Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 318-335

2017-04-24T03:36:06Z

Turdraker: /* Page 318 */

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

==Page 318==
'''Tengo que get el fuck out of aquí''' 
"I have to get the fuck out of here."
Just a literal translation of the English phrase. The Spanish equivalent could be "Tengo que salir cagando de aquí" ("I have to go shitting out of here").

'''Yale... how little the place was about studying and learning''' 
Pynchon's sustained attack on Yale follows his treatment of Harvard in GR -- "'Harvard's there for other reasons. The "educating" part of it is just sort of a front'" (GR 193).
:I wonder if Pynchon's skewering of the Ivies is tied to both his admiration for ''The Education of Henry Adams'' (Adams said that at Harvard, he got little from his professors and less from his classmates) and Pynchon's autodidacticism. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 20:55, 10 May 2007 (PDT)

:Not to mention that Pynchon went to Cornell.

'''Kabbalah''' 
Jewish mysticism. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah Wikipedia]. Also see p.227: 'Kabbalist Tree of Life' tattooed 'below Madame Eskimoff's bared nape.'

'''latent in the Maxwell Field Equations years before Hertz found them''' 
Physics lore says that Maxwell's Equations, written to illuminate processes in fairly slow systems, were at first regarded as having fantastical solutions that predicted undetectable waves in the æther. No one until Hertz connected the equations with observed electromagnetic vibrations (and ultimately with light waves).

'''Hertz''' 
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-94), German physicist, born at Hamburg, studied under Kirchhoff and Helmholtz, and ultimately became professor at Bonn in 1889. In 1887 he realized Maxwell's predictions, by his fundamental discovery of electromagnetic waves, which, excepting wavelength, behave like light waves. The wave frequency unit, ''hertz'', cycle per second, was named after him in 1930. A crater at the far side of the Moon, just behind the eastern rim, was named in his honor. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Rudolf_Hertz Hertz]].

'''Shunkichi Kimura''' 
Shunkichi Kimura is mentioned in [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ve3m-snd/japan.html this] article on Tesla's relationship with Japan. Cf [[ATD_26-56#Page 29|page 29]].

'''war with Russia''' 
Started 10 February 1904. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War Wikipedia].

'''Gibbs had died''' 
28 April 1903. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Gibbs Wikipedia] Pynchon's interest in Gibbs may stem from Gibbs's work in thermodynamics, particularly entropy, a theme that pervades Pynchon's work.

'''high-hat''' 
[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/high-hat High-hat] is an adjective in this context and so means snobbish; haughty.

==Page 319==

'''"he [would later ask] why did I want ''that'' so much?"''' 
Similar to a comment by Siegel in his Playboy article: (to paraphrase from memory) Pynchon was disappointed that he was not admitted to a fraternity at Cornell, but he lacked the crude sociability for that.

'''eyes in leafy ambuscade''' 
eyes behind a bush (with leaves) waiting in [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ambush ambush], (a bit of a pun) in the sense of the hiding place used for the surprise attack (no surprise attack in this context).

==Page 320==

'''Kit dreamed''' 
[http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2007/03/we-shall-pretend-to-know-nothing-pp-318.html Chumps of Choice] sez, "Just like Reef and Frank before him, now Kit has a conversation with his father -- though unlike the others, he does not yet know that Webb is dead."

'''scout''' 
In British universities, a housekeeper/valet. At Yale too?

'''Proximus''' 
Latin; means nearest, closest, next. It also is the name of, among many other things, a computer code performing a non-orthogonal matrix transform based on recursive partitioning of a data set.

May refer to Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star, part of the Alpha Centauri star system and the nearest star to the Sun at a distance of 4.22 light-years. As the name suggests, it is located in the constellation of Centaurus.

'''Quincke''' 
Georg Hermann Quincke (1834-1924) was a German physicist. He was a physics professor at the Univeristy of Berlin between 1865 and 1872. As from 1875 he was the professor of physics at the University of Heidelberg until he retired in 1907. One of his many research works was to investigate experimentally the reflection of light, especially from the metallic surfaces. (Not sure whether this was done at Berlin or Heidelberg.) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Hermann_Quincke Wikipedia].

==Page 321==

==Page 322==

'''Moriarty's''' 
The unofficial Yale club, founded circa 1861, nicknamed Mory's, incorporated into the "Whiffenpoof Song" about 1909. The "Louie" in the song is Louis Linder, not to be confused with next entry.

'''Louis Lassen''' 
Founder of Louis' Lunch in New Haven, CT, still in operation today. Founded in 1895 and claims to have served the first hamburger in the US. [http://www.louislunch.com/ Website]. 

'''West Rock''' 
One of two prominent natural features near New Haven, CT. Reported to have been the location of a cave where [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regicides_of_Charles_I officials who presided over the execution of Charles I] took refuge when the Restoration reversed their political fortunes. West Rock is also the subject of [http://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/04church_frederic_copy.jpg a well known painting by Frederick Church] and sits over today's Wilbur Cross Parkway.

[[Image:wardenclyffe.png|thumb|right|200px]]'''trusswork tower''' 
Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower (1901 – 1917) also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early wireless telecommunications aerial tower intended for commercial wireless trans-Atlantic telephony, broadcasting, and to demonstrate the transmission of power without interconnecting wires. The core facility was never fully operational and was not completed due to economic problems. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower Wikipedia]

'''ten years before''' 
The meeting between Vibe and Vanderjuice in Chicago in 1892.
:1893?

