Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

ATD 748-767

2007-02-23T13:39:21Z

Walsingham: /* Page 754 */

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

==Page XX==

'''Sample entry''' 
Please format like this.

==Page 749==

'''Crotona''' 
Cf [[ATD_615-643#Page_633|page 633: Crotona in Magna Grecia]]. or [[ATD_695-723#Page_706|page 706: Crotona]]. 

Or Croton. One of the most flourishing cities of Magna Graecia. According to Herodotus (3.131), the physicians of Croton were considered the foremost among the Greeks. Pythagoras founded his school, the Pythagoreans, at Croton circa 530 BC [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotona].

==Page 750==

'''Ringpungpa''' 
In the 15th century, Namka Gyantsan, an aristocrat, usurped the post of Dzongpon (magistrate) of Rinpung county and changed it to a hereditary position. Called Ringpungpa in Tibetan historical books, the family gradually grew stronger and more powerful, establishing a separatist rule in Ringpung County whose influence extended into the internal section of the Phaddru regime [http://www.tibetinfor.com.cn/tibetzt-en/zxyj/03/003.doc]. The "scholar" referred to would have to be a descendent of this powerful family. Again the spiritual and temporal powers are intertwined. TRP is fond of usurpation; cf. the Tristero in ''Lot 49''.

==Page 751==

'''Constantza''' 
Constanţa, Romanian port on Black Sea.

'''dukhans''' 
Inns.

'''Qara Qum''' 
Now more often spelled Kara Kum, desert between Caspian Sea and Amu Darya River.

'''railroad-metaphysics''' 
Notice how 'consciousness is a part of this description. And reflect on what Pynchon thinks of railroads, therefore of the phenomenology of 'railroad metaphysics'.

==Page 752==

'''The effect of rotating ninety degrees from a moving timeline, as expected, was delivery into a space containing imaginary axes...''' 
The moving train is described by a tensor, its path a vector in three dimensions plus the time dimension. Looking out from it, i.e. at ninety degrees to its direction of travel, may involve axes with complex number coordinates. In other words, looking out of a train moving through unknown territory involves one in acts of imagination, trying to fathom the lives lived in the territory one is passing through, here a very strange one for Kit (consultation of the Times Atlas shows the railroad's route is described precisely, between desert and irrigated fields, and on to the terminus), or perhaps alternate histories generated by leaving the train at any point.

'''footplate man''' 
Railroad crewman, one involved in the running or maintenance of the locomotive (the control cabin surface of a steam locomotive is called the footplate).

'''deadheading''' 
A crew member riding as a passenger, not actively participating in the running of the vehicle, is said to be "deadheading"; the term is still used in railroading and on the airlines. Similarly, a nonworking locomotive being towed as part of a train is a "deadhead". (Unavoidable allusion, perhaps, to the non-working followers of the Grateful Dead, as well).

==Page 753 ==
'''barkhan''' 
crescent-shaped sand dune.

==Page 754==

'''Prokladka''' 
The name is a common Russian word with two meanings: construction and gasket.
Female hygienic pads (with or without wings) are also referred to as prokladkas

'''Kalinka''' 
"My Little Snowball Tree", Russian folk song, popularized by soldiers' choirs.

'''Ochi Chorniya''' 
Stereotypical Russian ballad, "Dark Eyes." The second word is actually ''Chorniye''. (It's spelled so now, but before 1917 it was ''chorniya'' or ''chornyya.'')

'''E. N. Molokhovets''' 
The book (''Podarok molodym khozyaykam'', Kursk: 1861) and the author are real. Elena Burman married city architect Frants Frantsevich Molokhovets, whose name is not Russian but suggests a Germanized Polish noble family (Franz Molochowiec). The etymology is not clear.

'''Orloff''' 
Also known as Oryol or Orel Trotter, a breed developed in the 19th century.

==Page 755==

'''A.D.C. or ''lichnyi adiutant''''' 
Aide-de-camp or (Russian:) personal adjutant.

'''Klopski''' 
''Klop'' is a Russian word for "bug."

'''''peculiar machines''''' 
Arcade games?

'''''Yob tvoyu mat' ''''' 
Russian, literally: Fuck your mother. Just a general expletive.

