Difference between revisions of "ATD 1-25"

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==cover text==
 
==cover text==
The black text and its drop shadows are in different typefaces. It may be worth noting, from a conceptual point of view, that we can infer from the angle of the drop shadows that the light source is any individual holding the book—that is, the reader or a potential reader.
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[[image:Ispar.jpg|right|thumb|125px|An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')]]
 +
Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.
  
 
==cover seal==
 
==cover seal==
The seal appears to be written in Tibetan language, according to somebody who posts regularly to Pynchon-l under the name "Ya Sam", who reports:
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The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112066&keywords=Namgyal posted] on the Pynchon-l message board:
  
I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate  
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"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate  
 
the  mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my  
 
the  mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my  
 
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we  
 
request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we  
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:Sandy Belth<br />
 
:Sandy Belth<br />
:Tibetan Cultural Center
+
:Tibetan Cultural Center"
  
Also of interest: the coin bears a striking resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:
+
The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in ''Moby-Dick'' that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:
  
:It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra. (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")
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:"''It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra.''" (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")
 +
 
 +
The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.
  
 
==copyright page==
 
==copyright page==
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==Epigraph==
 
==Epigraph==
"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk<br>
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'''"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - Thelonious Monk'''<br>
Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere; and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said. For more on McClintic Sphere and Monk, see Charles Hollander's essay [http://www.howardm.net/tsmonk/pynchon.php Does McClintic Sphere in ''V.'' stand for Thelonious Monk?]. On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."
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Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (''Slow Learner'', Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/that-thelonious-monk-epigraph.html notes] that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) [[file:Monk-Time-022864_cover.jpg|left|150px|caption|Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964]]the character McClintic Sphere in ''V''. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.
  
==Page 1==
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On [[ATD_724-747#Page 732|page 732]]: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."
  
'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br>
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The epigraph's possible source: [http://aphelis.net/portrait-thelonious-monk-boris-chaliapin-1964/ Time magazine, February 28, 1964] article titled [http://www.monkzone.com/Profiles_interviews/Time%20Magazine%20article.htm “The Loneliest Monk”] written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).
Range is defined in the Oxford American Dictionary as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br>
+
  
'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".<br>
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'''NOTE:''' There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.
  
"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on
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In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a [http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/thelonious-monks-advice.html list of advice] from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always <u>night</u>, otherwise they wouldn't need <del>any</del> the <u>lights</u>.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's]
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''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.
+
  
A range is also a group of diverse objects.<br>
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'''NOTE:''' Reading Charles Hollander's [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Does_McClintic_Sphere_in_V._stand_for_Thelonious_Monk%3F excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere], a character in Pynchon's ''V.''.
  
A-And range is a word full of its own meaning. Below is a partial list from one good word reference site on the web.<br>
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==Page 1==
The more this reader
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'''"Now single up all lines!""'''<br>
tries to understand Against the Day, by rereading it and Pynchon's whole oeuvre, the more he feels 'range as diversity'--lost--lies behind TRP's opening chapter title. Especially once one knows how 'Light' is a major subject and theme in ATD.[[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 13:41, 28 May 2007 (PDT)MKohut
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Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.
*scope: an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"<br>
+
  
*change or be different within limits; "Estimates for the losses in the earthquake range as high as $2 billion"; "Interest rates run from 5 to 10 percent"; "The instruments ranged from tuba to cymbals"; "My students range from very bright to dull"<br>
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But the opening line has many possible connotations.
 +
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name."  
  
*the limits within which something can be effective; "range of motion"; "he was beyond the reach of their fire"<br>
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:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', pp. 11 and 438]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines  ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines  ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260]; [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_8#Page_119 ''Inherent Vice'', p. 119-120].  Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland'']?) &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?
  
*a large tract of grassy open land on which livestock can graze; "they used to drive the cattle across the open range every spring"; "he dreamed of a home on the range"<br>
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Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151; "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].
  
*roll: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment;<br>
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The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)
  
*have a range; be capable of projecting over a certain distance, as of a gun; "This gun ranges over two miles"<br>
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:The ''Finnegans Wake'' line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum '''a''' chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)
  
*a series of hills or mountains; "the valley was between two ranges of hills"; "the plains lay just beyond the mountain range"<br>
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Henry Veggian in [http://boundary2.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/35/1/197.pdf his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day"] makes the same point:
 +
:"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of ''Against the Day''." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.
  
