour. The moon is full when it is in direct opposition to the sun (against the day, so to say), and east is the direction of ascendancy (lunar, solar, planetary, etc.). An east full moon would be big and bright just after sunset (the death of the day).<br />
<br />
The moon also, traditionally in both western and eastern astrology, represents silver and the feminine -- the waxing moon, the growing young woman; the full moon, the pregnant mother; the waning moon, the mature woman becoming a crone; the new moon, the hidden cycle between death and rebirth/resurrection. <br />
<br />
The eastern houses of an astrological chart are the 1st, 2nd, and 12th. Only the 1st and 12th are above the horizon.<br />
<br />
Full moon in the first house, the ascendant, represents the rise of lunacy, anarchy, the growing importance of silver and the empowerment of women. This is when the moon is big on the horizon. <br><br />
<br />
As the moon moves higher into the sky, its apparent size diminishes as it transverses the twelfth house, and so the moon in the twelfth represents the loss of silver and the disappearance of women and mothers, and here in East Fullmoon we see the disappearance of two women, Roxana and Erlys. The 12th being a house of loss, "there is little hope on the horizon...for any replacement." Venus is not rising on this particular night. However, "Lucky" Luca Zombini gets a replacement, while "Miserable" Merle Rideout does not.<br />
<br />
'''tenor sax player from the pit band at the local opera house'''<br><br />
The "opera house" is not a venue for opera, then.<br />
:Actually, in opera, the orchestra plays in the pit in front of the stage. The use of "band" may just be colloqial, although tenor sax in an opera orchestra ''does'' seem a bit odd...<br />
<br />
==Page 68==<br />
<br />
'''. . . have you ever felt that you wished to suddenly disappear . . . ?'''<br><br />
While Merle is getting obsessed with revealing images from darkrooms and chemicals, Zombini comes and makes Erlys "disappear."<br><br />
<br><br />
'''He didn't know what was happening. He did know.'''<br><br />
Perhaps a subtle reference to the extramarital tryst between Anna Sergeyevna and Dmitry Dmitrich in Anton Chekhov's "The Lady With the Dog", specifically the first paragraph of part IV, where Anna tells her hubby that she is going to Moscow "to consult a specialist on female diseases, and her husband believed her and did not believe her."<br />
<br />
==Page 69==<br />
<br />
'''some larger plan'''<br><br />
May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself.<br />
<br />
'''winter skies . . . Through the falling snow'''<br><br />
Above the white space we're in winter 1887-88 (after Blinky Morgan's execution); below it, winter 1893-94 (after the Fair closed).<br />
<br />
'''hieratic'''<br><br />
Pertaining to or used by the priestly class; used in connexion with sacred subjects. (From the same root as ''hieroglyphics''.)<br />
<br />
==Page 70==<br />
<br />
'''scantlings'''<br><br />
Framing lumber.<br />
<br />
'''man-made bad times'''<br><br />
The Panic of 1893 and the 1893-95 depression. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 The Wikipedia article] goes into causes and effects.<br />
<br />
'''giant spokes'''<br><br />
This illusion, only with straight streets instead of straight planted rows, was described by the ''Chums'' author [[ATD_1-25#Page_10|on page 10.]]<br />
<br />
A very similar experience occurred for the titular characters in M&D, I believe after Dixon whipped the slave driver and they were on the run out of town.<br />
<br />
'''The skies were interrupted by dark gray storm clouds with a flow like molten stone, swept and liquid, and light that found its way through...<br><br />
This whole paragraph is one majestic passage of sumptuous Pynchonian Poetry. Full of beauty, dignity and glorious sentimental value: nostalgic, evocative and yet so romantic. One of those things anyone will miss after vanishing from human existence. Yes! Life is worth fighting for. Its a Gift. The thing is people are too blind and stupid to see it. We wonder why? ($$$) Merle sees hope and life worth living through Dahlia presence. You could write millions of books from this little vessel ending:<br><br />
'''They lived for different futures, but they were each other's unrecognized halves, and what fascination between them did come to pass was lit up, beyond question, with grace.<br><br />
Immutable! ''The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace ~ Mary, star of the sea'' James Joyce Ulysses passage comes to mind.<br />
<br />
''''seng'''<br><br />
Ginseng. ''Panax sp.'' The [http://www.wfbf.com/media_center/photo_gallery/ginseng%20closeup.jpg "red berries"] Merle refers to.<br><br />
[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay1c.html American Ginseng and the Idea of the Commons] at the LOC.<br />
<br />
'''. . . herbs the wildcrafters knew the names and market prices of . . .'''<br><br />
"Wildcrafting" here means the harvest of any plant parts from non-cultivated medicinal plants, plants which have essentially planted themselves in any location". ([http://www.ryandrum.com/wildcrafting.htm wildcrafting] also contains a detailed explanation of the author's wildcrafting.)<br />
<br />
==Page 71==<br />
<br />
'''Inner American Sea'''<br><br />
The Great Plains. <br />
<br />
Melville in ''Moby Dick'' likens the sea to the prairie:<br />
<br />
Chapter 14: A Nantucker (sic) ''"lives on the sea, as prairie cocks in the prairie, he hides among the waves, he climbs them ...like the Alps."''<br />
<br />
Chapter 114: ''"in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not though high rolling waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the western emigrants' horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure. The long-drawn virgin vales; the mild blue hill-sides; as over these there steals the hush, the hum; you almost swear that play-wearied children lie sleeping in these solitudes, in some glad May-time, when the flowers of the woods are plucked."'' <br />
<br />
But perhaps Melville was only following common usage as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_Wagon travelers] crossing the prairie often described their wagons as "ships upon the ocean," or ships on "rolling waves of green from horizon to horizon," or as resembling "dim sails crossing a rolling sea." <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ottumwa'''<br><br />
City in Iowa. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottumwa,_Iowa [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Albert Lea'''<br><br />
City in Minnesota. Hometown of Seaman Bodine from ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (710) and ''V.''.<br />
<br />
'''before the sun had moved a minute of arc'''<br><br />
''Pedantry alert:'' The sun moves 1 minute of arc in 4 clock seconds.<br />
<br />
==Page 72==<br />
<br />
'''parquetry'''<br><br />
Inlaid work of blocks of wood arranged in a geometric pattern, esp. in furniture and flooring.<br />
<br />
'''brightly lit against the stormy days'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page_57|page 57]].<br />
<br />
'''witch hazel'''<br><br />
Astringent distilled from leaves and bark of the witch hazel shrub (genus ''Hamamelis'') and used as a skin care product.<br />
<br />
'''thorned helixes'''<br><br />
An allusion to Thurn and Taxis?<br />
<br />
'''Premo'''<br><br />
1903. [http://westfordcomp.com/classics/filmpackhawkeye/index.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Brownie'''<br><br />
1900.<br />
<br />
'''calm as a sharpshooter'''<br><br />
Allusion of camera as a gun. Also, perhaps the idea of breathing out when shooting to ensure calm when pulling the trigger (or pressing the shutter button).<br />
<br />
'''There was always plenty of bell-hanger work'''<br><br />
In this and the subsequent pages we see Merle getting involved, apart from his usual ''light-related'' job (photography), to ''sound-related'' and ''electricity-related'' jobs.<br />
<br />
==Page 73==<br />
<br />
'''frog-bonding'''<br><br />
Can mean a technique in brick masonry. [http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20061106081517AAscjfG [source]], but when referring to streetcars, "frogs" are the heavy metal flangeways that connect track to switches, diamonds, cross-overs and other track structures. Frogs guide wheels from one track structure to another. Pynchon may be confusing the term. (Frog-bonding here is probably the electrician's task of installing cables to link the frog and the tracks to either side of it, so that the car's front and rear wheels are at the same potential relative to the catenary wire.)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac battery'''<br><br />
Wet storage cell using sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) solution as electrolyte. A well-known form is the Leclanché cell. Prof. Vanderjuice got mixed up with such a battery [[ATD_57-80#Page_58|on page 58.]]<br />
<br />
'''Skip'''<br><br />
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Also possibly the movie "Ghostbusters".<br />
Also recalls Insane Asylum where he is told light has "consciousness and personality."<br />
But Merle's "hitch as a lightning-rod salesman" also may be read as Pynchon's<br />
tip-of-the-hat (or the copper rod) to a certain nineteenth-century American<br />
predecessor, the author of a story called "The Lightning Rod Man" (1854).<br />
Come to think of it, Pynchon may be the one contemporary author able to match<br />
Melville in whimsy, satire, melancholia, encryption, Jehovah-like ambition, and periodic<br />
sentences that are light on their feet yet labyrinthine. Cf. M&D's link to Melville's<br />
''Israel Potter'' (now, sadly, unread), or GR's line trailing back toward that book about a whale.... Cf. ATD, p. 123.<br />
This 'Skip' episode is not to be skipped or skimmed; it sets ATD's readers briefly aglow with sweetness and light &#151; and sadness.<br />
<br />
'''Ball Lightning'''<br><br />
Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a short-lived, glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball size or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on whether it is the same phenomenon. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning Ball Lightning], <br />
[http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s520317.htm Ball lightning explained] and<br />
[http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020209/bob8.asp Anatomy of a lightning ball].<br />
<br />
:Great balls of fire [http://searchlight.anomalyresponse.org/2007/03/physicists-create-great-balls-of-fire.html]! Sort of reminds one of that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Balls_of_Fire Jerry Lee Lewis song]. Recall The Killer's 1973 tune [[Meat Man]], and one [[ATD 397-428#meatman|Alonzo Meatman]]...<br />
<br />
==Page 74==<br />
<br />
'''two bits'''<br><br />
The equivalent of an absurdly generous $5 in today's money. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ [calculator]]<br />
Merle's proposition to Dahlia echoes the old saw about marriage: if you put a penny in a jar for every time "you do it" in the first year of marriage and take a penny out for every time you do it thereafter, you'd never empty the jar.<br />
<br />
'''Indian grass'''<br><br />
A North American prairie grass [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Grass Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 75==<br />
<br />
'''She watched the invisible force at work'''<br><br />
This subchapter, in which we have watched Merle getting involved in jobs about ''sound'' and ''electricity'', on top of his usual job about ''light'', closes with an image of the blowing ''wind'', the "invisible force". A couple of lines back, we have Merle saying "There's your gold, Dahlia", pointing to the wind "blowing in the high Indian grass" and Dally thinking "what an ''alchemist'' [he] was" (italics mine). It is the first allusion of Merle as an alchemist.<br />
<br />
'''San Juans'''<br><br />
[http://www.americansouthwest.net/colorado/san_juan_mountains/index.html [map]]<br />
<br />
'''Dishforth's Illustrated Weekly'''<br><br />
"dish" - gossip. Also, Dishforth is an English cricket club in the Nidderdale and District Amateur Cricket League.<br />
<br />
'''some new kind of gravure process'''<br><br />
In gravure (rotogravure, photogravure) printing, the ink is applied to the paper via tiny pits or "cells" in the metal gravure cylinder. The equipment costs way more than hot-lead or offset plant, but the image quality ranges from very good up to astounding and the cylinder is good for extremely long runs. Gravure differs from halftone in pits versus raised dots. At the time of the action, gravure was used for premium materials such as lifestyle magazines.<br />
<br />
If anyone remembers the song "Easter Parade," the lines<br />
<blockquote>The photographers will snap us,<br><br />
And you'll find that you're<br><br />
in the rotogravure,</blockquote><br />
refer to a gravure-printed fashion section in a newspaper.<br />
<br />
The halftone, which became common in the 1890s, revolutionized magazines, no longer requiring more complex and expensive engravings. Pictures were finer, as explained in this section, as they were reduced to "a grain so fine" that the dots were almost invisible. Light and dark were therefore split into tiny atoms of ink, allowing for subtle gradations of tone. [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/advertising-14.shtml Article on the history of the halftone.]<br />
<br />
'''approach the gates of the laughing academy'''<br><br />
Echoes "approach the gates of the Penitentiary" (used by the ''Chums'' author) [[ATD_1-25#Page_7|on page 7.]]<br />
<br />
==Page 76==<br />
<br />
'''charge slowly building up on a condenser plate'''<br><br />
Condensers are now more often called capacitors. You store charge by taking electrons from one plate and depositing them on the other.<br />
<br />
'''photographer's or, if you like, alchemist's stuff'''<br><br />
Second allusion to Merle as an alchemist (see also previous and next page).<br />
<br />
'''Electric Generator hooked to an old bicycle'''<br><br />
Don't know if this is that important, but similar to Insane Asylum light-bicycle. (There was one in GR, too-- somebody giving a haircut.)<br />
<br />
'''annealing oven'''<br><br />
Equipment that definitely pertains to alchemy and metal fabrication more than photography. The alchemist who creates his/her own glassware (alembics, coils, etc.) has an annealing oven, in which newly made wares are allowed to cool very slowly (many hours) so that internal stresses are relieved. Unannealed glass shatters too readily. A similar treatment is applied to metal parts that have been made brittle by working (bending, hammering, etc.), and for a similar reason. <br />
<br />
'''burnishing machine'''<br><br />
In darkroom times, very high-gloss prints got that way by being pressed against a bright, smooth, chrome-plated drum that was heated from the inside.<br />
<br />
==Page 77==<br />
<br />
'''Webb Traverse'''<br><br />
The character is introduced mere paragraphs after the description of spiderwebs "that when the early daylight was right cause you to stand there just stupefied." As "traverse" means to travel across or through, perhaps the character's name signifies his ability to navigate the complicated webs of so-called reality.<br />
<br />
In law, to "traverse" means to deny, and a "traverse" to a pleading is a denial of its allegations. This appellation fits Webb Traverse, whose anarchism is a denial of industrial capitalism.<br />
<br />
[http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ Mason and Dixon's] survey was a traverse, as opposed to a triangulation.<br />
<br />
The Traverse family plays a significant role in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland'']. Frenesi Gates' grandfather is Reef Traverse, thus her great-grandfather is Webb. [[Traverse Family Tree]]<br />
<br />
See note on [[#Page 62|p.62]] in regards to Traverse City, MI (Alpena's cross-peninsula rival). Significant, or not?<br />
<br />
Webb Traverse's homophonic name paronomasia connects to the rhetorical idea of '''World-System''' in [[ATD_26-56#Page_33|Page 33]] and revolutionary internet geeks in pre-911 America at the turn of this century. Yeah, the ones who usually indulge good electronic downtown music and intellectually happy conversations.<br />
<br />
'''bloviate'''<br /><br />
to speak or write verbosely and windily (from Merriam-Webster)<br />
<br />
'''cupel'''<br><br />
A porous ceramic cup used in refining noble metals like gold. When the contents are melted, "base" metals oxidize and the material of the cupel absorbs them, leaving the gold in the cup.<br />
<br />
'''the famous Philosopher's Stone'''<br><br />
Not famous enough: When Scholastic Books acquired the ''Harry Potter'' series for U.S. publication, the company insulted American readers by changing the name of the first book from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''] to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' The Sorcerer's Stone is not famous at all. Most likely they thought Americans would be scared off by anything involving "philosophy." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_Stone Wikipedia on the Philosopher's Stone]<br />
<br />
:This guess is correct as I heard from colleagues in publishing.<br />
<br />
'''traprock'''<br><br />
In geology, a dark-colored, fine-grained igneous rock like basalt.<br />
<br />
'''alchemists keep tryin, it's what we do'''<br><br />
Photography as alchemy. Mercury and the Philosopher's stone.<br />
<br />
'''Fulminate I believe it's called'''<br><br />
Merle gets almost everything right (and a good thing, too &#151; these substances are lethal). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_fulminate Mercury fulminate] was discovered in 1799 and came into use in detonators by 1814. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate Wikipedia] has a good entry on silver fulminate and fulminating silver. Some fulminates are so sensitive that their own weight will cause them to detonate. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulminic_acid Fulminic acid,] discovered in 1824, is not the same as prussic (hydrocyanic) acid but does smell like it. Fulminating gold, not very closely related to these, is a material of alchemy.<br />
<br />
==Page 78==<br />
<br />
'''The Anti-Stone'''<br><br />
Probably anticipates the atom bomb. See page 79 on "politics through chemistry"...."temples of Mammon all in smithereens".<br />
<br />
This statement that Anti-Stone, if it is an allusion to the atomic bomb, "has another name that we'd just get into trouble saying out loud" <br />
reminds of Oppenheimer and what he said the detonation of the first atomic bomb "Trinity" in the New Mexico desert made him think of: "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that one way or another."[11] <br />
<br />
:The A-bomb is just not convincing. No one—not even proficient alchemists—knew until the 1930s that elements could be transmuted explosively. And at the time of the action (1890s) the only way to get into trouble by saying "atom bomb" would be to say it to a conservative English teacher. While using an atomic bomb does result in "smithereens," its action is not based on chemistry. If you dissect this conversation, going all the way back to "In Colorado they found a farm outbuilding," it seems more likely that Merle and Webb are thinking of a process that deconstructs gold and silver and turns plutocrats' fortunes into rubble. Two alternatives: (a) Just as triple-rectified mercury is a step along the way to the Stone, fulminating silver is a step along the way to the Anti-Stone, some ideal or essential chemical explosive. Or (b) what demolishes fortunes and turns gold into just a shiny metal: revolution and anarchy.<br />
<br />
Anti-Stone seems to be a watchword. Merle and Webb are sizing each other up, looking for a "countersign" sniffing each other out as members of a conspiracy. Similar to Masonic (brick/stone) practice where signs and countersigns are used so that members may recognize one another in public without revealing themselves, "Anti-Stone" and "alchemist" stand in as coded references for "anarchist" -- a word, that if spoken, would get them in trouble.<br />
<br />
If the Philosopher's Stone is a "figure of speech for God and salvation" in everyday, "Christian" society, "why then the other --" the Antichrist is the Anarchist, who seeks to overturn that social order. In a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinistic Calvinistic]- Pynchonian world, the Philosopher Stone of God and Salvation represents the Elect, the "pre-saved" and the "other" is the preterite, totally depraved and ruined, common man. <br />
<br />
From ''V.'', p.533: The Jesuit Father Fairing states: "Any tug in the direction of anarchy is anti-Christian." and a couple pages later:<br />
"In the matter of Caesar and God...there's no conflict of interests," implying that they are one and the same. <br />
<br />
[http://www.3rd1000.com/alchemy/alchemyterms2.htm Handy Alchemy Dictionary]<br><br />
Compare ''Lapis Philosophorum'' and ''Infernal Stone''<br><br />
AntiStone might be thought of as the ''Infernal Stone'' which is an alkali hydroxide such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) used to make soap or potassium hydroxide aka potash. They are both alkali salts. Another alkali salt (but not an hydroxide) is calcium carbonate, better known as Iceland Spar.<br />
<br />
What about Pro-Soul?<br />
<br />
'''amalgamator work'''<br><br />
Extracting silver from its ore by combining it with mercury. (Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989.)<br />
<br />
'''breathin in those fumes'''<br><br />
Mercury fumes are what made hatters mad. Just like the smell of pesticide in subway stations near any ghetto of every single city in America.<br />
<br />
==Page 79==<br />
'''Telluride . . . Hell with electric lights'''<br><br />
The mountain town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado Telluride] was home to the world's first commercial-grade alternating-current power plant. The world "telluride" also means something in chemistry. <br />
<br />
'''poor folks on the march, bigger than Coxey’s Army'''<br /><br />
Group of unemployed men who marched to Washington, D.C., in the depression year of 1894. Jacob S. Coxey (1854–1951), a businessman, led the group, which hoped to persuade Congress to authorize public-works programs to provide jobs. It left Ohio on March 25 and reached Washington on May 1 with about 500 men, the only one of several groups to reach its destination. It attracted much attention but failed to bring about any legislation [http://www.answers.com/topic/coxey-s-army Answers.com], [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9026696/Coxeys-Army Britannica]<br />
<br />
==Page 80==<br />
<br />
'''not the result of any idle drift but more of a secret imperative, like the force of gravity'''<br><br />
Ties into the central scientific metaphor of GR, that the laws of physics and fate are somehow connected.<br />
<br />
'''as if silver were alive, with a soul and a voice'''<br><br />
. . . like Skip the ball lightning.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_57-80&diff=16259ATD 57-802021-04-30T07:16:03Z<p>Mnhoff: </p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 57==<br />
<br />
'''Her name was never far from the discourse of the day.'''<br><br />
Another reference to something with respect to ''the day''.<br />
<br />
'''Dally's questions...'''<br><br />
...seem a tad complex for her age, if this is just after she was first seen, when she is said to be four or five.<br />
<br />
==Page 58==<br />
'''a couple of professors at the Case Institute in Cleveland, who were planning an experiment'''<br><br />
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
In oversimplified form: Michelson and Morley built an instrument that would signal any change in the speed of light traveling along its axis. They measured no change when the instrument was rotated. Now a wave in the æther should appear to go faster if you are moving against it, slower if you are moving with it (like ripples in a pond: walk beside the pond in the same direction as the ripples, and you catch up to them, finding a lower speed; walk the other way and they come toward you at a higher rate, seeming to move faster). By the theory that was then accepted, the instrument certainly should have reported a difference. After repeating the experiment many times, M&M concluded that the æther was somehow always moving the same way relative to the instrument, an absurd behavior, or that light was not, after all, a wave in the æther. And if the æther doesn't convey light waves, there is no justification for including it in physical theory.<br />
<br />
'''the luminiferous Æther'''<br><br />
This passage recalls Pynchon's discussion of the "soniferous aether" in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (695).<br />
<br />
:Michelson and Morley, in [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Michelson/Michelson.html their original ''American Journal of Science'' article,] spelled the word "ether." ''Aether'' and ''æther'' have hung on as minority spellings. Most people say EE-ther, but William Vermillion Houston, a venerable professor of mathematical physics in the middle 1960s, pronounced it EH-ther to avoid confusion with the anesthetic. Most writers don't capitalize the word.<br />
'''Michelson'''<br><br />
<br />
Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931), American physicist. He was born in Strelno, Prussia (now Strzelno, Poland). His family emigrated to the US in 1854. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1873. After some studies in Europe (Berlin, Heidelberg and Paris) he became Professor of Physics in Case School of Applied Science (1883-89), Clark Univeristy (1889-92) and University of Chicago (1892-1931). He invented an interferometer and an echelon grating, and did important experimental work on the spectrum, but is chiefly remembered for the Michelson-Morley experiment to determine æther drift, the negative result of which set Einstein on the road to the Theory of Relativity. In 1907 he became the first American scientist to win a Nobel prize "for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid." ([http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1907/michelson-bio.html Michelson].)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac'''<br><br />
Ammonium chloride. A solution served as electrolyte in storage batteries such as the Leclanché cell, which could be used to store the charge generated by the Toepler machine (next entry).<br />
<br />
'''[[T%C3%B6pler_influence_machine|Töpler influence machine]]'''<br><br />
A machine for producing electrical charge. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Toepler [Wikipedia]]. Also spelled Toepler.<br />
<br />
'''if light were particulate, it could just go blasting through empty space'''<br><br />
While the austrian Ludwig Boltzmann stated in 1877 stated that energy states of a physical system can be discrete, light as a discrete energy packet (quanta) wasn't discovered by Planck until 1900.<br />
So Vanderjuice is either nuts or a genius ahead of his time. Or both<br />
<br />
Michelson and Morley (and everyone else at the time) thought light would travel faster if pointed in the direction of earth motion (revolution, rotation) rather than against, as if it's stuck in a weird air-glue luminiferous aether. But light had the same speed, so vacuum and The Constant Speed Of Light. And <br />
<br />
'''one finds in the devout Ætherist a propensity of character ever toward the continuous as against the discrete'''<br><br />
Particle or Wave? Aether is the medium that light would move in, if it were a wave. This enters the question of whether light is a particle or a wave into the discussion. Pynchon sets up the dichotomy: (aether/wave/continuous vs. empty space/particle/discrete) (also, see page 61)<br />
<br />
'''all those tiny whirlpools the theory has come to require'''<br><br />
People still write articles and books about physics based on the æther. Many physics departments put such papers in the "crank file," but now the World Wide Web [http://www.aetherpress.com/physics.htm makes them available to everybody.] One way of finagling the æther to accommodate "real" matter is to postulate vortices or whirlpools in the medium, corresponding to electrons and other particles.<br />
<br />
Ætherism escaped the fate of Ptolemaic astronomy, which collapsed gradually—over a matter of centuries—as it had to grow in complexity to keep up with the technology of observation. Ideas about the æther, in contrast, could not be rigged up to fit Michelson and Morley's results: one experiment spelled the death of the theory, and it became untenable between a summer and the next spring.<br />
<br />
'''Maxwell Field Equations'''<br><br />
In 1864, Maxwell advanced a set of four equations that would describe almost all phenomena involving electricity and magnetism. They not only explained the interrelationship of these two but also showed these two could not be separated. There was only a single ''electromagnetic field''. These equations predicted the existence of ''electromagnetic radiation''. By taking the ratio of certain corresponding values in the equations describing the force between electric charges and the force between magnetic poles one can calculate the velocity at which the electromagnetic wave would have to move. This ratio turned out to be precisely equal to the velocity of light. In 1865 Maxwell wrote that "light itself is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves<br />
propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws".<br />
<br />
'''in Berlin'''<br><br />
Although Pynchon says that the Michelson-Morley experiment was first carried out in Berlin, this is not completely correct; he first tried it there at the Institute of Physics but there was too much noise due to traffic so the interferometer did not produce any results. Therefore, in 1881, Michelson moved to the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam on Potsdam's Telegraph Hill where he succeeded finally for the first time to show the Null event: no ether out there.<br />
[http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~thomas/michelson/Michelson.html Source] In the basement of what is now Building A31, at the very place where Michelson had set up his experiment, one can find a reproduction of the instrument, though, for health reasons, without the original quicksilver lamp.<br />
<br />
==Page 59==<br />
<br />
'''Ohio'''<br><br />
Harks back to Mason & Dixon's visit with George Washington.<br />
<br />
Pynchon spends an inordinate amount of time in Ohio in ''Against the Day''. Why?<br />
I don't know. An idea: in addition to the Mason & Dixon connection, Ohio dominated US politics from 1869 to 1923 producing 7 of the 11 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_presidents presidents] (counting Grover Cleveland -- who ironically was not from Ohio -- once). Most of them were riddled with scandal. <br />
<br />
[What, pray, would be an appropriate amount of time for Pynchon to spend in Ohio? Is there something inherently unliterary about Ohio?] Of late, although Ohio has not dominated US politics, it has received a lot of attention as a "battleground" state in presidential elections.<br />
TRP<br />
In ''Against the Day'', Pynchon seems to mention things that are connected with some of these presidents without naming the president outright. Spotting them is what is hereafter named the "Hidden Ohio President" -- sort of like "find the pope in the pizza." The only president mentioned by name (to the best of my recollection) is William McKinley -- an Ohio president, but not hidden. <br />
<br />
'''This strip of Ohio due west of Connecticut'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Western_Reserve Western Reserve of Connecticut.]<br />
<br />
'''Blinky Morgan'''<br><br />
The Blinky Morgan episode is not invented; it was a sensation in parts of Ohio in 1887-88. (New York Times archive page: [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C04E5D71E38E033A25756C2A9679D94669FD7CF].) For a spoiler, [[M|see M in the Alphabetical Index.]]<br />
<br />
'''bravos in blue'''<br><br />
A bravo is defined as a villain, especially a hired killer. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bravo Definition] Here, it's the men in blue who earn that sobriquet. <br />
<br />
'''Northern Ohio Insane Asylum'''<br><br />
Full of light enthusiastes who invented light-powered bicycles (see p 76), believe light to have consciousness and personality, and who eat light.<br />
<br />
"Originally known as the [http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/cleveland_oh/index.html Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum], this was the second of 6 public asylums established in Ohio in the 1850's. In later years it was commonly known as Newburgh State Hospital because it was located in Newburgh Township as recompense for Cleveland having been awarded the location of Cuyahoga County Seat. The main building, containing 100 beds, was completed in 1855 on land in Newburgh" donated by the family of James Garfield, later US president -- who ironically was gunned down by a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garfield "delusional religious fanatic."] <br />
<br />
Hidden Ohio Presidents: this is the first (not) mentioned president from Ohio in ''Against the Day'', James Garfield. <br />
<br />
Could there exist some subtly altered version of the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum, filled with scientists? A university perhaps, from which physicists sometimes escape to wreak havoc upon the world? Surely, not: that would be Para-NOIA.<br />
<br />
==Page 60==<br />
<br />
'''Lightarians'''<br><br />
see Breatharians [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inedia Wikipedia entry], who claim that it is possible to live without food.<br />
<br />
'''Aether reports'''<br><br />
Associations of light with "wind."<br />
<br />
'''Roswell Bounce'''<br><br />
GR includes a character named Hillary Bounce.<br />
<br />
The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 61==<br />
<br />
'''intervals of invisibility'''<br><br />
When you blink, the world becomes invisible momentarily. Blinky - intervals of no light?<br />
<br />
'''but attentiveness to duty being negotiable in those days, there were intervals of invisibility for anyone who could afford it'''<br><br />
Implies that the police could be bought off to look the other way.<br />
<br />
'''international scramble to ''corner light'''''<br><br />
Corner a commodity, or make a corner in it: to gain possession or just control of so much gold or silver, say, that you can dictate the price. In 1869 Jay Gould and James Fisk almost cornered gold; their success depended on the federal government locking down its gold reserves, but [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1991/1/1991_1_20.shtml in the end it didn't.] The whole market collapsed. In the 1970s the Hunt brothers [http://www.wallstraits.com/main/viewarticle.php?id=1298 nearly made a corner in silver.]<br />
<br />
'''Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the Michelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected.'''<br><br />
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_735-760#Page_741 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p. 741], insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.<br />
It also ties the criminal underground (out of the light) with the properties of light. <br />
<br />
'''box job'''<br><br />
Safecracking. [http://www.skepticfiles.org/faq/twists.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Each of Blinky's eyes . . . a walking interferometer'''<br><br />
The instrument used by Michelson and Morley (see annotations to page 58) was called an interferometer. It worked by leading light along two paths, then back to the source. Light also reaches Blinky by two distinct paths.<br />
<br />
Blinky's damaged left eye indicates the 12th house in Vedic medical astrology, the house of invisible enemies, hospitals, insane asylums, imprisonment, bankruptcy, expenses, convents/monasteries, pleasures of the bedroom. The 4th, 8th (see Columbus below) and 12th form the triad of moksha houses, houses of final release and liberation. Being next to the 1st, the house of dawn and the day, the 12th is alongside the day, and a great place to disappear into.<br />
<br />
Cf. Vera Meroving in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=M#meroving ''V.'', p.237] has an artificial left eye the iris of which is encircled by the zodiac and seems to operate like a watch.<br><br />
Cf. [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_17-19#Page_18 ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.18] where we first visit Tyrone Slothrop's desk &#151; among the items described are "lost pieces of different jigsaw puzzles showing parts of the amber left eye of a Weimaraner". Also, as Pudding makes his way to Katje he passes a tattered [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_226-236 Tommy up on White Sheet Ridge]whose left eye is damaged.<br />
<br />
==Page 62==<br />
<br />
'''A walking interferometer'''<br><br />
Blinky Morgan is a walking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry#Interferometer interferometer].<br><br />
Incidentally, while you may not be able to become a walking interferometer, you can apparently train yourself to see light polarity, whether the polarization is linear or circular and in which direction thanks to [http://www.polarization.com/haidinger/haidinger.html Haidinger's Brush.]<br />
<br />
'''double-refractor'''<br><br />
In physics, the word ''birefringence'' describes a substance that refracts light differently as a function of its direction or polarization. If the difference has to do with color or wavelength, the term used is ''dispersion'' (a prism disperses white light into a rainbow).<br />
<br />
'''Edward Morley'''<br><br />
Edward W. Morley (1838-1912), American chemist and physicist. He was born in Newark, N.J. He was a professor at Western Reserve (1869-1906) and conducted researches in the variations of atmosphere oxygen content, thermal expansion of gases, vapor tension of mercury, desities of oxygen and hydrogen. He was best known for collaboration with Michelson on æther effect experiment (1887).<br />
<br />
'''''goes somewhere else'' . . . where Blinky was when he was invisible'''<br><br />
Suggesting that Blinky's mechanism for invisibility—and Lew's stepping [[ATD_26-56#Page_44|"to the side of the day"]] as well—involves moving a little distance along some unconventional dimension, so that the light by which people ''would'' see him doesn't arrive with the rest of the light they perceive.<br />
<br />
'''when Michelson and Morley were making their final observations'''<br><br />
M&M's paper appeared in a November 1887 journal and reported observations dated January and July, presumably also 1887. (Publication lag was much shorter then than it is today.)<br />
<br />
'''Alpena, Michigan'''<br><br />
Town where Blinky Morgan is apprehended. One of two anchor cities in Northern Michigan. The other, across the peninsula, its rival, Traverse City. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpena%2C_Michigan Alpena link] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City%2C_Michigan Traverse City link] <br />
<br />
'''''emerged from invisibility'''''<br><br />
Blinky "emerges from invisibility" thus dooming the existence of aether. Aether is then "Against the Day" undetectable, unknowable, invisible.<br />
<br />
'''the moment he reentered the world . . . experiment was fated to have a negative outcome'''<br><br />
The phrasing points to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroedinger%27s_cat Schrödinger's infamous cat experiment,] where the fate of the creature is not determined until the chamber is opened and the system inside it reenters the observer's world.<br />
<br />
'''cults who believe the world will end on such and such a day'''<br><br />
Such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerites Millerites], who thought this would occur on October 22, 1844.<br />
<br />
==Page 63==<br />
<br />
'''O.D. Chandrasekhar'''<br><br />
Perhaps a nod to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar] (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekharlimit Chandrasekhar Limit] which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.<br />
The initials O.D.C. refer to the novel "2001: A space odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke, where [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Chandra Chandra] is the inventor of the HAL computer system.<br />
In ATD p. 63 O.D.Chandrasekhar mentions akasa as the solution for the problems the aetherists have discussing implications of the Michelson-Morley experiment, akasa referring to [http://ignca.nic.in/ps_05013.htm space] in hindu cosmology, alas O.D. is proposing space itself here as the medium for light.<br />
<br />
O.D. may be named after Shiva, the destructive or transformative deity of the Hindu Trimurti. "Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the moon. Thus Shiva is known by the names of Somasundara and Chandrashekara."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva#Attributes_of_Shiva wiki]<br />
<br />
Chandra means moon. Punning, chandra "sekhar" might be "moon seeker."<br><br />
According to a colleague from India, "sekhar" means "light." <br>So, <br />
O.D. Chandrasekhar means "o.d. on moonlight" or "o.d. on moonshine."<br />
<br />
'''If we can explain . . . why keep it?'''<br><br />
If Roswell doesn't engage his internal censor pretty quickly, he will be asking this question about God indeed.<br />
<br />
'''directionless drift…Mia Culpepper…astrology…void of course…mid October'''<br><br />
TRP is taking some poetic license with the term void of course. The moon is Void of Course when it does not make any major aspect with a planet from the moment of its last aspect to the end of the sign it is passing through. The moon passes through each sign approximately every 2.5 days. Thus, void of course is an astrological situation that can last from a few minutes to a day or two at most – not until “mid-October” which sounds like more than two days into the future. And as it says in the book, it is a period of directionless drift. <br />
<br />
“Void of course” can also be a pun on the reality of the aether, it's void, of course, akasa. <br />
<br />
'''Madge and Mia Culpepper'''<br><br />
May be descended from the noted astrologer, botanist and original wildcrafter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654)],through his only surviving child, Mary.<br />
<br />
They present another duality around light.<br><br />
<br />
Madge derives from the Greek ''margaron'' meaning pearl or "child of light" and has some resonance if not relation to Magdalene. Madge as a pet-form of Magaret has been considered the [http://www.babynamer.com/Madgethe national Scottish female name].<br />
<br />
Mia, strictly speaking, is derived from the Hebrew Miryam meaning "the wished-for child." It might be traced back to ancient Egyptian, and is a form of Maria/Mary. Other interpretations are "rebellion" or "sea of bitterness." It might also simply be a pun on M.I.A. -- missing in action.<br />
<br />
Maybe 'Mea Culpa'? or to expand 'Mea Maxim Culpa' as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa here]<br />
<br />
'''fundament'''<br><br />
Buttocks.<br />
<br />
==Page 64==<br />
<br />
'''hoosier'''<br><br />
An inexperienced, awkward, or unsophisticated person.<br />
<br />
'''Photography'''<br><br />
Light tied to silver and chemistry and a bit of alchemy.<br />
<br />
'''saw the image appear . . . out of the pale Invisible'''<br><br />
The chemical processes of photography, a kind of alchemy, become the mechanism by which the visible becomes invisible (when the plate is exposed) and the invisible becomes visible (when it is developed). The chemistry of the silver salts may be the "dimension" Lew and Blinky move along.<br />
<br />
'''As if light had been witched somehow into its opposite...'''<br><br />
Darkness becomes light, and light becomes darkness. The essence of light is dark, and vice versa, and this might be a key hermeneutic for AtD.<br />
<br />
==Page 65==<br />
<br />
'''Merle’s all-night illumination'''<br><br />
Distant echo of Blundell’s quote from p. 24 with inspiration (Merle’s new found obsession with photography) being like physical electricity, here like a light bulb. A glowing that keeps him awake.<br />
<br />
'''Murray Hill'''<br><br />
A street in Cleveland bordering both Case Western Reserve University and Little Italy.<br />
<br />
'''dip-fingered'''<br><br />
A dip is a pickpocket. Merle has magic fingers for extracting information.<br />
<br />
'''Cleveland Library'''<br><br />
The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869, its mission, "to be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Public_Library Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
The open-stacks system is deeply subversive and a great enabler of writers and other anarchists.<br />
<br />
==Page 66==<br />
<br />
'''seeking admission to the hanging'''<br><br />
This whole scene, with Blinky's Hanging memorabilia, people in town walking around in a trance, etc, strongly echoes the beginning verse of "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan. [http://bobdylan.com/songs/desolation-row/ "They're selling postcards of the hanging..." (Dylan's lyrics)]<br />
<br />
'''murders in Ravenna'''<br><br />
Ravenna is the county seat of Portage County, Ohio (home to the famous Kent State University). Blinky Morgan and his gang broke into a train at the Ravenna Station to free a fellow gang member who was in-transit to be questioned regarding a recent robbery of a Cleveland area business. One officer was killed and another brought within an inch of his life [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BMC [Encyclopedia of Cleveland History]].<br />
<br />
'''light of Heaven'''<br><br />
By Merle ruining the plates of the hanging (where his photography obsession has led him) by over-exposure of physical light, his brain is lit up by a spiritual light.<br />
<br />
'''If the U.S. was a person . . . and it ''sat down,'' Columbus, Ohio would instantly be plunged into darkness.'''<br><br />
Merle stole this gag from ''Mason & Dixon.''<br><br />
Note that the bars in Columbus are said to close at 8 o'clock. In astrology (both Western and Vedic) the 8th house rules among other things, death, hemorroids, the anus and rectum.<br />
<br />
'''youthful folly'''<br><br />
The name of the 4th hexagram of the I Ching (Yi Jing) in the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. Mentioned in GR as well.<br />
<br />
'''Lorain County'''<br><br />
Greater Cleveland. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorain_County%2C_Ohio [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
==Page 67==<br />
<br />
'''Beast Without Shame'''<br><br />
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on [[ATD_26-56#Page_36|page 36]]: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."<br />
<br />
Given that Merle is involved with photography and that the ladies of indignation and male town folk are out to get him, one possibility, reading between the lines, is that Merle might be involved in risque photography, the late 19th century version of porn.<br />
<br />
Merle's backstory probably got rewritten very late in the game (see also pp. [[#ATD_26-56#Page_30|30]], [[#Page 58|58]], [[#Page 64|64]] and [[#Page 75|75]]).<br />
<br />
'''East Fullmoon, Iowa'''<br><br />
The full moon (fool moon) is usually associated with lunacy and strange behaviour. The moon is full when it is in direct opposition to the sun (against the day, so to say), and east is the direction of ascendancy (lunar, solar, planetary, etc.). An east full moon would be big and bright just after sunset (the death of the day).<br />
<br />
The moon also, traditionally in both western and eastern astrology, represents silver and the feminine -- the waxing moon, the growing young woman; the full moon, the pregnant mother; the waning moon, the mature woman becoming a crone; the new moon, the hidden cycle between death and rebirth/resurrection. <br />
<br />
The eastern houses of an astrological chart are the 1st, 2nd, and 12th. Only the 1st and 12th are above the horizon.<br />
<br />
Full moon in the first house, the ascendant, represents the rise of lunacy, anarchy, the growing importance of silver and the empowerment of women. This is when the moon is big on the horizon. <br><br />
<br />
As the moon moves higher into the sky, its apparent size diminishes as it transverses the twelfth house, and so the moon in the twelfth represents the loss of silver and the disappearance of women and mothers, and here in East Fullmoon we see the disappearance of two women, Roxana and Erlys. The 12th being a house of loss, "there is little hope on the horizon...for any replacement." Venus is not rising on this particular night. However, "Lucky" Luca Zombini gets a replacement, while "Miserable" Merle Rideout does not.<br />
<br />
'''tenor sax player from the pit band at the local opera house'''<br><br />
The "opera house" is not a venue for opera, then.<br />
:Actually, in opera, the orchestra plays in the pit in front of the stage. The use of "band" may just be colloqial, although tenor sax in an opera orchestra ''does'' seem a bit odd...<br />
<br />
==Page 68==<br />
<br />
'''. . . have you ever felt that you wished to suddenly disappear . . . ?'''<br><br />
While Merle is getting obsessed with revealing images from darkrooms and chemicals, Zombini comes and makes Erlys "disappear."<br><br />
<br><br />
'''He didn't know what was happening. He did know.'''<br><br />
Perhaps a subtle reference to the extramarital tryst between Anna Sergeyevna and Dmitry Dmitrich in Anton Chekhov's "The Lady With the Dog", specifically the first paragraph of part IV, where Anna tells her hubby that she is going to Moscow "to consult a specialist on female diseases, and her husband believed her and did not believe her."<br />
<br />
==Page 69==<br />
<br />
'''some larger plan'''<br><br />
May be talking about writing ''Against the Day'' itself.<br />
<br />
'''winter skies . . . Through the falling snow'''<br><br />
Above the white space we're in winter 1887-88 (after Blinky Morgan's execution); below it, winter 1893-94 (after the Fair closed).<br />
<br />
'''hieratic'''<br><br />
Pertaining to or used by the priestly class; used in connexion with sacred subjects. (From the same root as ''hieroglyphics''.)<br />
<br />
==Page 70==<br />
<br />
'''scantlings'''<br><br />
Framing lumber.<br />
<br />
'''man-made bad times'''<br><br />
The Panic of 1893 and the 1893-95 depression. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 The Wikipedia article] goes into causes and effects.<br />
<br />
'''giant spokes'''<br><br />
This illusion, only with straight streets instead of straight planted rows, was described by the ''Chums'' author [[ATD_1-25#Page_10|on page 10.]]<br />
<br />
'''The skies were interrupted by dark gray storm clouds with a flow like molten stone, swept and liquid, and light that found its way through...<br><br />
This whole paragraph is one majestic passage of sumptuous Pynchonian Poetry. Full of beauty, dignity and glorious sentimental value: nostalgic, evocative and yet so romantic. One of those things anyone will miss after vanishing from human existence. Yes! Life is worth fighting for. Its a Gift. The thing is people are too blind and stupid to see it. We wonder why? ($$$) Merle sees hope and life worth living through Dahlia presence. You could write millions of books from this little vessel ending:<br><br />
'''They lived for different futures, but they were each other's unrecognized halves, and what fascination between them did come to pass was lit up, beyond question, with grace.<br><br />
Immutable! ''The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace ~ Mary, star of the sea'' James Joyce Ulysses passage comes to mind.<br />
<br />
''''seng'''<br><br />
Ginseng. ''Panax sp.'' The [http://www.wfbf.com/media_center/photo_gallery/ginseng%20closeup.jpg "red berries"] Merle refers to.<br><br />
[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tending/essay1c.html American Ginseng and the Idea of the Commons] at the LOC.<br />
<br />
'''. . . herbs the wildcrafters knew the names and market prices of . . .'''<br><br />
"Wildcrafting" here means the harvest of any plant parts from non-cultivated medicinal plants, plants which have essentially planted themselves in any location". ([http://www.ryandrum.com/wildcrafting.htm wildcrafting] also contains a detailed explanation of the author's wildcrafting.)<br />
<br />
==Page 71==<br />
<br />
'''Inner American Sea'''<br><br />
The Great Plains. <br />
<br />
Melville in ''Moby Dick'' likens the sea to the prairie:<br />
<br />
Chapter 14: A Nantucker (sic) ''"lives on the sea, as prairie cocks in the prairie, he hides among the waves, he climbs them ...like the Alps."''<br />
<br />
Chapter 114: ''"in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not though high rolling waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the western emigrants' horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure. The long-drawn virgin vales; the mild blue hill-sides; as over these there steals the hush, the hum; you almost swear that play-wearied children lie sleeping in these solitudes, in some glad May-time, when the flowers of the woods are plucked."'' <br />
<br />
But perhaps Melville was only following common usage as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_Wagon travelers] crossing the prairie often described their wagons as "ships upon the ocean," or ships on "rolling waves of green from horizon to horizon," or as resembling "dim sails crossing a rolling sea." <br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ottumwa'''<br><br />
City in Iowa. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottumwa,_Iowa [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''Albert Lea'''<br><br />
City in Minnesota. Hometown of Seaman Bodine from ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (710) and ''V.''.<br />
<br />
'''before the sun had moved a minute of arc'''<br><br />
''Pedantry alert:'' The sun moves 1 minute of arc in 4 clock seconds.<br />
<br />
==Page 72==<br />
<br />
'''parquetry'''<br><br />
Inlaid work of blocks of wood arranged in a geometric pattern, esp. in furniture and flooring.<br />
<br />
'''brightly lit against the stormy days'''<br><br />
Cf [[ATD_57-80#Page_57|page 57]].<br />
<br />
'''witch hazel'''<br><br />
Astringent distilled from leaves and bark of the witch hazel shrub (genus ''Hamamelis'') and used as a skin care product.<br />
<br />
'''thorned helixes'''<br><br />
An allusion to Thurn and Taxis?<br />
<br />
'''Premo'''<br><br />
1903. [http://westfordcomp.com/classics/filmpackhawkeye/index.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Brownie'''<br><br />
1900.<br />
<br />
'''calm as a sharpshooter'''<br><br />
Allusion of camera as a gun. Also, perhaps the idea of breathing out when shooting to ensure calm when pulling the trigger (or pressing the shutter button).<br />
<br />
'''There was always plenty of bell-hanger work'''<br><br />
In this and the subsequent pages we see Merle getting involved, apart from his usual ''light-related'' job (photography), to ''sound-related'' and ''electricity-related'' jobs.<br />
<br />
==Page 73==<br />
<br />
'''frog-bonding'''<br><br />
Can mean a technique in brick masonry. [http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20061106081517AAscjfG [source]], but when referring to streetcars, "frogs" are the heavy metal flangeways that connect track to switches, diamonds, cross-overs and other track structures. Frogs guide wheels from one track structure to another. Pynchon may be confusing the term. (Frog-bonding here is probably the electrician's task of installing cables to link the frog and the tracks to either side of it, so that the car's front and rear wheels are at the same potential relative to the catenary wire.)<br />
<br />
'''sal ammoniac battery'''<br><br />
Wet storage cell using sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) solution as electrolyte. A well-known form is the Leclanché cell. Prof. Vanderjuice got mixed up with such a battery [[ATD_57-80#Page_58|on page 58.]]<br />
<br />
'''Skip'''<br><br />
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from ''Gravity's Rainbow''. Also possibly the movie "Ghostbusters".<br />
Also recalls Insane Asylum where he is told light has "consciousness and personality."<br />
But Merle's "hitch as a lightning-rod salesman" also may be read as Pynchon's<br />
tip-of-the-hat (or the copper rod) to a certain nineteenth-century American<br />
predecessor, the author of a story called "The Lightning Rod Man" (1854).<br />
Come to think of it, Pynchon may be the one contemporary author able to match<br />
Melville in whimsy, satire, melancholia, encryption, Jehovah-like ambition, and periodic<br />
sentences that are light on their feet yet labyrinthine. Cf. M&D's link to Melville's<br />
''Israel Potter'' (now, sadly, unread), or GR's line trailing back toward that book about a whale.... Cf. ATD, p. 123.<br />
This 'Skip' episode is not to be skipped or skimmed; it sets ATD's readers briefly aglow with sweetness and light &#151; and sadness.<br />
<br />
'''Ball Lightning'''<br><br />
Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a short-lived, glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball size or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on whether it is the same phenomenon. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning Ball Lightning], <br />
[http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s520317.htm Ball lightning explained] and<br />
[http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020209/bob8.asp Anatomy of a lightning ball].<br />
<br />
:Great balls of fire [http://searchlight.anomalyresponse.org/2007/03/physicists-create-great-balls-of-fire.html]! Sort of reminds one of that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Balls_of_Fire Jerry Lee Lewis song]. Recall The Killer's 1973 tune [[Meat Man]], and one [[ATD 397-428#meatman|Alonzo Meatman]]...<br />
<br />
==Page 74==<br />
<br />
'''two bits'''<br><br />
The equivalent of an absurdly generous $5 in today's money. [http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ppowerus/ [calculator]]<br />
Merle's proposition to Dahlia echoes the old saw about marriage: if you put a penny in a jar for every time "you do it" in the first year of marriage and take a penny out for every time you do it thereafter, you'd never empty the jar.<br />
<br />
'''Indian grass'''<br><br />
A North American prairie grass [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Grass Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 75==<br />
<br />
'''She watched the invisible force at work'''<br><br />
This subchapter, in which we have watched Merle getting involved in jobs about ''sound'' and ''electricity'', on top of his usual job about ''light'', closes with an image of the blowing ''wind'', the "invisible force". A couple of lines back, we have Merle saying "There's your gold, Dahlia", pointing to the wind "blowing in the high Indian grass" and Dally thinking "what an ''alchemist'' [he] was" (italics mine). It is the first allusion of Merle as an alchemist.<br />
<br />
'''San Juans'''<br><br />
[http://www.americansouthwest.net/colorado/san_juan_mountains/index.html [map]]<br />
<br />
'''Dishforth's Illustrated Weekly'''<br><br />
"dish" - gossip. Also, Dishforth is an English cricket club in the Nidderdale and District Amateur Cricket League.<br />
<br />
'''some new kind of gravure process'''<br><br />
In gravure (rotogravure, photogravure) printing, the ink is applied to the paper via tiny pits or "cells" in the metal gravure cylinder. The equipment costs way more than hot-lead or offset plant, but the image quality ranges from very good up to astounding and the cylinder is good for extremely long runs. Gravure differs from halftone in pits versus raised dots. At the time of the action, gravure was used for premium materials such as lifestyle magazines.<br />
<br />
If anyone remembers the song "Easter Parade," the lines<br />
<blockquote>The photographers will snap us,<br><br />
And you'll find that you're<br><br />
in the rotogravure,</blockquote><br />
refer to a gravure-printed fashion section in a newspaper.<br />
<br />
The halftone, which became common in the 1890s, revolutionized magazines, no longer requiring more complex and expensive engravings. Pictures were finer, as explained in this section, as they were reduced to "a grain so fine" that the dots were almost invisible. Light and dark were therefore split into tiny atoms of ink, allowing for subtle gradations of tone. [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/advertising-14.shtml Article on the history of the halftone.]<br />
<br />
'''approach the gates of the laughing academy'''<br><br />
Echoes "approach the gates of the Penitentiary" (used by the ''Chums'' author) [[ATD_1-25#Page_7|on page 7.]]<br />
<br />
==Page 76==<br />
<br />
'''charge slowly building up on a condenser plate'''<br><br />
Condensers are now more often called capacitors. You store charge by taking electrons from one plate and depositing them on the other.<br />
<br />
'''photographer's or, if you like, alchemist's stuff'''<br><br />
Second allusion to Merle as an alchemist (see also previous and next page).<br />
<br />
'''Electric Generator hooked to an old bicycle'''<br><br />
Don't know if this is that important, but similar to Insane Asylum light-bicycle. (There was one in GR, too-- somebody giving a haircut.)<br />
<br />
'''annealing oven'''<br><br />
Equipment that definitely pertains to alchemy and metal fabrication more than photography. The alchemist who creates his/her own glassware (alembics, coils, etc.) has an annealing oven, in which newly made wares are allowed to cool very slowly (many hours) so that internal stresses are relieved. Unannealed glass shatters too readily. A similar treatment is applied to metal parts that have been made brittle by working (bending, hammering, etc.), and for a similar reason. <br />
<br />
'''burnishing machine'''<br><br />
In darkroom times, very high-gloss prints got that way by being pressed against a bright, smooth, chrome-plated drum that was heated from the inside.<br />
<br />
==Page 77==<br />
<br />
'''Webb Traverse'''<br><br />
The character is introduced mere paragraphs after the description of spiderwebs "that when the early daylight was right cause you to stand there just stupefied." As "traverse" means to travel across or through, perhaps the character's name signifies his ability to navigate the complicated webs of so-called reality.<br />
<br />
In law, to "traverse" means to deny, and a "traverse" to a pleading is a denial of its allegations. This appellation fits Webb Traverse, whose anarchism is a denial of industrial capitalism.<br />
<br />
[http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ Mason and Dixon's] survey was a traverse, as opposed to a triangulation.<br />
<br />
The Traverse family plays a significant role in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland'']. Frenesi Gates' grandfather is Reef Traverse, thus her great-grandfather is Webb. [[Traverse Family Tree]]<br />
<br />
See note on [[#Page 62|p.62]] in regards to Traverse City, MI (Alpena's cross-peninsula rival). Significant, or not?<br />
<br />
Webb Traverse's homophonic name paronomasia connects to the rhetorical idea of '''World-System''' in [[ATD_26-56#Page_33|Page 33]] and revolutionary internet geeks in pre-911 America at the turn of this century. Yeah, the ones who usually indulge good electronic downtown music and intellectually happy conversations.<br />
<br />
'''bloviate'''<br /><br />
to speak or write verbosely and windily (from Merriam-Webster)<br />
<br />
'''cupel'''<br><br />
A porous ceramic cup used in refining noble metals like gold. When the contents are melted, "base" metals oxidize and the material of the cupel absorbs them, leaving the gold in the cup.<br />
<br />
'''the famous Philosopher's Stone'''<br><br />
Not famous enough: When Scholastic Books acquired the ''Harry Potter'' series for U.S. publication, the company insulted American readers by changing the name of the first book from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''] to ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' The Sorcerer's Stone is not famous at all. Most likely they thought Americans would be scared off by anything involving "philosophy." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_Stone Wikipedia on the Philosopher's Stone]<br />
<br />
:This guess is correct as I heard from colleagues in publishing.<br />
<br />
'''traprock'''<br><br />
In geology, a dark-colored, fine-grained igneous rock like basalt.<br />
<br />
'''alchemists keep tryin, it's what we do'''<br><br />
Photography as alchemy. Mercury and the Philosopher's stone.<br />
<br />
'''Fulminate I believe it's called'''<br><br />
Merle gets almost everything right (and a good thing, too &#151; these substances are lethal). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_fulminate Mercury fulminate] was discovered in 1799 and came into use in detonators by 1814. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fulminate Wikipedia] has a good entry on silver fulminate and fulminating silver. Some fulminates are so sensitive that their own weight will cause them to detonate. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulminic_acid Fulminic acid,] discovered in 1824, is not the same as prussic (hydrocyanic) acid but does smell like it. Fulminating gold, not very closely related to these, is a material of alchemy.<br />
<br />
==Page 78==<br />
<br />
'''The Anti-Stone'''<br><br />
Probably anticipates the atom bomb. See page 79 on "politics through chemistry"...."temples of Mammon all in smithereens".<br />
<br />
This statement that Anti-Stone, if it is an allusion to the atomic bomb, "has another name that we'd just get into trouble saying out loud" <br />
reminds of Oppenheimer and what he said the detonation of the first atomic bomb "Trinity" in the New Mexico desert made him think of: "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that one way or another."[11] <br />
<br />
:The A-bomb is just not convincing. No one—not even proficient alchemists—knew until the 1930s that elements could be transmuted explosively. And at the time of the action (1890s) the only way to get into trouble by saying "atom bomb" would be to say it to a conservative English teacher. While using an atomic bomb does result in "smithereens," its action is not based on chemistry. If you dissect this conversation, going all the way back to "In Colorado they found a farm outbuilding," it seems more likely that Merle and Webb are thinking of a process that deconstructs gold and silver and turns plutocrats' fortunes into rubble. Two alternatives: (a) Just as triple-rectified mercury is a step along the way to the Stone, fulminating silver is a step along the way to the Anti-Stone, some ideal or essential chemical explosive. Or (b) what demolishes fortunes and turns gold into just a shiny metal: revolution and anarchy.<br />
<br />
Anti-Stone seems to be a watchword. Merle and Webb are sizing each other up, looking for a "countersign" sniffing each other out as members of a conspiracy. Similar to Masonic (brick/stone) practice where signs and countersigns are used so that members may recognize one another in public without revealing themselves, "Anti-Stone" and "alchemist" stand in as coded references for "anarchist" -- a word, that if spoken, would get them in trouble.<br />
<br />
If the Philosopher's Stone is a "figure of speech for God and salvation" in everyday, "Christian" society, "why then the other --" the Antichrist is the Anarchist, who seeks to overturn that social order. In a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinistic Calvinistic]- Pynchonian world, the Philosopher Stone of God and Salvation represents the Elect, the "pre-saved" and the "other" is the preterite, totally depraved and ruined, common man. <br />
<br />
From ''V.'', p.533: The Jesuit Father Fairing states: "Any tug in the direction of anarchy is anti-Christian." and a couple pages later:<br />
"In the matter of Caesar and God...there's no conflict of interests," implying that they are one and the same. <br />
<br />
[http://www.3rd1000.com/alchemy/alchemyterms2.htm Handy Alchemy Dictionary]<br><br />
Compare ''Lapis Philosophorum'' and ''Infernal Stone''<br><br />
AntiStone might be thought of as the ''Infernal Stone'' which is an alkali hydroxide such as sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) used to make soap or potassium hydroxide aka potash. They are both alkali salts. Another alkali salt (but not an hydroxide) is calcium carbonate, better known as Iceland Spar.<br />
<br />
What about Pro-Soul?<br />
<br />
'''amalgamator work'''<br><br />
Extracting silver from its ore by combining it with mercury. (Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989.)<br />
<br />
'''breathin in those fumes'''<br><br />
Mercury fumes are what made hatters mad. Just like the smell of pesticide in subway stations near any ghetto of every single city in America.<br />
<br />
==Page 79==<br />
'''Telluride . . . Hell with electric lights'''<br><br />
The mountain town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado Telluride] was home to the world's first commercial-grade alternating-current power plant. The world "telluride" also means something in chemistry. <br />
<br />
'''poor folks on the march, bigger than Coxey’s Army'''<br /><br />
Group of unemployed men who marched to Washington, D.C., in the depression year of 1894. Jacob S. Coxey (1854–1951), a businessman, led the group, which hoped to persuade Congress to authorize public-works programs to provide jobs. It left Ohio on March 25 and reached Washington on May 1 with about 500 men, the only one of several groups to reach its destination. It attracted much attention but failed to bring about any legislation [http://www.answers.com/topic/coxey-s-army Answers.com], [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9026696/Coxeys-Army Britannica]<br />
