Difference between revisions of "ATD 1-25"

Revision as of 12:57, 24 November 2006

Dedication
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- Mason & Dixon ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , Vineland ("For my mother and father"), and Gravity's Rainbow ("For Richard Farina")-- but not so Against the Day, as published. It is purported that advance reading copies of the book contained some kind of dedication that was omitted from the final publication.

"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light."
Epigraph by Thelonious Monk. Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon later “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (Slow Learner, Introduction).

Page 3

"Now single up all lines!"
The opening line has many possible connotations. The Modern Word's Quail writes that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that Against the Day is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name." The first full paragraph of page 146 describes a single-file line at the train station, which 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.

The Chums of Chance
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, Voice of the Hamster and The Boys, in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."

World's Columbian Exposition
also called The Chicago World's Fair, a World's Fair, was held in the U.S. city of Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. Wikipedia entry.

Page 5

Pugnax
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight." Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent dog, the Learned English Dog in Mason & Dixon. Pugnax's manner of speech is also reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog "Scooby-Doo."

"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit)..."
This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed.

Page 8

"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"
Like the Prime Directive in Star Trek.

Page 9

"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard Inconvenience you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his introductory blurb proclaims the world of AtD as what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two, this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.

"Going up is like going north."
Anyone understand this statement by Randolph?? This simply seems to use the notion that most maps put north at the top, so moving north is moving 'up' the page. Once you pass the pole, you are going south, or back 'down' the map.

This may be an allusion to the change in climate from warm southern climates to cold northern climates. The contrast from southern california to northern california is apt, sunny beaches south...rainy foggy beaches north. Population thins out similar to the oxygen the further North you get. Alaska being the ideal extreme. One can see this as another of the many echoes to themes from "Gravity's Rainbow" in the "Light Over the Ranges" section. Ascending (in an airship or rocket) is like moving Northward to colder and less habitable environments, until one crosses the Pole (literally going 'Beyond the Zero.')

Also, it may further drive home the point, to Chick, that up does not lead to "any realm of the counterfactual": the comparison with going north should remind him that up is just another direction, strange and uncomfortable as it may be for him.

Page 12

Herr Riemann
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. Wikipedia entry.

Page 13

"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."
This is strikingly reminiscent of Odilon Redon's 1882 Lithograph L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity). At MoMa's Online Collection

Reference also to ATD Pg. 51 and "The Unsleeping Eye", an apparent reference to Pinkerton's competing PI agency.

Page 15

ukelele
Ukeleles also appear in Gravity's Rainbow. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukelele in college.

Page 18

Tzigane
Meaning "gypsy".

Page 24

Epworth League
A Methodist youth organization founded around 1899.

Page 25

Haymarket bomb
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. Wikipedia entry.

duck soup
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve.