Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 273-295

2006-12-28T17:26:09Z

Rogermex: /* Page 275 */

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

==Page 273==

'''the electric''' 
The Denver Tramway Company, beginning in 1886, operated electric railcars between central Denver and outlying communities. [http://www.denvergov.org/AboutDenver/history_narrative_3.asp Citation]

==Page 274==

'''Arapahoe''' 
Since Frank is at the moment in Denver, "on Arapahoe" would mean on Arapahoe Street. From the native tribe. Also a county in eastern CO and a scattering of places in US.

'''drygulched''' 
Ambushed, betrayed.

'''after Repeal in '93''' 
Refers to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which required the U.S. government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month with notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. Repealed by Congress after the Panic of 1893 to prevent depletion of the country's gold reserves. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Act Wikipedia entry].

'''Lake County''' 
Colorado county of which Leadville is the county seat.

'''Haw Tabor''' 
Horace Tabor, a prospector, businessman, politician, and one of the wealthiest men in Colorado in the 19th Century. Tabor moved to Denver in 1859, later settling in Leadville in 1877. With the wealth he accumulated from his silver mine, Tabor established newspapers, a bank, and an opera house in Leadville (which still stands), and the Tabor Grand Opera House and the Tabor Block in Denver. In 1878, Tabor was elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and served in that post until January 1884. He served as U.S. Senator from Colorado for two months in 1883. Tabor ran unsuccessfully for Colorado governor in 1884, 1886, and 1888. In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act devastated Tabor's fortune and his far-flung holdings were sold off. He died from appendicitis in 1899, and his legend still persists in Colorado.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Tabor Wikipedia entry].

'''Matchless''' 
The Matchless Mine in Leadville, formerly owned by Horace Tabor. Oscar Wilde visited the Matchless in 1882. The "widow" is Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe, a/k/a "Baby Doe" Tabor, Horace Tabor's second wife (and his mistress before he married her in 1883). Baby Doe and her stubborn retention of the Matchless Mine is another Colorado legend. When Horace Tabor fell ill with appendicitis in 1899, his final request of Baby Doe was that she "hold onto the Matchless." This she did, with tragic results. After living in a shack beside the mine for 36 years, she froze to death one night in March 1935 after she ran out of firewood. Her body was found frozen with her arms crossed peacefully across her chest. After her death, 17 iron trunks that had been placed in storage in Denver were opened, as well as several gunny sacks and four trunks that had been left at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Leadville. All that was left from the Tabor fortune were several bolts of unique, untouched and exquisite cloth, several pieces of china, a tea service and some jewelry, including a diamond and sapphire ring. Baby Doe's story has inspired numerous works, including a movie and an opera by Douglas Moore, ''The Ballad of Baby Doe.'' More on Baby Doe Tabor, including pictures of the Matchless and the shack she lived and died in, can be found at these links: [http://www.babydoetabor.com/ Baby Doe Tabor.com]; [http://www.babydoe.org/index.php BabyDoe.org]

'''Zinc Rush''' 
Leadville had "rushes" on gold, silver, molybdenim, zinc...

'''some bright engineer''' 
???

==Page 275==

'''Molly-be-damned''' 
Molybdenum, which is still mined outside of Leadville.

'''Wren Provenance''' 
Let's not forget that one manifestation of '''V.''' was Victoria Wren. There appear to be many allusions to '''V.''' in ATD.

'''heaps''' 
pic?

'''Sons of Heaven section''' 
This is a term for the emperors of China.

==Page 276==

'''Jennie Rogers's House of Mirrors''' 
Jennie Rogers (1843-1909) was a notorious Denver madam who built the "House of Mirrors" at 1946 Market Street in Denver in 1889 and ran it until her death in 1909. The House of Mirrors embodies the Romanesque architecture of the era, and was specifically designed as a bordello. It was later taken over by the even more notorious Mattie Silks (1846-1929), who operated it until 1915, when it fell victim to so-called "reformers." The House of Mirrors still stands, and today operates as a bar and restauant. (This contributor has been drinking there many times.) More on its history, including pictures, and on the history of Denver's Market Street red-light district, can be found at [http://www.mattieshouseofmirrors.com/index.html this website].

'''dress cavalry helmet''' 
pic?

==Page 277==

'''Aztlán''' 
???

'''thirteenth century''' 
???

'''images of creatures''' 
pic?

==Page 278==

'''the report''' 
???

'''Albany... bar mirror''' 
???

'''Booth Virbling''' 
???

==Page 279==

'''Bulkley Wells''' 
???

'''Ice Saw murder''' 
???

'''sparking''' 
???

==Page 280==

'''South Pacific islands''' 
Cf Margaret Mead.

==Page 281==

'''first city''' 
???

'''"Beside the tracks at one bend stood a local lunatic"''' 
Like starting a Disney land ride.
:how so? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:46, 4 December 2006 (PST)

==Page 282==

'''level of hatred''' 
Cf capacitance?

'''vagging bee''' 
Neologism?

==Page 283==

'''''"joven"''''' 
Young fellow (Spanish).

'''Ellmore Disco''' 
???

'''when it was still Leadville''' 
???

'''Seven-Toed Pete''' 
Seven Card Stud

==Page 284==

'''jaconet... tartalan... crepe lissé''' 
jaconet 1.a soft, white, lightweight cotton textile 2. cotton cloth glazed on one side and dyed

'''Liberty's of London''' 
A famous department store in Regent Street, London, notable for its prints and fabrics. Opened in 1875 in a mock-Tudor building.

'''Grand Rapids style''' 
"The rooms are furnished in Grand Rapids style. The beds have pallets, but no springs, no Western-style mattresses, no top sheets; maid service consists of dumping a clean sheet and a blanket on the bed, to be made up by the guest."---Time.com...1978...on certain hotel rooms in China.
???

'''Four Corners Boys''' 
???

==Page 285==

'''million apiece''' 
Current values?

'''...it's out with that wackyzacky...'''

The 'wakizashi' is a Japanese sword - 12 to 24 inches - often worn by a Samurai together with a Katana - another sword - and the two together are then called a Daish or somesuch. Although it would appear that this sword would have sometimes been used during Hari Kiri it is not the normal Hari Kiri weapon. That is usually a short - 6 to 12 inches long - double edged knife/sword called a Tant.' 

'''hari-kari'''

'''''Trans'''. belly cutting''

What became a ritualised form of suicide in Japan cheifly amongst the nobility. It was sometimes offered to a nobleman as an honorable alternative to execution. A short knife or sword is plunged into the abdomen, drawn through and across the bowel laterally, with a small upwards twist at the end. Now extremely rare in Japan. More commonly referred to by the Chinese name for belly cutting - Seppuku - because eventually the Ritual was seen as being somewhat distastaeful, even dishonourable

'''Cal Rutan''' 
???

==Page 286==

'''Loomis''' 
Loomis Disco.

'''lowland alkali''' 
???

'''hardpan''' 
???

==Page 287==

'''chicharrones''' 
Fried pork skins.

'''''Ristras''''' 
Strings of dried red chiles.

'''sixty-degree wedges''' 
One-sixth of a pie.

'''''"Por poco te faltó La Blanca"''''' 
Translates to "You just missed La Blanca."

==Page 288==

'''Montrose''' 
A city on Colorado's Western Slope. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose%2C_Colorado Wikipedia entry].

'''popcorn snows''' 
???

'''vanning''' 
???

'''''comal''''' 
???

==Page 289==

'''half a cubic foot''' 
12" by 12" by 6".

==Page 290==

'''miner's gad''' 
According to the OED, "1. a steel wedge, 2. a small iron punch with a wooden handle used to break up ore."

'''McBryan's''' 
???

'''trick animal''' 
???

==Page 291==

'''Cosmopolitan''' 
Cf p260.