<br />
==Page 80==<br />
<br />
'''not the result of any idle drift but more of a secret imperative, like the force of gravity'''<br><br />
Ties into the central scientific metaphor of GR, that the laws of physics and fate are somehow connected.<br />
<br />
'''as if silver were alive, with a soul and a voice'''<br><br />
. . . like Skip the ball lightning.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_26-56&diff=16258ATD 26-562021-04-30T02:03:53Z<p>Mnhoff: /* Page 36 */</p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==Page 26==<br />
<br />
'''egret plumes'''<br><br />
Some species of egrets were threatened with extinction in the 19th century because their plumes (also called ''aigrettes'') were much used in millinery. Problem is, the egrets grew the showy feathers only in breeding season, so that's when they were killed, hence no little egrets (egretlets?).<br />
<br />
'''Little Egypt'''<br><br />
was the stage name for two popular exotic dancers, Ashea Wabe who danced at the Seeley banquet at the 1893 World's Fair and Farida Mazar Spyropoulos, also performing under the stage name Fatima, appeared at the "Street in Cairo" exhibition on the Midway at the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(dancer) Wikipedia entry] Also a 1961 [[Little_Egypt|song]] by the Coasters.<br />
<br />
==Page 27==<br />
<br />
'''“I greatly admire the music of the region,” said Miles, “the ukulele in particular.”'''<br /><br />
[http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html The Hawaiian Islands and culture] (particularly ukuleles) have a strong presence in [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 Hawaiian references in ''Against the Day'']]...<br />
<br />
'''Bacchanale'''<br><br />
From ''Samson et Dalila'', op. 47 (1877) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_and_Delilah_%28opera%29 Wikipedia entry]. Listen to a [http://themodernword.com/wiki/bacchanale.mp3 30 second MP3 sample]<br />
<br />
"Bacchanalia" describes not just the music but the dance too, in this context.<br />
<br />
'''from here to Timbuctoo'''<br><br />
Now known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu Timbuktu,] a standard figure of speech for the other end of Creation.<br />
<br />
'''Maxim whirling machines...'''<br><br />
This paragraph describes a number of real flying apparati: [http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/i/Chanute/library/Prog_Aero_Oct1893.html This article] from October 1893 describes the Maxim whirling machine and others.<br />
<br />
'''wing-flapping miracles of ornithurgy'''<br><br />
"ornithurgy" appears to be a Pynchon neologism meaning "bird-works" (Greek: ''ornis'', ''ornithos'', "bird" + ''-ourgia'' work, working). This entire passage seems proleptic, prefiguring the appearance of the [[ATD_1018-1039#Page_1030|Sodality of Ǣtheronauts]].<br />
<br />
'''Dally'''<br><br />
Merle's relationship with Dally is reminiscent of Ryan and Tatum O'Neal's characters in the 1973 Peter Bogdanovich film, "Paper Moon". Merle's family situation (single father, smart aleck daughter, mother who took off) is identical to that of ''Vineland's'' protagonist Zoyd Wheeler.<br />
<br />
==Page 28==<br />
<br />
'''''Imbottigliata!'''''<br>Italian for "bottled".<br />
<br />
'''in Randolph's face a degree of stupefaction one regrets to term characteristic'''<br><br />
Randolph "froze" previously, on page 12; evidently this is a trait already established in the ''Chums'' novels.<br />
<br />
'''fulminate me if she ain't'''<br><br />
What an odd turn of phrase: "set me off explosively." Actually, fulminate is derived from the Latin ''fulminat'' - "struck by lightning" - so it's more, May I be struck by lightning if she ain't.<br />
<br />
'''this Trouvé-screw unit over here'''<br><br />
Gustave Trouvé built advanced machinery from the 1860s to the 1890s; [http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/i/Chanute/library/Prog_Screws_May1892.html his work on airscrews] was pivotal, and he also invented [http://www.electricrecordteam.com/history.htm the outboard motor.] Before Trouvé's design studies, propulsion in the air used sail-rotors like windmills or depended on slightly modified marine propellers.<br />
<br />
==Page 29==<br />
<br />
'''Midway Plaisance'''<br><br />
The big central concourse of the White City. "Plaisance" is an alternative (or Frenchified) spelling of "pleasance," an esthetically appealing spot. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this very good site] on the Columbian Exposition, the Midway Plaisance lent its name to the midways of circuses ever after.<br />
<br />
'''a l'étouffée'''<br><br />
French, meaning braised. So, braised alligator meat. Braised food, for instance crawfish, is a culinary specialty of New Orleans.<br />
<br />
In the New Orleans context, a recipe is pertinent because "braise" doesn't exactly tell the story of this Cajun preparation. The following is drastically abridged from, of all things, the obituary of Joe Daole ("Joe Dale") in the ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution,'' April 21, 2007:<br />
:Saute onion, green pepper, celery, parsley and garlic in a great deal of butter. Add peeled and chopped tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer, covered, 5-10 minutes. Make a dark brown roux with oil and flour; add to vegetables. Add seafood stock and bring to a boil. Add peeled shrimp or crawfish tail meat and cook just 2-3 minutes. Serve over rice.<br />
<br />
'''Sloane Laboratory'''<br><br />
Yale's physics lab built 1882. Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page_33|page 33]].<br />
<br />
'''Professor Gibbs'''<br><br />
Josiah Williard Gibbs (1839-1903), American mathematical physicist. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1854 he went to Yale and won prizes for excellence in Latin and mathematics. He undertook research in engineering and received his Ph.D in 1863, the first doctorate in engineering to be conferred in the US. From 1866 to 1869 Gibbs studies in Europe - first in Paris, then in Berlin and finally in Heidelberg. He was professor at Yale from 1871 to 1903. He contributed substantially to the study of thermodynamics, and his most important work, ''On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances'' (1876 and 1878) and his "phase rule" established him as a founder of physical chemistry. Gibbs' work on vector analysis was also of major importance in pure mathematics. Gibbs was one of the greatest American scientists in the 19th century. ([http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Gibbs.html Gibbs].)<br />
<br />
'''De Forest'''<br><br />
Lee De Forest (1873-1961), American inventor. He was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa and educated at Yale and Chicago. A pioneer of radio, he introduced the grid into the therm-ionic valve, and invented the audion (1907), feedback circuit (1912) and the four-electrode valve. He involved in first news by radio (1916). He also did much early work on sound reproduction and on television. He patented over 300 inventions in wireless telegraphy, radio, telephony, talking pictures, high-speed facsimile transmission, television, radiotherapy, radar, etc. He was called, sometimes, "the father of radio." ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_De_Forest De Forest].)<br />
<br />
'''Kimura'''<br><br />
He received his Ph.D degree in mathematics from Yale University in 1896. (Dissertation: ''Studies on General Spherical Functions''.) He published a paper ''On the Nabla of Quaternions'' in ''The Annals of Mathermatics'', Vol 10, No. 1/6 (1895-1896). In 1912, he published a paper called ''One-Waveness in Wireless Telegraphy; Pseudo-Impact Excitation'' in ''Physical Review'' of May 1912. (''Nabla'' is an early name for the "del" operator, symbolized by the inverted Greek letter Δ.)<br />
<br />
'''Ray Ipsow'''<br><br />
In Latin ''re ipso'' means "the thing itself." "To the thing itself" was the motto and rallying cry of the investigational method known as phenomenology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology Wikipedia entry] developed by Edmund Husserl [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Husserl Wikipedia entry]. As the phrase indicates, it is a plea against abstraction--a theme of GR--- and for reality 'itself'.<br />
<br />
'''Outer Indianoplace'''<br><br />
Derogatory nickname for Indianapolis.<br />
<br />
'''down in New Orleans . . . that Khartoum business'''<br><br />
Evidently two Chums of Chance books we didn't know about. Perhaps ''The Chums of Chance and the Voodoo Priest'' and ''The Chums of Chance and the Mussulman Hordes.''<br />
<br />
'''Khartoum... Mahdi's army'''<br><br />
Khartoum is the capital of Sudan. The Mahdi army refered to here was an Islamic group in the 1880s that advocated a return to strict Islamic values and battled with the government of Khartoum and Egyptian armies.More on these convoluted events at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sudan_(1884-1898) Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
The concept of the Mahdi is far beyond this one historic event, however.<br />
In point of fact, the U.S. is fighting the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Army Mahdi Army] in Iraq right now.<br />
<br />
==Page 30==<br />
<br />
'''contrary wind . . . Oltre Giubba, instead of down at Alex'''<br><br />
From Khartoum you fly north by west to Alexandria. That wind was about as contrary as it could be: from Khartoum to Oltre Giuba is south by east. Now called [http://www.jubaland.org/ Jubaland,] Oltre Giuba (just one B, please, this isn't ''Pagliacci'') is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oltre_Giuba the southwesternmost part of Somalia,] across the Juba River from the rest. Not to be confused with Juba province in southern Sudan.<br />
:Oh, and the Oltre Giuba diversion must have taken place before ''Inconvenience'' was fitted with hydrogen steam power, else she could have flown against the wind.<br />
<br />
'''railroad watch'''<br><br />
High-quality pocket watch. [http://www.pockethorology.org/Railroad/Railroad.htm [pix and info]]<br />
<br />
'''The Palmer House'''<br><br />
A beautiful old Chicago hotel, still in operation. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_House here].<br />
<br />
==Page 31==<br />
<br />
'''Scarsdale Vibe'''<br><br />
Scarsdale NY boasts that it's Westchester County's wealthiest community, so a 'Scarsdale vibe' implies 'stinking of money'. Vibe is another Pynchon baddie whose last name starts with "V", ''e.g.'', Brock Vond in ''Vineland.''<br />
<br />
'''"The Juggernaut"'''<br><br />
The name of Vibe's private train derives from the Sanskrit Jagannātha, meaning "Lord of the Universe" one of the many names of Lord Krishna. "Krishna" itself means "black" or "dark" skinned. British colonial "urban" legend had it that Hindus sought to be crushed under the wheels of giant cars in Krishna's "chariot procession" at Puri as a way of gaining salvation. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut see the Wikipedia entry.]<br />
<br />
Capitalism has often been described as a juggernaut. One of numerous uses:<br />
"Even as leaders of nation states compete for power and prestige, the juggernaut of capitalism diminishes borders, weakens governments and, eventually," ...<br />
http://www.southpacific.arts.unsw.edu.au/resources/resource_nissology.htm -<br> <br />
:A leading sociologist, Anthony Giddens, is also responsible for the phrase, "the juggernaut of modernity". See this incredibly relevant definition and analysis of this phrase: "The most defining property of modernity, according to Giddens, is '''that we are disembedded from time and space'''. In pre-modern societies, space was the area in which one moved, time was the experience one had while moving. In modern societies, however, the social space is no longer confined by the boundaries set by the space in which one moves. One can now imagine what other spaces look like, even if he has never been there. In this regard, Giddens talks about virtual space and virtual time. Another distinctive property of modernity lies in the field of knowledge. In pre-modern societies, it were the elders who possessed the knowledge: they were definable in time and space. In modern societies we must rely on expert systems. These are not present in time and space, but we must trust them. Even if we trust them, we know that something could go wrong: there's always a risk we have to take. Also the technologies which we use, and which transform constraints into means, hold risks. Consequently, there is always a heightened sense of uncertainty in contemporary societies. It is also in this regard that Giddens uses the image of a 'juggernaut': modernity is said to be like an unsteerable juggernaut traveling through space." Wikipedia [[http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Giddens]]<br />
<br />
'''in disguise . . . bodyguards and secretaries . . . ebony stick'''<br><br />
Some great disguise!<br />
<br />
'''establishment defined by State, Monroe, and Wabash'''<br><br />
aka, The Palmer House (see note on previous page above). <br />
<br />
'''Foley Walker'''<br><br />
"Foley walker" is a term used to indicate a sound-effects expert. Also known as a foley artist [http://www.natf.org/wad/foley.htm [cite]]. One of the foley walker's main jobs is to add the sound of footsteps to movies where required, imitating the way the character would walk. So, a kind of 'stand-in'.<br />
<br />
'''Forty-seventh and Ashland'''<br><br />
[[image:47th-Ashland.jpg|right|thumb|caption|47th & Ashland Avenue, 1935| 200px]][...] First, the story [...] about Ashland being named for the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire is an urban legend. Ashland Avenue, first known as Reuben Street, was already developed before the fire and was considered the height of suburban living on the West Side in the 1860s. <br />
[http://www.gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/ashland_the_great_fire_and_the_ruins_of_chicago/ [cite]] [...] The spread of movie palaces in the automobile age presaged the spread of commercial buildings from the Loop to the neighborhoods and suburbs. By 1930, Marshall Field & Co. had created smaller versions of its downtown store in Evanston and Oak Park, while neighborhood retailers like Goldblatt's and Wieboldt's were moving downtown. Chicago developed regional shopping districts at 47th and Ashland, 63rd and Halsted, Irving Park and Pulaski, and many other locations. Certain areas catered to specialized industries, such as “Automobile Row” on South Michigan Avenue, or the Maxwell Street Market, an open-air European-style market that resisted every effort at modernization until its destruction in the 1990s. [...]<br />
[http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/316.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
==Page 32==<br />
<br />
'''Second Corinthians'''<br><br />
This exchange between Vibe and Ipsow refers specifically to 2 Corinthians 11:19 -- For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. <br />
[http://www.kingjamesversionofthebible.com/47-secondcorinthians.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Ipsow's response to S. Vibe on lines 21-23( ...in these days need arises directly from criminal acts of the rich)''' can be seen as a direct paraphrase of Ch. 5 of the book of James: <br />
Now listen you rich.. you have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! the wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields cry out against you... you have lived in luxury and fattened yourself in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent men ... James 5<br />
<br />
==Page 33==<br />
<br />
'''"Old Zip Coon"'''<br><br />
"Old Zip Coon" dates from as early as 1834 and is considered the original name for the 19th-century American folk song, 'Turkey in the Straw'. [[Old Zip Coon | lyrics]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_in_the_Straw Wikipedia] See also [http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/Amsong59.htm] and [http://www.csufresno.edu:80/folklore/ballads/RJ19258.html].<br><br />
The word "coon" may originate in America as a derogatory name for a Negro, but it was current in England too (therefore not "for an African-American"). For other occurrences of the word, with show business associations in every case, see text and annotations: [[#Page_48|page 48]], [[ATD_336-357#Page_344|page 344]], [[ATD_358-373#Page_369|page 369]] and [[ATD_397-428#Page 424|page 424.]]<br />
:In this contributor's boyhood, a brand of chewing tobacco heavily advertised on East Tennessee radio and television used the tune in its jingle, with lyrics close to:<br />
<blockquote>If you like a spicy taste<br><br />
Every morning, night and noon,<br><br />
Then you're bound to like the taste<br><br />
When you chew Red Coon.</blockquote><br />
:The package at this time portrayed a raccoon, but it's possible a different image had come before.<br />
<br />
'''Dr. Tesla'''<br><br />
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), American inventor. He was born in Croatia of Serbian parents. He studied at Graz (Austria), Prague and Paris. He discovered (1881) principle of rotating magnetic field, basis of practically all alternating-current (AC) machinery. Between 1882-1884 he was an engineer in Paris (1882-84) and constructed his first induction motor (1883). He emigrated to the United States (1884, naturalized in 1889). Worked for Thmoas Edison (1884-85) but left the Edison Works at Menlo Park (Edison opposed to AC idea) to concentrate on his own inventions, which include improved dynamos, transformers, electric bulbs, wireless communication (1897) and the high-frequency coil which bears his name. (Cf [[ATD_97-118#Page_97|page 97]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Tesla].)<br />
<br />
<div id="rewrite">'''violate . . . the essence of everything modern history is supposed to be'''<br><br />
Notice what he ''doesn't'' say: the principles of the free market, the essence of the capitalist economic system. As if modern history has already been written and such research would somehow undermine it.</div><br />
<br />
'''Sloane Lab'''<br><br />
Completed in 1912, was the gift of Henry T. Sloane, BA 1866, and William D. Sloane, MA HON. 1889. Of Longmeadow stone, it is Collegiate Gothic in style. Charles C. Haight was the architect. (An underground addition was constructed in 1958 to house a Van de Graaff machine-now removed. The John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc., and the U.S. Public Health Service financed it. Sloane Lab was the first University constructed on the Hillhouse Estate (less the three acres adjoining Sachem’s Wood). The property was a gift in 1910 of Mrs. Russell Sage, and called Pierson Sage Square. The University had wanted to acquire the land to develop into a turn-of-the-century “science park”. The well-known landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead advised in the land’s development. [217 Prospect Street] <br />
[http://www.facilities.yale.edu/campus/Building1.asp?lstBldg=1075 [cite]] and [http://www.facilities.yale.edu/images/BFS/1075.jpg [photo]].<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Frederick Law Olmstead was also pivital in the development of the grounds for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His famous "Wooded Isle" remains a centerpiece in Chicago's Jackson Park. [http://www.hydepark.org/parks/jpac/jpkhistoryandfair.htm [link]] and <br />
[http://www.hydepark.org/parks/pics/laggen4.JPG [photo]].<br />
<br />
For a more detailed account of Olmstead's landscape architecture as it relates to the 1893 World's Fair, see Erik Larson's ''The Devil in the White City''.<br />
<br />
:These would be anachronistic, but as the note for p29 above mentions, a lab existed by 1882.<br />
<br />
'''World-System'''<br><br />
Dr. Tesla's idea of providing electrical power that anyone could tap in for free alludes the birth of wireless internet before being monopolized by b(p)ig companies and corporate greed.<br />
<br />
==Page 34==<br />
<br />
'''the most terrible weapon the world has seen . . . rational systems of control'''<br><br />
This statement defines the threat—as the plutocrats see it—of free power (anarchy) and their justification for bending government and every other compelling force to stamp it out.<br />
<br />
'''out of the fish-market anarchy of all battling all'''<br><br />
Vibe quotes Thomas Hobbes, who in ''Leviathan'' (1651) described the primitive state of the human race as ''bellum omnium contra omnes,'' the war of all against all, which was ended only by the creation of the State. Note the change of "war" to "anarchy." <br />
<br />
'''Pierpont'''<br><br />
John Pierpont Morgan I (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and banker, who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation.<br />
[...]<br />
In 1900, Morgan financed inventor Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe Tower with $150,000 for experiments in radio. Tesla was unsuccessful and, in 1904, Morgan pulled out. Later, Tesla created an AC generator<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''his arrangement with Edison'''<br><br />
Tesla and Edison were essentially enemies, both jockeying for position in the world of electricity. <br />
<br />
'''non-linear phenomena of scale'''<br><br />
Linear scaling means, for example, store twice as much charge, get twice as much voltage. An instance of behavior becoming nonlinear is when air insulation breaks down (arcs, lightning); here adding charge may lead to a ''decrease'' in voltage.<br />
<br />
'''Somble, Strool & Fleshway'''<br><br />
Law firms in Pynchon have such charming names; compare Salitieri, Poore, Nash, de Brutus, and Short in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow''] or Warpe, Wistfull, Kubitschek and McMingus in [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''The Crying of Lot 49'']. This one has more of a Dickensian sound. Somble could be a portmanteau of ''somber'' and ''tremble'' or ''some bull''; Strool, perhaps, of ''strait'' (= narrow) and ''cruel,'' or ''stool'' and ''drool''. "Fleshway" might suggest a reference to Samuel Butler's ''The Way of All Flesh,'' which was not published until 1903, but it seems more likely to go back to [http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/brush_excerpts/brush_20041027.shtml a biblical phrase] associated with death.<br />
<br />
Using the onomatapeia technique such as in the ''Gravity's Rainbow'' law firm, we start to get 'Some Bull, is ('t) Drool And.......Help needed! How about "some bull's strool and fleshway." Strool being the portmanteau of stool and drool, and fleshway being the meaty part of the flushway (g.i. tract, anus) -- you know, something like bullshit with the consitency of diarrhea.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, Strool is an actual surname as well as the name of a town in South Dakota.<br />
<br />
By the way, Thomas Hobbes' ''Leviathan'' (see "all against all" entry toward the top of this page) is also the source of Salitieri et al. ("solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," describing the life of human beings in their primitive state).<br><br />
<br />
'''vestiary'''<br><br />
Of, or relating to, clothing.<br />
<br />
==Page 36==<br />
<br />
'''Fairgoers would see the ship overhead and yet not see it'''<br><br />
Useful property for a surveillance platform. And a perfect description of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon Panopticon], which is a prison design in which prisoners can see the tower watching them but never know exactly when they're being watched. Michel Foucault discusses this in his book ''Discipline and Punish''.<br />
<br />
'''Ferris Wheel'''<br><br />
Debuted at the Fair. <br />
<br />
'''Lew Basnight'''<br><br />
"Bas" is French for "low", though "bas nuit" means nothing in French.<br />
<br />
A detective named 'Lew' reminds us (who is "us"?) of Ross Macdonald's character Lew Archer which in turn recalls another detective, Miles Archer, partner of Sam Spade in San Francisco detective agency Spade & Archer. This may be a bad pun on 'lube-ass night' and also might refer to the incident causing Lew to be shunned by his peers.<br />
<br />
[[image:beaver-on-the-brain.jpg|thumb|Beaver on the Brain T-Shirt|right]]Very possibly, Pynchon is having some fun here, working a whole sexual angle, naming his character after the phrase "BAS night," meaning a boys' night out, "BAS" being an acronym for "Bitches Ain't Shit" from the [http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/drdre/bitchesaintshit.html "song" by Dr. Dre] (featuring Snoop Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Jewel). And, hey, Lew meets Nicholas Nookshaft, Grand Cohen of T.W.I.T. (Nookie Shaft? Twat crossed w/clit? A-and isn't that tetractys an inverted beaver?), where he meets Yashmeen, a ''very'' sexual woman. And then there's that whole "Beavers of the Brain" cyclomite episode ([[ATD 171-198#Page 183|p. 183]]) (Beavers, fercrissakes!). Perhaps something worth following up ... or not!<br />
<br />
It is possible Basnight is an Americanization of the German "Fasnacht". "Fastnacht or Fasnacht is the pre-Lenten carnival in Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and western Austria. It is also known in parts of Pennsylvania Dutch Country as Fauschnaut Day and is celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday, or the last Tuesday before Lent." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht] <br />
<br />
"A likely derivation is from PIE pwo- "purify" (cognate to pava-mana), or alternatively connected with Middle High German vaselen "prosper, bud" and interpreted as a fertility rite."<br />
<br />
Fasnacht Day is known in English as Shrove Tuesday. "The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday] All of this seems to tally well with the Basnight character.<br />
<br />
Another pun theory: on page 38, Lew is described as being in an ignorance "black as night." This can be abbreviated to "Basnight." <br />
Lew is pronounced "loo," which of course is the British toilet.<br />
Lew Basnight then means, "toilet, black as night." Just a thought...<br />
<br />
I agree with the editor below when his name is "pronounced disrespectfully": Lube Ass Night.<br />
<br />
'''White City Investigations'''<br><br />
Since the White City dates from 01 May 1893, this ought to be later.<br />
<br />
The name recalls the White Visitation of [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Gravity's Rainbow'']. Any connection?<br />
<br />
==Page 37==<br />
'''fictitiousness'''<br><br />
On this and the previous page, there is a question raised of whether the Chums are fictional. Or it could be saying that such fantastical sights as the airship are easy to miss at the fair. <br />
<br />
It seems more likely that the comparison here is simply between that of the fair, a small, self-contained world of marvels (like all World's Fairs) and the "real world" outside its gates.<br />
<br />
There is lots more going on (and it's ''lots'' more interesting). Consider these passages on pages 36-37:<br />
*the . . . celebration possessed the exact degree of fictitiousness to permit the boys access and agency<br />
*The harsh nonfictional world waited outside the White City's limits<br />
*he (Lew) had not . . . heard of the Chums of Chance<br />
*every boy knows the Chums of Chance<br />
*you're not storybook characters. . . . Are you?<br />
Too much back-and-forth about fiction to be '''just''' about the exposition and the real world. Some premises that are implicit here:<br />
*The Chums know that they live in literature whether they have a "real" existence or not.<br />
*They know their books are popular with an audience of boys. (Lindsay is surprised that Lew didn't read them earlier, not that he isn't reading them now.)<br />
*Lew doesn't regard objective evidence (they are standing before him, he's ascended in their ship) as sufficient to rule out ambiguity (". . . Are you?").<br />
*The lads are able to experience and act only in a quasi-fictitious environment. Off the fairgrounds (in the WCI office), Randolph gives nothing but answers scripted for him by National.<br />
All this suggests that even the Chums aren't sure on what level they exist. They definitely have adventures, as recorded in their books, but they don't seem to have adventures ''not'' contained in the novels.<br />
What will happen if they come to the end of a ''Chums'' book while we are still reading ''AtD''?<br />
<br />
'''No more than Wyatt Earp or Nellie Bly'''<br><br />
See the next two entries. Earp had a "real" life but people remember him chiefly because of stories written about him (and by him through ghostwriters, [http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/zpub2000/sfentries&cmd=list&range=0,50&Title~=E&cmd=all&Id=98 link 1], [http://www.ferncanyonpress.com/tombston/robbery.shtml link 2]). Bly entertained masses of people by having adventures and then writing about them. Each "lived" through a body of literature.<br />
<br />
'''Wyatt Earp'''<br><br />
(1848–1929), was a teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, gambler, and saloon-keeper in the Wild West and the U.S. mining frontier from California to Alaska. He is best known for his participation in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''Nellie Bly'''<br><br />
(1864-1922) was an American journalist, author, industrialist, and charity worker. She is most famous for an undercover exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. She is also well-known for her record-breaking trip around the world. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''Regarding Lew Basnight's malady...'''<br><br />
Again, there seems to be a character with a neurological illness; in this case it is presented as amnesia, but seizures also result in "lost time". (See comments on Miles' "electricity coming on" on page 24.) Such maladies are more common than one supposes, and can offer a glimpse of other-worldliness akin to that of hallucinogenics, and epileptics have, at times, been considered to have access to past or future lives.<br />
:OR it could be the case that Lew has fallen through a crack in time-space and entered a parallel universe; in the previous universe (which he simply remembers as the past), he had not done anything wrong, which explains his perplexity. The same might be the case with Miles, which would be why he did not expect baskets of crockery near his feet. Such moving among worlds is a thread in this work.<br />
<br />
'''making a point of pronouncing his name disrespectfully'''<br><br />
The only way it could be done is, apparently, by saying Lube Ass Night. Well, that or tone of voice.<br />
<br />
'''the Upstate-Downstate Beast'''<br><br />
Illinois is one of three states with an Upstate, though one of them doesn't use the term Downstate (South Carolina divides itself into Upstate and Lowcountry). The nickname points to a traveling man, perhaps. "Moral horror," "denounced," "revulsion" probably fit with many crimes, though most of those would have led to a prison sentence and we don't have any information of Lew's serving time.<br />
<br />
'''"Although the longer a fellow's name has been in the magazines, the harder it is to tell fiction from non-fiction."'''<br><br />
May express Pynchon's reaction to the press' treatment of him over the years. In 1964, when Pynchon heard that the ''New York Herald Tribune'' was writing an article about him, Pynchon wrote to his agent that he assumed the piece "will be riddled with the same lies, calumnies and all-around knavish disregard for my privacy" as previous articles. ("Pynchon's Letters Nudge His Mask," ''New York Times,'' 4 Mar 1998).<br />
<br />
'''Wensleydale'''<br><br />
A type of cheese made in Yorkshire, England.<br />
<br />
==Page 38==<br />
<br />
'''"You have destroyed your name."'''<br><br />
Wensleydale using very strong language. He doesn't say "destroyed your reputation" or "discredited your name" but "''destroyed'' your name." Does anyone else see this as suggesting Lew's name was not Lew Basnight before his sin?<br />
<br />
'''to plead with him to come back'''<br><br />
A strange response, that Troth should ask the Upstate-Downstate Beast to return to her. You would think she'd prefer him as far away as he could get.<br />
<br />
'''one of your other wives'''<br><br />
A direct reference to Lew's sin, or is Troth just pelting Lew with anything that's in reach?<br />
<br />
==Page 39==<br />
<br />
'''kazoos'''<br><br />
This silly instrument appears in several Pynchon novels.<br />
<br />
'''slow ritual movement'''<br><br />
Maybe tai chi, or anachronistic Gurdjieffian dance?<br />
<br />
'''Drave'''<br><br />
A noun meaning, according to the OED, a "fishing expedition in which several men take part, each supplying a net and receiving a share of the profits made. Later, A haul (of fish); also, a shoal." There is also a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drave Drave river] in south central Europe, though there seems to be no textual evidence to support this association.<br />
<br />
'''Saratoga chips'''<br><br />
Potato chips were invented in Saratoga Springs, NY, and were often called Saratoga chips in the 19th century.<br />
<br />
'''Esthonia Hotel'''<br><br />
How the country Estonia was spelled in English during the 18th and early 19th centuries.<br />
<br />
Atonia is a lack of normal muscle tension, but also, "A frightening form of paralysis that occurs when a person suddenly finds himself or herself unable to move for a few minutes, most often upon falling asleep or waking up. Commonly called sleep paralysis, the condition is due to an ill-timed disconnection between the brain and the body." [http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9811 Definition] This could mean that the hotel in question is nothing more than an internal hallucination of Basnight's, further suggesting that his problem is one of neurological rather than simply moral or spiritual cause.<br />
<br />
'''"liable for criminal penalties"'''<br><br />
Law and the legal profession so far appear in AtD more than any other Pynchon novel (perhaps save ''The Crying of Lot 49''), and so far, like here, in a negative or confusing light. Perhaps Pynchon sees law as part of the general establishment the novel seems to criticize/oppose.--("Seems to?" Is there some way in which, in the end, that this novel is SUPPORTING the "general establishment?" That would be an interesting hypothesis.)<br />
<br />
==Page 40==<br />
<br />
'''lofty regions no high-iron pioneer had yet dared'''<br><br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wainwright_Building In the early 1890s] anything taller than about 10 stories would have qualified.<br />
<br />
'''remembrance stick'''<br><br />
Similar to keisaku in Zen Buddhism, an attempt by a sensei to alert students to their mindlessness in zazen (sitting meditation), usually administered by a stick. An English translation is stick of compassion. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyosaku [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