==Page 323==

'''"apizza"''' 
A style of pizza common in New Haven, CT, distinguished by its white sauce and clams. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apizza Wikipedia entry]

'''tropism''' 
The turning of an organism, or a part of one, in a particular direction (either in the way of growth, bending, or locomotion) in response to some special external stimulus, as that of light (''phototropism, heliotropism''), heat (''thermotropism''), gravity (''geotropism''), etc. <ref>'''Oxford English Dictionary''' 2nd Ed. 1989</ref>

'''at the far edges of his visual field, a glimmering winged object''' 
Unusual imagery.
:Possibly a reference to Yeats. Yeats: "I began to imagine [around 1904], as always at my left side just out of the range of sight, a brazen winged beast which I associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction", noting that the beast was "Afterwards described in my poem 'The Second Coming'". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)]

:Or the word 'glimmering' may be key in understanding that the peripheral winged object is none other than the famous firefly of the song "Glow little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer" written circa 1908 and re-recorded by Pynchon's beloved Spike Jones in 1946. In addition to the glow-worm being a glimmering winged object, the song makes multiple references to electricity and lightning, all very much in context with this section in particular and the novel in general. [http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/g/glowworm.shtml Lyrics]

:Both of these seem a stretch. [[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]]

:Pynchon is being sarcastic; Vanderjuice is not actually seeing visions. At the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893 (pgs. 31-35) Vanderjuice sold-out to Vibe (metaphorically sold his soul to the Devil) and agreed to sabotage Tesla. Vanderjuice never finished the work and Vibe never required it. Vanderjuice has realized his moral error and his "soul" and conscience are returning; metaphorically he is finally seeing his "soul', AWOL since 1893. He advises Kit against Vibe. Good souls are traditionally depicted as glimmering and flying to heaven. In the choice between the Angel on one shoulder and the Devil on the other, Vanderjuice chooses the Angel.

==Page 324==

'''P.G. Tait on Quaternions''' 
Peter Guthrie Tait, a Scottish physicist and mathematician, wrote two books on Quaternions, "An Elementary Treatise on Quaternions" and "Introduction to Quaternions"

''''lamp' this''' 
"Look at this" ; "Check this out".

'''Grassman's ''Ausdehnungslehre''''' 
A treatise on the foundations of linear algebra (including vector spaces) by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann Hermann Grassmann].
:Literally, ''Ausdehnungslehre'' means Theory of Extension.

But in context, the statement that "Grassmann's ''Ausdehnungslehre'' can be extended to any number of dimensions you like" indicates that we are talking about a mathematical theory, not a book. The word Ausdehnungslehre has actually been borrowed in English, but the subject is more often referred to as "exterior algebra" or "algebra of the exterior product." It relates to an antisymmetric operator that acts on "differential forms." It is definitely a Vectorist pursuit.

'''a ukulele of some dark exotic wood''' 
[http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html Ukulele and Hawaiian references] 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 Hawaiian references in ''Against the Day'']]...

'''That Göttingen Rag''' 
Reminiscent of [http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/vatican.htm The Vatican Rag] by American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer Tom Lehrer].

'''Dr. Hilbert''' 
[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hilbert.html David Hilbert] (1862-1943), German mathematician. Hilbert's work in integral equations in about 1909 led directly to 20th-century research in functional analysis (the branch of mathematics in which functions are studied collectively). This work also established the basis for his work on infinite-dimensional space, later called Hilbert space, a concept that is useful in mathematical analysis and quantum mechanics. He studied mathematics at the University of Königsber and received his doctorate in 1885. One of Hilbert's friends was Minkowski who also was a doctoral student at Königsberg. He became professor at Königsberg (1893-1895) and Göttingen (1895 to retirement), made important contributions to the theory of numbers, the theory of invariants and the application of integral equation to physical problems. His work in geometry had the greatest influence in that area after Euclid.

'''Minkowski''' 
[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Minkowski.html Hermann Minkowski] (1864-1909), German mathematician. He was born near Kovna, Russia (now Kaunas, Lithuania) to German parents. When Minkowski was eight the family returned to Germany and settled in Königsberg. He entered the University of Königsberg at 1880 and became close friend with Hilbert. He received his doctorate in 1885. He was professor at Bonn, Königsberg, Zürich (where Einstein was his student), and Göttengen. He wrote on the theory of numbers and on space and time (1909). Minkowski developed a new view of space and time, and laid the mathematical foundation of Einstein's the Theory of Relativity.

'''Spectral Theory''' 
Introduced by Hilbert. In mathematics, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_theory Spectral Theory] is an inclusive term for theories extending the eigenvector and eigenvalue theory of a single square matrix.

'''''infinite'' dimensions''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_space Hilbert space] can be of infinite dimensions.
In Pynchon's paramorphoscope, the physics of 1900 (the mathematics revealed multiple dimensions beyond the 4 of space and time) is concerned with the same issues as the physics of 2000 (in which string theory requires multiple dimensions). The relation of physics and mathematics to centers of political and economic power are echoes as well, here drawn together in Kit's life.

'''Eigenheit''''' 
A term used in some of David Hilbert's mathematical and logical systems, it appears to have several disputed meanings, including something like "peculiarities" or "unique values or characterizations" (eigenheiten) [http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Talk:Eigenvector].

But Eigenheit also means :"Own-ness" or "Self-Ownership" [http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/stirner/theego9.html], a concept of the German individualist-anarchist Max Stirner (Johann Caspar Schmidt)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner], an issue of real concern to Kit, both in his immediate situation vis a vis Scarsdale Vibe, and perhaps also because of Stirner's radical individualist concept of trade union activity.

'''Hamburg Amerika Line''''' 
Transatlantic shipping company established in Hamburg, Germany in 1847 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_America_Line Wikipedia]. By 1872 the company was making weekly passages to New York from Hamburg via Southampton.

'''Felix Klein''' 
Another professor of mathematics at Göttingen and a contemporary of Hilbert, Minkowski and company (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_klein wikipedia]). His major contribution to mathematics was as the father of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlangen_program Erlangen Program], wherein he proposed to classify all non-Euclidean geometries by the transformations to which the geometry is invariant, i.e. their symmetry groups.
See also the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle Klein bottle].

==Page 325==

'''problem-set''' 
A set of physics problems to be worked out as homework.

'''th' Four-Color Problem's just a Stu-dent prank''' 
How many colors are necessary to color a map so that no adjacent regions have the same color? The theorem was first stated as a conjecture in the mid-1800s; a number of faulty or incomplete proofs were published around the turn of the century.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem The Wikipedia entry] gives an account of the 1976 proof and the controversy surrounding it. 
The conjecture, now theorem, is that you can color any map in a plane with four colors. Regions are adjacent if they share a boundary but not if they share a single point. The Four Corners is familiar in ''AtD,'' so paint New Mexico red, Arizona green, and Utah beige. What color does Colorado have to be? Green works (no boundary with Arizona), so this map takes only three colors. But imagine the state of New Colozontah, a one-mile circle centered at the Corners; no matter how you assign the first three colors, now you have to have a fourth. And you can't draw a map that takes five, not without cheating (e.g., folding the paper).

'''wanted to trust 'Fax''' 
Suggests that he also wanted to trust "facts." 'Fax also suggests
a copy [of his father]?

'''good skate''' 
A good guy.

==Page 326==

'''all but careened''' 
The boat is nearly turned on its side by the force of the wind. You careen a boat on purpose (on dry land) for cleaning, caulking, or repairing areas well below the waterline.

'''McKim, Mead, and White''' 
Architectural firm established by Charles McKim, William Mead, and Stanford White. Introducing the Roman and Italian Renaissance style to public architecture and urban planning on the east coast around 1900. Asscociated with the "American Renaissance", "Beaux Arts" and the "City Beautiful" movement [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKim,_Mead,_and_White Wiki].

'''Granitza''' 
In various Slavic languages: boundary.

'''Curl''' 
In vector calculus, curl is a vector operator that shows a vector field's rate of rotation.

'''Laplacian''' 
In mathematics, Laplacian, or Laplace operator, is a differential operator. It is widely used in areas of wave propagation, heat flow, electrostatics, quatum mechanic, etc. It is named after French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827). ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace Laplace].)

'''Velebit''' 
A ridge near the Adriatic coastline of Croatia. The terrain is limestone karst, characterized by eroded cavities and channels.

==Page 327==

'''one day''' 
???

'''Parthian''' 
from Parthia, 'an ancient country corresponding to modern northeast Iran,however, Parthian also means "delivered in or as if in retreat", according to the American Heritage Dictionary. The use cited comes from Bret Harte, American writer about the West of this book's time: "a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy".

The full expression "Parthian Shot" comes from the Parthian cavalryman's ability to fire arrows over their shoulders while retreating.

'''''morra''''' 
It is a hand game played for points by two people. Both players show either one or two fingers and simultaneously call out loud the number of fingers the other player will show. A correct call wins the number of points. [http://www.frontier.net/~grifftoe/morra.html morra].

==Page 328==

''''North Hempstead Turnpike'''' 
New York State Route 25A. 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Route_25A Wikipedia]

''''North River jibes'''' 
In sailing, to jibe is to shift a fore-and-aft sail from one side of a vessel to the other while sailing before the wind so as to sail on the opposite tack. This means the boom, a long spar extending from the mast to hold or extend the foot of the sail, shifts from one side of the vessel to the other, since the sail is attached to it. One does not want to get hit with the boom during a jibe (kind of like getting hit by a big baseball bat): it will hurt, if not kill, you and most likely knock you out if the boat. Apparently, 'Fax jibes a lot in the North River.

'''Sunny Jim'''
"[..] was a cartoon character created in 1902 in the United States by writer Minnie Maud Hanff and artist Dorothy Ficken for an advertising campaign designed to promote Force cereal, the first commercially successful wheat flake." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Jim Link]

==Page 329==

==Page 330==

'''Neofungoline''' 
??? Speculation: A fungo, baseball jargon (origin unknown), is a fly ball hit for fielding practice by a player who tosses the ball up and hits it on its way down with a long, thin, light bat, called a fungo bat. This is the only use of the word so possibly neofungoline is more Pynchon inventiveness and cleverness. 
I read this as a spoof of an anti-fungal or anti-biotic product like Neosporin (as "Smegmo" is a spoof on Crisco).

'''have that long''' 
Vibe is about 60 years old.

'''trying not to speak too carefully''' 
Cf phony Yale posing.

==Page 331==

'''forward of the stacks''' 
Preferred cabins located upwind of soot and smuts from the ship's funnels.