'''''zastolye''''' 
Group of people around a table. A feast.

'''''begin to spin''''' 
To whirl like a Dervish, a member of a mystical Sufi sect that spins to induce visions ("your mind proceeding to flee in all directions at once"). The "Spin" of an electron, however, is also one of four quantum numbers (all vector quantities) specifying the electron's exact quantum state. It can be further used to calculate properties of electrons as wave functions, radiating "in all directions at once" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_spin].

==Page 756==

'''''Poshol ty na khuy''''' 
Impolite Russian, literally "Go to the prick", meaning; "Fuck off".

'''The Doosra''' 
Doosra is an Urdu word loosely meaning "second". It has become common parlance in cricket in the past few years and is used to describe a ball bowled by a finger spinner that turns in the opposite direction from his stock delivery. A lot of controversy surrounds the doosra as it is hard to bowl legally (it is much easier to throw it than to bowl it). One assumes that Pynchon was aware of all this: see the cricketing references on pp.219-242. In particular, Pynchon has already referenced the bosie: a mirror image of the doosra. More bilocations, anyone?

'''fusel oils''' 
Fusel alcohols, also sometimes called fusel oils, or potato oil in Europe, are higher order (more than two carbons) alcohols formed by fermentation and present in cider, mead, beer, wine, and spirits to varying degrees. The term fusel is German for “bad liquor.”{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusel_oil]

'''Chingiz''' 
Also transliterated as "Genghis" as in "Genghis Khan".

'''''denshchik''''' 
Russian: batman.

==Page 757==

'''poisonous nutmeat''' 
betel.

'''Uyghur''' 
Member of an ethnic group in western China, sometimes described as Indo-European.

'''Al Mar-Fuad''' 
Get a load of this character! He dresses in English hunting tweeds and a deerstalker cap, brandishes a shotgun, pronounces his "r"'s as w's, and says things like "Weally?" and "I am going out after some gwouse." Maybe "wabbits" are next for this Uyghur version of ''Elmer Fudd'' (Al Mar-Fuad--get it?).

==Page 758==

'''...so as to draw off the odd Russian division in the event of a European war''' 
A possible alternative in World War II, a junction point for all kinds of alternative histories. Had Japan struck at the USSR (via Cental Asia) in concert with Germany in 1941, the Soviets could not have brought 58 divisions from Siberia to stop and eventually turn the German advance. Soviet successes in obscure border engagements in Mongolia (Battle of Nomonhan) in 1939 did much to turn Japan's military ambitions southward instead [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomonhan].

'''yakitori pitches''' 
Yakitori: grilled bird, a Japanese type of skewered chicken made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken offal, skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakitori Wikipedia]. A Yakitori pitch would be a kind of fast food stand. As opposed to the current worldwide McDonalds flood?

'''old Cavi ate the sausage at Kabul''' 
Sir Louis Cavagnari, British envoy to Afghanistan, killed on Sept. 3, 1879, in the course of an insurrection. If "eat the sausage" is some horrible detail, I have not found an online source that specifies. --[[User:Volver|Volver]] 15:26, 13 January 2007 (PST)

'''meddling of the Powers...convergence to the Mohammedan''' 
Exactly the situation today. More 1900/2000 parallels.

'''''Polkovnik''''' 
Russian: Colonel.

'''''Polny pizdets''''' 
Russian: a total fuckup.

'''Simla''' 
Punjabi Hill States, refuge and resort of Raj officers for generations [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_States].

'''Pelitis''' 
Peliti was a Manufacturing Confectioner and he was by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen Empress, a purveyor of cakes, chocolates etc. He started his restaurant and confectionery business in 1870 at 11 Government Place in the Dalhousie Square area of Calcutta.(At a meeting on 26-Sep-1919 the Rotary Club of Calcutta was organized thus ushering in the movement in India and indeed the mainland of Asia)[http://www.rotacal.org/pelitis.htm].

== Page 759 ==

'''"haunted spaces of desire...walled in by work-demands" 
is co-conscious(ness), page 760

==Page 761==

'''subaltern''' 
A junior officer in the British army; now titled second lieutenant in most regiments.

'''Guri Amir''' 
Guri Amir or Gur-e Amir is the mausoleum Tamerlane built for his family. It is a great monument of Islamic architecture.