*a place for shooting (firing or driving) projectiles of various kinds; "the army maintains a missile range in the desert"; "any good golf club will have a range where you can practice"<br>
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:'''The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention'''; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. [[User:WikiAdmin|WikiAdmin]] 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)
  
*range or extend over; occupy a certain area; "The plants straddle the entire state"<br>
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'''The Light Over the Ranges'''<br>
 +
"Range" is defined in the ''Oxford American Dictionary'' as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.<br> Some other connotations may include:
  
*lay out orderly or logically in a line or as if in a line; "lay out the clothes"; "lay out the arguments"<br>
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:'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".
  
*the limits of the values a function can take; "the range of this function is the interval from 0 to 1"
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:"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Waddell Helen Waddell's] ''The Wandering Scholars'', p. 8, Introduction to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner ''Slow Learner], 1984.
  
*a variety of different things or activities; "he answered a range of questions"; "he was impressed by the range and diversity of the collection"<br>
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:In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.
  
*crop: feed as in a meadow or pasture; "the herd was grazing"<br>
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:I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time  along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of ''inconvenience'' appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework.  In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.
 
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*compass: the limit of capability; "within the compass of education"
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*let eat; "range the animals in the prairie"  
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[wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn wordnet]
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==Page 3==
 
==Page 3==
Line 96: Line 92:
 
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name."  
 
:The Modern Word's Quail [http://www.themodernword.com/reviews/pynchon_atd.html writes] that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that ''Against the Day'' is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name."  
  
:"Single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in ''V.'', 11; ''COL49'', 31; ''Gravity's Rainbow'', 489; and ''Mason & Dixon'', 258, 260.  Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but ''Vineland''?)--in preparation for a voyage to...?
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IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers  Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"
 +
 
 +
:"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#single_up_all_lines ''V.'', p.11]; [http://cl49.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#single_up_all_lines  ''The Crying of Lot 49'', p.31]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_488-491#single_up_all_lines  ''Gravity's Rainbow'', p.489]; and [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_26:_257-265#Page_258 ''Mason & Dixon'', pp.258 and 260].  Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki ''Vineland''] and ''Bleeding Edge'') &#151; in preparation for a voyage to...?
 +
 
 +
Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) &#151;  "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on [[#Page_10|page 10]]: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" &#151; a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." ''See also'' [[ATD_557-587#Page_585|annotation, page 585]] and more on [[Routinization of Charisma]].
  
 
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br>
 
'''"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"'''<br>
 
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.
 
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.
  
:Pynchon served in the Navy and uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).
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:Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. ''Mason & Dixon'': "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).
 +
 
 +
William Shakespeare, ''The Tempest,'' Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts!  Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"
  
 
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br>
 
'''"Windy City, here we come!"'''<br>
The nickname for Chicago, of course, but in 1893 the use meant city of braggarts more than it did wind. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876, and involve Chicago's rivalry with Cincinnati. A popular myth states that "Windy City" was first used by New York Sun editor Charles Dana in the bidding for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The popularity of the nickname has endured, even after the Cincinnati rivalry and the Columbian Exposition both ended. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]
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The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City,_Origin_of_Name_(Chicago)| Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia]
 +
 
 +
'''"Up we go!"'''<br>
 +
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.
  
 
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br />
 
'''Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander'''<br />
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore. Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[Basnight%2C_Lewis_%28%22Lew%22%29|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]
+
[[image:ex-voti-isernia.jpg|thumb|175px|Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia|right]]Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout ''Against the Day'' [[The Sexual Angle|(See the ''beginnings'' of exploring this angle...]]) &#151; a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! &#151; so this seems to fit right in. [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...]]; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]; [[Randolph St. Cosmo|More on Randolph St. Cosmo]]
  
In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." (p. 290) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.)
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In [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V#veery ''Mason & Dixon''], Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." ([http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_29:_289-295#Page_290 p. 290]) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) [[St. Cosmo|Read more about the historical St. Cosmo]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sts._Cosmas_and_Damian Wikipedia entry]
  
'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br>
+
The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos?
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] ''Inconvenience'' is run along fairly strict naval lines—given the age of the officers and crew, you might say she is a tot ship—and the beginning of the book was preceded by an analogous "Now set the Special Sky Detail." Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties. The language, tasks and customs aboard the skyship will show parallels to navy usage throughout the book.
+
  
'''summer uniform of red-and-white-striped blazer and trousers of sky blue'''<br />
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'''Now secure the Special Sky Detail'''<br>
Calls to mind the color scheme of Ned Land's (Kirk Douglas) costume in Disney's 1954 film version of ''20,000 Leagues under the Sea''.<br>
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When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, [http://tpub.com/content/administration/12968a/css/12968a_41.htm "Now set the Special Sea Detail."] 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.
 