'''So back in '63 had he paid not to have to go and fight''' 
Vibe had paid a civil war deferment to buy his way out of the army. Vibe was in good company: 
"men purchased army deferments and used the war years to amass tremendous personal wealth. On the Confederate side, men who owned 50 or more slaves were exempted from serving in the army, whereas wealthy Northern men were able to purchase deferments from the Union for the sum of $300. Among those who purchased deferments and went on to become millionaires as a result of war profiteering were John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J Pierpont Morgan, Philip Armour, James Mellon, and Jay Gould." [http://books.google.com/books?id=N2pyIc8VoWcC&pg=PA523&lpg=PA523&dq=civil+war+deferment&source=bl&ots=J21FP1thXT&sig=j67qab9X5FmSWzl9YkUp886jons&hl=en&ei=zwlQSvIukKqzA_Pq9aoN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2 Rothenberg, _Race, class, and gender in the United States_]

'''one of those negative results with resonance far beyond itself''' 
Like the Michelson-Morley experiment.

'''Grand Central Station''' 
This was called Grand Central Terminal until the "new" Grand Central Station opened in 1912, which was after this episode occurs. [http://grandcentralterminal.com/pages/getpage.aspx?id=75133219-5FAF-40D2-B946-D3A6693EFF32 History of Grand Central Station]

==Page 332==

'''how mighty are the wings we shelter beneath''' 
Wings of God, thinks Vibe. There have been hints this is not so. 
Compare p. 211, where the Rev. Lube Carnal says, "We like to think of Jeshimon as being under God's wing," to which Reef protests, "But wait a minute, God doesn't have wings—" And Carnal replies, "The God you're thinking of, maybe not. But out here, the one who looks after us, it's a kind of winged God, you see." 
Maybe wings of power?

'''the bloodline of my enemy''' 
Interesting phrase. Not the blood of his enemy. Vibe says his own seed is cursed, and he is seeking by adoption to make the Traverse bloodline his own. See also [[ATD_149-170#Page_158|"it was desire," p. 158.]]

==Page 333==

'''I didn't have my war then''' 
Vibe saying his time to fight was not 1862 but in the 1890s. 
And note: above, Vibe bought a deferment out of civil war.

'''My civil war was yet to come ... Invasion of Chicago, battles of Homestead, Coeur d'Alene, San Juans...communards ... labor syndicates ...''' 
Vibe's battle is not the civil war between north and south, but rather civil war between workers and owners, labor and capital.

:Chigago Invasion: Haymarket bomb and following action? 1885 / 1886. Labor action beginning in Chicago

:battle of Homestead: 1892, seminal lockout and strike at Carnegie-owned steel plant in PA. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike wikipedia article]

:Coeur d'Alene, San Juans: 1892, 1899, miners strikes, union activitiy, etc. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d%27Alene_miners%27_dispute wikipedia on Coeur d'Alene]

These three early strikes involved anarcho-syndicalist activities. The Haymarket incident resulted in the execution of anarchists, an event which served as a political awakening for Emma Goldman. The Homestead Strike of course was famous for the thwarted attempt on the life mine owner Henry Clay Frick by Goldman's longtime companion Alexander Berkman. The San Juan strikes, while less memorable, did include anti-anarchist propaganda and Pinkerton intervention.

:timelines: 
:[http://www.lutins.org/labor.html An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History] 
:[http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyworksohio/timeline/timeline_detail.cfm?start=1877&end=1899 timeline: 1877 - 1899.]

'''headquarters in Pearl Street''' 
In Manhattan's financial district; on [http://www.mustseenewyork.com/maps/nyc-lower-manhattan-hotels.html this street map] it runs northeast from the ferry terminals. [http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/nycolonial/index.html Fraunces Tavern] (built 1719) stands at the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets.

The Edison Illuminating Company built America's first central power station at 255-57 Pearl Street. It began generating on September 4, 1882, powering 400 lamps. Scarsdale Vibe may have been a [fictional] investor, giving him motive for sabotaging the efforts of rival Nicola Tesla.
He certainly opposed Tesla's efforts to develop broadcast [free] power on economic grounds.

'''a ruler isolated in self-resonant fantasy''' 
Perhaps speaking to the furniture and hearing the echo agree with him. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."

==Page 334==

'''the moderate American tradition of Massachusetts Bay or Utah''' 
Benign, homegrown theocracy contrasted with deranged foreign theocracy. The Puritan Salem Witch Trials and the Mormon Mountain Meadows Massacre are the two most memorable instances of theological difference and religious intolerance in American history.

'''Cooper Square''' 
Cooper Square where Fourth and Third Avenue merge into the Bowery in New York City.

'''This boy Christopher, for one thing''' 
above (pg 332), Vibe wants to adopt webb family, Kit in particular. Here he indicates attraction to Kit. Wants to be molesting father?

'''Foley was no innocent''' 
Prior to the publication of Whitman's ''Leaves of Grass'' in 1855 and the US lecture tour of Oscar Wilde, homosexuality was a taboo unmentioned topic that was viewed purely as biological misuse of the sexual devices. Whitman publicized the 'love of comrades' and his 'adhesiveness' to them, especially in his ''Calmus'' section. The Wilde obscenity trials were the first instance of someone publicly defending themselves for being homosexual. Though the journalism of the time was slanted against it due to 'public morality', the reporters of the day described in vivid detail the under ground gay culture of Victorian England, the first time that such a life style was publicly exposed. In many ways, these two instances were the rudimentary foundations of gay liberation, it presented the inclination towards the 'Sin of Sodom' as a point to unite around for mutual benefit. The fact that this is the locale of Manhattan in which Emma Goldman blossomed as a new immigrant from Russia, and also where Goldman as an anarchist formally embraced open homosexuals in the movement, unlike Marx whose homophobia at the First International was a useful tool for exiling Bakunin and the anarchists, increases the historical significance. Foley, son of the most ardent of capitalists, finds himself drawn by his sexuality to a communal center of revolutionary and counter-cultural ideas which are the pure anathema of his father.