'''Craven A''' 
"Craven A" was a blend of pipe tobacco celebrated under the name "Arcadia" by James M. Barrie, but here the name is applied to cigars.

'''Eurasia Irredenta''' 
Fighters for Italian statehood in the 19th century used the slogan "Italia Irredenta": unredeemed Italy, that is, the lands still held by Habsburgs and other foreign powers. Their goal of course was to redeem it, place these areas under rule by Italians and fold them into one kingdom.

==Page 762==

'''Beerbohm Tree''' 
Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917), noted English actor.

==Page 763==

'''P&O steamer''' 
Pacific and Orient line, British steamship company.

'''might as well all be on a Cook's tour''' 
Cook's is still in business selling package tours. What cost Auberon months of hardship and danger, groups might now visit as tourists.

==Page 764==

'''Kara Tagh''' 
With a name meaning "black mountain" you would expect there to be more than one. Places going by this name or the similar name Karatau are dotted all over Central Asia. This one does not seem to be one of the mapped ones, lying in extreme western China.

Is it significant that Kara Tagh is the Turkish name of Montenegro?

'''Tunguska country''' 
Site of the Tunguska Event, an explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908. The event is sometimes referred to as the Great Siberian Explosion. It was probably caused by the airburst of an asteroid or comet 5 to 10 kilometers (3–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. The energy of the blast was later estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT, equivalent to the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated by the US. However, other (frankly, crackpot) theories link it to an experiment by Nikola Tesla [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event].

'''And when we try to return . . . [w]e may not be able to''' 
Kit had this experience when the liner ''Stupendica'' doubled herself.

'''Buriat''' 
The Buriats live in southwestern Siberia to northwestern China and Mongolia. They include Buddhists and shamanists.

==Page 765==

'''the journey itself is a conscious Being''' 

'''I am contaminated beyond hope, Mushtaq''' 
Halfcourt's predicament ''vis a vis'' Yashmeen is reminiscent of that of Edward Ashburnham, Ford Madox Ford's "Good Soldier".
:In what way, may I ask?

==Page 766==

'''when you come to a fork in the road, take it''' 
A maxim of America's foremost Yogi, the baseball player Yogi Berra.

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

ATD 358-373

2007-01-07T14:18:28Z

Walsingham: /* Page 369 */

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

==Page 358==

'''Camp Bird''' 
???

'''Archie Dipple''' 
???

'''". . . camel herd imported years ago . . ."''' 
Camels were imported in 1855 for use by the U.S. Army as pack animals. They were quite capable, but the Army eventually abandoned them around the Civil War. Those that escaped became a feral population that survived in the Southwest until 1941.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Camel_Corps Wikipedia]

'''cylindrical hats''' 
pic?

==Page 359==

'''bunco-steerer''' 
A con man or fraudster, but the use here seems less malicious than usual.

'''Macking for a mack''' 
Mack: a pimp (from English ''mackerel'' or French ''maquereau'').

==Page 360==

'''across the day''' 
???

'''taken in''' 
Out = alive; in = living dead.

'''Saturday nights''' 
Since "V" Pynchon has presented heavy drinking as a virtue.

'''sanctuary''' 
(Why leave free places at all, though?)

'''Chicago-built''' 
Railway hub leads to manufacture of heavy goods.

'''Sean O'Farrells''' 
"The popular Shawn O'Farrell was created in Butte, Montana, a straight shot of whiskey followed with a glass of cold beer; it gave birth to the boilermaker." From this [http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/102390 website] A Google search for Sean O‘Farrell came up with [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1556-1283(194604)5%3A2%3C153%3ATFCATO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y this link] but the contributor is afraid you need a campus-location to access it.

'''army "A" tents''' 
A-Frame tents are canvas tents supported by a vertical pole at either end and a cord or horizontal pole between the two along the top. When viewed from the entrance end, they form a triangle, hence the name.
[http://coonriver.com/tent.jpg Image of Civil War era A-Frames.]

'''bars had toothmarks''' 
(Patrons so drunk they sit on floor and gnaw edge of bar?)