'''Mr. Edison's scheme... static electricity''' 
???

'''Wetherill's magnet''' 
If electric, that's Kit's domain.

==Page 292==

'''Hieronymus Wheel''' 
This may be a stretch but one of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch is called the Circle of Hell which contains an assortment of odd creatures. As a central image there is a wheel coming out of (or going into) the mouth of a fishlike creature. The reference to hell seems appropriate for Telluride and a Japanese trade delegation in a Colorado bar may suggest the odd creatures. Just to stretch the connection a bit further, there was another Bosch, Robert, a Germany engineer who perfected a magneto ignition device in 1897 that became the standard for creating electrical sparks to start internal combustion engines. The modern Bosch Group is a leading manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology.
:While there is most certainly something Boschean about Pynchon's aesthetic, nothing in the context of this passage suggests an association with either the painting described above or the machinist Robert Bosch. Instead, the passage indicates that the term describes a roulette wheel. Neither Google nor the OED recognize the term in any meaningful way, though it may be a back formation from the term "jerry," meaning to tumble, Hieronymous being the latinate form of Jerome. This etymology is still a considerable stretch, but it fits the passage better. For an example of an AtD passage that '''does''' conjure Old Master depictions of Hell (of which Bosch painted several), albeit without suggesting Bosch specifically, see p. 210-11, "the first glimpse of Jeshimon . . . . advanced the hour."

'''Dieter''' 
German first name. Pronunciation: [diːtər]. Short for Dietrich. A Old High German combination of 'thioda' (ger: das Volk, engl: the nation) and 'heri' (ger: das Heer, engl: the army). Popular male name in Germany after WWII. Outfashioned today ''Dieter'' is referred to as comic and/or queer.
:Since "Dieter" is "the barkeep" the English word ''dieter'' for someone who prescibes a diet comes to mind.

'''bellows''' 
pic?

==Page 293==

'''''"Sumimasen... Bobusan desu... Gonnusuringaa... mottomo abunai desu"''''' 
Don't know the rest, but "Bobusan" refers to Bob and "Gonnusuringaa" is likely "Gunslinger."
 
Translation from e2535: 
mottomo abunai desu = "he is extremely dangerous" 
Sumimasen = "Pardon me" or "Excuse me" 

'''''"Anna koto"''''' 
???

'''fulgurescence''' 
A neologism, I think -- it does not appear in the OED. 'Fulgur' is Latin for lightning, 'fulgurite' being, e.g., according to the OED, "any rocky substance that has been fused or vitrified by lightning. More strictly applied to a bore or tube produced by the passage of lightning into a sandy soil." In this context, "fulgerescence," refers to bright, lightening-like flashes.

'''"The loss of clarity . . . . in the dark"''' 
See the note for Hieronymous wheel on page 292. This further enhances the Circle of Hell connection for the Hieronymous wheel note above. The painting includes several unknown creatures, including a barrel with legs, while “thrashed about” suggests the central fish monster image of the painting.
:Cf., also, p. 221, "Lateral world-sets, other parts of the Creation, lie all around us, each with its crossover points or gates of transfer from one to another, and they can be anywhere, really . . . . An unscheduled Explosion, introduced into the accustomed flow of the day, may easily open, now and then, passages to elsewhere," as well as p. 230, "'Let us imagine a lateral world, set only infintesimally to the side of the one we think we know.'"
::Cf., also the transdimensional travel of Buckaroo Bonzai in the Pynchon inspired film, ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), especially the images of 8th-Dimensional creatures that Bonzai sees as he passes through the mountain. [http://imdb.com/title/tt0086856/ IMDB entry].
::Cf., further, the notion of a "multiverse," that is, a physical ur-structure, comprised of many, if not infinite universes, of which ours is only one. Several contemporary cosmological theories require that a multiverse exist, though its existence remains highly conjectural. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse Wikipedia entry].

'''packing out pyrites''' 
Mining fool's gold.

'''katana''' 
Japanese samurai sword.

==Page 294==

'''Baron Akashi''' 
A Japanese general whose career included spying, but, anachronistically, his career did not begin until 1889. He was a spy in Europe during RussoJapanese War-1900? So would he've been famous even to the lengths of backwoods CO? How much spyin' can a poor boy do if he's famous?

'''Squirrel and sarsaparilla''' 
Squirrel Whiskey and Sarsaparilla Soda. Squirrel whiskey was so called because it was supposedly so strong it would drive its drinkers up a tree. Sarparilla, by contrast, is derived from the roots of the Sarsparilla tree.

==Page 295==

'''summer of '89''' 
???

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

ATD 273-295

2006-12-28T17:14:41Z

Rogermex: /* Page 275 */

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

==Page 273==

'''the electric''' 
The Denver Tramway Company, beginning in 1886, operated electric railcars between central Denver and outlying communities. [http://www.denvergov.org/AboutDenver/history_narrative_3.asp Citation]

==Page 274==

'''Arapahoe''' 
Since Frank is at the moment in Denver, "on Arapahoe" would mean on Arapahoe Street. From the native tribe. Also a county in eastern CO and a scattering of places in US.

'''drygulched''' 
Ambushed, betrayed.

'''after Repeal in '93''' 
Refers to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which required the U.S. government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month with notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. Repealed by Congress after the Panic of 1893 to prevent depletion of the country's gold reserves. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Act Wikipedia entry].

'''Lake County''' 
Colorado county of which Leadville is the county seat.

'''Haw Tabor''' 
Horace Tabor, a prospector, businessman, politician, and one of the wealthiest men in Colorado in the 19th Century. Tabor moved to Denver in 1859, later settling in Leadville in 1877. With the wealth he accumulated from his silver mine, Tabor established newspapers, a bank, and an opera house in Leadville (which still stands), and the Tabor Grand Opera House and the Tabor Block in Denver. In 1878, Tabor was elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and served in that post until January 1884. He served as U.S. Senator from Colorado for two months in 1883. Tabor ran unsuccessfully for Colorado governor in 1884, 1886, and 1888. In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act devastated Tabor's fortune and his far-flung holdings were sold off. He died from appendicitis in 1899, and his legend still persists in Colorado.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Tabor Wikipedia entry].

'''Matchless''' 
The Matchless Mine in Leadville, formerly owned by Horace Tabor. Oscar Wilde visited the Matchless in 1882. The "widow" is Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe, a/k/a "Baby Doe" Tabor, Horace Tabor's second wife (and his mistress before he married her in 1883). Baby Doe and her stubborn retention of the Matchless Mine is another Colorado legend. When Horace Tabor fell ill with appendicitis in 1899, his final request of Baby Doe was that she "hold onto the Matchless." This she did, with tragic results. After living in a shack beside the mine for 36 years, she froze to death one night in March 1935 after she ran out of firewood. Her body was found frozen with her arms crossed peacefully across her chest. After her death, 17 iron trunks that had been placed in storage in Denver were opened, as well as several gunny sacks and four trunks that had been left at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Leadville. All that was left from the Tabor fortune were several bolts of unique, untouched and exquisite cloth, several pieces of china, a tea service and some jewelry, including a diamond and sapphire ring. Baby Doe's story has inspired numerous works, including a movie and an opera by Douglas Moore, ''The Ballad of Baby Doe.'' More on Baby Doe Tabor, including pictures of the Matchless and the shack she lived and died in, can be found at these links: [http://www.babydoetabor.com/ Baby Doe Tabor.com]; [http://www.babydoe.org/index.php BabyDoe.org]

'''Zinc Rush''' 
Leadville had "rushes" on gold, silver, molybdenim, zinc...

'''some bright engineer''' 
???

==Page 275==

'''Molly-be-damned''' 
Molybdenum, which is still mined outside of Leadville.

'''Wren Provenance''' 
Let's not forget that one manifestation of '''V.''' was Victoria Wren. There appear to be many allusions to '''V.''' in ATD.