'''In the resorts where men danced with each other''' 
Early New York gay bars. Initially the world of LGBT culture had an undercurrent similar to a carnival sideshow, something that was not necessarily unintentional. Many transgender people found refuge and a way to live as openly trans by taking roles in various venues that needed cross-dressing acts, such as the Bearded Lady in a Sideshow or a seemingly-female rodeo clown. Vaudeville farces also functioned in a dual role, both as a seemingly-benign heterosexual entertainments and homosexual environs where gays could talk openly with one another.

'''Tenderloin''' 
A district of vice in New York City (''American Heritage Dictionary''). The West Side from about 27th Street to about 62nd Street. Gave its name to a very funny musical (1960; music by Jerry Bock, book by George Abbott and Jerome Weidman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick). Historically a gay enclave akin to the later Greenwich Village which birthed the Beats, the Stonewall riots, and the modern LGBT rights movement. Name derived from the area's major economic contribution, meat packaging (the amount of irony to derive from this is up to the reader, it was not lost on the residents of NYC in that era). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_Manhattan 1]

'''Nellie Noonan or Anna Held''' 
Anna Held was a popular stage performer of the 1890s and 1900s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Held wikipedia]. Nellie Noonan may be a reference to the title character in ''Little Nellie Kelly'', a George M. Cohan musical made into a film starring Judy Garland in 1940 ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032718/ imdb]), but Cohan wrote the musical in 1922. Foley is hanging out in early drag bars.

==Page 335==

'''the Wilderness''' 
A Civil War battle in May 1864, just before the battle of Cold Harbor. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wilderness Wikipedia]

'''Cold Harbor''' 
Where Foley Walker, acting as Civil War Substitute, "took a Reb bullet" for Scarsdale Vibe - see p.100/101.

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

ATD 296-317

2017-04-23T16:46:54Z

Turdraker: /* Page 316 */

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

==Page 296==

'''Rodgers Brothers''' 
spelled Rogers Brothers, with 1847 Silver Ware (and other items) on E-Bay they seem to have been a leading maker of silverware and other silver products in the 1900's.

'''Mescalero''' 
Mescalero is a native American tribe of Southern Athabaskan heritage currently living in southcentral New Mexico. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mescalero Wikipedia].

'''Little Hellkite Mine''' 
Does not seem to have existed. 
Hellkite = a fierce fighter. 
A kite is a vicious bird of prey in the falcon family. 
Shakespeare used the expression in Macbeth (Act 4, Scene 3): MacDuff:
"O hell-kite! - All? What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, At one fell swoop? ".MacDuff uses 'fell' in a sense that is now rare - as an adjective meaning 'fierce, deadly.' From Brush Up Your Shakespeare.

'''Timken springs''' 
Henry Timken was a carriage maker who held three patents for carriage springs in the 1890’s. He founded his company, The Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company, in St. Louis in 1899. He also invented the tapered roller bearings which bear his name and were used in the hubs of carriages and automobiles. The company still exists and Timken roller bearing are used today in a number if diverse industries including spacecraft. Oddly enough (maybe not so odd considering Pynchon), the modern day Timken company created for the Bosch Group (See the note above for “Hieronymous wheel” on page 292) a process to produce a high alloy steel that could easily be machined to make trucks parts.

'''Basin''' 
The Basin referred to is most likely Marshall Basin[https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.944051,-107.767198&spn=0.001252,0.001719&t=f&z=19&ecpose=37.94280345,-107.76709648,3368.71,-3.669,89.115,0], which is located up the Tomboy Road [http://www.visittelluride.com/things-to-do/trails-huts/tomboy-road-town-tomboy-imogene-pass-ouray]. Here are two images of it from the late 1800s: [http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/39050/rec/6] and [http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/59402/rec/12]. 
Another thought is that it might be Yankee Boy Basin, which is up Imogene Pass, but it seems unlikely that Frank could have gone up the Tomboy Road and then wound up going over Imogene Pass, but that may have been difficult due to the 13,000 ft St Sophia's Ridge between the two.

'''glockenspiel''' 
Percussion instrument with horizontal, tuned steel bars of various sizes that are struck with mallets and produce a bright metallic sound. Norton glossary of musical terms.

==Page 297==

'''Pandora works''' 
Mine and works between Tomboy and Telluride. See the [http://www.telluride.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=standard&categoryId=7&categoryType=2&subcategoryId=0 Telluride Places of Interest]

'''adit''' 
A horizontal entrance to an underground mine. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adit Wikipedia]

'''tommyknockers''' 
Mythical mine dwellers, originally part of European legend, introduced to America by European miners. The name "tommyknockers" comes from Cornish mining lore. According to legend the tommyknockers are underground spirits who guard the earth's ores, especially gold and silver. Tommyknockers were known for mischief, pranks, jokes, and being highly spirited. "Knockers" comes from knocking sounds heard in mines that were attributed to their antics. They are tiny characters who dress like little miners and perform many mining duties while underground working alongside miners. [http://www.blm.gov/heritage/HE_Kids/tommy_knock.htm BLM Website]

==Page 298==

'''''duendes''''' 
Spanish for goblins, trolls or leprechauns, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duende.
 