+
Also calls to mind the colors of the American flag.
+
  
 
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br>
 
'''"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders'''<br>
Line 124: Line 126:
  
 
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br>
 
'''''Inconvenience'''''<br>
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc. Impulsive is the name of the ship Ploy, who loses all his teeth in V., gets transferred to.
+
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (''V.''), and the John E. Badass (''GR''). Chumps of Choice blog [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html notes] that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.
Inconvenience is an apt name for the Chums' adventures in 'reality'. They are an inconvenience; they are inconvenienced. (In having to take on Chick Counterfly, for example).<br>
+
  
Pynchon uses the word ''inconvenience'' in a possibly thematic, connected way in ''Mason & Dixon'' and in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. Here is the clearest relevant use for understanding for the Chums' airship, perhaps: from ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the
+
Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting."
+
page 435, Penguin paperback edition with the Frank Miller cover.  
+
  
In addition, if we take the Latinate roots of in-con-ven-(ience) and willfully misread the "in" as adverbial "in" (as e.g. "in-come") rather than the privative "not" (as e.g. "in-cred-ible"), we get "the arriving-in-together"; the "inconvenience", then, is essentially a tongue-in-cheek "vehicle".<br>
+
In other Pynchon novels: 1) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience More]. 2) In ''Mason & Dixon'', the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the ''M & D'' wiki. 2) In ''Gravity's Rainbow'': "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the
I do not think it illuminating to "willfully misread"!?!  We are trying to
+
''inconveniences of caring''. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)
willfully read possible meanings and resonances. [[User:MKOHUT|MKOHUT]] 06:01, 2 August 2007 (PDT)
+
 
+
Also, recall Fender-Belly Bodine, in [http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience ''Mason & Dixon'']: "Back on old H.M.S. ''Inconvenience'', we wasted many a Day and Night watching that fancy Counter get smaller by the minute..." (p.28)
+
  
 
'''patriotic bunting'''<br>
 
'''patriotic bunting'''<br>
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship.<br>
+
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.<br>  
 +
 
 
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood.  
 
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood.  
  
 
'''aeronautics'''<br>
 
'''aeronautics'''<br>
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]
+
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aeronautics|Brittanica 11th on Aeronautics]<br>
  
 
'''five-lad crew'''<br>
 
'''five-lad crew'''<br>
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. The commander's name evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos?
+
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly.  
  
 
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br>
 
'''The [[Chums of Chance]]'''<br>
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident. The "chance" may also be that of the winds that carry them in directions not always intended.
+
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.
:The American philospher Charles Sanders Peirce, who set down his most important ideas in the late 1800's, argued that 'Chance' was a feature of the universe that can refute all determinisms.
+
 
 +
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog].  
  
"The certainty of chance" is a Surrealist slogan. We learned from ''Slow Learner'' that Pynchon was influenced early by Surrealism.
 
The slogan is quoted in this obit of a real life
 
character out of Pynchon, George Melly, Jazz singer, writer, anarchist and polymorphous lover.[http://www.economist.com/search/search.cfm?rv=2&qr=melly&area=1&x=6&y=7]
 
 
 
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."
 
Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, [http://themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_hamster.html Voice of the Hamster] and [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_boys.html The Boys], in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys."
  
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. ''The Explorigator'' ran for 14 weeks in 1908 and made an impression for its imaginative and visual creativity. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']] <ref>[http://lambiek.net/artists/d/dart_harry_grant.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia]</ref>
+
[[image:dart-explorigator.jpg|thumb|120px|right]]The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, [[Little Nemo|''Little Nemo in Slumberland'']], by Windsor McCay, and ''The Explorigator'', by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. [[The Explorigator|More on ''The Explorigator'']]
  
The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the [http://chumpsofchoice.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-single-up-all-lines.html#c116587978292060684 Chumps of Choice blog].  
+
'''Chicago'''<br>
 +
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]
  
The creativity of Pynchon's naming of the Chums, as other characters, shows yet again his Dickensian influence.
+
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br>
 +
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.
  
Note that there's five Chums, the number of chapters of the book (a-and the number of letters in "Chums"!).
 