Lew's performance of commonplace and strange chores is also similar to the way Zen training can proceed for novitiates.<br />
<br />
Of course, a memory stick is also a flash memory for the computer, i.e. a thumb drive. On [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_81-96#Page_84 p. 84], there appears a ''minneskort'', Swedish for a computer memory card.<br />
<br />
==Page 41==<br />
<br />
'''you keep bouncing free. Avoiding penance and thereby definition'''<br><br />
It is hard to tie Drave down philosophically. No connection between sin and penance, penance as destiny, penance happens or doesn't, and now this idea that penance ''defines'' one's existence.<br />
<br />
'''Delirium literally means going out of a furrow'''<br><br />
Drave is right. Here's the [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=delirium&searchmode=none etymology of the word].<br />
<br />
==Page 42==<br />
<br />
'''Spring arrived'''<br><br />
We've seen Lew pretty well through a year: summertime (p. 38) when Troth followed him to Chicago, autumn (p. 40) when he checked in at the Esthonia, winter (p. 41) as his bank account starved, now in the spring his moment of grace.<br />
<br />
'''a condition he had no memory of having sought, which he later came to think of as grace'''<br><br />
"grace" is the last word of this novel. <br />
<br />
'''scorcher cap'''<br><br />
The cap of an early bicycling enthusiast. According to [http://www.velorution.biz/?p=1288 this site]: <br />
<br />
:"In […]1892 [… a] bicyclist to be considered genuine had to be dressed in bicycle clothes. A man had to wear bicycle pants which were baggy at the top and tight to the legs below. Then he had to have bicycle socks and shoes. The shoes were made of canvass. Then he had to have a loose fitting grey colored short which we would designate now as a sport shirt. Then on his head he had to wear a tight fitting cap with a long bill in front, the longer the better up to a certain ceiling length. With this outfit and a bicycle with drop handlebars he was ready to appear in public as a real cyclist. If he could make 20 miles an hour on a good track he was called a 'scorcher,' the idea being that he was going so fast that he would scorch at least the end of his nose if nothing else."<br />
<br />
'''shirtwaists with huge shoulders'''<br><br />
[[image:shirtwaist.jpg|thumb|caption|Shirtwaists|150px|right]]Fashionable the year of the Fair, the shirtwaist is a dress with a bodice (waist) like a tailored shirt and an attached straight or full skirt, the huge shoulders being the sort of "puffy" look of the sleeves. They are now called blouses. Compare Chevrolette McAdoo's outfit, [[ATD_26-56#Page 26|p. 26]].<br />
<br />
'''He understood that things were exactly what they were.'''<br><br />
This sentence sums up the entire experience at the Esthonia hotel, which seems to be a Zen-like initiation. Here, Lew Basnight seems to have attained some form of enlightenment, and the description ("a condition...which he later came to think of as grace"), along with this sentence, are almost textbook examples of Zen enlightenment. No lights flash, no changes are seen; one merely understands that things are what they are. After this experience, he leaves the hotel, and no longer needs to be there. He then embarks on his new career, in part because of his extreme ability to notice minute details; something that he was not said to have had before.<br />
:The sentence can also serve as a guide to readers of ''AtD.'' Even when it is tempting to speculate that "this paragraph is about Richard Nixon" or protest that "you can't see Sirius on a summer evening," it is worth the effort to let the text mean what it means.<br />
<br />
'''descended to the sidewalk'''<br><br />
Most of the public trains in Chicago are above street level. They are ''elevated'', which is why even today the train is called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_L "the L" or "the El."] Here's a good [http://www.cera-chicago.org/images/a001_Chicago_L_tn.jpg picture].<br />
<br />
==Page 43==<br />
<br />
'''transfigured'''<br><br />
In Lew's time of grace, he shows a changed face.<br />
<br />
'''leisurely rips through the fabric of the day'''<br><br />
See below<br />
<br />
'''working for the Eye'''<br><br />
aka, working for the Pinkertons, whose logo was [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/We_never_sleep.jpg an eye].<br />
<br />
==Page 44==<br />
<br />
'''He had learned to step to the side of the day.'''<br><br />
Through the book there are juxtapositions of things with and against the day (the 'title motif'). Here, we are told that Lew has learned to step "to the side" of the day. Possibly he is able to enter another plane? This is possible considering the dream-like hotel sequence on previous pages.<br />
:I think that the "other plane" interpretation is a bit of a stretch. The passage seems to imply that Lew has learned to will and maintain a degree of detachment from his surroundings, perhaps a relinquishment of his perceived control over events or his attempts to control them.<br />
: -- I don't see it as a stretch if we accept that he now recognizes that there are alternate, parallel, universes.<br />
<br />
'''it was apparently not as easy for anyone in "Chicago" to be that certain of his whereabouts'''<br><br />
The quotes here may be to distinguish the fact that while technically living in Chicago, Lew sometimes exists or moves within a place or plane that others also living there don't see, or have access to.<br />
:Yes, or universes rather than planes.<br />
<br />
'''Not exactly invisibility. Excursion.'''<br><br />
Excursion is from the Latin roots "ex" (out, outside) and "currere" (to run). Pynchon doesn't mean "excursion" in the current sense of "outing," but in this archaic sense of "running outside" or "traveling alongside" the real world in the parallel universe of the book's fiction.<br />
<br />
==Page 45==<br />
<br />
'''two-headed eagle'''<br><br />
As Holy Roman Emperor, the Austro-Hungarian emperor bore a two-headed eagle (each head crowned) as part of his arms. The Tsar of Russia also used a two-headed eagle, but it was triply crowned (one crown between the heads). The Serbian two-headed eagle appeared on a shield with one crown above it, and the Montenegrin one had a single crown between the heads. Other details of the envelope would serve to disambiguate.<br />
<br />
'''Trabants'''<br><br />
"Trabanten" (German for 'satellites') originally - during the Thirty Years' War - were lightly armed foot soldiers; later this term was used for servants and/or bodyguards of high-ranking persons.<br />
<br />
'''"have a lawyer explain civil liability to you"'''<br><br />
Again, law.<br />
<br />
'''gumshoe'''<br><br />
Perhaps a bit too early to use this term; the Dictionary of American Slang dates it as "by 1906".<br />
<br />
'''a couple a thousand hunkies'''<br><br />
"Hunkies" was a slur against Hungarians and other eastern Europeans. The word may have morphed into "honkies."<br />
<br />
'''Francis Ferdinand'''[[Image:FranzFerdinand.jpg|thumb|Archduke Franz Ferdinand|right]]<br><br />
This is indeed the same Franz Ferdinand whose assassination in 1914 triggered World War I. At the time of his appearance in ''AtD'', he would have been 30, and his two passions throughout young adulthood and his 20s were travel and hunting (it is estimated that he shot more than 5,000 deer in his lifetime). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria Wikipedia entry]. He did indeed attend the Chicago Exposition. [http://columbus.iit.edu/bookfair/ch27.html]<br />
<br />
Click for [[The Habsburgs in Against the Day]]...<br />
<br />
See the annotation about Austria-Hungary on the next page.<br />
<br />
'''shive artist'''<br><br />
Someone proficient with a knife (shive=knife or razor).<br />
<br />
'''to rewrite history'''<br><br />
Hold on, '''re'''write? As Vibe did on [[#rewrite|page 33,]] Privett seems to reason that history has already been decided and some action would change it rather than generate a valid new history.<br />
<br />
==Page 46==<br />
<br />
'''"staff," a mixture of plaster and hemp fibers'''<br /><br />
[http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html One source] says it was jute, not hemp.<br />
<br />
According to [http://www.buildingstonemagazine.com/summer-06/historic.html ''Building Stone'' magazine,] the buildings were meant to be painted in bright colors, but the Chicago climate put the kibosh on that. Even keeping them white called for continuous repainting. <br />
<br />
The Museum of Science and Industry is the only structure surviving from the exposition. Built as the Palace of Fine Arts, it started out faced in staff but was later [http://www.aviewoncities.com/chicago/museumofscienceandindustry.htm rebuilt] to the original exterior design in limestone and marble.<br />
<br />
'''to counterfeit some deathless white stone'''<br><br />
Most of the buildings constructed for the Fair were finished with white stucco. <br />
Given the many references throughout ''AtD'' to "white" and "stones" to ''counterfeit'' a ''deathless'' white stone seems portentous.<br />
<br />
'''"In Austria," the Archduke was explaining, ". . . the Chicago Stockyards might possibly be rented out . . . for a weekend's amusement"'''<br><br />
<br />
Pynchon continues his linking of the Stockyard killing-floor with the genocidal horrors of the 20th Century, it seems. See above. Heidegger (sic) made this connection somewhere and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maxwell_Coetzee J.M Coetze's] novel ''Elizabeth Costello'' uses it in a key chapter that was published separately.<br />
<br />
'''beaters who drive the animals toward the hunters . . . waiting to shoot them'''<br><br />
Skillful use of ambiguity: waiting to shoot the animals or the beaters?<br />
<br />
'''"Hungarians occupy the lowest level of brute existence"'''<br><br />
Even if the quote might be fictive, the Archduke's characterization is close to the point. Franz Ferdinand, a dour reactionary with aggressive ideas in foreign policy, had the reputation of an avowed Hungarophobe. The Compromise of 1867 created a dualistic Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which the Archduke sought to transform in a "trialistic" way, giving an enivsioned southern Slav union of Croatia (which was united in a sub-confederation with Hungary), Bosnia and Dalmatia a status similar to that of the Kingdom of Hungary. Note how the Czechs, a population about twice as large as southwestern Slavs, were omitted from this scheme. The idea was evidently to weaken the Hungarian establishment, and recentralize power in Vienna. <br />
<br />
'''Mannlicher'''<br><br />
A double-barreled rifle designed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher. It is reported that Archduke Franz Ferdinand had several of these made special for him.<br />
<br />
Interestingly enough, the rifle is also mentioned in ''Green Hills of Africa'' and ''The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber'' by Ernest Hemingway, who used it extensively on hunting.<br />
<br />
Franz was eventually assassinated in Sarajevo. Coincidentally (?), fellow assassinee JFK was initially claimed to have been a victim of Lee Harvey Oswald's Mannlicher rifle.<br />
<br />
==Page 47==<br />
<br />
'''K&K Special Security'''<br><br />
"K&K" stands for "Kaiserlich und Königlich," German for "imperial and royal (kingly)," to indicate the Austrian two titles of the ruler of the Dual Monarchy: King of Hungary and Emperor of Austria. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserlich_und_königlich Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Kuchenteigs-Verderbtheit'''<br><br />
This is not a German word as far as I know and most likely not even a degenerate Habsburg or one of his officers would have used it (but then I haven't read Franz Ferdinand's account of his travels...). Sounds more like some Babelfish machine translation of "pastry-depravity" to me. I wonder what the German translator will make of this. My guess is, s/he will not make a "typical German" combined noun out of it, but turn the phrase to be able to use an adverb like "mehlspeisennarrisch" instead (what with in Austria and Bavaria there is a word for (mostly sweet) pastry: "Mehlspeise" (literally "flour-meal), and "narrisch" is Austrian/Viennese for being (slightly) mad). But then, of course, there might be a pun intended I as a bad english-speaker just dont get. Maybe via the pronounciation? Check out this [http://www.dict.cc/?s=Kuchenteigs-Verderbtheit dictionary], head for "continue searching" and press "voice output" - voila, thats what "Kuchenteigs-Verderbtheit" sounds like.<br />
<br />
The term probably is made up, but the meaning is more like "shameful addiction to cookie dough." In the context of detectives, what may be happening here is this: The Austrians have heard the canard that American policemen are addicted to doughnuts, but they misunderstand both ''doughnut'' and ''addicted.''<br />
<br />
Another possibility: Austrians have read that American detectives will do anything for dough.<br />
<br />
'''Boll Weevil Lounge'''<br><br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil The boll weevil], a destructive cotton pest, first arrived in America (via Mexico) in 1892, only one year before the opening section of ATD. It is a fitting name for a "Negro Bar" as the boll weevil is the subject of dozens of blues songs. The Boll Weevil Lounge might also be a reference to the famous Prohibition-era New York nightclub known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Club_(New_York_City) the Cotton Club]<br />
<br />
1893 is too soon for the songs and probably for the lounge too. Cotton was still king in the South; the big [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_States_and_International_Exposition_%281895%29 Atlanta exposition] was two years in the future, and the economic dislocation had not properly begun. The boll weevil songs date from the teens-20s and later.<br />
<br />
'''...the only place in Chicago a man could find a decent orange phosphate...'''<br><br />
A reference to the modern stereotype that black people like orange soda, here called a phosphate.<br />
<br />
==Page 48==<br />
<br />
'''Wassermelone'''<br><br />
Watermelon; another black stereotype...<br />
<br />
'''grip cars'''<br><br />
The lead cars in cable-car systems. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_City_Railway [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''''deine Mutti'', as you would say'''<br><br />
Franz Ferdinand is attempting to engage the patrons of the Boll Weevil Lounge in a game of "the dozens", an insult contest in which opponents make fun of each other's mothers. "The dozens" has its origins in the New Orleans slave trade. As with the boll weevil, "the dozens" is closely associated with blues music. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dozens [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
"yo mama" jokes also appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. <br />
<br />
'''one has to take the 'El''''<br><br />
The "EL" or the "L" is the nickname for the train system in downtown Chicago. Many of the train tracks are above the street--or '''EL'''evated.<br />
<br />
'''the World's Fair, not the World's Ugly'''<br><br />
A fairly sophisticated pun, if F.F.'s English is so rudimentary.<br />
<br />
'''''...'st los, Hund?'''''<br><br />
German for "'s up, dog?"<br />
<br />
'''All Pimps Look Alike to Me'''<br><br />
An early rag by Ernest Hogan was entitled All Coons Look Alike to Me; "Hogan was evidently not the originator of the song's lyrics, having appropriated them after hearing a pianist in a Chicago salon playing a song titled "All Pimps Look Alike to Me"". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hogan See this article.]<br><br />
For more "coon" references see text and annotations: [[#Page_33|page 33]], [[ATD_336-357#Page_344|page 344]], [[ATD_358-373#Page_369|page 369]] and especially [[ATD_397-428#Page 424|page 424]].<br />
<br />
'''scapegrace'''<br><br />
Scoundrel.<br />
<br />
'''And when Franz Ferdinand pays, everybody pays!'''<br><br />
A remarkably concise and prophetic summary of the subsequent 20th century.<br />
<br />
'''keester'''<br><br />
Buttocks.<br />
<ref><references/></ref><br />
<br />
==Page 49==<br />
<br />
'''Kinsley's'''<br><br />
A famous steakhouse at 105-107 Adams St. in downtown Chicago. The building was erected in 1885.<br />
<br />
'''At first Lew took it for a church'''<br><br />
This could be an allusion to the film, ''On The Waterfront'', and a similar scene when Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is sent by Johnny Friendly and Co. to eavesdrop on a meeting being held in a church by local priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) along with workers from the docks who are fed up with Friendly and the Mob, especially in light of a recent death. Social themes of film seem apt as well. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_waterfront].<br />
<br />
Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich)incidentally was a product of this milieu, born in Chicago in 1912 to a Serb steelworker father and Czech seamstress mother. The Sekulovich family hails from Herzegovina.<br />
<br />
'''Welsbach mantles'''<br><br />
One of the most important advances in the history of lighting, the Welsbach mantle (for a period so ubiquitous it became more commonly known simply as 'gas mantle') was first sold commercially in 1892 and quickly spread throughout Europe. It remained an important part of street lighting until the widespread introduction of electric lighting in the early 1900s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_mantle Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''Reverend Moss Gatlin'''<br><br />
A fictional character. Is he connected to Rev. Cherrycoke? They are both Reverends with strong political opinions and you can hear Pynchon's voice here very strong.<br />
<br />
Possible allusion to Reverend Fr. John M. Corridan, the real-life counterpart of Father Barry in ''On The Waterfront''. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Corridan Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
Some real, or anyway nonfictional, anarchist preachers:<br />
*[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard107.html Thomas Olney,] 17th-century Baptist anarchist who was influential in Rhode Island<br />
*[http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/hol055/96047023.html Rudolf Rocker] (1873-1958), nicknamed the "anarchist rabbi"<br />
*[http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/gallery/galleryindex.htm Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis,] Dutch minister who came to anarchism in 1897<br />
*[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_archives/critics/mckinley/chap4.html Albert Dahlquist and Joseph A. Wildman,] caught up in persecutions after the McKinley assassination (Dahlquist was nearly lynched; Wildman was tarred and feathered)<br />
*[http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301208.shtml Father Frank Morales,] participant in Portland anti-globalization demonstrations<br />
*[http://www.deadanarchists.org/anton.html Hugh O. Pentecost,] who in 1889 was slated to address a meeting in commemoration of the Haymarket; Philadelphia authorities suppressed the gathering<br />
<br />
'''fascinators'''<br><br />
Hair adornments. [http://www.ribbonsandpearls.co.uk/catalogue/fascinators/fascinator_hair_accessories_intro.htm [pix]]<br />
<br />
'''bearing the insults of the day'''<br><br />
See notes on [[ATD_26-56#Page_43|pages 43 and 44]] above.<br />
<br />
'''the ''Workers' Own Songbook'''''<br><br />
Perhaps a forerunner to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Songbook ''Little Red Songbook'']?<br />
<br />
'''Blake's Jerusalem'''<br><br />
The original lines From William Blake's poem are:<br />
<br />
I will not cease from mental fight,<br><br />
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand<br><br />
Till we have built Jerusalem<br><br />
In England's green and pleasant land.<br />
<br />
The Hubert Parry mention is an apparent anachronism, as, according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_%28hymn%29 Wikipedia], the hymn was composed in 1916.<br />
<br />
'''Fierce as the winter's tempest . . . Death's for the bought and sold!'''<br><br />
This lyric does not come up in a Google search. It doesn't flow like any other lyric in Pynchon but reads like a rather good hymn text. No variations in the meter, no words broken for the sake of rhyme, no punctuation to show lengthened or chopped syllables. And yet thematically it is a seamless fit with the text around it. Are the lines original in ''AtD,'' or can their source be identified?<br />
<br />
==Page 50==<br />
<br />
'''Picardy third'''<br><br />
The use of a major chord at the end of a musical section in a minor key. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_third Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 51==<br />
<br />
'''deadfalls'''<br><br />
Low points where refuse collects? Cf. Pynchon's story, Low-Lands?[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/deadfalls [def]]<br />
<br />
'''prophesiers who had seen America as it might be in visions America's wardens could not tolerate'''<br><br />
Coupled with the cover blurb Pynchon wrote: "If it is not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction." Could ''Against the Day'' be Pynchon's prophecy of a future America?<br />
<br />
[[image:we_never_sleep.jpg|thumb|175px|right]]'''The Unsleeping Eye'''<br><br />
Reference to Pinkerton's competing PI agency. Pinkerton's National Detective Agency had a logo with an eye in the center, and below it read, "We Never Sleep." See also [[ATD_1-25#Page_13|page 13]].<br />
<br />
'''bay rum'''<br><br />
A type of cologne or after-shave. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_rum Wikipedia article]<br />
<br />
==Page 52==<br />
<br />
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br><br />
Lew Basnight's temporary presence on the airship may be the first clue as to why it's called ''Inconvenience''. Perhaps his growing sympathy for the anarchists will lead to greater involvement by him, the Chums, or at least the book in portraying the anarchist movement, which is viewed as an inconvenience to the ruling classes. Pynchon may consider his novel's message, similarly, as an inconvenient truth about America's past, present or both.<br />
<br />
:I thought it was just a polysyllable that sounds stately but means the opposite.--[[User:Robot|Robot]] 13:18, 5 December 2006 (PST)<br />
<br />
In ''Mason & Dixon'', the willful reality of other people are referred to as inconveniences more than once.<br />
<br />
'''the whiteness of the place nearly unbearable'''<br><br />
Causing an effect something like snow blindness.<br />
<br />
'''some weeks till the fair closes'''<br><br />
30 October 1893.<br />
<br />
'''our future's all a blank'''<br><br />
Whoever the Chums get their orders from, they have not received any new ones yet. They look ahead and see a blank page.<br />
<br />
'''Freddie Turner'''<br><br />
Frederick Jackson Turner (1861 - 1932) was, with Charles A. Beard, the most influential American historian of the early 20th century. He is best known for ''The Significance of the Frontier in American History'', an essay which describes his views on how the idea of the frontier shaped the American character, and how the frontier drove American history and America's westward expansion. Excerpt: "In this advance, the frontier is the outer edge of the wave &#151; the meeting point between savagery and civilization." <br />
[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1893turner.html eText here...]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Jackson_Turner Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 53==<br />
<br />
'''Here's where the Trail comes to an end at last'''<br><br />
With the advent of the railroad, the West changed dramatically. Chicago became the stockyards and slaughterhouse of America, and cowboys only funneled their cattle in that direction, no longer simply following them on the range or leading them to more local places of slaughter. The cowboy had become a cog in the wheel of a mechanism of death.<br />
<br />
'''Blitz Instruments and Wackett Punches'''<br><br />
Mentioned in 1911 Britannica article 'Slaughter-house' [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Slaughter-house [etext]]<br />
<br />
'''charabanc'''<br><br />
An open-topped bus for tourists.<br />
<br />
'''"The frontier ends and disconnection begins"'''<br><br />
Here, the free cowboy myth of Buffalo Bill's show is replaced by the grim reality of the stockyard worker.<br />
<br />
'''Cause and effect'''<br><br />
A major theme in ''Gravity's Rainbow''.<br />
<br />
'''How the dickens do I know?'''<br><br />
A possible reference to the novels of Charles Dickens, who critiques in such works as ''Hard Times'' (1854) the onset of urban decay, and the choked living and working conditions of the proletariat as the Industrial Revolution steams onward.<br><br />
Or it may just be a standard euphemism; polite speakers were enjoined not to name the Devil.<br />
<br />
'''hob-raising years'''<br><br />
Hell-raising years; his early years. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hob Definition of "hob".]<br />
<br />
==Page 54==<br />
<br />
'''where you knew you could stand and piss would flow two ways at once.'''<br><br />
The Professor is talking about growing up in Colorado, where the Continental Divide passes. On one side of the divide, rivers flow west into the Pacific; on the other, rivers flow east. Thus, it would be logical to suggest that, at the precise location of this divide, piss would indeed flow both east and west.<br />
:For Easterners at least, it's a well-known tourist ritual to pee right on the line.<br />
<br />
The best place to do this, for tourists, is at Cache La Poudre Lake, headwaters of the Colorado River on Trail Ridge Road (US 34) in Rocky Mountain National Park—it is exactly on the Divide, and water exits to East and West, Atlantic and Pacific.<br />
<br />
'''into the control of potent operatives who did not wish him well'''<br><br />
Describing Lew's movement now, but a few pages previously that of the stock at the slaughterhouse.<br />
<br />
'''Cheerfulness . . . a precarious commodity'''<br><br />
The original narrator of the Chums passages has definitely been pushed aside now. They seem to be in a totally different book.<br />
<br />
==Page 55==<br />
<br />
'''. . . they continued in a fragmented reverie which, . . . often announced some change in the works'''<br><br />
Good to notice when the Chums get like this again: i.e. unfocused, depressed, without direction, it may lead to patterns in the plot.<br />
:No Fair, no orders, no adventures: The Chums are between books!<br />
<br />
'''Bear east'''<br><br />
As if on the Continental Divide (see note on previous page above), Lew goes West and the Chums go East. <br />
<br />
'''Speculation began to fill the day.'''<br><br />
See note on [[ATD_26-56#Page_43|pages 43 and 44]] above.<br />
<br />
'''the ill-famed Hawk'''<br><br />
In deepening autumn it is ''rehearsing'' "swift descent, merciless assault, rapture of souls"; at the end of the passage "the temperature head[s] down." The Hawk appears to be a metaphor for winter or its storms. <br>([http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_hawk/ possible definition?])<br><br />
:That is pretty conclusive. ''Hawk'' an established and documented metaphor for the winter wind.<br />
The Hawk is also one of the ubiquitous birds of prey in ATD. The words showing its lethal effect and the drop in temperature are Pynchon themes<br />
for evil. Evil comes from the lands of low temperatures. See GR.<br />
<br />
In addition to these meanings, TRP also demonstrates local knowledge here, as the Hawk is the name of a specific wind in Chicago. The Hawk is the name of a northeast wind, one that comes off Lake Michigan usually in the spring. A meteorologist will tell you that a northeast wind is somewhat unusual, contrary to (or against) the prevailing winds that generally come from the west. The effects of the Hawk can be seen at Wrigley Field in Chicago, where centerfield is on the northeast corner of Sheffield and Waveland. When the Hawk is blowing hits that, given a usual southwest wind, have a chance at being home runs will die in the outfield and are easily caught. The Hawk is a reminder that, though winter has left town, it will be back. The wind has a very particular resonance for a Chicagoan, and it's very impressive that Pynchon, not a native, should make use of it, especially in such an offhand manner.<br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25&diff=16257ATD 1-252021-04-27T18:53:01Z<p>Mnhoff: </p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==cover text==<br />
[[image:Ispar.jpg|right|thumb|125px|An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')]]<br />
Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.<br />
<br />
==cover seal==<br />
The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112066&keywords=Namgyal posted] on the Pynchon-l message board:<br />
<br />
"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate <br />
the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my <br />
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we <br />
owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.<br />
<br />
It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan <br />
Government Chamber of Commerce.<br />
<br />
Read their response below:<br />
<br />
:Dear Ya Sam,<br /><br />
:I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?<br />
<br />
:Best wishes,<br />
<br />
:Sandy Belth<br /><br />
:Tibetan Cultural Center"<br />
<br />
The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:<br />
<br />
:"''It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra.''" (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")<br />
<br />
The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.<br />
<br />
==copyright page==<br />
The copyright page states that ''Against the Day'' is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see [[errata]]). <br />
I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."<br />
<br />
==Dedication==<br />
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Come publisher-speak] for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank. <br />
<br />
==Epigraph==<br />
'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk'''<br><br />
Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) [[file:Monk-Time-022864_cover.jpg|left|150px|caption|Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964]]the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.<br />
<br />
On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."<br />
<br />
The epigraph's possible source: [http://aphelis.net/portrait-thelonious-monk-boris-chaliapin-1964/ Time magazine, February 28, 1964] article titled [http://www.monkzone.com/Profiles_interviews/Time%20Magazine%20article.htm “The Loneliest Monk”] written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.<br />
<br />
In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a [http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/thelonious-monks-advice.html list of advice] from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always <u>night</u>, otherwise they wouldn't need <del>any</del> the <u>lights</u>.<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' Reading Charles Hollander's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Does_McClintic_Sphere_in_V._stand_for_Thelonious_Monk%3F excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere], a character in Pynchon's ''V.''.<br />
<br />
==Page 1==<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!""'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 and 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_119 ''Inherent Vice'', p. 119-120]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?) &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)<br />
<br />
:The ''Finnegans Wake'' line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum '''a''' chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)<br />
<br />
Henry Veggian in [http://boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/35/1/197.pdf his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day"] makes the same point:<br />
:"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of ''Against the Day''." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.<br />
<br />
:'''The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention'''; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br> <br />
"Range" is defined in the ''Oxford American Dictionary'' as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br> Some other connotations may include:<br />
<br />
:'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".<br />
<br />
:"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's] ''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.<br />
<br />
:In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.<br />
<br />
:I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of ''inconvenience'' appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework. In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.<br />
<br />
==Page 3==<br />
<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!"'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"<br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', p.11]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; and [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland''] and ''Bleeding Edge'') &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br><br />
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.<br />
<br />
:Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).<br />
<br />
William Shakespeare, ''The Tempest,'' Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"<br />
<br />
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br><br />
The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''"Up we go!"'''<br><br />
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.<br />
<br />
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br /><br />
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[The Sexual Angle|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]; [[Randolph St. Cosmo|More on Randolph St. Cosmo]]<br />
<br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_29:_289-295#Page_290 p. 290]) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos? <br />
<br />
'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br><br />
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.<br />
<br />
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br><br />