Also, ''duende'' is the essential spirit or passion of Flamenco, "flamenco soul". A "mysterious and ineffable spirit" inextricably linked with death, without which Flamenco is empty. Lorca called it "A mysterious power that everyone feels and no philosophy can explain". http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamenco#Duende

'''powder monkey''' 
Historically, a sailor whose job it was to keep gun crews supplied with gunpowder and shot during battle. More generally, one who carries or sets explosives, as Dally does here.

==Page 299==

'''matte-surface''' 
Not shiny.

'''"...Sunday-morning voice..."''' 
Perhaps a sermonizing, righteous preacher-like voice, although the context suggests whispering, as in church.

'''Buck Wells''' 
Bulkeley Wells, an historical figure, was a mine manager and cavalry commander and sheriff at Telluride, previously mentioned on p. 179. He was
aggressively anti-union. Bulkeley Wells http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulkeley_Wells

'''Might be he'll even do the deed on himself''' 
Wells committed suicide in 1931. Ibid.

==Page 300==

'''Throw down''' 
to begin an altercation. "Throw down"
http://www.blackraptor.net/m7fic/contents/terms.htm

'''"somethin tattooed on my head"''' 
Cf. Queequeg's tattoos in ''Moby-Dick'', Ch. 3 and ''passim''. 
"And the Lord put a mark on Cain ..." (Genesis) Cain is marked so that he can be recognized for his evil deed; at the same time he is protected by God. There is a great exegesis by Herman Hesse in his '''''DEMIAN''''' - that the mark is a symbol of inner knowledge. All three kind of fit Frank.

'''fragment of time''' 
Sparks move faster than shutter.

'''collodion''' 
Toxic chemical used both in early photography and explosives manufacturing.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collodion Wikipedia]

==Page 301==

'''"circles of otherworld blindness up on tall poles"'''
This about electric lights!. Seems to be an allusion to the most famous literary image involving poles--the heads on poles in Conrad's ''Heart of
''Darkness.'' 
A-and repeats this image from earlier use in Telluride chapter.

'''squareheads''' 
See annotation on [[ATD_171-198#Page_189|page 189.]]

==Page 302==

'''ghost bison''' 
The American Buffalo was nearly hunted to extinction in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_buffalo#19th_century_Buffalo_hunts Wikipedia]

'''Gallows Frame Saloon''' 
The Gallows Frame is the structural frame, usually made of steel or timber, at the top of an underground mine shaft. These frames hold the hoisting equipment which raise and lower equipment and miners into the underground mine. 
Cf. Sailor's Grave saloon in ''V.'' and the USS Scaffold also in ''V.''
Death surrounds us theme.

'''fathom miners''' 
Miners paid by the "fathom" of ore extracted. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GDX/is_5_75/ai_65277661/pg_12 Useful background on mining practices.] A fathom was a block of ore 6 feet high by 6 feet deep by the width of the vein being worked.

'''remittance men''' 
remittance man 
Function: noun 
one living abroad on remittances from home. Merriam-Webster 

Black sheep paid regularly by families to stay away.??? Source?

==Page 303==

'''Circassian walnut''' 
A swirled hardwood popular in woodworking, in this case used as a synecdoche to refer to a bar (the bar is made of Circassian walnut; incidentally, Yashmeen was a Circassian slave). Named for a region in the northern Caucasus Mountains from which the tree originates.

'''Charlie Fong Ding''' 
Seems like a made-up comic Chinese name by TRP. Charlie, as in Charlie Chan, is a stereotypical Chinese first name as transliterated in America. 
There is a road in The Northern Territory named after Fong Ding who was born in 1856 in Hoy Ping, Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province, China. He arrived in the Northern Territory in 1890 and in 1898 married Wong See at Port Darwin. He died at Pine Creek in 1928 aged 72 years. Fong Ding was a railway fettler and gold miner at Brock's Creek and Fountain Head and was the patriarch of the Fong family of Darwin and grandfather of the late Lord Mayor of Darwin, Alex Fong Lim. Fong Ding http://www.ipe.nt.gov.au/whatwedo/landinformation/place/register/view.jsp?id=6144

'''congress... congregation''' 
Two vs more-than-two at a time.
Also, the word congregation has an official/religious conotation

'''California Peg 
The "''sous-maitresse''," or teacher's aid, at the Silver Orchid brothel.

'''Grundyesque''' 
Prudish; after Mrs. Grundy, a character in Thomas Morton's ''Speed the Plow'', (1798)([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Grundy]). See page 400 on "Mrs. Grundy"

'''Popcorn Alley''' 
Street of (now historic) brothels in Telluride.

'''a range of useful information'''. 
Range again, as spectrum.

'''hurdy girl''' 
A professional dancing girl.

==Page 304==

'''Annie Oakley''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley See Wikipedia entry]

'''civil war and White Terror''' 
The Finnish Civil War lasted from January-May 1918 and was fought between the conservative White and revolutionary Red factions of the army. After the Whites emerged victorious, they rounded up Red elements in prison camps where many died, hence the White Terror. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War Wikipedia.]

'''"Love", whatever that turned out to be, would occupy a whole different piece of range.''' conveys a whole new meaning to the word 'range'?...not just land but something like 'range of emotions"?
'Piece of range' as in a spectrum? Light exists in a spectrum.
Cf. 'Light over the ranges' indeed.