  
'''Chicago'''<br>
+
'''Ferris wheel'''<br>
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/ 1911 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Chicago 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago]
+
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel]
  
Also, The band Chicago's third hit song "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" deals with how one faces living in a world under constraints of time [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does_Anybody_Really_Know_What_Time_It_Is%3F]. The opening lyrics are:
+
'''...temples of commerce and industry'''<br>
 +
evocative of Chicago's Museum of ''Science and Industry'', which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Science_and_Industry_(Chicago)]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.
  
Does anybody really know what time it is?
+
'''Since their orders had come through . . .'''<br>
Does anybody really care?
+
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.
About Time...  
+
 
+
'''World's Columbian Exposition'''<br>
+
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition Wikipedia entry]. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3
+
  
 
'''lifelines'''<br>
 
'''lifelines'''<br>
Line 184: Line 176:
  
 
'''mascotte'''<br>
 
'''mascotte'''<br>
The English word 'mascot' has its origin in the late 19th cent.: from French mascotte. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 [Wikipedia]]
+
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mascotte], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascotte_%28rolling_papers%29 Wikipedia]
  
 
==Page 4==
 
==Page 4==
  
 
'''Professor'''<br>
 
'''Professor'''<br>
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor. Professor of flight as some early aeronauts were called?
+
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor.
 
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]
 
"Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]
  
 
'''"Turn to"'''<br>
 
'''"Turn to"'''<br>
Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter eleven. "Turn to" is also a shipboard expression, "put your back into it" or something of the kind.
+
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, ''V.'', chapter 11.
 +
 
 +
'''"a form of monomania"'''<br>
 +
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal.  In ''Moby Dick,'' which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the ''Inconvenience,'' Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in ''Billy Budd.'' --[[User:POD|POD]] 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)
  
 
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br>
 
'''Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."<br>
 
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?
 
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked?
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters...TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.
+
I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.
 +
:There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly.  Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.
  
 
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br>
 
'''Chick Counterfly'''<br>
Three possibilities: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft?
+
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-''AtD''-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.
 
+
He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding
+
on a different "earth" happens.
+
 
+
Like Suckling's name suggesting a relationship to another Pynchon character (Pig Bodine), Pynchon winks at a relationship between Counterfly and Tyrone Slothrop.  In Counterfly´s first utterance in the book, “Ha ha,” cried young Counterfly, “say, but if you ain’t the most slob-footed chap I ever seen!” you can derive "Tyrone Slothrop" from an anagram of Counterfly and "slob-footed chap."
+
 
+
:Huh? That's a pretty sloppy anagram, ain't it? What about that "b" and that"d" ... this is ''way'' too much of a stretch. There's something to these names, perhaps, but I don't think you're close here, friend.
+
  
 
==Page 5==
 
==Page 5==
 
'''"all tableware with Chums of Chance Insignia is Organizational property"'''<br />
 
The organization in question is the Chums of Chance themselves, here considered as an institution rather than as a collection of individuals.
 
 
 
'''picklesome'''<br>
 
'''picklesome'''<br>
 
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.
 
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.
 
A word not much seen since the nineteenth century.
 
  
 
'''Pugnax'''<br>
 
'''Pugnax'''<br>
I suspect that, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"...
+
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in ''Mason & Dixon''. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad":  "Learned American Dog."  His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.
 
+
There are a number of characters named after birds or bird sounds: Linnet Dawes, "Pert" Chirpingdon-Groin (there is a pert bird), and Wren Provenance immediately come to mind, but I'm sure there are others, and there are myriad bird references and metaphors (the Sodality of Ǣtheronauts and their mechanical wings); I just haven't had the time to explore it deeply, but others may... (Just read [[Birds|the bit about birds]] from ''Homage to Pythagoras''...
+
 
+
You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].
+
 
+
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog in ''Mason & Dixon''. His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0612&msg=112507&sort=date members of PYNCHON-L] have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the [http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/ Wallace and Gromit] claymation films.
+
  
Could this name be an homage to the dog in the Asterix comics, Idéfix in French; Dogmatix in English? Many of the character in the Asterix comics have names ending in "x".
+
Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong [[Birds|"bird" theme]] (the original aeronauts!) in ''Against the Day'', Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (''Philomachus pugnax'') which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, ''Aeronautes saxatalis'' [[ATD_243-272#Page_266|(mentioned on p. 266)]].
  