==Page 361==

'''Pinkerton and public''' 
Assuming one is willing to take "Pinkerton" as a substitution for "private," it being a "private investigations firm," then this may be an allusion to Jurgen Habermas's work examining the distinction (and frequent lack thereof) between the public and private spheres of social interaction. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas Wikipedia on Habermas].

==Page 363==

'''the Wall''' 
Death?

'''''chavalitos''''' 
Kids (Spanish).

'''calico recital''' 
I.e., wife's conventional plea.

==Page 364==

'''Denver''' 
Actually mine school at Golden, 15 miles west?

'''purple... orange''' 
(Clashing colors keep turning up as a motif.)

'''January colt''' 
From the Racecourse Association:
All racehorses are given the nominal birthday of January 1st. Thus a "two-year-old" born in June and one born in January of the same year are considered to be of the same age for the purposes of satisfying the conditions of some races re: weight carried. In reality, the January horse may be considered to have a significant advantage in terms of physical development at this early stage in its career.

'''Borrasca''' 
Borrasca in Spanish means storm, squall, depression, or area of low pressure. But apparently it can also mean an exhausted mine, and 'Going borrasca' means "becoming mined-out". Interestingly, this is very close to the English word 'borassic', ie. out of cash. This comes from Cockney Rhyming Slang: 'boracic lint' meaning 'skint', ie without any money.

==Page 365==

'''Bridget McGonigal''' 
???

'''fill the day''' 
(Day motif.)

==Page 366==

'''sled''' 
(Cf Dally and Frank.)

'''Jake''' 
Okay (slang).

==Page 367==

'''Thrapston Cheesely III''' 
???

'''Madame Aubergine''' 
"Aubergine" is French for eggplant. Cf. p. 67, "'my little eggplant.'"

'''Ruperta Chirpingdon-Groin''' 
???

'''Yup Toy''' 
Expensive yuppie gadget, eg iPod.

'''naphtha-light''' 
Obscure fuel-into-light motif variant.

==Page 368==

'''$3.50-a-quart''' 
About $75 today.

'''an exquisite''' 
???

'''Monsieur Peychaud''' 
Antoine Amadie Peychaud, a Creole apothecary who moved to New Orleans from the West Indies and set up shop in the French Quarter in the early 1800s. [http://www.gumbopages.com/food/beverages/sazerac.html weblink]

'''Sazeracs''' 
A New Orleans cocktail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sazerac Wikipedia entry].

'''Bob Stockton''' 
???

'''...some form of zombie powder''' 
the most common ingredients of Haitian "poudres zombi" [http://science.howstuffworks.com/zombie1.htm according to this website] are [http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?rel-genus=like&rel-species=like&rel-common_name=like&rel-family=equals&rel-ordr=equals&rel-isocc=like&rel-description=like&rel-distribution=like&rel-life_history=like&rel-trends_and_threats=like&rel-relation_to_humans=like&rel-comments=like&query_src=aw_search_index&max=200&orderbyaw=Family&where-genus=Bufo&where-species=marinus&where-common_name=&where-family=Bufonidae&where-ordr=Anura&where-isocc=any&rel-species_account=matchboolean&where-species_account=&rel-declinecauses=equals&where-declinecauses=any&rel-iucn=equals&where-iucn=&rel-cites=equals&where-cites= Canetoad] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine DMT], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufotenin Bufotenin], heart [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid steroids]), [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pufferfish Pufferfish] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrodotoxin Tetrotodoxin]) , [http://www.amphibiainfo.com/gallery/anura/hylidae/osteopilus/dominicensis/ Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog] (?) and "Human Remains"(?).

In Colombia the effects of an intoication with [http://earthops.org/burundanga.html Burundanga] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine Scopolamine]) are described as those of a [http://www.brugerforeningen.dk/bfny.nsf/0/A6CA2207359E19AFC12568C4005E94C8?OpenDocument&K=International%20News&S=UK Zombie Powder]

'''bengaline''' 
A fabric having a crosswise ribbed effect made of silk, wool, or synthetic fibers [http://www.bharattextile.com/dictionary/118 weblink].

'''Medici collar''' 
[http://www.bharattextile.com/dictionary/118 a few samples here]

'''bastard chinchilla''' 
???

==Page 369==

'''cheurice''' 
???

'''Italian Troubles''' 
???