'''heaps''' 
pic?

'''Sons of Heaven section''' 
???

==Page 276==

'''Jennie Rogers's House of Mirrors''' 
Jennie Rogers (1843-1909) was a notorious Denver madam who built the "House of Mirrors" at 1946 Market Street in Denver in 1889 and ran it until her death in 1909. The House of Mirrors embodies the Romanesque architecture of the era, and was specifically designed as a bordello. It was later taken over by the even more notorious Mattie Silks (1846-1929), who operated it until 1915, when it fell victim to so-called "reformers." The House of Mirrors still stands, and today operates as a bar and restauant. (This contributor has been drinking there many times.) More on its history, including pictures, and on the history of Denver's Market Street red-light district, can be found at [http://www.mattieshouseofmirrors.com/index.html this website].

'''dress cavalry helmet''' 
pic?

==Page 277==

'''Aztlán''' 
???

'''thirteenth century''' 
???

'''images of creatures''' 
pic?

==Page 278==

'''the report''' 
???

'''Albany... bar mirror''' 
???

'''Booth Virbling''' 
???

==Page 279==

'''Bulkley Wells''' 
???

'''Ice Saw murder''' 
???

'''sparking''' 
???

==Page 280==

'''South Pacific islands''' 
Cf Margaret Mead.

==Page 281==

'''first city''' 
???

'''"Beside the tracks at one bend stood a local lunatic"''' 
Like starting a Disney land ride.
:how so? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:46, 4 December 2006 (PST)

==Page 282==

'''level of hatred''' 
Cf capacitance?

'''vagging bee''' 
Neologism?

==Page 283==

'''''"joven"''''' 
Young fellow (Spanish).

'''Ellmore Disco''' 
???

'''when it was still Leadville''' 
???

'''Seven-Toed Pete''' 
Seven Card Stud

==Page 284==

'''jaconet... tartalan... crepe lissé''' 
jaconet 1.a soft, white, lightweight cotton textile 2. cotton cloth glazed on one side and dyed

'''Liberty's of London''' 
A famous department store in Regent Street, London, notable for its prints and fabrics. Opened in 1875 in a mock-Tudor building.

'''Grand Rapids style''' 
"The rooms are furnished in Grand Rapids style. The beds have pallets, but no springs, no Western-style mattresses, no top sheets; maid service consists of dumping a clean sheet and a blanket on the bed, to be made up by the guest."---Time.com...1978...on certain hotel rooms in China.
???

'''Four Corners Boys''' 
???

==Page 285==

'''million apiece''' 
Current values?

'''...it's out with that wackyzacky...'''

The 'wakizashi' is a Japanese sword - 12 to 24 inches - often worn by a Samurai together with a Katana - another sword - and the two together are then called a Daish or somesuch. Although it would appear that this sword would have sometimes been used during Hari Kiri it is not the normal Hari Kiri weapon. That is usually a short - 6 to 12 inches long - double edged knife/sword called a Tant.' 

'''hari-kari'''

'''''Trans'''. belly cutting''

What became a ritualised form of suicide in Japan cheifly amongst the nobility. It was sometimes offered to a nobleman as an honorable alternative to execution. A short knife or sword is plunged into the abdomen, drawn through and across the bowel laterally, with a small upwards twist at the end. Now extremely rare in Japan. More commonly referred to by the Chinese name for belly cutting - Seppuku - because eventually the Ritual was seen as being somewhat distastaeful, even dishonourable

'''Cal Rutan''' 
???

==Page 286==

'''Loomis''' 
Loomis Disco.

'''lowland alkali''' 
???

'''hardpan''' 
???

==Page 287==

'''chicharrones''' 
Fried pork skins.

'''''Ristras''''' 
Strings of dried red chiles.

'''sixty-degree wedges''' 
One-sixth of a pie.

'''''"Por poco te faltó La Blanca"''''' 
Translates to "You just missed La Blanca."

==Page 288==

'''Montrose''' 
A city on Colorado's Western Slope. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose%2C_Colorado Wikipedia entry].

'''popcorn snows''' 
???

'''vanning''' 
???

'''''comal''''' 
???

==Page 289==

'''half a cubic foot''' 
12" by 12" by 6".

==Page 290==

'''miner's gad''' 
According to the OED, "1. a steel wedge, 2. a small iron punch with a wooden handle used to break up ore."

'''McBryan's''' 
???

'''trick animal''' 
???

==Page 291==

'''Cosmopolitan''' 
Cf p260.

'''Mr. Edison's scheme... static electricity''' 
???

'''Wetherill's magnet''' 
If electric, that's Kit's domain.

==Page 292==

'''Hieronymus Wheel''' 
This may be a stretch but one of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch is called the Circle of Hell which contains an assortment of odd creatures. As a central image there is a wheel coming out of (or going into) the mouth of a fishlike creature. The reference to hell seems appropriate for Telluride and a Japanese trade delegation in a Colorado bar may suggest the odd creatures. Just to stretch the connection a bit further, there was another Bosch, Robert, a Germany engineer who perfected a magneto ignition device in 1897 that became the standard for creating electrical sparks to start internal combustion engines. The modern Bosch Group is a leading manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology.
:While there is most certainly something Boschean about Pynchon's aesthetic, nothing in the context of this passage suggests an association with either the painting described above or the machinist Robert Bosch. Instead, the passage indicates that the term describes a roulette wheel. Neither Google nor the OED recognize the term in any meaningful way, though it may be a back formation from the term "jerry," meaning to tumble, Hieronymous being the latinate form of Jerome. This etymology is still a considerable stretch, but it fits the passage better. For an example of an AtD passage that '''does''' conjure Old Master depictions of Hell (of which Bosch painted several), albeit without suggesting Bosch specifically, see p. 210-11, "the first glimpse of Jeshimon . . . . advanced the hour."

'''Dieter''' 
German first name. Pronunciation: [diːtər]. Short for Dietrich. A Old High German combination of 'thioda' (ger: das Volk, engl: the nation) and 'heri' (ger: das Heer, engl: the army). Popular male name in Germany after WWII. Outfashioned today ''Dieter'' is referred to as comic and/or queer.
:Since "Dieter" is "the barkeep" the English word ''dieter'' for someone who prescibes a diet comes to mind.

'''bellows''' 
pic?

==Page 293==

'''''"Sumimasen... Bobusan desu... Gonnusuringaa... mottomo abunai desu"''''' 
Don't know the rest, but "Bobusan" refers to Bob and "Gonnusuringaa" is likely "Gunslinger."
 
Translation from e2535: 
mottomo abunai desu = "he is extremely dangerous" 
Sumimasen = "Pardon me" or "Excuse me" 

'''''"Anna koto"''''' 
???

'''fulgurescence''' 
A neologism, I think -- it does not appear in the OED. 'Fulgur' is Latin for lightning, 'fulgurite' being, e.g., according to the OED, "any rocky substance that has been fused or vitrified by lightning. More strictly applied to a bore or tube produced by the passage of lightning into a sandy soil." In this context, "fulgerescence," refers to bright, lightening-like flashes.

'''"The loss of clarity . . . . in the dark"''' 
See the note for Hieronymous wheel on page 292. This further enhances the Circle of Hell connection for the Hieronymous wheel note above. The painting includes several unknown creatures, including a barrel with legs, while “thrashed about” suggests the central fish monster image of the painting.
:Cf., also, p. 221, "Lateral world-sets, other parts of the Creation, lie all around us, each with its crossover points or gates of transfer from one to another, and they can be anywhere, really . . . . An unscheduled Explosion, introduced into the accustomed flow of the day, may easily open, now and then, passages to elsewhere," as well as p. 230, "'Let us imagine a lateral world, set only infintesimally to the side of the one we think we know.'"
::Cf., also the transdimensional travel of Buckaroo Bonzai in the Pynchon inspired film, ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), especially the images of 8th-Dimensional creatures that Bonzai sees as he passes through the mountain. [http://imdb.com/title/tt0086856/ IMDB entry].
::Cf., further, the notion of a "multiverse," that is, a physical ur-structure, comprised of many, if not infinite universes, of which ours is only one. Several contemporary cosmological theories require that a multiverse exist, though its existence remains highly conjectural. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse Wikipedia entry].