A most vigorous campaign [to host the Columbian Exposition] was then inaugurated, the three other cities making a common cause against Washington, whose claim was based on the fact that the proposed exposition was to be held under auspices of the national government, and hence that the capital was the most appropriate place.... By each of the claimants every advantage was urged, and by each of their rivals every defect was exaggerated. Congressional committees accorded a hearing to the several delegations, that of Chicago being represented, among others, by DeWitt C. Cregier, Thomas B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery. from "Book of the Fair" by Hubert Bancroft, 1893.<br />
:"Scuttlebutt" is a very close equivalent to "water-cooler gossip." [http://www.jacksjoint.com/sailor_terminology.htm Here is a glossary] of nautical terms with some of the etymologies.<br />
<br />
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br><br />
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.<br />
<br />
Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").<br />
<br />
In other Pynchon novels: 1) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience More]. 2) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. 2) In ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the<br />
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)<br />
<br />
'''patriotic bunting'''<br><br />
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.<br> <br />
<br />
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood. <br />
<br />
'''aeronautics'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]<br><br />
<br />
'''five-lad crew'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. <br />
<br />
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br><br />
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.<br />
<br />
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog]. <br />
<br />
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."<br />
<br />
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']]<br />
<br />
'''Chicago'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]<br />
<br />
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ferris wheel'''<br><br />
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel]<br />
<br />
'''...temples of commerce and industry'''<br><br />
evocative of Chicago's Museum of ''Science and Industry'', which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.<br />
<br />
'''Since their orders had come through . . .'''<br><br />
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.<br />
<br />
'''lifelines'''<br><br />
Called "manropes" on sailing ships. Ropes running fore-and-aft above the gunwales to prevent sailors getting blown overboard. They were held up by short stanchions inserted into holes in the rails. Source: ''The Ashley Book of Knots,'' 1944.<br />
<br />
'''as my faithful readers will remember'''<br><br />
Pynchon here is immediately inserting this story into a larger canon of Chums of Chance fictions, titles of which are mentioned in subsequent pages.<br />
<br />
'''mascotte'''<br><br />
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mascotte], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 4==<br />
<br />
'''Professor'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor.<br />
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]<br />
<br />
'''"Turn to"'''<br><br />
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter 11.<br />
<br />
'''"a form of monomania"'''<br><br />
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal. In ''Moby Dick,'' which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the ''Inconvenience,'' Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in ''Billy Budd.'' --[[User:POD|POD]] 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br><br />
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?<br />
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.<br />
:There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly. Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.<br />
<br />
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br><br />
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.<br />
<br />
==Page 5==<br />
'''picklesome'''<br><br />
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax'''<br><br />
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in ''Mason & Dixon''. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad": "Learned American Dog." His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].<br />
<br />
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br><br />
This could be seen as a criticism of an American President, present or past. President Bush is a candidate, considering the Pynchon-authored [[Against the Day description|Amazon.com book description]] which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".<br />
The wild dogs equal both political parties? <br />
<br />
'''Washington Monument'''<br><br />
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument]]<br />
<br />
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br><br />
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")<br />
<br />
Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.<br />
<br />
==Page 6==<br />
<br />
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br /><br />
''The Princess Casamassima'' is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme &#151; admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism &#151; will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Casamassima Wikipedia] [[Princess Casamassima|Discussion of ''The Princess Casamassima'']]<br />
<br />
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br><br />
Lapse of authorial control? Surely the creator of the ''Chums'' novels would not write such a Pynchonian sentence fragment!<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br><br />
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.<br />
<br />
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br><br />
Erupted 1883. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa Wikipedia entry.]<br />
<br />
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br><br />
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].<br />
<br />
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br><br />
A perpetual-motion machine is not just one that runs forever, but one that ''performs work'' forever without any input of energy. All PM machines ever invented have been either hoaxes ("secret free energy source the government doesn't want you to know about") or mistakes. The hydrogen generator/engine is neither, which is why the disdainful phrase "no better than" is crucial.<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one generate hydrogen? In high school chem lab we used zinc filings and hydrochloric acid, but that seems unsuitable with Miles around. Is it possible Vanderjuice has invented a photovoltaic electrolysis cell?<br />
<br />
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br><br />
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.<br />
<br />
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br><br />
''Inconvenience'' is rigged like a sailing ship of the period, though it's hard to see why she needs to be. Shrouds fan out from a masthead down to a rail; ratlines run horizontally to join them. The whole affair serves the sailors as a ladder.<br />
<br />
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br><br />
Cup anemometer (> Grk. ''anemos,'' "wind"; cf. Lat. ''animus,'' "spirit") invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson]. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]<br />
<br />
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br><br />
But you can't measure the craft's progress by measuring wind speed at a point on the craft itself. All you get from the anemometer is a speed relative to the air, which is in variable motion. Since the craft is moving at the speed of the wind plus the speed of its propulsion device, the speed found by the anemometer is basically useless.<br />
<br />
==Page 7==<br />
<br />
'''Porfirio Díaz'''<br><br />
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
In most countries, the Interior Ministry (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Office, etc.) ran programs like secret police. Are the Chums working for forces of conservativism?<br />
<br />
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br><br />
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.<br><br />
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see ''Blackwater USA'', a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA]<br />
Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.<br />
<br />
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br><br />
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.<br />
:It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.<br />
<br />
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br><br />
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs." The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.<br />
<br />
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br><br />
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.<br />
<br />
'''absquatulated'''<br><br />
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br><br />
The word is used in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].<br />
<br />
'''commonly known as "Dick"'''<br><br />
So together they would be Chick with Dick.<br />
<br />
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br><br />
A genuine saying. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Quay Matthew Quay,] a political kingmaker of the 1880s and 90s, said of Benjamin Harrison's squeaker victory over Grover Cleveland in 1888 that Harrison would "never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."<br />
<br />
'''posse comitatus'''<br><br />
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.<br />
<br />
==Page 8==<br />
<br />
'''a pocketful of specie'''<br><br />
Specie means coins as opposed to paper money.<br />
<br />
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br><br />
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.<br />
<br />
'''carpetbagger'''<br><br />
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger carpetbagger] is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South. <br />
<br />
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br><br />
Like the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_directive Prime Directive] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trek ''Star Trek'']. Lindsay's fussy syntax echoes Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the kind of carping criticism up with which I will not put."<br />
<br />
'''legal customs'''<br><br />
Legal = pertaining to law, in this case lynch law. The Chums are interpreting their Prime Directive pretty broadly here.<br />
<br />
'''Katie bar the door'''<br><br />
An expression that means that there's trouble brewing. (See [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kat1.htm this article] about the expression's etymology.)<br />
<br />
'''Ku Klux Klan'''<br><br />
Reminiscent of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan Klan] encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. <br />
<br />
'''tupelo, cypress, and hickory'''<br><br />
The trees are no help in locating the town; all three kinds like bottom land and grow all over the South.<br />
<br />
'''speed . . . made it nearly invisible from the ground'''<br><br />
Few people in 1893 had seen a manmade object moving at 60 miles an hour, and many thought such a speed was lethal anyway. The ''Chums'' author suggests such an outlandish speed would make ''Inconvenience'' just a blur in the sky. Of course you can read the fin numbers on an airliner landing at 150 knots, but he didn't know that.<br />
<br />
''Pedantry alert:'' In perfectly transparent air a ship flying a mile off the ground is visible about 125 miles away. If its flight path takes it right over your head, you can follow it for 250 miles. If it is making a groundspeed of 60 miles per hour, it takes 4 hours and change to go from horizon to horizon. In typical "clear" air (visibility say 30 miles), you will see the ship in your sky for a solid hour. These rough figures show how wrong the narrator is about speed.<br />
<br />
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br><br />
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)<br />
<br />
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br><br />
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''"rookies"'''<br><br />
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"<br />
<br />
==Page 9==<br />
<br />
'''locker'''<br><br />
On board ship, any cabinet with a door or lid.<br />
<br />
'''"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard ''Inconvenience'' you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."'''<br><br />
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his [[Against_the_Day_description|book description]] proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.<br><br />
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.<br />
<br />
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=W]<br />
<br />
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br /><br />
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.<br />
<br />
North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life &#151; coldness as here &#151; compared to the South.<br />
<br />
==Page 10==<br />
'''Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays. <br />
<br />
'''butchery unremitting'''<br><br />
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's [http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm famous poem] about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."<br />
<br />
<br />
'''rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.'''<br /><br />
<br />
See [[#Page 3| p.3 entry, above]] for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines." The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Routinization_of_Charisma ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 11==<br />
<br />
'''plummet'''<br><br />
In the real world, this might be bad physics, as closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the ''Inconvenience'' loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support. The Inconvenience, however, has a hydrogen producing apparatus that could kick in, slow, and eventually stop their descent.<br />
<br />
'''bear a hand'''<br><br />
Nautical: help out.<br />
<br />
==Page 12==<br />
<br />
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br><br />
A head butt.<br />
<br />
'''''your'' mother'''<br><br />
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. See also pg. 48 of this novel. <br />
<br />
'''Herr Riemann'''<br><br />
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''''Mr.'' Noseworth'''<br><br />
Lindsay insisting on proper naval forms: an ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant or lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy is correctly addressed as "Mister Surname."<br />
<br />
'''"topological genius"'''<br><br />
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.<br />
<br />
==Page 13==<br />
<br />
'''There was an "eager stampede" to the rail''' <br><br />
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the narrator?<br />
: I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST) <br />
<br />
:insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?<br />
<br />
: Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in ''Madame Bovary'' to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.<br />
<br />
::Apparently not a cliche: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=eager.stampede&as_brr=0 GoogleBooks]<br />
<br />
'''"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."''' <br><br />
Recalls the opening line of ''Mason & Dixon'': "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."<br />
<br />
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."'''<br><br />
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]<br />
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.<br />
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.<br />
<br />
The giant eyeball is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg the logo] of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_14 (pg. 14)].<br />
<br />
Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.<br />
<br />
'''the indecorous couple . . . foliage'''<br><br />
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.<br />
<br />
==Page 14==<br />
<br />
'''charmed into docility'''<br><br />
If it took only one small lad to moor the ship, she was indeed docile. A wiki contributor once saw a Goodyear blimp in Houston, Texas, landing. The craft had half a dozen long falls of rope hanging from her nose, and a ground crew of nearly two dozen men ready to take hold of them. The blimp approached nose-low, the crew took the ropes, and a gust of wind suddenly moved the ship. The crew chief gave a safety command and all the men let loose their ropes at once. On the third pass, all hands working together managed to stop the ship and get her moored. If ''Inconvenience'' was a fraction as changeable and hard to control, Darby made a great job of getting the ship staked out by himself.<br />
<br />
'''Jacob's-ladder'''<br><br />
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:<br />
<br />
Genesis 28:12 And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)<br />
<br />
'''a giant sack of soiled laundry'''<br><br />
Perhaps ''freshly'' soiled during the great hydrogen valve disaster.<br />
<br />
'''''vol-à-voile'''''<br><br />
The narrator has turned the French phrase ''vol-à-voiles'' (gliding) into a verb (removing the ''s'').<br />
<br />
'''gold-beaters' skin'''<br><br />
Very thin vellum (membrane taken from the caecum or blind stomach of an ox). To prepare gold for gilding, it was placed between sheets of vellum and hammered thin.<br />
<br />
'''Evening Quarters'''<br><br />
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.<br />
<br />
'''Hawaii'''<br><br />
Hawaii appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_191 (p. 191)] and ''Vineland'' [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 {pg. 60)] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 15==<br />
<br />
'''ukulelist'''<br><br />
Ukuleles ([http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html and Hawaii references]) also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', ''Mason & Dixon'', ''Inherent Vice'', and ''Bleeding Edge''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii &c. in ''Against the Day'']]...<br />
<br />
'''Vagabonds of the Void'''<br><br />
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.<br><br />
<br />
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br><br />
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.<br />
<br />
'''"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"<br><br />
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.<br />
<br />
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br><br />
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.<br />
<br />
'''port section of the crew'''<br><br />
The half of the crew permitted to go freely ashore this time. The other half tomorrow. "Port" and "starboard": are these simply either/or words that sailors remember easily?<br />
<br />
'''Macassar oil'''<br /><br />
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br>This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called '''''antimacassars'''''.<br />
<br />
==Page 16==<br />
<br />
<br />
'''mufti'''<br/><br />
civvies, with an Arabic root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)] <br />
<br />
'''ascot'''<br/><br />
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_tie]<br />
<br />
'''Kentucky hemp'''<br/><br />
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected. <br />
<br />
-No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to suppress it's cultivation.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/><br />
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes. Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'. Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses. Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder. It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation. Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter. It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]<br><br />
<br />
This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.<br />
<br />
'''tension of the gas'''<br><br />
I.e., the pressure in the bag.<br />
<br />
==Page 17==<br />
<br />
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br><br />
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.<br />
<br />
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br><br />
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to<br />
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? <br><br />
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?<br />
<br />
'''we were usually out the door and on the main road'''<br><br />
Dick and Chick knew the judge was more likely to order them out of town than into the lockup.<br />
<br />
'''Chinese foofooraw'''<br><br />
Also spelled foofaraw, a great deal of fuss, or useless frills. Cf folderol. However, why Chinese? <br />
:Chick's father tried to sell Mississippi to a Chinese syndicate.<br />
<br />
'''cubeb'''<br /><br />
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub ''P. cubeba''. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as an herbal remedy. [http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/pepper The Free Dictionary] Also appears in ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' page 118.<br />
<br />
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br /><br />
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.<br />
<br />
==Page 18==<br />
<br />
'''headgear'''<br><br />
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''indigo'''<br><br />
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair]<br />
<br />
'''eclipse green'''<br><br />
Apparently an actual shade. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DIO_DRO/DIRECT.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.'''<br><br />
Bindlestiff means hobo; hence, the Hoboes of the Sky Aeronautical Club.<br />
<br />
'''("Penny") Black'''<br><br />
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black Wikipedia entry]; See also [[ATD_219-242#Page 231|p.231]].<br />
<br />
'''Tzigane'''<br><br />
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Egypt'''<br><br />
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 19==<br />
<br />
'''goin all blue from the light of that electric fluid'''<br><br />
Their ship was beset by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire St. Elmo's fire,] a low-energy electrical discharge often seen on surface vessels and occasionally on aircraft. Electric charge does behave in some respects like a fluid and was long described in such terms.<br />
<br />
'''Voices calling out together'''<br><br />
There is no reason to doubt they heard the voices, but an aural hallucination is not out of the question: a chorus of voices is one of the easiest effects to produce with a synthesizer.<br />
<br />
[[image:balloons-paris.jpg|thumb|200px|Garçons de '71|right]]'''Garçons de '71'''<br /><br />
French: The Boys of '71; During the Siege of Paris in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War Franco-Prussian War], 1870-1871, balloons were manufactured within railroad stations in Paris. The balloons were used to get mail and passengers out of Paris. The ''Garçons de '71'' are a (probably) fictional cadre of young men who operated such balloons [[Garçons de '71|Read on...]]<br />
<br />
'''a condition of ''permanent siege'''''<br><br />
Surely no one has failed to notice what a "wartime president" is allowed to get away with. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
'''pétroleurs de Paris'''<br><br />
An early form of Molotov cocktail thrower during the Siege of Paris. There were pétroleurs and pétroleuses.<br />
<br />
==Page 20==<br />
<br />
'''they'll fly wherever they're needed'''<br><br />
While the Chums obey orders from above, the Garçons de '71 follow a different imperative.<br />
<br />
'''energy we could feel, directed personally at us'''<br><br />
Someone may be trying to influence what the Bindlestiffs do, or keep them away from the Garçons' work of mercy.<br />
<br />
==Page 21==<br />
<br />
'''electrical glow of the Fair'''<br><br />
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition#Electricity_at_the_fair here].<br />
<br />
'''admissions gate'''<br><br />
Apparently a break in the fence, capitalized on by freelance impresarios.<br />
<br />
'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br><br />
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]<br />
<br />
==Page 22==<br />
'''quatercentennial celebration'''<br><br />
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition." <br />
<br />
'''Columbus's advent'''<br><br />
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent." <br />
<br />
'''music . . . unusually syncopated'''<br><br />
nascent jazz<br />
<br />
'''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'''<br><br />
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill here].<br />
<br />
'''''white'' exhibits . . darkness and savagery'''<br>.<br />
Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized. <br />
<br />
'''Kodaks'''<br><br />
The word Kodak was trademarked in 1888, and the first Kodak camera was sold with the slogan, "You press the button - we do the rest." In 1891, the company released the first daylight-loading camera, so film could be changed without a darkroom. Kodaks would have been a novelty at the fair in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''half-light . . . in the interests of mercy . . . the safety of the lights'''<br><br />
Interesting contrast suggesting a tradeoff between comfort/solace in the shadows and safety in the bright light.<br />
<br />
'''Isandhlwana'''<br><br />
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isandhlwana [Wikipedia]] You will find a chapter on Isandhlwana in any book that has the words "military" and "blunders" in the title.<br />
<br />
==Page 23==<br />
<br />
'''Tarahumara'''<br><br />
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. [[Tarahumare_Indians|About the Tarahumara]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''"geek"'''<br><br />
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.<br />
<br />
'''Negro in a "pork-pie" hat'''<br><br />
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork-pie_hat Wikipedia] What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless ''Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'', or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Pork_Pie_Hat Wikipedia] In ''The Crying of Lot 49'', McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.<br />
<br />
'''monte'''<br><br />
Three-card monte.<br />
<br />
==Page 24==<br />
<br />
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br><br />
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''nine of diamonds'''<br><br />
The name of a club in ''Inherent Vice''. See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=N here]. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok#Death "Dead Man's Hand"]. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds. <br />
<br />
'''like the electricity coming on... how everything fits together, connects. It doesn't last long, though.'''<br><br />
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here). The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial. <br />
<br />
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On [[#Page 4|page 4]], Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.<br />
<br />
Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity. They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them. They also feel confusion, not clarity. The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state. I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states. <br />
<br />
This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.<br />
<br />
'''Cracker Jack'''<br><br />
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''New Levee district'''<br><br />
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [http://www.ipsn.org/genesis.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Epworth League'''<br><br />
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id48.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
==Page 25==<br />
<br />
'''Haymarket bomb'''<br><br />
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_bombing Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br><br />
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square. Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air. After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd. Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman. The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent. The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.<br />
<br />
'''Pinkertons'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkertons Pinkerton National Detective Agency] was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests. <br />
<br />
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br><br />
This is ''definitely'' not from one of the Chums' adventure stories.<br />
<br />
'''embonpoint'''<br><br />
Convexity of body; what used to be called a "prosperous" look.<br />
<br />
'''duck soup'''<br><br />
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve. Many of the Marx Brothers early movies had animal references in the title: Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup. The titles usually had nothing at all to do with the plot, although they contributed to the lunatic nature of the comedy. The expression 'Horse Feathers' is used a few times later on in Against The Day.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25&diff=16256ATD 1-252021-04-27T18:52:24Z<p>Mnhoff: </p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==cover text==<br />
[[image:Ispar.jpg|right|thumb|125px|An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')]]<br />
Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.<br />
<br />
==cover seal==<br />
The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112066&keywords=Namgyal posted] on the Pynchon-l message board:<br />
<br />
"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate <br />
the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my <br />
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we <br />
owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.<br />
<br />
It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan <br />
Government Chamber of Commerce.<br />
<br />
Read their response below:<br />
<br />
:Dear Ya Sam,<br /><br />
:I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?<br />
<br />
:Best wishes,<br />
<br />
:Sandy Belth<br /><br />
:Tibetan Cultural Center"<br />
<br />
The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:<br />
<br />
:"''It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra.''" (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")<br />
<br />
The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.<br />
<br />
==copyright page==<br />
The copyright page states that ''Against the Day'' is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see [[errata]]). <br />
I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."<br />
<br />
==Dedication==<br />
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Come publisher-speak] for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank. <br />
<br />
==Epigraph==<br />
'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk'''<br><br />
Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) [[file:Monk-Time-022864_cover.jpg|left|150px|caption|Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964]]the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.<br />
<br />
On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."<br />
<br />
The epigraph's possible source: [http://aphelis.net/portrait-thelonious-monk-boris-chaliapin-1964/ Time magazine, February 28, 1964] article titled [http://www.monkzone.com/Profiles_interviews/Time%20Magazine%20article.htm “The Loneliest Monk”] written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.<br />
<br />
In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a [http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/thelonious-monks-advice.html list of advice] from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always <u>night</u>, otherwise they wouldn't need <del>any</del> the <u>lights</u>.<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' Reading Charles Hollander's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Does_McClintic_Sphere_in_V._stand_for_Thelonious_Monk%3F excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere], a character in Pynchon's ''V.''.<br />
<br />
==Page 1==<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!""'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 and 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_119 ''Inherent Vice'', p. 119-120]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?) &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)<br />
<br />
:The ''Finnegans Wake'' line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum '''a''' chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)<br />
<br />
Henry Veggian in [http://boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/35/1/197.pdf his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day"] makes the same point:<br />
:"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of ''Against the Day''." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.<br />
<br />
:'''The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention'''; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br> <br />
"Range" is defined in the ''Oxford American Dictionary'' as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br> Some other connotations may include:<br />
<br />
:'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".<br />
<br />
:"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's] ''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.<br />
<br />
:In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.<br />
<br />
:I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of ''inconvenience'' appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework. In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.<br />
<br />
==Page 3==<br />
<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!"'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"<br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', p.11]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; and [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland''] and ''Bleeding Edge'') &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br><br />
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.<br />
<br />
:Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).<br />
<br />
William Shakespeare, ''The Tempest,'' Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"<br />
<br />
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br><br />