'''''Va fongool-a''''' 
The original Italian phrase is "Va'a fare in culo" meaning go do it in the ass, or simply "fuck you."

'''Maman Tant Gras Hall''' 
Mama-So-Fat Hall.

'''''guignette''''' 
???

'''"Dope" Breedlove and his Merry Coons''' 
???

'''traps''' 
Equipment, gear, luggage.

==Page 370==

'''Ramos gin fizz''' 
Another New Orleans cocktail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramos_gin_fizz Wikipedia entry].

'''Benjamin Tucker''' 
American individualist anarchist. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker Wikipedia].

'''Land League''', '''boycotting''' 
The word boycott arose in the autumn of 1880, to describe the action instituted by the Irish Land League towards those who incurred its hostility and is derived from the name of Captain Charles Boycott, the estate agent of an absentee landlord.

'''Jass''' 
The OED lists the earliest print usage of "Jazz," originally a dance and not, as in current use, the musical form, as 1909. The exact dating of this episode is unclear, though it seems likely to have occurred earlier. It is by no means implausible, however, that the usage is not anachronistic and that the term might be part of the spoken vernacular at this point in history, though its precise usage (as a musical form rather than a dance) may be slightly anachronistic. As for the unusual spelling, the OED lists "Jass" as a variant, though with no information as to where or when it was prevalent.

'''Wolfe Tone O'Rooney''' 
The Wolfe Tones are and Irish folk band whose music is rooted in the history of the country [http://www.wolfetonesofficialsite.com].

"Wolf tone" or "wolf note" also refers to a defect in a musical instrument: a freak resonance that causes one pitch to sound much louder than others.

'''Fenian''' 
Term (often derogatory) for Irish nationalists. Thought to be derived from the name of the mercenary tribes who protected the king of Eire.

'''"Sligo and Tipperary"''' 
Counties in Ireland. Wikipedia pages for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo Sligo] and for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipperary Tipperary].

'''. . . a metaphorical device whose tenor . . .''' 
Refers to I.A. Richards' identification of metaphor as two discrete elements, "tenor" and "vehicle." In "my love is a rose," "my love" is the tenor, "a rose," the vehicle (see the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor Metaphor] for more). The reference to tenor is a reminder that metaphor is itself a doubling, refractory device.

==Page 371==

'''Red Onion''' 
New Orleans night club on Rampart St. where "Dope" Breedlove and his Merry Coons play a gig.

'''the Deux Espèces''' 
the Two Species (French), "a Louisiana-style road ranch deep in the red-light district.

'''Flaco''' 
Skinny man (Spanish), Irish dissident and demolitions expert.

==Page 372==

'''"the bombing of the Teatro Lyceo during a performance of Rossini's opera ''William Tell'' '''
On November 7, 1893 an anarchist dissident threw two bombs into the Barcelona opera house, killing twenty and injuring many more. Wikipedia entires for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Teatre_del_Liceu the Opera House], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona Barcelona], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioacchino_Rossini Rossini], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell_%28opera%29 his''William Tell'' opera].
Babel Fish translates "Liceo," the Spanish name for the opera house, to grammar school

'''Montjuich''' 
Catalan for "Hill of the Jews," a broad hill overlooking Barcelona, atop which a 17th century fortress sits. The fortress shelled the city in 1842 following a popular uprising and was used through the reign of Franco to hold political prisoners. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montjuich Wikipedia].

'''latifundios''' 
Spanish landed estates, a remnant of the Roman social order. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latifundios Wikipedia].

'''Anarchist Czolgosz had assassinated McKinley''' 
Czolgosz shot and mortally wounded McKinley on September 6, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, at the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exhibition, a World's Fair held in Buffalo because it could be powered by electricity from Niagara Falls. McKinley died on September 16. Czolgosz was quickly found guilty and was executed by electrocution October 29, 1901. Wikipedia entries for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz Czolgosz], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley McKinley], and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_Exposition Pan-American Exposition].

'''the Paris Commune'''
The "socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from 18 March (more formally from 26 March) to 28 May 1871," cited from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_commune Wikipedia].

==Page 373==

'''a single point . . . upon the next''' 
That is, a place that that is beyond time, where the movement of the meridians (lines of longitude) have no effect. The only part of the earth where this is literally true is the axis. See, therefore, the Chums' journey through the Telluric Interior," pp. 114-18.