==Page 305==

'''"The Shooting of Dan McGrew"''' 
"A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon ..."
Poem by Robert Service (1874 - 1958). A Scotsman who came to Canada to work tough outdoors jobs, he was also a banker, a World War I Correspondent (WWI), and a wealthy world traveler who left the Yukon in 1912. [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/poetry/TheSpelloftheYukon/chap13.html etext]

'''ruffled doves''' 
A/k/a "soiled doves," a Western term for prostitutes.

'''Stephen Emmens''' 
American chemist and mining engineer, inventor of the explosive Emmensite, who believed an intermediate substance he called "argentaurum" was transmutable into silver or gold; he claimed to have discovered a process by which the gold content of silver could be thus enriched. He carried out his experiments from 1895 to 1897, and saw them made public in 1899. The details of the process, as far as they are known, are as Pynchon describes them. Attempts to enlist emminent scientists to verify Emmens' apparent alchemy included an offer to Nicola Tesla (He refused). [http://www.borderlands.com/archives/arch/alchem.html].

'''"argentaurum"''' 
Substance claimed by Dr. Stephen Emmens to be intermediate beteween silver and gold, and through which, as an intermediate step, each could be transmuted to the other.[http://www.borderlands.com/archives/arch/alchem.html]. The preceding 2 links are to an article by Vincent Gaddis. I think his articles and books may well have been an important source for materials and ideas that appear in ATD. Gaddis lived in Gaberville, Ca., a region TRP lived in and researched for Vineland. Here's another Gaddis article that has ATD imagery: sentient lightning and the photography of etheric bodies [http://journal.borderlands.com/2010/electrical-ghosts/]

'''nymph's mirror''' 
Speculation: The "mirror" available to nymphs was any still surface of water, so thin as the surface of water.

'''''Schieferspath''''' 
Has nothing to do with paths; ''spath'' is German for ''spar.'' ''Schiefer'' indicates it is a foliated mineral. So: foliated spar, i.e., a spar that cleaves readily into sheets. "[S]ome of the visiting labor" may come from a place where calcite is mined under this name.

'''superstitious Scotchman''' 
Holding the nine of diamonds, [[ATD_1-25#Page_24|"the curse of Scotland,"]] he doesn't bet his hand but loses the specimen.

==Page 306==

'''''grown brighter''''' 
It's drawing light from a non-material source, from a parallel world, which adds to the light already present? 
Does this surprising way that images through a calcite spar ''grow brighter'' remind any readers of the rooms in ''Mason & Dixon'' which are
larger inside than their measureable dimensions?[[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 16:19, 14 June 2007 (PDT)

'''gold... silver''' 
Any role of Iceland Spar and double-refracted light in the Emmens process of transmutation is Pynchon's invention.

'''rhomboid''' 
A parallelogram with unequal adjacent sides and oblique angles. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhomboid Wikipedia]

'''Veta Madre''' 
The "Mother Lode" of Mexico [http://www.mindat.org/loc-7776.html] in Guanajuato.

'''frijoles''' 
Mexican beans.

'''the Gold Standard''' 
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. 
Under the gold standard, currency issuers guarantee to redeem notes, upon demand, in that amount of gold. Governments that employ such a fixed unit of account, and which will redeem their notes to other governments in gold, share a fixed-currency relationship. Gold Standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard

'''Silver Act...repealed''' 
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 required the US government
to buy millions of ounces of silver bullion every month. This Act was
repealed in 1893 when people, mostly investors, sold silver to get notes redeemable in gold making the government's gold reserves were in danger of depletion. Silver Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Silver_Purchase_Act

==Page 307==
'''what'll there be then to crucify mankind on a cross of?''' 
Direct reference to William Jennings Bryan's [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354/ "Cross of Gold" speech,] delivered on July 9, 1896, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. One of the most famous American political speeches, it closes with, "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

'''Lyman Gage''' 
Banker, and Secretary of the Treasury under McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, 1897-1902. In 1900 he ensured passage of the Gold Standard Act, which repealed bimetalism and had tremendous effects on the mining industry, and the economy in general, leading eventually to the foundation of the Federal Reserve System to regulate the currency in the wake of the resulting instability [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_J._Gage]. Just incidentally, Gage had been President of the Board of Directors of the Columbian Exposition.

'''like a kettle coming to a boil''' 
Chaos theory originated from a range of observations like this (organised cells in boiling water).

'''stopes''' 
Stopes are the steplike excavation working areas of a mine.
[http://www.morewords.com/word/stope/ Stope] or [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Stope Stopes].

'''Doc Turnstone''' 
A young doctor who unsuccessfully courted Lake, introduced p. 262.

'''Charles Bonnet Syndrome''' 
Named after the Swiss philosopher and naturalist, Charles Bonnet (1720-1793), who first described a syndrome in which visually-impaired people see vivid, complex images that aren't real. CBS is thought to result from visual deprivation, and commonly occurs in sufferers of macular degeneration and other impairments of the eyes. Importantly, CBS does not (clinically, cannot) result from any type of psychosis or dementia. Thus, those who experience CBS are otherwise "normal" people.

Remarkably, CBS is characterized often by bizarre and grotesque images: ghosts, elves, sprites, cartoon-like figures, disembodied faces, magical landscapes. According to Cliff Pickover, author of ''Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves'' (Smart Publications, 2005), "people affflicted with certain eye diseases give similar reports of beings from parallel universes." [http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003641.hcsp Royal National Institute of the Blind] [http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/Pickover/pc/bonnet.html Dr. Cliff Pickover Comments] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bonnet Wikipedia Wikipedia entry on Bonnet]

'''Puckpool's Adventures in Neuropathy''' 
Seems to be invented by Pynchon.

==Page 308==

'''macular degeneration''' 
Degeneration of the macula, the part of the retina responsible for the sharp, central vision needed to read or drive. A leading cause of vision loss and blindness in people aged 65 and older.

'''duendes''' 
Mythical goblin or fairy-like creature. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duende_%28mythology%29 Wikipedia]

==Page 309==

'''Old Gideon''' 
Bourbon, mentioned on page 40 and in the index."Different varieties of bourbon were very popular too, such as Old Crow and Old Gideon."
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/102390

'''A.T. Still''' 
(1828-1917), "Father of American Osteopathic Medicine." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Taylor_Still The Wikipedia entry] also identifies the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri.

==Page 310==

'''''Jefe''''' 
Spanish: chief, boss.

'''''Gracias a Dios!''''' 
Spanish: thank God!

==Page 311==

'''mind-poisoning vetches''' 
The vetches are weak-stemmed, semi-vining plants. See [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Vetches.html Vetches].

'''creosote''' 
A creosote bush is "a shrub native to arid parts of Mexico and the western US. Its leaves smell of creosote" (''Oxford Dictionary of English'').

'''Edgar Hadley''' 
[http://books.google.com/books?id=HPNgqJI7WJoC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=dr+edgar+hadley&source=web&ots=l84uX-RjA7&sig=YTXoiTwX93e5Yl3jy-tJj1ptN8Q Telluride Historical Museum].

'''blood diverted from its return''' 
Accurate but odd?

An example of Pynchon's predilection for describing apparently simple events in strangely abstract detail.

'''Trout Lake''' 
Trout Lake is located between Rico and Ophir, west of Silverton, CO, at an elevation of 9802 ft. For further information and photos see [http://ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/san%20juan%20branch/trout%20lake.htm Trout Lake].

==Page 313==

'''Busted Flush''' 
The name of the boat that Travis McGee, the hero of 21 mysteries written by John D. McDonald, lives on. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee Wikipedia]) He named the boat for the poker hand he had that won it for him.

'''tridigital''' 
Three fingers (measure of liquor).

'''packer's knife''' 
A meat packing knife, similar to a boning knife. Generally a long, thin, somewhat flexible blade. (Not unlike a filet knife in that respect.)

==Page 314==

'''Dutch Waltz''' 
A simple dance for beginning figure skaters. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_dances wikipedia]: "...in the United States, the first dance learned by most skaters is the Dutch Waltz, which features only forward skating in a side-by-side hold, skated to music with a very slow waltz tempo."

'''centrifugal''' 
Pulling away from center.

==Page 315==

'''Railbird Saloon''' 
A "railbird" is a spectator who hangs on or over the boundary rail at a racetrack, presumably a horseplayer. Not sure if that is any help here.

'''Gastón Villa''' 
A pun on British football club Aston Villa?

'''''cholo'' balls''' 
Seems to be referring to decorative ornaments hanging on a mariachi style sombrero as the decorations often portrayed in the vehicles of Mexican-American "Cholos" (gangsters/low riders).

'''''charro''''' 
A Mexican cowboy.

'''don't preoccupy yourself''' 
A literal translation of the Spanish idiom ¡No te preocupes!, "don't worry". Ellmore Disco was thought to be Mexican. p. 283.

'''Galandronome''' 
A type of bassoon developed by French instrument maker Galander in the mid-19th century. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galandronome Wikipedia]. Since there is only one known instrument left in the world, Gastón Villa probably exaggerates when he says it was once standard military issue. Furthermore, Pynchon writes that it is made of brass and has valves and keys. However, the descriptions and photographs show that its main body is made of maple wood and that it does not have any valves. [http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502238 Images on the Website of The Metropolitan Museum of Art]

'''Battle of Puebla''' 
Mexican victory over French forces, May 5, 1862, commemorated in Latino communities as ''cinco de mayo.''

==Page 316==
'''Rio Bravo''' 
Rio Bravo is the Mexican name for the Rio Grande, meaning Webb’s killers have likely slipped across the border. Perhaps also a nod to one of the greatest movie westerns, Howard Hawks' ''Rio Bravo''? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Bravo_(1959_film) Wikipedia]

'''Some ghosts go oo-oo-oo... the bone deep voice of retribution''' 
Here we have Frank in an encounter with the ghost of his father, which ends with a auditory hallucination of an explosion. Which may or may not have something to do with the explosion recorded in Madame Eskimoff's sitting for the T.W.I.T. See p229

'''Ophir road''' 
Presumably the road to the town of Ophir, South of Telluride, named for the biblical souce of the treasure of Solomon's Fleet [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11259b.htm]. Perhaps one of Pynchon's contrasts: Telluride, named rationally for its ore deposits; Ophir a name from the pre-rational and mythic. Yes, and Telluride's 'rationality': "to Hell You Ride" [ADT]

==Page 317==

'''backward departure''' 
No way to turn engine?

:Right; [[ATD_243-272#Page_265|see annotation to page 265.]]

'''''abrazos''''' 
Spanish for "embrace"; "hugs".

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