The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''"Up we go!"'''<br><br />
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.<br />
<br />
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br /><br />
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[The Sexual Angle|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]; [[Randolph St. Cosmo|More on Randolph St. Cosmo]]<br />
<br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_29:_289-295#Page_290 p. 290]) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos? <br />
<br />
'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br><br />
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.<br />
<br />
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br><br />
A most vigorous campaign [to host the Columbian Exposition] was then inaugurated, the three other cities making a common cause against Washington, whose claim was based on the fact that the proposed exposition was to be held under auspices of the national government, and hence that the capital was the most appropriate place.... By each of the claimants every advantage was urged, and by each of their rivals every defect was exaggerated. Congressional committees accorded a hearing to the several delegations, that of Chicago being represented, among others, by DeWitt C. Cregier, Thomas B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery. from "Book of the Fair" by Hubert Bancroft, 1893.<br />
:"Scuttlebutt" is a very close equivalent to "water-cooler gossip." [http://www.jacksjoint.com/sailor_terminology.htm Here is a glossary] of nautical terms with some of the etymologies.<br />
<br />
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br><br />
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.<br />
<br />
Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").<br />
<br />
In other Pynchon novels: 1) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience More]. 2) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. 2) In ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the<br />
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)<br />
<br />
'''patriotic bunting'''<br><br />
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.<br> <br />
<br />
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood. <br />
<br />
'''aeronautics'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]<br><br />
<br />
'''five-lad crew'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. <br />
<br />
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br><br />
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.<br />
<br />
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog]. <br />
<br />
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."<br />
<br />
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']]<br />
<br />
'''Chicago'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]<br />
<br />
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ferris wheel'''<br><br />
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel]<br />
<br />
'''...temples of commerce and industry'''<br><br />
evocative of Chicago's Museum of ''Science and Industry'', which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.<br />
<br />
'''Since their orders had come through . . .'''<br><br />
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.<br />
<br />
'''lifelines'''<br><br />
Called "manropes" on sailing ships. Ropes running fore-and-aft above the gunwales to prevent sailors getting blown overboard. They were held up by short stanchions inserted into holes in the rails. Source: ''The Ashley Book of Knots,'' 1944.<br />
<br />
'''as my faithful readers will remember'''<br><br />
Pynchon here is immediately inserting this story into a larger canon of Chums of Chance fictions, titles of which are mentioned in subsequent pages.<br />
<br />
'''mascotte'''<br><br />
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mascotte], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 4==<br />
<br />
'''Professor'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor.<br />
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]<br />
<br />
'''"Turn to"'''<br><br />
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter 11.<br />
<br />
'''"a form of monomania"'''<br><br />
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal. In ''Moby Dick,'' which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the ''Inconvenience,'' Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in ''Billy Budd.'' --[[User:POD|POD]] 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br><br />
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?<br />
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.<br />
:There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly. Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.<br />
<br />
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br><br />
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.<br />
<br />
==Page 5==<br />
'''picklesome'''<br><br />
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax'''<br><br />
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in ''Mason & Dixon''. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad": "Learned American Dog." His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].<br />
<br />
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br><br />
This could be seen as a criticism of an American President, present or past. President Bush is a candidate, considering the Pynchon-authored [[Against the Day description|Amazon.com book description]] which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".<br />
The wild dogs equal both political parties? <br />
<br />
'''Washington Monument'''<br><br />
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument]]<br />
<br />
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br><br />
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")<br />
<br />
Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.<br />
<br />
==Page 6==<br />
<br />
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br /><br />
''The Princess Casamassima'' is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme &#151; admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism &#151; will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Casamassima Wikipedia] [[Princess Casamassima|Discussion of ''The Princess Casamassima'']]<br />
<br />
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br><br />
Lapse of authorial control? Surely the creator of the ''Chums'' novels would not write such a Pynchonian sentence fragment!<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br><br />
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.<br />
<br />
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br><br />
Erupted 1883. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa Wikipedia entry.]<br />
<br />
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br><br />
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].<br />
<br />
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br><br />
A perpetual-motion machine is not just one that runs forever, but one that ''performs work'' forever without any input of energy. All PM machines ever invented have been either hoaxes ("secret free energy source the government doesn't want you to know about") or mistakes. The hydrogen generator/engine is neither, which is why the disdainful phrase "no better than" is crucial.<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one generate hydrogen? In high school chem lab we used zinc filings and hydrochloric acid, but that seems unsuitable with Miles around. Is it possible Vanderjuice has invented a photovoltaic electrolysis cell?<br />
<br />
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br><br />
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.<br />
<br />
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br><br />
''Inconvenience'' is rigged like a sailing ship of the period, though it's hard to see why she needs to be. Shrouds fan out from a masthead down to a rail; ratlines run horizontally to join them. The whole affair serves the sailors as a ladder.<br />
<br />
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br><br />
Cup anemometer (> Grk. ''anemos,'' "wind"; cf. Lat. ''animus,'' "spirit") invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson]. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]<br />
<br />
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br><br />
But you can't measure the craft's progress by measuring wind speed at a point on the craft itself. All you get from the anemometer is a speed relative to the air, which is in variable motion. Since the craft is moving at the speed of the wind plus the speed of its propulsion device, the speed found by the anemometer is basically useless.<br />
<br />
==Page 7==<br />
<br />
'''Porfirio Díaz'''<br><br />
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
In most countries, the Interior Ministry (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Office, etc.) ran programs like secret police. Are the Chums working for forces of conservativism?<br />
<br />
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br><br />
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.<br><br />
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see ''Blackwater USA'', a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA]<br />
Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.<br />
<br />
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br><br />
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.<br />
:It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.<br />
<br />
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br><br />
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs." The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.<br />
<br />
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br><br />
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.<br />
<br />
'''absquatulated'''<br><br />
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br><br />
The word is used in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].<br />
<br />
'''commonly known as "Dick"'''<br><br />
So together they would be Chick with Dick.<br />
<br />
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br><br />
A genuine saying. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Quay Matthew Quay,] a political kingmaker of the 1880s and 90s, said of Benjamin Harrison's squeaker victory over Grover Cleveland in 1888 that Harrison would "never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."<br />
<br />
'''posse comitatus'''<br><br />
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.<br />
<br />
==Page 8==<br />
<br />
'''a pocketful of specie'''<br><br />
Specie means coins as opposed to paper money.<br />
<br />
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br><br />
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.<br />
<br />
'''carpetbagger'''<br><br />
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger carpetbagger] is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South. <br />
<br />
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br><br />
Like the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_directive Prime Directive] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trek ''Star Trek'']. Lindsay's fussy syntax echoes Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the kind of carping criticism up with which I will not put."<br />
<br />
'''legal customs'''<br><br />
Legal = pertaining to law, in this case lynch law. The Chums are interpreting their Prime Directive pretty broadly here.<br />
<br />
'''Katie bar the door'''<br><br />
An expression that means that there's trouble brewing. (See [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kat1.htm this article] about the expression's etymology.)<br />
<br />
'''Ku Klux Klan'''<br><br />
Reminiscent of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan Klan] encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. <br />
<br />
'''tupelo, cypress, and hickory'''<br><br />
The trees are no help in locating the town; all three kinds like bottom land and grow all over the South.<br />
<br />
'''speed . . . made it nearly invisible from the ground'''<br><br />
Few people in 1893 had seen a manmade object moving at 60 miles an hour, and many thought such a speed was lethal anyway. The ''Chums'' author suggests such an outlandish speed would make ''Inconvenience'' just a blur in the sky. Of course you can read the fin numbers on an airliner landing at 150 knots, but he didn't know that.<br />
<br />
''Pedantry alert:'' In perfectly transparent air a ship flying a mile off the ground is visible about 125 miles away. If its flight path takes it right over your head, you can follow it for 250 miles. If it is making a groundspeed of 60 miles per hour, it takes 4 hours and change to go from horizon to horizon. In typical "clear" air (visibility say 30 miles), you will see the ship in your sky for a solid hour. These rough figures show how wrong the narrator is about speed.<br />
<br />
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br><br />
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)<br />
<br />
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br><br />
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''"rookies"'''<br><br />
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"<br />
<br />
==Page 9==<br />
<br />
'''locker'''<br><br />
On board ship, any cabinet with a door or lid.<br />
<br />
'''"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard ''Inconvenience'' you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."'''<br><br />
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his [[Against_the_Day_description|book description]] proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.<br><br />
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.<br />
<br />
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=W]<br />
<br />
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br /><br />
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.<br />
<br />
North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life &#151; coldness as here &#151; compared to the South.<br />
<br />
==Page 10==<br />
'''Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays. <br />
<br />
'''butchery unremitting'''<br><br />
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's [http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm famous poem] about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."<br />
<br />
<br />
'''rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.'''<br /><br />
<br />
See [[#Page 3| p.3 entry, above]] for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines." The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Routinization_of_Charisma ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 11==<br />
<br />
'''plummet'''<br><br />
In the real world, this might be bad physics, as closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the ''Inconvenience'' loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support. The Inconvenience, however, has a hydrogen producing apparatus that could kick in, slow, and eventually stop their descent.<br />
<br />
'''bear a hand'''<br><br />
Nautical: help out.<br />
<br />
==Page 12==<br />
<br />
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br><br />
A head butt.<br />
<br />
'''''your'' mother'''<br><br />
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. See also pg. 48 of this novel. <br />
<br />
'''Herr Riemann'''<br><br />
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''''Mr.'' Noseworth'''<br><br />
Lindsay insisting on proper naval forms: an ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant or lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy is correctly addressed as "Mister Surname."<br />
<br />
'''"topological genius"'''<br><br />
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.<br />
<br />
==Page 13==<br />
<br />
'''There was an "eager stampede" to the rail''' <br><br />
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the narrator?<br />
: I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST) <br />
<br />
:insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?<br />
<br />
: Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in ''Madame Bovary'' to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.<br />
<br />
::Apparently not a cliche: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=eager.stampede&as_brr=0 GoogleBooks]<br />
<br />
'''"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."''' <br><br />
Recalls the opening line of ''Mason & Dixon'': "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."<br />
<br />
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."'''<br><br />
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]<br />
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.<br />
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.<br />
<br />
The giant eyeball is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg the logo] of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_14 (pg. 14)].<br />
<br />
Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.<br />
<br />
'''the indecorous couple . . . foliage'''<br><br />
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.<br />
<br />
==Page 14==<br />
<br />
'''charmed into docility'''<br><br />
If it took only one small lad to moor the ship, she was indeed docile. A wiki contributor once saw a Goodyear blimp in Houston, Texas, landing. The craft had half a dozen long falls of rope hanging from her nose, and a ground crew of nearly two dozen men ready to take hold of them. The blimp approached nose-low, the crew took the ropes, and a gust of wind suddenly moved the ship. The crew chief gave a safety command and all the men let loose their ropes at once. On the third pass, all hands working together managed to stop the ship and get her moored. If ''Inconvenience'' was a fraction as changeable and hard to control, Darby made a great job of getting the ship staked out by himself.<br />
<br />
'''Jacob's-ladder'''<br><br />
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:<br />
<br />
Genesis 28:12 And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)<br />
<br />
'''a giant sack of soiled laundry'''<br><br />
Perhaps ''freshly'' soiled during the great hydrogen valve disaster.<br />
<br />
'''''vol-à-voile'''''<br><br />
The narrator has turned the French phrase ''vol-à-voiles'' (gliding) into a verb (removing the ''s'').<br />
<br />
'''gold-beaters' skin'''<br><br />
Very thin vellum (membrane taken from the caecum or blind stomach of an ox). To prepare gold for gilding, it was placed between sheets of vellum and hammered thin.<br />
<br />
'''Evening Quarters'''<br><br />
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.<br />
<br />
'''Hawaii'''<br><br />
Hawaii appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_191 (p. 191)] and ''Vineland'' [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 {pg. 60)] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 15==<br />
<br />
'''ukulelist'''<br><br />
Ukuleles ([http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html and Hawaii references]) also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', ''Mason & Dixon'', ''Inherent Vice'', and ''Bleeding Edge''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii &c. in ''Against the Day'']]...<br />
<br />
'''Vagabonds of the Void'''<br><br />
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.<br><br />
<br />
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br><br />
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.<br />
<br />
'''"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"<br><br />
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.<br />
<br />
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br><br />
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.<br />
<br />
'''port section of the crew'''<br><br />
The half of the crew permitted to go freely ashore this time. The other half tomorrow. "Port" and "starboard": are these simply either/or words that sailors remember easily?<br />
<br />
'''Macassar oil'''<br /><br />
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br>This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called '''''antimacassars'''''.<br />
<br />
==Page 16==<br />
<br />
<br />
'''mufti'''<br/><br />
civvies, with an Arabic root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)] <br />
<br />
'''ascot'''<br/><br />
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_tie]<br />
<br />
'''Kentucky hemp'''<br/><br />
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected. <br />
<br />
No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to suppress it's cultivation.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/><br />
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes. Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'. Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses. Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder. It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation. Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter. It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]<br><br />
<br />
This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.<br />
<br />
'''tension of the gas'''<br><br />
I.e., the pressure in the bag.<br />
<br />
==Page 17==<br />
<br />
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br><br />
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.<br />
<br />
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br><br />
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to<br />
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? <br><br />
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?<br />
<br />
'''we were usually out the door and on the main road'''<br><br />
Dick and Chick knew the judge was more likely to order them out of town than into the lockup.<br />
<br />
'''Chinese foofooraw'''<br><br />
Also spelled foofaraw, a great deal of fuss, or useless frills. Cf folderol. However, why Chinese? <br />
:Chick's father tried to sell Mississippi to a Chinese syndicate.<br />
<br />
'''cubeb'''<br /><br />
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub ''P. cubeba''. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as an herbal remedy. [http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/pepper The Free Dictionary] Also appears in ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' page 118.<br />
<br />
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br /><br />
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.<br />
<br />
==Page 18==<br />
<br />
'''headgear'''<br><br />
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''indigo'''<br><br />
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair]<br />
<br />
'''eclipse green'''<br><br />
Apparently an actual shade. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DIO_DRO/DIRECT.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.'''<br><br />
Bindlestiff means hobo; hence, the Hoboes of the Sky Aeronautical Club.<br />
<br />
'''("Penny") Black'''<br><br />
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black Wikipedia entry]; See also [[ATD_219-242#Page 231|p.231]].<br />
<br />
'''Tzigane'''<br><br />
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Egypt'''<br><br />
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 19==<br />
<br />
'''goin all blue from the light of that electric fluid'''<br><br />
Their ship was beset by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire St. Elmo's fire,] a low-energy electrical discharge often seen on surface vessels and occasionally on aircraft. Electric charge does behave in some respects like a fluid and was long described in such terms.<br />
<br />
'''Voices calling out together'''<br><br />
There is no reason to doubt they heard the voices, but an aural hallucination is not out of the question: a chorus of voices is one of the easiest effects to produce with a synthesizer.<br />
<br />
[[image:balloons-paris.jpg|thumb|200px|Garçons de '71|right]]'''Garçons de '71'''<br /><br />
French: The Boys of '71; During the Siege of Paris in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War Franco-Prussian War], 1870-1871, balloons were manufactured within railroad stations in Paris. The balloons were used to get mail and passengers out of Paris. The ''Garçons de '71'' are a (probably) fictional cadre of young men who operated such balloons [[Garçons de '71|Read on...]]<br />
<br />
'''a condition of ''permanent siege'''''<br><br />
Surely no one has failed to notice what a "wartime president" is allowed to get away with. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
'''pétroleurs de Paris'''<br><br />
An early form of Molotov cocktail thrower during the Siege of Paris. There were pétroleurs and pétroleuses.<br />
<br />
==Page 20==<br />
<br />
'''they'll fly wherever they're needed'''<br><br />
While the Chums obey orders from above, the Garçons de '71 follow a different imperative.<br />
<br />
'''energy we could feel, directed personally at us'''<br><br />
Someone may be trying to influence what the Bindlestiffs do, or keep them away from the Garçons' work of mercy.<br />
<br />
==Page 21==<br />
<br />
'''electrical glow of the Fair'''<br><br />
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition#Electricity_at_the_fair here].<br />
<br />
'''admissions gate'''<br><br />
Apparently a break in the fence, capitalized on by freelance impresarios.<br />
<br />
'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br><br />
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]<br />
<br />
==Page 22==<br />
'''quatercentennial celebration'''<br><br />
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition." <br />
<br />
'''Columbus's advent'''<br><br />
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent." <br />
<br />
'''music . . . unusually syncopated'''<br><br />
nascent jazz<br />
<br />
'''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'''<br><br />
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill here].<br />
<br />
'''''white'' exhibits . . darkness and savagery'''<br>.<br />
Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized. <br />
<br />
'''Kodaks'''<br><br />
The word Kodak was trademarked in 1888, and the first Kodak camera was sold with the slogan, "You press the button - we do the rest." In 1891, the company released the first daylight-loading camera, so film could be changed without a darkroom. Kodaks would have been a novelty at the fair in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''half-light . . . in the interests of mercy . . . the safety of the lights'''<br><br />
Interesting contrast suggesting a tradeoff between comfort/solace in the shadows and safety in the bright light.<br />
<br />
'''Isandhlwana'''<br><br />
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isandhlwana [Wikipedia]] You will find a chapter on Isandhlwana in any book that has the words "military" and "blunders" in the title.<br />
<br />
==Page 23==<br />
<br />
'''Tarahumara'''<br><br />
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. [[Tarahumare_Indians|About the Tarahumara]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''"geek"'''<br><br />
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.<br />
<br />
'''Negro in a "pork-pie" hat'''<br><br />
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork-pie_hat Wikipedia] What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless ''Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'', or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Pork_Pie_Hat Wikipedia] In ''The Crying of Lot 49'', McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.<br />
<br />
'''monte'''<br><br />
Three-card monte.<br />
<br />
==Page 24==<br />
<br />
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br><br />
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''nine of diamonds'''<br><br />
The name of a club in ''Inherent Vice''. See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=N here]. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok#Death "Dead Man's Hand"]. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds. <br />
<br />
'''like the electricity coming on... how everything fits together, connects. It doesn't last long, though.'''<br><br />
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here). The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial. <br />
<br />
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On [[#Page 4|page 4]], Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.<br />
<br />
Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity. They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them. They also feel confusion, not clarity. The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state. I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states. <br />
<br />
This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.<br />
<br />
'''Cracker Jack'''<br><br />
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''New Levee district'''<br><br />
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [http://www.ipsn.org/genesis.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Epworth League'''<br><br />
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id48.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
==Page 25==<br />
<br />
'''Haymarket bomb'''<br><br />
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_bombing Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br><br />
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square. Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air. After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd. Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman. The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent. The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.<br />
<br />
'''Pinkertons'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkertons Pinkerton National Detective Agency] was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests. <br />
<br />
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br><br />
This is ''definitely'' not from one of the Chums' adventure stories.<br />
<br />
'''embonpoint'''<br><br />
Convexity of body; what used to be called a "prosperous" look.<br />
<br />
'''duck soup'''<br><br />
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve. Many of the Marx Brothers early movies had animal references in the title: Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup. The titles usually had nothing at all to do with the plot, although they contributed to the lunatic nature of the comedy. The expression 'Horse Feathers' is used a few times later on in Against The Day.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25&diff=16255ATD 1-252021-04-27T18:50:18Z<p>Mnhoff: </p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==cover text==<br />
[[image:Ispar.jpg|right|thumb|125px|An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')]]<br />
Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.<br />
<br />
==cover seal==<br />
The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112066&keywords=Namgyal posted] on the Pynchon-l message board:<br />
<br />
"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate <br />
the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my <br />
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we <br />
owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.<br />
<br />
It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan <br />
Government Chamber of Commerce.<br />
<br />
Read their response below:<br />
<br />
:Dear Ya Sam,<br /><br />
:I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?<br />
<br />
:Best wishes,<br />
<br />
:Sandy Belth<br /><br />
:Tibetan Cultural Center"<br />
<br />
The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:<br />
<br />
:"''It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra.''" (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")<br />
<br />
The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.<br />
<br />
==copyright page==<br />
The copyright page states that ''Against the Day'' is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see [[errata]]). <br />
I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."<br />
<br />
==Dedication==<br />
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Come publisher-speak] for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank. <br />
<br />
==Epigraph==<br />
'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk'''<br><br />
Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) [[file:Monk-Time-022864_cover.jpg|left|150px|caption|Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964]]the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.<br />
<br />
On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."<br />
<br />
The epigraph's possible source: [http://aphelis.net/portrait-thelonious-monk-boris-chaliapin-1964/ Time magazine, February 28, 1964] article titled [http://www.monkzone.com/Profiles_interviews/Time%20Magazine%20article.htm “The Loneliest Monk”] written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.<br />
<br />
In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a [http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/thelonious-monks-advice.html list of advice] from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always <u>night</u>, otherwise they wouldn't need <del>any</del> the <u>lights</u>.<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' Reading Charles Hollander's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Does_McClintic_Sphere_in_V._stand_for_Thelonious_Monk%3F excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere], a character in Pynchon's ''V.''.<br />
<br />
==Page 1==<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!""'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 and 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_119 ''Inherent Vice'', p. 119-120]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?) &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)<br />
<br />
:The ''Finnegans Wake'' line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum '''a''' chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)<br />
<br />
Henry Veggian in [http://boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/35/1/197.pdf his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day"] makes the same point:<br />
:"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of ''Against the Day''." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.<br />
<br />
:'''The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention'''; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br> <br />
"Range" is defined in the ''Oxford American Dictionary'' as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br> Some other connotations may include:<br />
<br />
:'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".<br />
<br />
:"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's] ''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.<br />
<br />