'''''Despedida''''' 
Goodbye (Spanish).

'''beignets''' 
New Orleans-style square, holeless doughnuts usually sprinkled with powdered sugar, famously served at Cafe Du Monde. [http://www.cafedumonde.com/ Website].

'''Bakunin''' 
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), Russian anarchist and revolutionary. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakunin Wikipedia entry].

'''Kropotkin''' 
Peter Kropotkin (1942-1921), Russian prince and anarchist, author of ''Mutual Aid.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin Wikipedia entry].

'''Eusebio Gómez''' 
???

'''''a sus órdenes''''' 
Sp., "at your service."

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

ATD 358-373

2007-01-07T14:15:40Z

Walsingham: /* Page 364 */

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

==Page 358==

'''Camp Bird''' 
???

'''Archie Dipple''' 
???

'''". . . camel herd imported years ago . . ."''' 
Camels were imported in 1855 for use by the U.S. Army as pack animals. They were quite capable, but the Army eventually abandoned them around the Civil War. Those that escaped became a feral population that survived in the Southwest until 1941.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Camel_Corps Wikipedia]

'''cylindrical hats''' 
pic?

==Page 359==

'''bunco-steerer''' 
A con man or fraudster, but the use here seems less malicious than usual.

'''Macking for a mack''' 
Mack: a pimp (from English ''mackerel'' or French ''maquereau'').

==Page 360==

'''across the day''' 
???

'''taken in''' 
Out = alive; in = living dead.

'''Saturday nights''' 
Since "V" Pynchon has presented heavy drinking as a virtue.

'''sanctuary''' 
(Why leave free places at all, though?)

'''Chicago-built''' 
Railway hub leads to manufacture of heavy goods.

'''Sean O'Farrells''' 
"The popular Shawn O'Farrell was created in Butte, Montana, a straight shot of whiskey followed with a glass of cold beer; it gave birth to the boilermaker." From this [http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/102390 website] A Google search for Sean O‘Farrell came up with [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1556-1283(194604)5%3A2%3C153%3ATFCATO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y this link] but the contributor is afraid you need a campus-location to access it.

'''army "A" tents''' 
A-Frame tents are canvas tents supported by a vertical pole at either end and a cord or horizontal pole between the two along the top. When viewed from the entrance end, they form a triangle, hence the name.
[http://coonriver.com/tent.jpg Image of Civil War era A-Frames.]

'''bars had toothmarks''' 
(Patrons so drunk they sit on floor and gnaw edge of bar?)

==Page 361==

'''Pinkerton and public''' 
Assuming one is willing to take "Pinkerton" as a substitution for "private," it being a "private investigations firm," then this may be an allusion to Jurgen Habermas's work examining the distinction (and frequent lack thereof) between the public and private spheres of social interaction. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas Wikipedia on Habermas].

==Page 363==

'''the Wall''' 
Death?

'''''chavalitos''''' 
Kids (Spanish).

'''calico recital''' 
I.e., wife's conventional plea.

==Page 364==

'''Denver''' 
Actually mine school at Golden, 15 miles west?

'''purple... orange''' 
(Clashing colors keep turning up as a motif.)

'''January colt''' 
From the Racecourse Association:
All racehorses are given the nominal birthday of January 1st. Thus a "two-year-old" born in June and one born in January of the same year are considered to be of the same age for the purposes of satisfying the conditions of some races re: weight carried. In reality, the January horse may be considered to have a significant advantage in terms of physical development at this early stage in its career.

'''Borrasca''' 
Borrasca in Spanish means storm, squall, depression, or area of low pressure. But apparently it can also mean an exhausted mine, and 'Going borrasca' means "becoming mined-out". Interestingly, this is very close to the English word 'borassic', ie. out of cash. This comes from Cockney Rhyming Slang: 'boracic lint' meaning 'skint', ie without any money.

==Page 365==

'''Bridget McGonigal''' 
???

'''fill the day''' 
(Day motif.)

==Page 366==

'''sled''' 
(Cf Dally and Frank.)

'''Jake''' 
Okay (slang).

==Page 367==

'''Thrapston Cheesely III''' 
???