 
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br>
 
'''"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see ''The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit'')..."'''<br>
Line 235: Line 212:
 
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".
 
The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs".
 
The wild dogs equal both political parties?  
 
The wild dogs equal both political parties?  
 +
 +
'''Washington Monument'''<br>
 +
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_monument]]
  
 
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br>
 
'''lavatorial assaults'''<br>
"from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of" recall the V-2 rockets which are linked to Slothrop's erections in ''Gravity's Rainbow''. That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.
+
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")
  
This also recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")
+
Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.
  
 
==Page 6==
 
==Page 6==
  
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br>
+
'''''Princess Casamassima'''''<br />
Published 1886 (James had published two others by 1893), a classic dealing with terrorists, anarchists, and bombings. [http://www.henryjames.org.uk/pcasa/home.htm Full text] Sequel to "Roderick Hudson". It's the only Henry James novel in which he takes on such overtly political subjects, the only one which deals with violent extremes of human behavior.<br>
+
''The Princess Casamassima'' is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme &#151; admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism &#151; will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Casamassima Wikipedia] [[Princess Casamassima|Discussion of ''The Princess Casamassima'']]
:Thematically, it's reactionary, the opposite of AtD.<br>
+
:ATD is not reactionary but also not the opposite of Princess Casamassima thematically, it can be easily argued.
+
 
+
Pugnax prefers in his reading "sentimental tales about his own species [rather] than those exhibiting extremes of human behavior, which he appeared to find a bit lurid." It seems Pynchon is slyly commenting on James' Princess Casamassima here in that that James novel DID deal with 'extremes of human behaviour' yet Pugnax prefers 'sentimental tales'!<br> As many who have had dogs know, often when raised from puppyhood with loving owners, they 'think they are human'. Pugnax learns where to pee off the gondola - a pretty natural function for a dog - "like the rest of the crew".  
+
 
+
Or: it is a theme in GR, that the book, writing itself, is an abstraction from experience and not, of course, the thing itself. Noseworth, "who placed upon the word 'book' . . . contempt" did, however, know the subject matter of 'Princess Casamassima.' He, Noseworth, hopes they will "suffer no occasion for exposure more immediate than that to be experienced, as with Pugnax at this moment, safely within the leaves of some book." It matters that the Chums ARE also characters in books of their adventures.
+
 
+
It should also be noted that the Princess Casamassima is one of the rare characters in James' novels who appears in more than one work. She was originally a character in the 1875 novel Roderick Hudson, where her name was, quite fittingly, Christina Light.
+
  
 
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br>
 
'''Placing . . . an emphasis'''<br>
Line 258: Line 230:
  
 
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br>
 
'''Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him'''<br>
If Pugnax doesn't detect a human scent, that suggests Lindsay is not human. Not human, Master-at-Arms, speaks in hyper-constructed prose, has a notably short fuse . . . he's Lieutenant Worf of ''Star Trek, the Next Generation.''
+
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.
  
 
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br>
 
'''''Krakatoa'''''<br>
Line 264: Line 236:
  
 
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br>
 
'''Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven'''<br>
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" suggests both "wonder juice" and "wander juice," fitting since his engine allows the Chums to wander and is wondrous insofar as it apparently violates the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics second law of thermodynamics]. "Heino" (HIE-no) is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].
+
Scientist who designed the ''Inconvenience's'' hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name [http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=heino meaning 'home'] in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heino Heino].
 
+
:Um, a quibble: ''Vanderjuice'' is some kind of corrupted Dutch, and in Dutch the name Heino would be pronounced HAY-no. He is not an immigrant, though, and American speakers no doubt say HIGH-no.
+
 
+
Jules Verne influence? Vanderjuice a red herring, pointing to Dutch origin and electrical ("juice") background? Or does one try to parse the name into eg "Fond O' Juice"?
+
  
 
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br>
 
'''no better than a perpetual-motion machine'''<br>
Line 276: Line 244:
  
 
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br>
 
'''Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible'''<br>
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful.
+
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.
  
 
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br>
 
'''ratlines and shrouds'''<br>
Line 282: Line 250:
  
 
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br>
 
'''". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"'''<br>
Cup anemometer invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson].  Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]
+
Cup anemometer (> Grk. ''anemos,'' "wind"; cf. Lat. ''animus,'' "spirit") invented in 1846 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Romney_Robinson Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson].  Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep2000/node13.html pic]
  
 
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br>
 
'''how rapidly the ship was proceeding'''<br>
Line 295: Line 263:
  
 
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br>
 
'''"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".<br>
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.  
+
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.<br>
 +
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see ''Blackwater USA'', a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_USA]
 +
Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.
  