:In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.<br />
<br />
:I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of ''inconvenience'' appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework. In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.<br />
<br />
==Page 3==<br />
<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!"'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"<br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', p.11]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; and [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland''] and ''Bleeding Edge'') &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br><br />
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.<br />
<br />
:Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).<br />
<br />
William Shakespeare, ''The Tempest,'' Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"<br />
<br />
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br><br />
The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''"Up we go!"'''<br><br />
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.<br />
<br />
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br /><br />
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[The Sexual Angle|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]; [[Randolph St. Cosmo|More on Randolph St. Cosmo]]<br />
<br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_29:_289-295#Page_290 p. 290]) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos? <br />
<br />
'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br><br />
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.<br />
<br />
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br><br />
A most vigorous campaign [to host the Columbian Exposition] was then inaugurated, the three other cities making a common cause against Washington, whose claim was based on the fact that the proposed exposition was to be held under auspices of the national government, and hence that the capital was the most appropriate place.... By each of the claimants every advantage was urged, and by each of their rivals every defect was exaggerated. Congressional committees accorded a hearing to the several delegations, that of Chicago being represented, among others, by DeWitt C. Cregier, Thomas B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery. from "Book of the Fair" by Hubert Bancroft, 1893.<br />
:"Scuttlebutt" is a very close equivalent to "water-cooler gossip." [http://www.jacksjoint.com/sailor_terminology.htm Here is a glossary] of nautical terms with some of the etymologies.<br />
<br />
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br><br />
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.<br />
<br />
Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").<br />
<br />
In other Pynchon novels: 1) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience More]. 2) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. 2) In ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the<br />
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)<br />
<br />
'''patriotic bunting'''<br><br />
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.<br> <br />
<br />
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood. <br />
<br />
'''aeronautics'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]<br><br />
<br />
'''five-lad crew'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. <br />
<br />
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br><br />
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.<br />
<br />
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog]. <br />
<br />
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."<br />
<br />
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']]<br />
<br />
'''Chicago'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]<br />
<br />
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ferris wheel'''<br><br />
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel]<br />
<br />
'''...temples of commerce and industry'''<br><br />
evocative of Chicago's Museum of ''Science and Industry'', which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.<br />
<br />
'''Since their orders had come through . . .'''<br><br />
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.<br />
<br />
'''lifelines'''<br><br />
Called "manropes" on sailing ships. Ropes running fore-and-aft above the gunwales to prevent sailors getting blown overboard. They were held up by short stanchions inserted into holes in the rails. Source: ''The Ashley Book of Knots,'' 1944.<br />
<br />
'''as my faithful readers will remember'''<br><br />
Pynchon here is immediately inserting this story into a larger canon of Chums of Chance fictions, titles of which are mentioned in subsequent pages.<br />
<br />
'''mascotte'''<br><br />
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mascotte], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 4==<br />
<br />
'''Professor'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor.<br />
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]<br />
<br />
'''"Turn to"'''<br><br />
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter 11.<br />
<br />
'''"a form of monomania"'''<br><br />
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal. In ''Moby Dick,'' which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the ''Inconvenience,'' Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in ''Billy Budd.'' --[[User:POD|POD]] 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br><br />
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?<br />
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.<br />
:There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly. Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.<br />
<br />
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br><br />
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.<br />
<br />
==Page 5==<br />
'''picklesome'''<br><br />
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax'''<br><br />
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in ''Mason & Dixon''. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad": "Learned American Dog." His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].<br />
<br />
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br><br />
This could be seen as a criticism of an American President, present or past. President Bush is a candidate, considering the Pynchon-authored [[Against the Day description|Amazon.com book description]] which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".<br />
The wild dogs equal both political parties? <br />
<br />
'''Washington Monument'''<br><br />
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument]]<br />
<br />
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br><br />
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")<br />
<br />
Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.<br />
<br />
==Page 6==<br />
<br />
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br /><br />
''The Princess Casamassima'' is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme &#151; admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism &#151; will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Casamassima Wikipedia] [[Princess Casamassima|Discussion of ''The Princess Casamassima'']]<br />
<br />
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br><br />
Lapse of authorial control? Surely the creator of the ''Chums'' novels would not write such a Pynchonian sentence fragment!<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br><br />
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.<br />
<br />
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br><br />
Erupted 1883. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa Wikipedia entry.]<br />
<br />
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br><br />
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].<br />
<br />
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br><br />
A perpetual-motion machine is not just one that runs forever, but one that ''performs work'' forever without any input of energy. All PM machines ever invented have been either hoaxes ("secret free energy source the government doesn't want you to know about") or mistakes. The hydrogen generator/engine is neither, which is why the disdainful phrase "no better than" is crucial.<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one generate hydrogen? In high school chem lab we used zinc filings and hydrochloric acid, but that seems unsuitable with Miles around. Is it possible Vanderjuice has invented a photovoltaic electrolysis cell?<br />
<br />
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br><br />
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.<br />
<br />
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br><br />
''Inconvenience'' is rigged like a sailing ship of the period, though it's hard to see why she needs to be. Shrouds fan out from a masthead down to a rail; ratlines run horizontally to join them. The whole affair serves the sailors as a ladder.<br />
<br />
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br><br />
Cup anemometer (> Grk. ''anemos,'' "wind"; cf. Lat. ''animus,'' "spirit") invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson]. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]<br />
<br />
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br><br />
But you can't measure the craft's progress by measuring wind speed at a point on the craft itself. All you get from the anemometer is a speed relative to the air, which is in variable motion. Since the craft is moving at the speed of the wind plus the speed of its propulsion device, the speed found by the anemometer is basically useless.<br />
<br />
==Page 7==<br />
<br />
'''Porfirio Díaz'''<br><br />
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
In most countries, the Interior Ministry (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Office, etc.) ran programs like secret police. Are the Chums working for forces of conservativism?<br />
<br />
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br><br />
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.<br><br />
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see ''Blackwater USA'', a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA]<br />
Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.<br />
<br />
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br><br />
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.<br />
:It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.<br />
<br />
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br><br />
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs." The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.<br />
<br />
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br><br />
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.<br />
<br />
'''absquatulated'''<br><br />
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br><br />
The word is used in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].<br />
<br />
'''commonly known as "Dick"'''<br><br />
So together they would be Chick with Dick.<br />
<br />
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br><br />
A genuine saying. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Quay Matthew Quay,] a political kingmaker of the 1880s and 90s, said of Benjamin Harrison's squeaker victory over Grover Cleveland in 1888 that Harrison would "never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."<br />
<br />
'''posse comitatus'''<br><br />
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.<br />
<br />
==Page 8==<br />
<br />
'''a pocketful of specie'''<br><br />
Specie means coins as opposed to paper money.<br />
<br />
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br><br />
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.<br />
<br />
'''carpetbagger'''<br><br />
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger carpetbagger] is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South. <br />
<br />
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br><br />
Like the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_directive Prime Directive] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trek ''Star Trek'']. Lindsay's fussy syntax echoes Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the kind of carping criticism up with which I will not put."<br />
<br />
'''legal customs'''<br><br />
Legal = pertaining to law, in this case lynch law. The Chums are interpreting their Prime Directive pretty broadly here.<br />
<br />
'''Katie bar the door'''<br><br />
An expression that means that there's trouble brewing. (See [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kat1.htm this article] about the expression's etymology.)<br />
<br />
'''Ku Klux Klan'''<br><br />
Reminiscent of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan Klan] encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. <br />
<br />
'''tupelo, cypress, and hickory'''<br><br />
The trees are no help in locating the town; all three kinds like bottom land and grow all over the South.<br />
<br />
'''speed . . . made it nearly invisible from the ground'''<br><br />
Few people in 1893 had seen a manmade object moving at 60 miles an hour, and many thought such a speed was lethal anyway. The ''Chums'' author suggests such an outlandish speed would make ''Inconvenience'' just a blur in the sky. Of course you can read the fin numbers on an airliner landing at 150 knots, but he didn't know that.<br />
<br />
''Pedantry alert:'' In perfectly transparent air a ship flying a mile off the ground is visible about 125 miles away. If its flight path takes it right over your head, you can follow it for 250 miles. If it is making a groundspeed of 60 miles per hour, it takes 4 hours and change to go from horizon to horizon. In typical "clear" air (visibility say 30 miles), you will see the ship in your sky for a solid hour. These rough figures show how wrong the narrator is about speed.<br />
<br />
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br><br />
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)<br />
<br />
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br><br />
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''"rookies"'''<br><br />
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"<br />
<br />
==Page 9==<br />
<br />
'''locker'''<br><br />
On board ship, any cabinet with a door or lid.<br />
<br />
'''"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard ''Inconvenience'' you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."'''<br><br />
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his [[Against_the_Day_description|book description]] proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.<br><br />
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.<br />
<br />
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=W]<br />
<br />
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br /><br />
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.<br />
<br />
North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life &#151; coldness as here &#151; compared to the South.<br />
<br />
==Page 10==<br />
'''Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays. <br />
<br />
'''butchery unremitting'''<br><br />
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's [http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm famous poem] about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."<br />
<br />
<br />
'''rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.'''<br /><br />
<br />
See [[#Page 3| p.3 entry, above]] for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines." The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Routinization_of_Charisma ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 11==<br />
<br />
'''plummet'''<br><br />
In the real world, this might be bad physics, as closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the ''Inconvenience'' loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support. The Inconvenience, however, has a hydrogen producing apparatus that could kick in, slow, and eventually stop their descent.<br />
<br />
'''bear a hand'''<br><br />
Nautical: help out.<br />
<br />
==Page 12==<br />
<br />
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br><br />
A head butt.<br />
<br />
'''''your'' mother'''<br><br />
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. See also pg. 48 of this novel. <br />
<br />
'''Herr Riemann'''<br><br />
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''''Mr.'' Noseworth'''<br><br />
Lindsay insisting on proper naval forms: an ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant or lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy is correctly addressed as "Mister Surname."<br />
<br />
'''"topological genius"'''<br><br />
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.<br />
<br />
==Page 13==<br />
<br />
'''There was an "eager stampede" to the rail''' <br><br />
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the narrator?<br />
: I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST) <br />
<br />
:insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?<br />
<br />
: Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in ''Madame Bovary'' to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.<br />
<br />
::Apparently not a cliche: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=eager.stampede&as_brr=0 GoogleBooks]<br />
<br />
'''"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."''' <br><br />
Recalls the opening line of ''Mason & Dixon'': "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."<br />
<br />
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."'''<br><br />
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]<br />
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.<br />
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.<br />
<br />
The giant eyeball is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg the logo] of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_14 (pg. 14)].<br />
<br />
Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.<br />
<br />
'''the indecorous couple . . . foliage'''<br><br />
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.<br />
<br />
==Page 14==<br />
<br />
'''charmed into docility'''<br><br />
If it took only one small lad to moor the ship, she was indeed docile. A wiki contributor once saw a Goodyear blimp in Houston, Texas, landing. The craft had half a dozen long falls of rope hanging from her nose, and a ground crew of nearly two dozen men ready to take hold of them. The blimp approached nose-low, the crew took the ropes, and a gust of wind suddenly moved the ship. The crew chief gave a safety command and all the men let loose their ropes at once. On the third pass, all hands working together managed to stop the ship and get her moored. If ''Inconvenience'' was a fraction as changeable and hard to control, Darby made a great job of getting the ship staked out by himself.<br />
<br />
'''Jacob's-ladder'''<br><br />
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:<br />
<br />
Genesis 28:12 And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)<br />
<br />
'''a giant sack of soiled laundry'''<br><br />
Perhaps ''freshly'' soiled during the great hydrogen valve disaster.<br />
<br />
'''''vol-à-voile'''''<br><br />
The narrator has turned the French phrase ''vol-à-voiles'' (gliding) into a verb (removing the ''s'').<br />
<br />
'''gold-beaters' skin'''<br><br />
Very thin vellum (membrane taken from the caecum or blind stomach of an ox). To prepare gold for gilding, it was placed between sheets of vellum and hammered thin.<br />
<br />
'''Evening Quarters'''<br><br />
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.<br />
<br />
'''Hawaii'''<br><br />
Hawaii appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_191 (p. 191)] and ''Vineland'' [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 {pg. 60)] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 15==<br />
<br />
'''ukulelist'''<br><br />
Ukuleles ([http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html and Hawaii references]) also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', ''Mason & Dixon'', ''Inherent Vice'', and ''Bleeding Edge''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii &c. in ''Against the Day'']]...<br />
<br />
'''Vagabonds of the Void'''<br><br />
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.<br><br />
<br />
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br><br />
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.<br />
<br />
'''"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"<br><br />
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.<br />
<br />
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br><br />
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.<br />
<br />
'''port section of the crew'''<br><br />
The half of the crew permitted to go freely ashore this time. The other half tomorrow. "Port" and "starboard": are these simply either/or words that sailors remember easily?<br />
<br />
'''Macassar oil'''<br /><br />
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br>This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called '''''antimacassars'''''.<br />
<br />
==Page 16==<br />
<br />
<br />
'''mufti'''<br/><br />
civvies, with an Arabic root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)] <br />
<br />
'''ascot'''<br/><br />
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_tie]<br />
<br />
'''Kentucky hemp'''<br/><br />
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected. <br />
<br />
No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago <br />
world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to <br />
suppress it's cultivation.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/><br />
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes. Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'. Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses. Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder. It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation. Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter. It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]<br><br />
<br />
This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.<br />
<br />
'''tension of the gas'''<br><br />
I.e., the pressure in the bag.<br />
<br />
==Page 17==<br />
<br />
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br><br />
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.<br />
<br />
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br><br />
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to<br />
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? <br><br />
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?<br />
<br />
'''we were usually out the door and on the main road'''<br><br />
Dick and Chick knew the judge was more likely to order them out of town than into the lockup.<br />
<br />
'''Chinese foofooraw'''<br><br />
Also spelled foofaraw, a great deal of fuss, or useless frills. Cf folderol. However, why Chinese? <br />
:Chick's father tried to sell Mississippi to a Chinese syndicate.<br />
<br />
'''cubeb'''<br /><br />
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub ''P. cubeba''. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as an herbal remedy. [http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/pepper The Free Dictionary] Also appears in ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' page 118.<br />
<br />
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br /><br />
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.<br />
<br />
==Page 18==<br />
<br />
'''headgear'''<br><br />
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''indigo'''<br><br />
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair]<br />
<br />
'''eclipse green'''<br><br />
Apparently an actual shade. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DIO_DRO/DIRECT.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.'''<br><br />
Bindlestiff means hobo; hence, the Hoboes of the Sky Aeronautical Club.<br />
<br />
'''("Penny") Black'''<br><br />
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black Wikipedia entry]; See also [[ATD_219-242#Page 231|p.231]].<br />
<br />
'''Tzigane'''<br><br />
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Egypt'''<br><br />
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
==Page 19==<br />
<br />
'''goin all blue from the light of that electric fluid'''<br><br />
Their ship was beset by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire St. Elmo's fire,] a low-energy electrical discharge often seen on surface vessels and occasionally on aircraft. Electric charge does behave in some respects like a fluid and was long described in such terms.<br />
<br />
'''Voices calling out together'''<br><br />
There is no reason to doubt they heard the voices, but an aural hallucination is not out of the question: a chorus of voices is one of the easiest effects to produce with a synthesizer.<br />
<br />
[[image:balloons-paris.jpg|thumb|200px|Garçons de '71|right]]'''Garçons de '71'''<br /><br />
French: The Boys of '71; During the Siege of Paris in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War Franco-Prussian War], 1870-1871, balloons were manufactured within railroad stations in Paris. The balloons were used to get mail and passengers out of Paris. The ''Garçons de '71'' are a (probably) fictional cadre of young men who operated such balloons [[Garçons de '71|Read on...]]<br />
<br />
'''a condition of ''permanent siege'''''<br><br />
Surely no one has failed to notice what a "wartime president" is allowed to get away with. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
'''pétroleurs de Paris'''<br><br />
An early form of Molotov cocktail thrower during the Siege of Paris. There were pétroleurs and pétroleuses.<br />
<br />
==Page 20==<br />
<br />
'''they'll fly wherever they're needed'''<br><br />
While the Chums obey orders from above, the Garçons de '71 follow a different imperative.<br />
<br />
'''energy we could feel, directed personally at us'''<br><br />
Someone may be trying to influence what the Bindlestiffs do, or keep them away from the Garçons' work of mercy.<br />
<br />
==Page 21==<br />
<br />
'''electrical glow of the Fair'''<br><br />
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition#Electricity_at_the_fair here].<br />
<br />
'''admissions gate'''<br><br />
Apparently a break in the fence, capitalized on by freelance impresarios.<br />
<br />
'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br><br />
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]<br />
<br />
==Page 22==<br />
'''quatercentennial celebration'''<br><br />
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition." <br />
<br />
'''Columbus's advent'''<br><br />
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent." <br />
<br />
'''music . . . unusually syncopated'''<br><br />
nascent jazz<br />
<br />
'''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'''<br><br />
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill here].<br />
<br />
'''''white'' exhibits . . darkness and savagery'''<br>.<br />
Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized. <br />
<br />
'''Kodaks'''<br><br />
The word Kodak was trademarked in 1888, and the first Kodak camera was sold with the slogan, "You press the button - we do the rest." In 1891, the company released the first daylight-loading camera, so film could be changed without a darkroom. Kodaks would have been a novelty at the fair in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''half-light . . . in the interests of mercy . . . the safety of the lights'''<br><br />
Interesting contrast suggesting a tradeoff between comfort/solace in the shadows and safety in the bright light.<br />
<br />
'''Isandhlwana'''<br><br />
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isandhlwana [Wikipedia]] You will find a chapter on Isandhlwana in any book that has the words "military" and "blunders" in the title.<br />
<br />
==Page 23==<br />
<br />
'''Tarahumara'''<br><br />
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. [[Tarahumare_Indians|About the Tarahumara]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''"geek"'''<br><br />
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.<br />
<br />
'''Negro in a "pork-pie" hat'''<br><br />
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork-pie_hat Wikipedia] What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless ''Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'', or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Pork_Pie_Hat Wikipedia] In ''The Crying of Lot 49'', McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.<br />
<br />
'''monte'''<br><br />
Three-card monte.<br />
<br />
==Page 24==<br />
<br />
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br><br />
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''nine of diamonds'''<br><br />
The name of a club in ''Inherent Vice''. See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=N here]. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok#Death "Dead Man's Hand"]. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds. <br />
<br />
'''like the electricity coming on... how everything fits together, connects. It doesn't last long, though.'''<br><br />
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here). The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial. <br />
<br />
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On [[#Page 4|page 4]], Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.<br />
<br />
Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity. They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them. They also feel confusion, not clarity. The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state. I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states. <br />
<br />
This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.<br />
<br />
'''Cracker Jack'''<br><br />
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''New Levee district'''<br><br />
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [http://www.ipsn.org/genesis.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Epworth League'''<br><br />
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id48.htm [cite]]<br />
<br />
==Page 25==<br />
<br />
'''Haymarket bomb'''<br><br />
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_bombing Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br><br />
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square. Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air. After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd. Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman. The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent. The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.<br />
<br />
'''Pinkertons'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkertons Pinkerton National Detective Agency] was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests. <br />
<br />
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br><br />
This is ''definitely'' not from one of the Chums' adventure stories.<br />
<br />
'''embonpoint'''<br><br />
Convexity of body; what used to be called a "prosperous" look.<br />
<br />
'''duck soup'''<br><br />
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve. Many of the Marx Brothers early movies had animal references in the title: Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup. The titles usually had nothing at all to do with the plot, although they contributed to the lunatic nature of the comedy. The expression 'Horse Feathers' is used a few times later on in Against The Day.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoffhttps://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_1-25&diff=16254ATD 1-252021-04-27T18:47:43Z<p>Mnhoff: </p>
<hr />
<div>:'''<big>Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.</big>'''<p><br><br />
<br />
==cover text==<br />
[[image:Ispar.jpg|right|thumb|125px|An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')]]<br />
Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.<br />
<br />
==cover seal==<br />
The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112066&keywords=Namgyal posted] on the Pynchon-l message board:<br />
<br />
"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate <br />
the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my <br />
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we <br />
owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.<br />
<br />
It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan <br />
Government Chamber of Commerce.<br />
<br />
Read their response below:<br />
<br />
:Dear Ya Sam,<br /><br />
:I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?<br />
<br />
:Best wishes,<br />
<br />
:Sandy Belth<br /><br />
:Tibetan Cultural Center"<br />
<br />
The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:<br />
<br />
:"''It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra.''" (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")<br />
<br />
The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.<br />
<br />
==copyright page==<br />
The copyright page states that ''Against the Day'' is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see [[errata]]). <br />
I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."<br />
<br />
==Dedication==<br />
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- ''Mason & Dixon'' ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , ''Vineland'' ("For my mother and father"), and ''Gravity's Rainbow'' ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so ''Against the Day,'' as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Come publisher-speak] for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank. <br />
<br />
==Epigraph==<br />
'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk'''<br><br />
Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) [[file:Monk-Time-022864_cover.jpg|left|150px|caption|Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964]]the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.<br />
<br />
On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."<br />
<br />
The epigraph's possible source: [http://aphelis.net/portrait-thelonious-monk-boris-chaliapin-1964/ Time magazine, February 28, 1964] article titled [http://www.monkzone.com/Profiles_interviews/Time%20Magazine%20article.htm “The Loneliest Monk”] written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.<br />
<br />
In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a [http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/thelonious-monks-advice.html list of advice] from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always <u>night</u>, otherwise they wouldn't need <del>any</del> the <u>lights</u>.<br />
<br />
'''NOTE:''' Reading Charles Hollander's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Does_McClintic_Sphere_in_V._stand_for_Thelonious_Monk%3F excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere], a character in Pynchon's ''V.''.<br />