'''Madame Aubergine''' 
"Aubergine" is French for eggplant. Cf. p. 67, "'my little eggplant.'"

'''Ruperta Chirpingdon-Groin''' 
???

'''Yup Toy''' 
Expensive yuppie gadget, eg iPod.

'''naphtha-light''' 
Obscure fuel-into-light motif variant.

==Page 368==

'''$3.50-a-quart''' 
About $75 today.

'''an exquisite''' 
???

'''Monsieur Peychaud''' 
Antoine Amadie Peychaud, a Creole apothecary who moved to New Orleans from the West Indies and set up shop in the French Quarter in the early 1800s. [http://www.gumbopages.com/food/beverages/sazerac.html weblink]

'''Sazeracs''' 
A New Orleans cocktail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sazerac Wikipedia entry].

'''Bob Stockton''' 
???

'''...some form of zombie powder''' 
the most common ingredients of Haitian "poudres zombi" [http://science.howstuffworks.com/zombie1.htm according to this website] are [http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?rel-genus=like&rel-species=like&rel-common_name=like&rel-family=equals&rel-ordr=equals&rel-isocc=like&rel-description=like&rel-distribution=like&rel-life_history=like&rel-trends_and_threats=like&rel-relation_to_humans=like&rel-comments=like&query_src=aw_search_index&max=200&orderbyaw=Family&where-genus=Bufo&where-species=marinus&where-common_name=&where-family=Bufonidae&where-ordr=Anura&where-isocc=any&rel-species_account=matchboolean&where-species_account=&rel-declinecauses=equals&where-declinecauses=any&rel-iucn=equals&where-iucn=&rel-cites=equals&where-cites= Canetoad] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine DMT], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufotenin Bufotenin], heart [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid steroids]), [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pufferfish Pufferfish] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrodotoxin Tetrotodoxin]) , [http://www.amphibiainfo.com/gallery/anura/hylidae/osteopilus/dominicensis/ Hispaniolan Common Tree Frog] (?) and "Human Remains"(?).

In Colombia the effects of an intoication with [http://earthops.org/burundanga.html Burundanga] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine Scopolamine]) are described as those of a [http://www.brugerforeningen.dk/bfny.nsf/0/A6CA2207359E19AFC12568C4005E94C8?OpenDocument&K=International%20News&S=UK Zombie Powder]

'''bengaline''' 
A fabric having a crosswise ribbed effect made of silk, wool, or synthetic fibers [http://www.bharattextile.com/dictionary/118 weblink].

'''Medici collar''' 
[http://www.bharattextile.com/dictionary/118 a few samples here]

'''bastard chinchilla''' 
???

==Page 369==

'''cheurice''' 
???

'''Italian Troubles''' 
???

'''''Va fongool-a''''' 
???

'''Maman Tant Gras Hall''' 
Mama-So-Fat Hall.

'''''guignette''''' 
???

'''"Dope" Breedlove and his Merry Coons''' 
???

'''traps''' 
Equipment, gear, luggage.

==Page 370==

'''Ramos gin fizz''' 
Another New Orleans cocktail. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramos_gin_fizz Wikipedia entry].

'''Benjamin Tucker''' 
American individualist anarchist. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker Wikipedia].

'''Land League''', '''boycotting''' 
The word boycott arose in the autumn of 1880, to describe the action instituted by the Irish Land League towards those who incurred its hostility and is derived from the name of Captain Charles Boycott, the estate agent of an absentee landlord.

'''Jass''' 
The OED lists the earliest print usage of "Jazz," originally a dance and not, as in current use, the musical form, as 1909. The exact dating of this episode is unclear, though it seems likely to have occurred earlier. It is by no means implausible, however, that the usage is not anachronistic and that the term might be part of the spoken vernacular at this point in history, though its precise usage (as a musical form rather than a dance) may be slightly anachronistic. As for the unusual spelling, the OED lists "Jass" as a variant, though with no information as to where or when it was prevalent.

'''Wolfe Tone O'Rooney''' 
The Wolfe Tones are and Irish folk band whose music is rooted in the history of the country [http://www.wolfetonesofficialsite.com].

"Wolf tone" or "wolf note" also refers to a defect in a musical instrument: a freak resonance that causes one pitch to sound much louder than others.