'''packing out pyrites''' 
Mining fool's gold.

'''katana''' 
Japanese samurai sword.

==Page 294==

'''Baron Akashi''' 
A Japanese general whose career included spying, but, anachronistically, his career did not begin until 1889. He was a spy in Europe during RussoJapanese War-1900? So would he've been famous even to the lengths of backwoods CO? How much spyin' can a poor boy do if he's famous?

'''Squirrel and sarsaparilla''' 
Squirrel Whiskey and Sarsaparilla Soda. Squirrel whiskey was so called because it was supposedly so strong it would drive its drinkers up a tree. Sarparilla, by contrast, is derived from the roots of the Sarsparilla tree.

==Page 295==

'''summer of '89''' 
???

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

ATD 273-295

2006-12-28T17:12:39Z

Rogermex: /* Page 275 */

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

==Page 273==

'''the electric''' 
The Denver Tramway Company, beginning in 1886, operated electric railcars between central Denver and outlying communities. [http://www.denvergov.org/AboutDenver/history_narrative_3.asp Citation]

==Page 274==

'''Arapahoe''' 
Since Frank is at the moment in Denver, "on Arapahoe" would mean on Arapahoe Street. From the native tribe. Also a county in eastern CO and a scattering of places in US.

'''drygulched''' 
Ambushed, betrayed.

'''after Repeal in '93''' 
Refers to the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which required the U.S. government to purchase an additional 4.5 million ounces of silver bullion every month with notes that could be redeemed for either silver or gold. Repealed by Congress after the Panic of 1893 to prevent depletion of the country's gold reserves. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Act Wikipedia entry].

'''Lake County''' 
Colorado county of which Leadville is the county seat.

'''Haw Tabor''' 
Horace Tabor, a prospector, businessman, politician, and one of the wealthiest men in Colorado in the 19th Century. Tabor moved to Denver in 1859, later settling in Leadville in 1877. With the wealth he accumulated from his silver mine, Tabor established newspapers, a bank, and an opera house in Leadville (which still stands), and the Tabor Grand Opera House and the Tabor Block in Denver. In 1878, Tabor was elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and served in that post until January 1884. He served as U.S. Senator from Colorado for two months in 1883. Tabor ran unsuccessfully for Colorado governor in 1884, 1886, and 1888. In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act devastated Tabor's fortune and his far-flung holdings were sold off. He died from appendicitis in 1899, and his legend still persists in Colorado.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Tabor Wikipedia entry].

'''Matchless''' 
The Matchless Mine in Leadville, formerly owned by Horace Tabor. Oscar Wilde visited the Matchless in 1882. The "widow" is Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe, a/k/a "Baby Doe" Tabor, Horace Tabor's second wife (and his mistress before he married her in 1883). Baby Doe and her stubborn retention of the Matchless Mine is another Colorado legend. When Horace Tabor fell ill with appendicitis in 1899, his final request of Baby Doe was that she "hold onto the Matchless." This she did, with tragic results. After living in a shack beside the mine for 36 years, she froze to death one night in March 1935 after she ran out of firewood. Her body was found frozen with her arms crossed peacefully across her chest. After her death, 17 iron trunks that had been placed in storage in Denver were opened, as well as several gunny sacks and four trunks that had been left at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Leadville. All that was left from the Tabor fortune were several bolts of unique, untouched and exquisite cloth, several pieces of china, a tea service and some jewelry, including a diamond and sapphire ring. Baby Doe's story has inspired numerous works, including a movie and an opera by Douglas Moore, ''The Ballad of Baby Doe.'' More on Baby Doe Tabor, including pictures of the Matchless and the shack she lived and died in, can be found at these links: [http://www.babydoetabor.com/ Baby Doe Tabor.com]; [http://www.babydoe.org/index.php BabyDoe.org]

'''Zinc Rush''' 
Leadville had "rushes" on gold, silver, molybdenim, zinc...

'''some bright engineer''' 
???

==Page 275==

'''Molly-be-damned''' 
Molybdenum, which is still mined outside of Leadville.

'''Wren Provenance''' 
Let's not forget that one manifestation of '''V.''' was Victoria Wren. There appear to be many allusions to '''V.''' in ATD.

'''heaps''' 
pic?

'''Sons of Heaven section''' 
???

==Page 276==

'''Jennie Rogers's House of Mirrors''' 
Jennie Rogers (1843-1909) was a notorious Denver madam who built the "House of Mirrors" at 1946 Market Street in Denver in 1889 and ran it until her death in 1909. The House of Mirrors embodies the Romanesque architecture of the era, and was specifically designed as a bordello. It was later taken over by the even more notorious Mattie Silks (1846-1929), who operated it until 1915, when it fell victim to so-called "reformers." The House of Mirrors still stands, and today operates as a bar and restauant. (This contributor has been drinking there many times.) More on its history, including pictures, and on the history of Denver's Market Street red-light district, can be found at [http://www.mattieshouseofmirrors.com/index.html this website].

'''dress cavalry helmet''' 
pic?

==Page 277==

'''Aztlán''' 
???

'''thirteenth century''' 
???

'''images of creatures''' 
pic?

==Page 278==

'''the report''' 
???

'''Albany... bar mirror''' 
???

'''Booth Virbling''' 
???

==Page 279==

'''Bulkley Wells''' 
???

'''Ice Saw murder''' 
???

'''sparking''' 
???

==Page 280==

'''South Pacific islands''' 
Cf Margaret Mead.

==Page 281==

'''first city''' 
???

'''"Beside the tracks at one bend stood a local lunatic"''' 
Like starting a Disney land ride.
:how so? [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 14:46, 4 December 2006 (PST)

==Page 282==

'''level of hatred''' 
Cf capacitance?

'''vagging bee''' 
Neologism?

==Page 283==

'''''"joven"''''' 
Young fellow (Spanish).

'''Ellmore Disco''' 
???

'''when it was still Leadville''' 
???

'''Seven-Toed Pete''' 
Seven Card Stud

==Page 284==

'''jaconet... tartalan... crepe lissé''' 
jaconet 1.a soft, white, lightweight cotton textile 2. cotton cloth glazed on one side and dyed

'''Liberty's of London''' 
A famous department store in Regent Street, London, notable for its prints and fabrics. Opened in 1875 in a mock-Tudor building.

'''Grand Rapids style''' 
"The rooms are furnished in Grand Rapids style. The beds have pallets, but no springs, no Western-style mattresses, no top sheets; maid service consists of dumping a clean sheet and a blanket on the bed, to be made up by the guest."---Time.com...1978...on certain hotel rooms in China.
???

'''Four Corners Boys''' 
???

==Page 285==

'''million apiece''' 
Current values?

'''...it's out with that wackyzacky...'''

The 'wakizashi' is a Japanese sword - 12 to 24 inches - often worn by a Samurai together with a Katana - another sword - and the two together are then called a Daish or somesuch. Although it would appear that this sword would have sometimes been used during Hari Kiri it is not the normal Hari Kiri weapon. That is usually a short - 6 to 12 inches long - double edged knife/sword called a Tant.' 