 
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br>
 
'''a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"'''<br>
 
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.
 
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.
 +
:It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.
  
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br />
+
'''"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"'''<br>
The Civil War was not called such during the time it was occurring; the South called it "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion of 1861" or, after termination of hostilities, "the Rebellion of 1861-1865," appellations that did not recognize the South's right to secede.
+
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs."  The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.
  
 
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br>
 
'''"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"'''<br>
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums'.
+
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.
  
 
'''absquatulated'''<br>
 
'''absquatulated'''<br>
 
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture.  Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br>
 
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture.  Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-abs1.htm A brief article] on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."<br>
The word is used in Vineland.
+
The word is used in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''Vineland''].
  
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br>
+
'''commonly known as "Dick"'''<br>
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.
+
So together they would be Chick with Dick.
  
 
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br>
 
'''to approach the gates of the Penitentiary'''<br>
Line 317: Line 288:
  
 
'''posse comitatus'''<br>
 
'''posse comitatus'''<br>
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.  
+
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_(common_law) Posse Comitatus].) Remember that the ''Chums'' author gets paid by the word.
 
+
In the 1980s, a radical, violent, right-wing and anti-government movement adopted the name "Posse Comitatus."
+
  
 
==Page 8==
 
==Page 8==
Line 328: Line 297:
 
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br>
 
'''the town of Thick Bush'''<br>
 
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
 
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
 +
 +
'''carpetbagger'''<br>
 +
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpetbagger carpetbagger] is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South.
  
 
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br>
 
'''"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"'''<br>
Line 351: Line 323:
 
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br>
 
'''way better than a mile a minute'''<br>
 
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)
 
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)
 +
 +
'''"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.'''<br>
 +
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the [http://www.crackerjack.com/history.php official Cracker Jack website], in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.
 +
 +
'''"rookies"'''<br>
 +
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"
  
 
==Page 9==
 
==Page 9==
Line 361: Line 339:
 
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.
 
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.
  
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subjects to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein, quoted in V.
+
A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the ''Inconvenience'' are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=W]
(in the original German)
+
  
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br>
+
'''"Going up is like going north."'''<br />
 
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.
 
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.
  
:North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life---coldness as here---compared to the South, a place of light and warmth, such as the tropics. See GR.
+
North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life &#151; coldness as here &#151; compared to the South.
 
+
:But to go far enough north means heading south again, observes Chick Counterfly--is this one meaning of his name?  Then one would be "approaching the surface of another planet, maybe?" asks Chick.
+
 
+
"Not exactly" [answers Randolph] "No. Another 'surface', but an earthly one"
+
"You'll see. In time, of course".  Time is earthly?
+
 
+
'''"Another 'surface'"'''<br>
+
In ancient conics the cone is formed by taking a line through a point (the vertex) at a particular angle to a plane and then inscribing a circle on the plane. Two conic surfaces are made by the motion of this line, one below this point and one above. The three conic sections (hyperbola, parabola, and ellipse) are created by slicing the conic surface(s) at different angles.
+
:huh?[[User:Bleakhaus|Bleakhaus]] 12:38, 15 January 2007 (PST)
+
:If you read this for plain meaning, then it's true (or Randolph believes) that there's another earthly surface, to which you can descend by ascending far enough above this one. Surely it is pertinent here that Pynchon's dear friend Richard Fariña (1937-66) titled his novel ''Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.''
+
  
 
==Page 10==
 
==Page 10==
 +
'''Columbian Exposition'''<br>
 +
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays.
  
'''Stockyards'''<br>
+
'''butchery unremitting'''<br>
Chicago was, at the time, the meat-packing and slaughtering capital of the United States. The stench from the stockyards below must have been memorable.
+
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's [http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm famous poem] about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."
  
'''...looked up at the airship in wonder..."<br>
 
The sight of any airship in 1893 must have been rare indeed.<br>
 
Our history reports that the first practical airships were built in 1898; [[ATD_429-459#Page_454|the idea or icon was around by 1896, though.]]
 