<br />
==Page 1==<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!""'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 and 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_119 ''Inherent Vice'', p. 119-120]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?) &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)<br />
<br />
:The ''Finnegans Wake'' line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum '''a''' chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)<br />
<br />
Henry Veggian in [http://boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/35/1/197.pdf his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day"] makes the same point:<br />
:"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of ''Against the Day''." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.<br />
<br />
:'''The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention'''; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br> <br />
"Range" is defined in the ''Oxford American Dictionary'' as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br> Some other connotations may include:<br />
<br />
:'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".<br />
<br />
:"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's] ''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.<br />
<br />
:In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.<br />
<br />
:I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of ''inconvenience'' appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework. In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.<br />
<br />
==Page 3==<br />
<br />
'''"Now single up all lines!"'''<br><br />
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.<br />
<br />
But the opening line has many possible connotations. <br />
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." <br />
<br />
IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"<br />
<br />
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', p.11]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; and [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland''] and ''Bleeding Edge'') &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?<br />
<br />
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].<br />
<br />
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br><br />
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.<br />
<br />
:Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).<br />
<br />
William Shakespeare, ''The Tempest,'' Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"<br />
<br />
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br><br />
The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
'''"Up we go!"'''<br><br />
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.<br />
<br />
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br /><br />
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[The Sexual Angle|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]; [[Randolph St. Cosmo|More on Randolph St. Cosmo]]<br />
<br />
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_29:_289-295#Page_290 p. 290]) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos? <br />
<br />
'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br><br />
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.<br />
<br />
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br><br />
A most vigorous campaign [to host the Columbian Exposition] was then inaugurated, the three other cities making a common cause against Washington, whose claim was based on the fact that the proposed exposition was to be held under auspices of the national government, and hence that the capital was the most appropriate place.... By each of the claimants every advantage was urged, and by each of their rivals every defect was exaggerated. Congressional committees accorded a hearing to the several delegations, that of Chicago being represented, among others, by DeWitt C. Cregier, Thomas B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery. from "Book of the Fair" by Hubert Bancroft, 1893.<br />
:"Scuttlebutt" is a very close equivalent to "water-cooler gossip." [http://www.jacksjoint.com/sailor_terminology.htm Here is a glossary] of nautical terms with some of the etymologies.<br />
<br />
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br><br />
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.<br />
<br />
Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").<br />
<br />
In other Pynchon novels: 1) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience More]. 2) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. 2) In ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the<br />
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)<br />
<br />
'''patriotic bunting'''<br><br />
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.<br> <br />
<br />
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood. <br />
<br />
'''aeronautics'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]<br><br />
<br />
'''five-lad crew'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. <br />
<br />
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br><br />
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.<br />
<br />
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog]. <br />
<br />
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."<br />
<br />
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']]<br />
<br />
'''Chicago'''<br><br />
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]<br />
<br />
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Ferris wheel'''<br><br />
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel]<br />
<br />
'''...temples of commerce and industry'''<br><br />
evocative of Chicago's Museum of ''Science and Industry'', which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.<br />
<br />
'''Since their orders had come through . . .'''<br><br />
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.<br />
<br />
'''lifelines'''<br><br />
Called "manropes" on sailing ships. Ropes running fore-and-aft above the gunwales to prevent sailors getting blown overboard. They were held up by short stanchions inserted into holes in the rails. Source: ''The Ashley Book of Knots,'' 1944.<br />
<br />
'''as my faithful readers will remember'''<br><br />
Pynchon here is immediately inserting this story into a larger canon of Chums of Chance fictions, titles of which are mentioned in subsequent pages.<br />
<br />
'''mascotte'''<br><br />
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mascotte], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
==Page 4==<br />
<br />
'''Professor'''<br><br />
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor.<br />
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]<br />
<br />
'''"Turn to"'''<br><br />
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter 11.<br />
<br />
'''"a form of monomania"'''<br><br />
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal. In ''Moby Dick,'' which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the ''Inconvenience,'' Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in ''Billy Budd.'' --[[User:POD|POD]] 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)<br />
<br />
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br><br />
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?<br />
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.<br />
:There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly. Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.<br />
<br />
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br><br />
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.<br />
<br />
==Page 5==<br />
'''picklesome'''<br><br />
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax'''<br><br />
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in ''Mason & Dixon''. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad": "Learned American Dog." His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].<br />
<br />
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br><br />
This could be seen as a criticism of an American President, present or past. President Bush is a candidate, considering the Pynchon-authored [[Against the Day description|Amazon.com book description]] which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
<br />
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".<br />
The wild dogs equal both political parties? <br />
<br />
'''Washington Monument'''<br><br />
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument]]<br />
<br />
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br><br />
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")<br />
<br />
Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.<br />
<br />
==Page 6==<br />
<br />
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br /><br />
''The Princess Casamassima'' is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme &#151; admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism &#151; will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Casamassima Wikipedia] [[Princess Casamassima|Discussion of ''The Princess Casamassima'']]<br />
<br />
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br><br />
Lapse of authorial control? Surely the creator of the ''Chums'' novels would not write such a Pynchonian sentence fragment!<br />
<br />
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br><br />
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.<br />
<br />
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br><br />
Erupted 1883. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa Wikipedia entry.]<br />
<br />
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br><br />
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].<br />
<br />
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br><br />
A perpetual-motion machine is not just one that runs forever, but one that ''performs work'' forever without any input of energy. All PM machines ever invented have been either hoaxes ("secret free energy source the government doesn't want you to know about") or mistakes. The hydrogen generator/engine is neither, which is why the disdainful phrase "no better than" is crucial.<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one generate hydrogen? In high school chem lab we used zinc filings and hydrochloric acid, but that seems unsuitable with Miles around. Is it possible Vanderjuice has invented a photovoltaic electrolysis cell?<br />
<br />
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br><br />
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.<br />
<br />
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br><br />
''Inconvenience'' is rigged like a sailing ship of the period, though it's hard to see why she needs to be. Shrouds fan out from a masthead down to a rail; ratlines run horizontally to join them. The whole affair serves the sailors as a ladder.<br />
<br />
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br><br />
Cup anemometer (> Grk. ''anemos,'' "wind"; cf. Lat. ''animus,'' "spirit") invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson]. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]<br />
<br />
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br><br />
But you can't measure the craft's progress by measuring wind speed at a point on the craft itself. All you get from the anemometer is a speed relative to the air, which is in variable motion. Since the craft is moving at the speed of the wind plus the speed of its propulsion device, the speed found by the anemometer is basically useless.<br />
<br />
==Page 7==<br />
<br />
'''Porfirio Díaz'''<br><br />
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfirio_D%C3%ADaz Wikipedia]<br />
<br />
In most countries, the Interior Ministry (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Office, etc.) ran programs like secret police. Are the Chums working for forces of conservativism?<br />
<br />
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br><br />
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.<br><br />
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see ''Blackwater USA'', a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA]<br />
Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.<br />
<br />
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br><br />
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.<br />
:It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.<br />
<br />
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br><br />
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs." The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.<br />
<br />
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br><br />
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.<br />
<br />
'''absquatulated'''<br><br />
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br><br />
The word is used in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].<br />
<br />
'''commonly known as "Dick"'''<br><br />
So together they would be Chick with Dick.<br />
<br />
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br><br />
A genuine saying. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Quay Matthew Quay,] a political kingmaker of the 1880s and 90s, said of Benjamin Harrison's squeaker victory over Grover Cleveland in 1888 that Harrison would "never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."<br />
<br />
'''posse comitatus'''<br><br />
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.<br />
<br />
==Page 8==<br />
<br />
'''a pocketful of specie'''<br><br />
Specie means coins as opposed to paper money.<br />
<br />
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br><br />
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.<br />
<br />
'''carpetbagger'''<br><br />
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger carpetbagger] is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South. <br />
<br />
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br><br />
Like the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_directive Prime Directive] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_trek ''Star Trek'']. Lindsay's fussy syntax echoes Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the kind of carping criticism up with which I will not put."<br />
<br />
'''legal customs'''<br><br />
Legal = pertaining to law, in this case lynch law. The Chums are interpreting their Prime Directive pretty broadly here.<br />
<br />
'''Katie bar the door'''<br><br />
An expression that means that there's trouble brewing. (See [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kat1.htm this article] about the expression's etymology.)<br />
<br />
'''Ku Klux Klan'''<br><br />
Reminiscent of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan Klan] encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' ''O Brother, Where Art Thou''. <br />
<br />
'''tupelo, cypress, and hickory'''<br><br />
The trees are no help in locating the town; all three kinds like bottom land and grow all over the South.<br />
<br />
'''speed . . . made it nearly invisible from the ground'''<br><br />
Few people in 1893 had seen a manmade object moving at 60 miles an hour, and many thought such a speed was lethal anyway. The ''Chums'' author suggests such an outlandish speed would make ''Inconvenience'' just a blur in the sky. Of course you can read the fin numbers on an airliner landing at 150 knots, but he didn't know that.<br />
<br />
''Pedantry alert:'' In perfectly transparent air a ship flying a mile off the ground is visible about 125 miles away. If its flight path takes it right over your head, you can follow it for 250 miles. If it is making a groundspeed of 60 miles per hour, it takes 4 hours and change to go from horizon to horizon. In typical "clear" air (visibility say 30 miles), you will see the ship in your sky for a solid hour. These rough figures show how wrong the narrator is about speed.<br />
<br />
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br><br />
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)<br />
<br />
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br><br />
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.<br />
<br />
'''"rookies"'''<br><br />
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"<br />
<br />
==Page 9==<br />
<br />
'''locker'''<br><br />
On board ship, any cabinet with a door or lid.<br />
<br />
'''"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard ''Inconvenience'' you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."'''<br><br />
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his [[Against_the_Day_description|book description]] proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.<br><br />
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.<br />
<br />
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=W]<br />
<br />
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br /><br />
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.<br />
<br />
North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life &#151; coldness as here &#151; compared to the South.<br />
<br />
==Page 10==<br />
'''Columbian Exposition'''<br><br />
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays. <br />
<br />
'''butchery unremitting'''<br><br />
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's [http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm famous poem] about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."<br />
<br />
<br />
'''rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.'''<br /><br />
<br />
See [[#Page 3| p.3 entry, above]] for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines." The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Routinization_of_Charisma ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 11==<br />
<br />
'''plummet'''<br><br />
In the real world, this might be bad physics, as closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the ''Inconvenience'' loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support. The Inconvenience, however, has a hydrogen producing apparatus that could kick in, slow, and eventually stop their descent.<br />
<br />
'''bear a hand'''<br><br />
Nautical: help out.<br />
<br />
==Page 12==<br />
<br />
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br><br />
A head butt.<br />
<br />
'''''your'' mother'''<br><br />
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. See also pg. 48 of this novel. <br />
<br />
'''Herr Riemann'''<br><br />
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''''Mr.'' Noseworth'''<br><br />
Lindsay insisting on proper naval forms: an ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant or lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy is correctly addressed as "Mister Surname."<br />
<br />
'''"topological genius"'''<br><br />
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.<br />
<br />
==Page 13==<br />
<br />
'''There was an "eager stampede" to the rail''' <br><br />
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the narrator?<br />
: I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST) <br />
<br />
:insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?<br />
<br />
: Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in ''Madame Bovary'' to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.<br />
<br />
::Apparently not a cliche: [http://books.google.com//books?num=100&q=eager.stampede&as_brr=0 GoogleBooks]<br />
<br />
'''"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."''' <br><br />
Recalls the opening line of ''Mason & Dixon'': "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."<br />
<br />
'''"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."'''<br><br />
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]<br />
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.<br />
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.<br />
<br />
The giant eyeball is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg the logo] of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_14 (pg. 14)].<br />
<br />
Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.<br />
<br />
'''the indecorous couple . . . foliage'''<br><br />
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.<br />
<br />
==Page 14==<br />
<br />
'''charmed into docility'''<br><br />
If it took only one small lad to moor the ship, she was indeed docile. A wiki contributor once saw a Goodyear blimp in Houston, Texas, landing. The craft had half a dozen long falls of rope hanging from her nose, and a ground crew of nearly two dozen men ready to take hold of them. The blimp approached nose-low, the crew took the ropes, and a gust of wind suddenly moved the ship. The crew chief gave a safety command and all the men let loose their ropes at once. On the third pass, all hands working together managed to stop the ship and get her moored. If ''Inconvenience'' was a fraction as changeable and hard to control, Darby made a great job of getting the ship staked out by himself.<br />
<br />
'''Jacob's-ladder'''<br><br />
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:<br />
<br />
Genesis 28:12 And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)<br />
<br />
'''a giant sack of soiled laundry'''<br><br />
Perhaps ''freshly'' soiled during the great hydrogen valve disaster.<br />
<br />
'''''vol-à-voile'''''<br><br />
The narrator has turned the French phrase ''vol-à-voiles'' (gliding) into a verb (removing the ''s'').<br />
<br />
'''gold-beaters' skin'''<br><br />
Very thin vellum (membrane taken from the caecum or blind stomach of an ox). To prepare gold for gilding, it was placed between sheets of vellum and hammered thin.<br />
<br />
'''Evening Quarters'''<br><br />
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.<br />
<br />
'''Hawaii'''<br><br />
Hawaii appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_191 (p. 191)] and ''Vineland'' [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 {pg. 60)] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H ''Gravity's Rainbow''].<br />
<br />
==Page 15==<br />
<br />
'''ukulelist'''<br><br />
Ukuleles ([http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html and Hawaii references]) also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', ''Mason & Dixon'', ''Inherent Vice'', and ''Bleeding Edge''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii &c. in ''Against the Day'']]...<br />
<br />
'''Vagabonds of the Void'''<br><br />
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.<br><br />
<br />
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br><br />
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.<br />
<br />
'''"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"<br><br />
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.<br />
<br />
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br><br />
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.<br />
<br />
'''port section of the crew'''<br><br />
The half of the crew permitted to go freely ashore this time. The other half tomorrow. "Port" and "starboard": are these simply either/or words that sailors remember easily?<br />
<br />
'''Macassar oil'''<br /><br />
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br>This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called '''''antimacassars'''''.<br />
<br />
==Page 16==<br />
<br />
<br />
'''mufti'''<br/><br />
civvies, with an Arabic root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)] <br />
<br />
'''ascot'''<br/><br />
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_tie]<br />
<br />
'''Kentucky hemp'''<br/><br />
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected. <br />
<br />
No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to suppress it's cultivation.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/><br />
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes. Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'. Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses. Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder. It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation. Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter. It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]<br><br />
<br />
This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.<br />
<br />
'''tension of the gas'''<br><br />
I.e., the pressure in the bag.<br />
<br />
==Page 17==<br />
<br />
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br><br />
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.<br />
<br />
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br><br />
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to<br />
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? <br><br />
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?<br />
<br />
'''we were usually out the door and on the main road'''<br><br />
Dick and Chick knew the judge was more likely to order them out of town than into the lockup.<br />
<br />
'''Chinese foofooraw'''<br><br />
Also spelled foofaraw, a great deal of fuss, or useless frills. Cf folderol. However, why Chinese? <br />
:Chick's father tried to sell Mississippi to a Chinese syndicate.<br />
<br />
'''cubeb'''<br /><br />
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub ''P. cubeba''. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as an herbal remedy. [http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/pepper The Free Dictionary] Also appears in ''Gravity's Rainbow,'' page 118.<br />
<br />
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br /><br />
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.<br />
<br />
==Page 18==<br />
<br />
'''headgear'''<br><br />
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]<br />
<br />
<br />
'''indigo'''<br><br />
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair]<br />
<br />
'''eclipse green'''<br><br />
Apparently an actual shade. [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DIO_DRO/DIRECT.html [cite]]<br />
<br />
'''Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.'''<br><br />
Bindlestiff means hobo; hence, the Hoboes of the Sky Aeronautical Club.<br />
<br />
'''("Penny") Black'''<br><br />
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black Wikipedia entry]; See also [[ATD_219-242#Page 231|p.231]].<br />
<br />
'''Tzigane'''<br><br />
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) Wikipedia entry]<br />
<br />
'''Egypt'''<br><br />
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) Wikipedia entry]<br />
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==Page 19==<br />
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'''goin all blue from the light of that electric fluid'''<br><br />
Their ship was beset by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire St. Elmo's fire,] a low-energy electrical discharge often seen on surface vessels and occasionally on aircraft. Electric charge does behave in some respects like a fluid and was long described in such terms.<br />
<br />
'''Voices calling out together'''<br><br />
There is no reason to doubt they heard the voices, but an aural hallucination is not out of the question: a chorus of voices is one of the easiest effects to produce with a synthesizer.<br />
<br />
[[image:balloons-paris.jpg|thumb|200px|Garçons de '71|right]]'''Garçons de '71'''<br /><br />
French: The Boys of '71; During the Siege of Paris in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War Franco-Prussian War], 1870-1871, balloons were manufactured within railroad stations in Paris. The balloons were used to get mail and passengers out of Paris. The ''Garçons de '71'' are a (probably) fictional cadre of young men who operated such balloons [[Garçons de '71|Read on...]]<br />
<br />
'''a condition of ''permanent siege'''''<br><br />
Surely no one has failed to notice what a "wartime president" is allowed to get away with. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."<br />
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'''pétroleurs de Paris'''<br><br />
An early form of Molotov cocktail thrower during the Siege of Paris. There were pétroleurs and pétroleuses.<br />
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==Page 20==<br />
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'''they'll fly wherever they're needed'''<br><br />
While the Chums obey orders from above, the Garçons de '71 follow a different imperative.<br />
<br />
'''energy we could feel, directed personally at us'''<br><br />
Someone may be trying to influence what the Bindlestiffs do, or keep them away from the Garçons' work of mercy.<br />
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==Page 21==<br />
<br />
'''electrical glow of the Fair'''<br><br />
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition#Electricity_at_the_fair here].<br />
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'''admissions gate'''<br><br />
Apparently a break in the fence, capitalized on by freelance impresarios.<br />
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'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br><br />
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]<br />
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==Page 22==<br />
'''quatercentennial celebration'''<br><br />
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition." <br />
<br />
'''Columbus's advent'''<br><br />
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent." <br />
<br />
'''music . . . unusually syncopated'''<br><br />
nascent jazz<br />
<br />
'''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'''<br><br />
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill here].<br />
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'''''white'' exhibits . . darkness and savagery'''<br>.<br />
Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized. <br />
<br />
'''Kodaks'''<br><br />
The word Kodak was trademarked in 1888, and the first Kodak camera was sold with the slogan, "You press the button - we do the rest." In 1891, the company released the first daylight-loading camera, so film could be changed without a darkroom. Kodaks would have been a novelty at the fair in 1893.<br />
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'''half-light . . . in the interests of mercy . . . the safety of the lights'''<br><br />
Interesting contrast suggesting a tradeoff between comfort/solace in the shadows and safety in the bright light.<br />
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'''Isandhlwana'''<br><br />
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isandhlwana [Wikipedia]] You will find a chapter on Isandhlwana in any book that has the words "military" and "blunders" in the title.<br />
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==Page 23==<br />
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'''Tarahumara'''<br><br />
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. [[Tarahumare_Indians|About the Tarahumara]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara [Wikipedia]]<br />
<br />
'''"geek"'''<br><br />
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.<br />
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'''Negro in a "pork-pie" hat'''<br><br />
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork-pie_hat Wikipedia] What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless ''Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'', or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Pork_Pie_Hat Wikipedia] In ''The Crying of Lot 49'', McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.<br />
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'''monte'''<br><br />
Three-card monte.<br />
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==Page 24==<br />
<br />
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br><br />
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]<br />
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'''nine of diamonds'''<br><br />
The name of a club in ''Inherent Vice''. See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=N here]. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok#Death "Dead Man's Hand"]. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds. <br />
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'''like the electricity coming on... how everything fits together, connects. It doesn't last long, though.'''<br><br />
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here). The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial. <br />
<br />
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On [[#Page 4|page 4]], Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.<br />
<br />
Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity. They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them. They also feel confusion, not clarity. The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state. I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states. <br />
<br />
This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.<br />
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'''Cracker Jack'''<br><br />
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack [Wikipedia]]<br />
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'''New Levee district'''<br><br />
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [http://www.ipsn.org/genesis.htm [cite]]<br />
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'''Epworth League'''<br><br />
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/id48.htm [cite]]<br />
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==Page 25==<br />
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'''Haymarket bomb'''<br><br />
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_bombing Wikipedia entry].<br />
<br />
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br><br />
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square. Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air. After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd. Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman. The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent. The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.<br />
<br />
'''Pinkertons'''<br><br />
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkertons Pinkerton National Detective Agency] was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests. <br />
<br />
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br><br />
This is ''definitely'' not from one of the Chums' adventure stories.<br />
<br />
'''embonpoint'''<br><br />
Convexity of body; what used to be called a "prosperous" look.<br />
<br />
'''duck soup'''<br><br />
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve. Many of the Marx Brothers early movies had animal references in the title: Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup. The titles usually had nothing at all to do with the plot, although they contributed to the lunatic nature of the comedy. The expression 'Horse Feathers' is used a few times later on in Against The Day.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
==Annotation Index==<br />
{{ATD PbP}}</div>Mnhoff