'''hari-kari'''

'''''Trans'''. belly cutting''

What became a ritualised form of suicide in Japan cheifly amongst the nobility. It was sometimes offered to a nobleman as an honorable alternative to execution. A short knife or sword is plunged into the abdomen, drawn through and across the bowel laterally, with a small upwards twist at the end. Now extremely rare in Japan. More commonly referred to by the Chinese name for belly cutting - Seppuku - because eventually the Ritual was seen as being somewhat distastaeful, even dishonourable

'''Cal Rutan''' 
???

==Page 286==

'''Loomis''' 
Loomis Disco.

'''lowland alkali''' 
???

'''hardpan''' 
???

==Page 287==

'''chicharrones''' 
Fried pork skins.

'''''Ristras''''' 
Strings of dried red chiles.

'''sixty-degree wedges''' 
One-sixth of a pie.

'''''"Por poco te faltó La Blanca"''''' 
Translates to "You just missed La Blanca."

==Page 288==

'''Montrose''' 
A city on Colorado's Western Slope. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose%2C_Colorado Wikipedia entry].

'''popcorn snows''' 
???

'''vanning''' 
???

'''''comal''''' 
???

==Page 289==

'''half a cubic foot''' 
12" by 12" by 6".

==Page 290==

'''miner's gad''' 
According to the OED, "1. a steel wedge, 2. a small iron punch with a wooden handle used to break up ore."

'''McBryan's''' 
???

'''trick animal''' 
???

==Page 291==

'''Cosmopolitan''' 
Cf p260.

'''Mr. Edison's scheme... static electricity''' 
???

'''Wetherill's magnet''' 
If electric, that's Kit's domain.

==Page 292==

'''Hieronymus Wheel''' 
This may be a stretch but one of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch is called the Circle of Hell which contains an assortment of odd creatures. As a central image there is a wheel coming out of (or going into) the mouth of a fishlike creature. The reference to hell seems appropriate for Telluride and a Japanese trade delegation in a Colorado bar may suggest the odd creatures. Just to stretch the connection a bit further, there was another Bosch, Robert, a Germany engineer who perfected a magneto ignition device in 1897 that became the standard for creating electrical sparks to start internal combustion engines. The modern Bosch Group is a leading manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology.
:While there is most certainly something Boschean about Pynchon's aesthetic, nothing in the context of this passage suggests an association with either the painting described above or the machinist Robert Bosch. Instead, the passage indicates that the term describes a roulette wheel. Neither Google nor the OED recognize the term in any meaningful way, though it may be a back formation from the term "jerry," meaning to tumble, Hieronymous being the latinate form of Jerome. This etymology is still a considerable stretch, but it fits the passage better. For an example of an AtD passage that '''does''' conjure Old Master depictions of Hell (of which Bosch painted several), albeit without suggesting Bosch specifically, see p. 210-11, "the first glimpse of Jeshimon . . . . advanced the hour."

'''Dieter''' 
German first name. Pronunciation: [diːtər]. Short for Dietrich. A Old High German combination of 'thioda' (ger: das Volk, engl: the nation) and 'heri' (ger: das Heer, engl: the army). Popular male name in Germany after WWII. Outfashioned today ''Dieter'' is referred to as comic and/or queer.
:Since "Dieter" is "the barkeep" the English word ''dieter'' for someone who prescibes a diet comes to mind.

'''bellows''' 
pic?

==Page 293==

'''''"Sumimasen... Bobusan desu... Gonnusuringaa... mottomo abunai desu"''''' 
Don't know the rest, but "Bobusan" refers to Bob and "Gonnusuringaa" is likely "Gunslinger."
 
Translation from e2535: 
mottomo abunai desu = "he is extremely dangerous" 
Sumimasen = "Pardon me" or "Excuse me" 

'''''"Anna koto"''''' 
???

'''fulgurescence''' 
A neologism, I think -- it does not appear in the OED. 'Fulgur' is Latin for lightning, 'fulgurite' being, e.g., according to the OED, "any rocky substance that has been fused or vitrified by lightning. More strictly applied to a bore or tube produced by the passage of lightning into a sandy soil." In this context, "fulgerescence," refers to bright, lightening-like flashes.

'''"The loss of clarity . . . . in the dark"''' 
See the note for Hieronymous wheel on page 292. This further enhances the Circle of Hell connection for the Hieronymous wheel note above. The painting includes several unknown creatures, including a barrel with legs, while “thrashed about” suggests the central fish monster image of the painting.
:Cf., also, p. 221, "Lateral world-sets, other parts of the Creation, lie all around us, each with its crossover points or gates of transfer from one to another, and they can be anywhere, really . . . . An unscheduled Explosion, introduced into the accustomed flow of the day, may easily open, now and then, passages to elsewhere," as well as p. 230, "'Let us imagine a lateral world, set only infintesimally to the side of the one we think we know.'"
::Cf., also the transdimensional travel of Buckaroo Bonzai in the Pynchon inspired film, ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), especially the images of 8th-Dimensional creatures that Bonzai sees as he passes through the mountain. [http://imdb.com/title/tt0086856/ IMDB entry].
::Cf., further, the notion of a "multiverse," that is, a physical ur-structure, comprised of many, if not infinite universes, of which ours is only one. Several contemporary cosmological theories require that a multiverse exist, though its existence remains highly conjectural. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse Wikipedia entry].

'''packing out pyrites''' 
Mining fool's gold.

'''katana''' 
Japanese samurai sword.

==Page 294==

'''Baron Akashi''' 
A Japanese general whose career included spying, but, anachronistically, his career did not begin until 1889. He was a spy in Europe during RussoJapanese War-1900? So would he've been famous even to the lengths of backwoods CO? How much spyin' can a poor boy do if he's famous?

'''Squirrel and sarsaparilla''' 
Squirrel Whiskey and Sarsaparilla Soda. Squirrel whiskey was so called because it was supposedly so strong it would drive its drinkers up a tree. Sarparilla, by contrast, is derived from the roots of the Sarsparilla tree.

==Page 295==

'''summer of '89''' 
???

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

ATD 219-242

2006-12-13T17:39:59Z

Rogermex: /* Page 220 */

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

==Page 219==

'''Chunxton Crescent''' 
???

'''Madame Blavatsky''' 
Died 1891. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Blavatsky Wikipedia]

==Page 220==

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

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

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

'''Grand Cohen''' 
???

==Page 221==

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

==Page 222==

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

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

'''To know, to dare, to will, to keep silent''' 
Mystical formula. [http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=to.know.to.dare.to.will examples]

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

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

==Page 224==

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

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

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

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

==Page 225==

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

'''four stone''' 
56 pounds.

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

==Page 226==

'''growler''' 
Hansom cab.

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

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

==Page 227==

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

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

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

==Page 228==

'''Oliver Lodge''' 
???

'''William Crookes''' 
???

'''Mrs. Piper''' 
???

'''Eusapia Palladino''' 
???

'''W.T. Stead''' 
???

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

'''Alexander and Draga Obrenovich''' 
???

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

==Page 229==

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

==Page 230==

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

'''tweeny''' 
Betweenmaid.

'''Edward Oxford''' 
???

'''Tory despotism''' 
Thatcher?

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

==Page 231==

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

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

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

==Page 232==

'''Éliphaz Lévi''' 
???

'''punters''' 
???

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

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

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

==Page 233==

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

'''xylene''' 
???

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

==Page 234==

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

'''Cheapside''' 
???

'''mews''' 
???

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

==Page 235==

'''sensitive flames''' 
Cf GR.

'''Soxhlet extractos''' 
???

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

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

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

==Page 236==

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

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

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

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

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

'''exhiliration''' 
Spelling typo.

==Page 237==

'''beige substance''' 
Presumably Cyclomite.

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

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

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

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

==Page 238==

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

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

==Page 239==

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

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

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

==Page 241==

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

==Page 242==

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

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

ATD 219-242

2006-12-13T17:38:54Z

Rogermex: /* Page 220 */

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

==Page 219==

'''Chunxton Crescent''' 
???