'''Fenian''' 
Term (often derogatory) for Irish nationalists. Thought to be derived from the name of the mercenary tribes who protected the king of Eire.

'''"Sligo and Tipperary"''' 
Counties in Ireland. Wikipedia pages for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo Sligo] and for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipperary Tipperary].

'''. . . a metaphorical device whose tenor . . .''' 
Refers to I.A. Richards' identification of metaphor as two discrete elements, "tenor" and "vehicle." In "my love is a rose," "my love" is the tenor, "a rose," the vehicle (see the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor Metaphor] for more). The reference to tenor is a reminder that metaphor is itself a doubling, refractory device.

==Page 371==

'''Red Onion''' 
New Orleans night club on Rampart St. where "Dope" Breedlove and his Merry Coons play a gig.

'''the Deux Espèces''' 
the Two Species (French), "a Louisiana-style road ranch deep in the red-light district.

'''Flaco''' 
Skinny man (Spanish), Irish dissident and demolitions expert.

==Page 372==

'''"the bombing of the Teatro Lyceo during a performance of Rossini's opera ''William Tell'' '''
On November 7, 1893 an anarchist dissident threw two bombs into the Barcelona opera house, killing twenty and injuring many more. Wikipedia entires for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Teatre_del_Liceu the Opera House], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona Barcelona], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioacchino_Rossini Rossini], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell_%28opera%29 his''William Tell'' opera].
Babel Fish translates "Liceo," the Spanish name for the opera house, to grammar school

'''Montjuich''' 
Catalan for "Hill of the Jews," a broad hill overlooking Barcelona, atop which a 17th century fortress sits. The fortress shelled the city in 1842 following a popular uprising and was used through the reign of Franco to hold political prisoners. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montjuich Wikipedia].

'''latifundios''' 
Spanish landed estates, a remnant of the Roman social order. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latifundios Wikipedia].

'''Anarchist Czolgosz had assassinated McKinley''' 
Czolgosz shot and mortally wounded McKinley on September 6, 1901 in Buffalo, New York, at the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exhibition, a World's Fair held in Buffalo because it could be powered by electricity from Niagara Falls. McKinley died on September 16. Czolgosz was quickly found guilty and was executed by electrocution October 29, 1901. Wikipedia entries for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz Czolgosz], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley McKinley], and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_Exposition Pan-American Exposition].

'''the Paris Commune'''
The "socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from 18 March (more formally from 26 March) to 28 May 1871," cited from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_commune Wikipedia].

==Page 373==

'''a single point . . . upon the next''' 
That is, a place that that is beyond time, where the movement of the meridians (lines of longitude) have no effect. The only part of the earth where this is literally true is the axis. See, therefore, the Chums' journey through the Telluric Interior," pp. 114-18.

'''''Despedida''''' 
Goodbye (Spanish).

'''beignets''' 
New Orleans-style square, holeless doughnuts usually sprinkled with powdered sugar, famously served at Cafe Du Monde. [http://www.cafedumonde.com/ Website].

'''Bakunin''' 
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), Russian anarchist and revolutionary. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakunin Wikipedia entry].

'''Kropotkin''' 
Peter Kropotkin (1942-1921), Russian prince and anarchist, author of ''Mutual Aid.'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin Wikipedia entry].

'''Eusebio Gómez''' 
???

'''''a sus órdenes''''' 
Sp., "at your service."

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

ATD 119-148

2006-12-18T20:34:29Z

Walsingham: /* Page 124 */

:'''<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!''' 
Randolph says "На собратья по небо."
What I believe he means to say is
"Наши собратья по небу" or Nashi sobrat'ya po nebu, meaning "Our brothers/comrades of the sky" -- perhaps a ritual greeting between the two groups.
It is unlikely that Pynchon would make a mistake (the Russian in GR is correct) but Randolph might err.

==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 constancy 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 walls 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] Corporations are routinely recognized as "persons" in the law nowadays. For more on the recognition of corporation as legal persons, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood Wikipedia entry on corporate personhood]. A recent documentary film, ''The Corporation'' (2003), tried to make the case that if a corporation is a "person," it has the personality of a psychopath.

==Annotation Index==
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