'''Madame Blavatsky''' 
Died 1891. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Blavatsky Wikipedia]

==Page 220==

'''Caen stone''' 
???

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

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

'''Grand Cohen''' 
???

==Page 221==

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

==Page 222==

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

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

'''To know, to dare, to will, to keep silent''' 
Mystical formula. [http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=to.know.to.dare.to.will examples]

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

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

==Page 224==

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

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

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

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

==Page 225==

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

'''four stone''' 
56 pounds.

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

==Page 226==

'''growler''' 
Hansom cab.

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

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

==Page 227==

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

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

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

==Page 228==

'''Oliver Lodge''' 
???

'''William Crookes''' 
???

'''Mrs. Piper''' 
???

'''Eusapia Palladino''' 
???

'''W.T. Stead''' 
???

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

'''Alexander and Draga Obrenovich''' 
???

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

==Page 229==

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

==Page 230==

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

'''tweeny''' 
Betweenmaid.

'''Edward Oxford''' 
???

'''Tory despotism''' 
Thatcher?

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

==Page 231==

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

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

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

==Page 232==

'''Éliphaz Lévi''' 
???

'''punters''' 
???

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

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

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

==Page 233==

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

'''xylene''' 
???

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

==Page 234==

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

'''Cheapside''' 
???

'''mews''' 
???

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

==Page 235==

'''sensitive flames''' 
Cf GR.

'''Soxhlet extractos''' 
???

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

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

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

==Page 236==

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

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

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

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

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

'''exhiliration''' 
Spelling typo.

==Page 237==

'''beige substance''' 
Presumably Cyclomite.

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

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

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

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

==Page 238==

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

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

==Page 239==

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

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

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

==Page 241==

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

==Page 242==

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

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

ATD 119-148

2006-12-13T17:21:03Z

Rogermex: /* Page 125 */

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

==Page 121==

'''flying bridge''' 
On an ordinary aquatic ship, the flying bridge is an open deck atop the pilothouse for navigating in good weather. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_bridge [Wikipedia]]

'''"Ray-rush"''' 
Cf contemporary telecom bandwidth auctions.

==Page 122==

'''dazzle-painting''' 
A camouflage painting technique used on WWI ships.[http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html] 

'''intelligence centers on the surface such as the Inter-Group Laboratory for Opticomagnetic Observation (I.G.L.O.O.), a radiational clearing-house in Northern Alaska''' 
Perhaps a reference to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site in Gakonka, AK, which is ostensibly engaged in ionospheric research [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haarp (Wikipedia entry)]. Also suggestive of the ECHELON network [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON (Wikipedia entry)], comprising a number of signals intelligence sites, which are capable of intercepting a wide variety of communications signals throughout the world. Also, Pynchon often creates humorous or fanciful acronyms: W.A.S.T.E. (''The Crying of Lot 49''), A.C.H.T.U.N.G. (''Gravity's Rainbow''), etc.

'''Lloyd's of the high spectrum [...] the next fateful Lutine announcement.''' The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutine HMS Lutine] (Lutine translates as "the tease") was a ship commissioned in the French Royal Navy which was later given to the English Royal Navy during the Revolution. In 1799 she sank in the North Sea while blockading Holland; her hold was full of gold. Lloyd's of London, an independent insurance market still known for being willing to assume large insurance risks for the right price, had insured the gold, and paid the claim in full, acquiring nominal ownership of the still-unsalvaged cargo. The ship's bell was recovered in the mid-19th century and hangs to this day in the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's. For many years the the Lutine Bell was struck to announce news of an overdue ship: once if lost, twice if reported safe. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd's_of_London#Miscellaneous [Wikipedia]]

'''last eclipse''' 
Possibly Pike's Peak, 1878? [http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhistory/SEhistory.html (partial table)]

==Page 123==

'''lookout telegraph''' 
Instead of attaching Pugnax's tail directly to a hammer that hits the gong, the gong is struck remotely via a telegraph line.

'''Igor Padzhitnoff''' 
The whole passage that introduces the rival airship captain is a play on Tetris. Igor's surname is similar to that of the creator of Tetris, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Pazhitnov Alexey Pazhitnov]. Also, the captain himself flies a ship called "The Great Game" and drops "bricks and masonry, always in the four-block fragments which had become his "signature," to fall on and damage targets designated by his superiors."

'''''Ice Pirates''''' 
This turn of phrase echoes the spoof [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087451/ movie] of camraderie and dangerous "space herpes" that was released in 1984. There's no textual evidence that Pynchon means to refer to the movie, but the satirical humor and outlandish situations presented in the film might be attractive to someone with his sensibilities.

'''Tovarishchi Slutchainyi''' 
Tovarishchi translates as comrades; the literal translation of "Slutchainyi" is "accidental", leading to one possible reading of the phrase being: Chums of Chance. 
The phrase "Tovarishchi Slutchainyi" could also mean someone who is friends, but not intentionally, ie: perhaps people who are conscripted into a situation where they are forced to be communal. (Thanks to Anna Zaytseva for the idiomatic help!) 
A third reading is introduced when the homophonic correspondence between the final two syllables of Slutchainyi and Vice-President Cheney's name is noted.

'''nasal dislocation''' 
'Nose out of joint' = offended, feelings hurt.

==Page 124==

'''Na sobrat' ya po nebo!''' 
?

==Page 125==
'''a ''roman-feuilleton'' by M. Eugène Sue''' 
A ''roman-feuilleton'' or serial novel. M. Eugène Sue was a French novelist roughly contemporary to Dumas père, with whom he has been compared. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugène_Sue Wikipedia entry on M. Eugène Sue]

'''red as a cursed ruby representing a third eye in the brow of some idol of the incomprehensible''' 
Seems too random to not be a reference to something...

In the 1940 version of "The Thief of Bagdad" the boy thief Abu (played by Sabu) must steal a magical "all-seeing eye" (ruby?) from the brow of a massive golden idol in a remote temple, in order to see - as in a crystal ball - the location of the Princess held in thrall by the evil vizier Jaffar.

'''Isafjördr''' 
Seems to be in Iceland?

'''The "extra man" of Arctic myth''' 

In his footnotes to "The Waste Land", T.S. Eliot glosses the lines:

''Who is the third who walks always beside you?'' 
''When I count, there are only you and I together'' 
''But when I look ahead up the white road'' 
''There is always another one walking beside you'' 

with:

"The following lines were stimulated by the account of one of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers, at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion that there was one more member than could actually be counted." [http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/wasteland/thunder.html]

See also [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackletonexped/dispatches/19991110.html NOVA Online: Shackleton's Antarctic Odyssey]
"Shackleton, for his part, attributed their astonishing success to something else: 'I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.' Worsley and Crean, uncannily, felt the same. When T. S. Eliot read Shackleton's account, he was inspired to write the passage at the head of this dispatch."

'''the true face''' 
Possible variant on Taoism's "The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao" [http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/the-X-that-can-be-Y-is-not-the-true-X.html [cf]]

'''bonzoline''' 
Ivory substitute made from celluloid, used for billiard balls. [http://www.oedilf.com/db/Lim.php?Word=bonzoline [cite]]

==Page 126==
'''inukshuk''' 
An inukshuk is a stone landmark used as a milestone or directional marker by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. The Arctic Circle, dominated by permafrost, has few natural landmarks and thus the inuksuk was central to navigation across the barren tundra. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk Wikipedia entry on Inukshuk]

'''a truth beyond the secular''' 
Pynchon's use of the word "secular" is unusual. He previously had the Chums striving "to minimize contamination of the secular" on [[ATD_97-118#Page_113|page 113]], and here the Chums try to glimpse "some expression of a truth beyond the secular." Neither of these statements makes much sense with the normal definitions in use today for "secular"-- what could this mean?

'''They passed around rumors--the Captain was insane again, ice-pirates were hunting the ''Malus'' like whalers...''' 
This phrase seems evocative of ''Moby Dick'', not only in the intimation that the Captain might be insane and the rumors that might result, but also with the explicit references to "whalers" in the subsequent clause, "the subtle insanity of Ahab." ''Moby Dick'' of course contains many scenes when two whaling ships come together to exchange messages. Chapter 131, "The Pequod Meets the Delight," features particularly sinister omens. It is safe to say, however, that none of the captains who meets Ahab quite resembles Padzhitnoff or has a "signature" resembling the game of Tetris! Pynchon once again lightly tweaks the "line" linking his body of work to Melville's. ([[ATD_57-80#Page_73|page 73]])

'''Étienne-Louis Malus''' 
See [[ATD_97-118#Page_114|page 114]].

==Page 127==

'''Constance Penhallow''' 
Hallow: to set apart as holy, to honor greatly. Her name then pairs the virtue of canstancy with honoring the pen. Note also that her grandson, mentioned on page 128, is named Hunter and is an artist--In the hunt for the consecrated pen.

Alternatively, the prefix ''pen-'' is Gaelic for ''head, principal,'' or ''chief,'' in which case the name would mean "Holiest." It is also Latin for ''nearly, almost'' (as in "penultimate" or "peninsula"), rendering the name "nearly holy." Given the Nordic origin of the Penhallow family, and the Germanic etymology of "hallow," the Gaelic prefix may be more likely. On the other hand, the Latinate prefix suggests the state of preterition -- not quite holy and perhaps not saved...

'''Harald the Ruthless''' 
Harald III Sigurdsson (1015 – September 25, 1066), later surnamed Harald Hardråde (meaning ruthless) was the king of Norway from 1047 until 1066. Harald was the last great Viking king of Norway and his invasion of England and death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 proved a true watershed moment. It marked the end of the Viking age. In Norway, Harald's death also marked the beginning of the Christian era. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_III_of_Norway Wikipedia entry on Harald the Ruthless]

'''Ginnungagap''' 
In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap ("seeming emptiness" or "gaping gap") was a vast chasm that existed before the ordering of the world. To the north of Ginnungagap lay the intense cold of Niflheim, to the south the insufferable heat of Muspelheim. At the beginning of time, the two met in the Ginnungagap; and where the heat met the frost, the frost drops melted and formed the substance eitr, which quickened into life in the form of the giant Ymir, the father of all Frost giants. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginnungagap Wikipedia entry on Ginnungagap]

==Page 128==

'''Hunter Penhallow''' 
See above, Constance Penhallow.

'''Bay of Röerford''' 
Does not seem to exist, at least with this spelling.

'''lower-eighties''' 
Latitudes from 80N to 85N (mainly Ellesmere Island). [http://www.athropolis.com/map2.htm [map]]

==Page 129==

'''Meat Olaf''' 
Anagram.
:As a lesson on the dangers of over-interpretation: I asked a Norwegian friend whether this is truly a Norwegian dish, to which he replied "no," making me feel stupid. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]]

'''Cuidado Cabrón''' 
Cabrón is an offensive word in Spanish meaning a guy who is an asshole/dick/cuckold, but friends can also call each other Cabrón in a joking manner. So, "watch out, fucker!" hot sauce.

==Page 130==

'''Tsangpo-Brahmaputra country'''
The Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra river drains a large portion of the eastern Himalaya and southern Tibetan plateau as well as the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, one of the most tectonically active areas of the globe.

'''Candlebrow University''' 
A fictional institute, created in the tradition of Lovecraft's Miskatonic University.

<div id="quaternions"></div>'''Quaternions''' 
In mathematics, quaternions are a non-commutative extension of complex numbers. They were first described by the Irish mathematician [[ATD-H#hamilton|Sir William Rowan Hamilton]] in 1843 and applied to mechanics in three-dimensional space. At first, quaternions were regarded as pathological, because they disobeyed the commutative law ab = ba. Although they have been superseded in most applications by vectors, they still find uses in both theoretical and applied mathematics, in particular for calculations involving three-dimensional rotations. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternion Wikipedia entry].

'''Fleetwood Vibe''' 
Fleetwood, like Scarsdale, is a wealthy suburb of New York City. Both are neighborhoods in Pynchon's native Long Island.

'''bucket-shop''' 
Business designed to cheat people. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_shop [Wikipedia]]

'''Flannelette''' 
Little washcloth.

'''Harriman... Schiff''' 
Railroad magnate and financier behind Northern Pacific Railroad, c1901. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railroad [Wikipedia]]

==Page 131==

'''Outer Hebrides''' 
or Western Isles comprise an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The population today is only 26,370, and there is no University.

==Page 133==

'''Ynglingsaga''' 
See also Ynglinga Saga, or the story of the ancient Norse kings. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ynglinga_saga Wikipedia entry]

'''... even of days not yet transpired.''' 
Reminiscent of the Borges short story "The Library of Babel" about an "infinite library" which contains every possible book. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_babel Wikipedia entry]

==Page 134==
'''visitors from elsewhere, of non-human aspect''' 
Extraterrestrials, perhaps? "Visitors", in popular culture, is a term sometimes used to describe ETs. The alien race from the television miniseries ''V'' was named The Visitors. In the fictional world of ''South Park'', aliens are referred to as "visitors".

'''infinitesimal circle''' 
Cf p58. Reference to epsilon neighbourhoods, an essential tool in mathematical proofs.

'''the sea-green, the ice-green, glass-green sea.''' 
In ''Ulysses'', James Joyce repeatedly describes the "snotgreen sea" (cf. Gabler edition, p. 4), itself an allusion to Homer's evocation of the "wine-dark sea". Cf., also, ATD, p.127: " . . . a green headland, sheer green wals of ice, the greenness nearest the water . . . . " In previous novels, Pynchon's use of color is almost always advised, as N.K. Hayles and M.B. Eiser note in their essay, "Coloring Gravity's Rainbow," in which green is frequently associated with the natural world, uncontaminated by humanity.

==Page 135==

'''Mush-It-Away''' 
Takeaway (takeout fast food) for dogsledders.

==Page 136==

'''Venice of the Arctic''' 
Many cities have been compared with Venice in Italy, usually due to a high density of waterways (especially inner city canals) and/or maritime trade connections. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames#.27Venice_of_....27 Wikipedia entry on Venice of the X comparisons]

The Venice passage contains two themes that have appeared often in ''Against the Day'' so far: that of doubles (such as Foley Walker and Scarsdale Vibe, Randolph and his Russian counterpart, etc) and that of chance or randomness (the Chums, the meeting of Vibe and Walker, etc).

'''Bauer-Grünewald''' 
Famous hotel in Venice.

'''kedgework''' 
A set of pilings used to move a ship by hauling on its mooring or anchoring lines.

==Page 138==

In the period of ATD, museums around the world sought spectacular meteorites, e.g. the Cape York meteorite recovered by Arctic explorer Robert Peary.
[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/meteorites/what/capeyork.php]

'''Nesselrode pudding''' 
From ''The Penguin Book of Food and Drink'', ed. Paul Levy: 
"An iced pudding flavoured with chestnuts and dried fruit was invented by Monsieur Mony, chef for many years to the Russian diplomat, Count Nesselrode, in Paris [...] Glacé fruit and peel were a further embellishment to the Nesselrode by the time Proust was old enough to notice such things.

==Page 139==
'''Dr. Counterfly... bearded''' 
Last seen as a boy with low rank. Six years have elapsed, 1893-1899.

'''lenses proved to be...Nicol prisms''' 
A Nicol Prism is a device to produce polarized light. It is made from a crystal of calcite (Iceland spar), which is cut along a precisely determined plane and then cemented back together with Canada balsam. A picture can be found [http://web.grinnell.edu/physics/PMuseum/Nicol%20Prisms.html here], detailed diagrams of Nicol and other polarizing prisms are availabe [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/phyopt/polpri.html here].

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

==Page 140==

'''a large brass speaking-trumpet''' 
Somewhat reminiscent of the ubiquitous W.A.S.T.E. symbolism in ''The Crying of Lot 49''.

[[image:Breguethands.jpg|thumb|Breguet hands|right]]'''Breguet-style arrowheads''' 
A distinctive fine watch of French design, usually with open circles ('moons') near the ends of the hands. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_(watch) Wikipedia entry]

'''Poulson's Telegraphone''' 
Invented in 1898, the first magnetic recording machine was patented by Valdemar Poulson. The theory behind this machine was worked out theoretically by Oberlin Smith of the UK in 1888. Poulson's machine recorded by passing a thin wire across an electromagnet. Each minute section of the wire would retain its electromagnetic charge, thus recording the sound. Sound could be both recorded and played back. Unfortunately, because the machine's output wasn't very loud and there was no way to amplify the signal, the Telegraphone was not much of a success. [http://www.wou.edu/las/creativearts/music/MUS%20206%20Text.pdf External link]

'''a human caul''' 
caul (Latin: Caput galeatum, literally, "head helmet") is a thin, filmy membrane, the remnants of the amniotic sac, that covers or partly covers the newborn mammal immediately after birth. It is also the membrane enclosing the paunch of mammals, particularly as in pork and mutton butchery. In butchery, the caul is used as offal. A third meaning refers to a type of women's headdress. The superstition attached to birth cauls has figured into numerous works of fiction, including ''David Copperfield,'' Stephen King's ''The Shining'' (wherein the child Danny Torrance, born with a caul, is possessed with the eponymous supernatural power), and Alan Moore's short graphic novel, ''The Birth Caul''.

==Page 141==

'''misfortunes of certain Egyptologists''' 
Possibly a reference to the curse supposed to be attendant on the tomb of Tutankhamen, and upon which the death of George Herbert, who financed the expedition, was blamed. The tomb was breached in Feb 1923, though, and that seems later than this episode, so it may just be a reference to general myth. [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/curse.htm [history]]

'''odalisque of the snows''' 
An odalisque was a virgin female slave who tended to the harem of the Turkish sultan. Numerous paintings of the 19th century portrayed them as reclining beauties. The most famous of these is Ingres' ''La grande odalisque'' (1814):

[[Image:odalisque.jpg|300px|center]]

==Page 143==

'''Tungus''' 
Siberian language. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungusic_languages [Wikipedia]]

'''bilocation''' 
Doubtless to be an important concept in the novel, judging by the title of Part Three. Latin bis, twice, and locatio, place. Bilocation is as Pynchon explains, the ostensibly supernatural act of appearing or being in two or more locations simultaneously. Bilocation is claimed to have been experienced, and even practiced at will, by mystics, ecstatics, saints, monks, and magical adepts. Notably, Icelandic sagas also speak of warriors who were able to fall into a trance and appear thousands of miles away in battle. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilocation Wikipedia on bilocation] Is also obviously related to the physical properties of Iceland Spar.

==Page 145==

[[image:Evangelion.jpg|right|175px|thumb|The apocalyptic giant of light unearthed in the Arctic in Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'''the man-shaped light shall not deliver you''' 
Reminiscent of the famous Japanese anime ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1994-95), in which mankind unearths a mysterious creature from the Arctic ice that appears as a man-shaped giant of light, gets out of man's control and triggers an apocalypse. Probably not an intentional reference, but if Pynchon plays Tetris, who knows?

==Page 146==

'''lines''' 
The description of the single-file line at the train station basically describes current security conditions at American airports. A single line (i.e. linear thinking) does not seem to be a 'positive' in the Pynchon world. (See too the slaughterhouse on page 10.)

'''Explorers' Club''' 
Apparently in South Africa (the famous NYC one wasn't founded until 1904).

'''"War any moment"''' 
The Second Boer War started in October 1899. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War [Wikipedia]]

'''the British poet-laureate’s commemorative verse''' 

Reference to Alfred Austin. From Wikipedia: “As poet-laureate, his topical verses did not escape negative criticism; a hasty poem written in praise of the Jameson Raid in 1896 being a notable instance.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Austin Wikipedia entry]

The questionable rhyme referred to is from that “hasty poem” --

::They went across the veldt,
::As hard as they could pelt.

From Wikipedia: “The Jameson Raid (December 29, 1895 - January 2, 1896) was a raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895-96. It was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers (known as Uitlanders) in the Transvaal but failed to do so. The raid was ineffective and no uprising took place, but it did much to bring about the Second Boer War and the Second Matabele War.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_raid Wikipedia entry]

==Page 147==

'''Borchardt''' 
[[image:borchardt.jpg|thumb|200px|Borchardt pistol|right]]1894 forerunner of Luger.

'''Nansen''' 
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861-1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner. In 1893, he sailed to the Arctic in a ship which was deliberately allowed to drift north through the sea ice, a journey that took more than three years. During this first crossing of the Arctic Ocean the expedition became the first to discover the existence of a deep polar basin. When, after more than one year in the ice it became apparent that the ship would not reach the North Pole, Nansen continued north on foot and, in April 1895, reached 86° 14´ N, the highest latitude then attained. The two men were forced to spend the winter, surviving on walrus blubber and polar bear meat. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridtjof_Nansen Wikipedia entry on Nansen]

==Page 148==

'''the American Corporation, for instance, in which even the Supreme Court has recognized legal personhood ''' 
Refers to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886), during which Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite announced: "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad Wikipedia entry] For more on the recognition of corporation as legal persons, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood Wikipedia entry on corporate personhood].

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

ATD 149-170

2006-12-06T17:37:17Z

Rogermex: /* Page 168 */

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

==Page 150==
'''Tammanoid creatures, able to deliver votes''' 
As in "Tammany Hall", the often corrupt political machine that played a role in New York City politics for nearly two centuries. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall Wikipedia entry].
==Pages 154-155==
Hunter Penhallow's escape might be read as a happy ending getaway inversion of the claustrophobic opening sequence of Gravity's Rainbow, where nobody gets saved; "in this world brought low" echoes "the Light that hath brought the Towers low" on the final page of Gravity's Rainbow..."Light" may prefigure Against the Day's treatment of that subject, too.

==Page 167==
'''...it was a time honored principle to do nothing for free [...] Trust me. Buy Rand shares''' 
There seems to be a double meaning here. The text implies that Rand is a gold mining company (does anyone know if this is/was a real company?). Regardless, Yitzhak and Fleetwood are talking about South Africa, where the ''rand'' is the currency, the Kruger''rand'' is a gold coin, and the Witwaters''rand'' is the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built. On another level, however, it seems as though Pynchon is mocking the philosophy of Ayn Rand, which is often characterized as a defense of selfishness or strong individualism. Pynchon previously parodied Ayn Rand and her Theory of Objectivism as "Mafia Winsome" and her "Theory of Heroic Love" in ''V.''
==Page 168==

"like Baku with giraffes"

Gravity's Rainbow mentions Baku by name three times, according to the Pynchon Pages index (http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/b.html):

352; seaport capital of Azerbaydzhanskaya SSR, Soviet Union, on the west coast of the Caspian Sea; 353; Blobadjian "pursued through the black end of Baku by a passel of screaming Arabists" 354

After reading this section, and the oddly-separated text of Fleetwood's reverie about his pursuit of wealth in the Transvaal, and his murder of the Kaffir, the family name struck me, "Vibe" = "V" I be. Certainly this section brings back the African horror of "V."