  
'''Beneath the rubbernecking Chums of Chance wheeled streets and alleyways'''<br>
+
'''rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.'''<br />
Optical illusion. As you fly over a grid of streets, you perceive a landmark far away to move slowly while the lateral streets near you just whip past. Your brain interprets that the same way as hub and spokes, i.e., the motion of a wheel. Interesting question, though: If the ''Chums'' author was just making this stuff up, how did he know about the illusion?
+
  
'''Cartesian grid'''<br>
+
See [[#Page 3| p.3 entry, above]] for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines.The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Routinization_of_Charisma ''Gravity's Rainbow''].
From Rene Descartes, 17th century philosopher and mathematician; see Wikipedia entry, whose most famous argument, "I think therefore I am" and mathematical studies have often lead him to be seen as the first modern philosopher of ultra-rationality. Geometry has 'the Cartesian coordinant system, a grid. Chicago's streets are laid out in a very rational grid arrangement.
+
 
+
Pynchon is reputed to have written 'Gravity's Rainbow' on engineer's grid paper.
+
 
+
In modern mathematics, curves are described only in relation to the two dimensional grid (see previous page). If conic sections are not specifically being thought of here, the theme of dimensionality, at least, is already at play.
+
 
+
'''that unshaped freedom being rationalized into movement only in straight lines'''<br>
+
Rationalization is a key sociological concept [from online Dictionary of Social Science]:RATIONALIZATION
+
This term has two specific meanings in sociology. (1) The concept was developed by German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) who used it in two ways. First, it was the process through which magical, supernatural and religious ideas lose cultural importance in a society and ideas based on science and practical calculation become dominant. For example, in modern societies science has rationalized our understanding of weather patterns. Science explains weather patterns as a result of interaction between physical elements like wind-speed and direction, air and water temperatures, humidity, etc. In some other cultures, weather is thought to express the pleasure or displeasure of gods, or spirits of ancestors. One explanation is rationalized and scientific, the other mysterious and magical. Rationalization also involves the development of forms of social organization devoted to the achievement of precise goals by efficient means. It is this type of rationalization that we see in the development of modern business corporations and of bureaucracy. These are organizations dedicated to the pursuit of defined goals by calculated, systematically administered means. (2) Within symbolic interactionism, rationalization is used more in the everyday sense of the word to refer to providing justifications or excuses for one's actions.
+
 
+
'''"only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor."'''<br>
+
From innocent bovines to ...the world? "Single up all lines"....
+
Stockyards were organized in such a way that the cattle would proceed through a series of chutes and passages, until they arrived alone at the point of death.
+
 
+
"Progressive reduction of choices" also occurred in ''Mason & Dixon''—there were infinitely many wildernesses out to the west until M&D ran the line and rationalized the country into Maryland and Pennsylvania.
+
  
 
==Page 11==
 
==Page 11==
Line 420: Line 370:
 
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br>
 
'''Liverpool Kiss'''<br>
 
A head butt.
 
A head butt.
 +
 +
'''''your'' mother'''<br>
 +
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in ''Mason & Dixon'' (pg. 445) and ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_10 (pg. 155)]. See also pg. 48 of this novel.
  
 
'''Herr Riemann'''<br>
 
'''Herr Riemann'''<br>
Line 448: Line 401:
 
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]
 
This is strikingly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon Odilon Redon's] 1882 Lithograph ''L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity).'' [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ADE%3AI%3A2&page_number=4&template_id=1&sort_order=1 At MoMa's Online Collection]
 
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.
 
Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the ''Inconvenience'', as eyeball, appeared.
 
 
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.
 
:The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.
 +
 +
The giant eyeball is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_never_sleep.jpg the logo] of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_1#Page_14 (pg. 14)].
 +
 +
Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.
 +
 +
'''the indecorous couple . . . foliage'''<br>
 +
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.
  
 
==Page 14==
 
==Page 14==
Line 472: Line 431:
 
'''Evening Quarters'''<br>
 
'''Evening Quarters'''<br>
 
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.
 
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.
 +
 +
'''Hawaii'''<br>
 +
Hawaii appears in ''Inherent Vice'' [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_12#Page_191 (p. 191)] and ''Vineland'' [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_5#Page_60 {pg. 60)] and [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H ''Gravity's Rainbow''].
  
 
==Page 15==
 
==Page 15==
  
 
'''ukulelist'''<br>
 
'''ukulelist'''<br>
Ukuleles also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', and ''Mason & Dixon''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college.
+
Ukuleles ([http://www.thomaspynchon.com/hawaiian-vacations-pynchon.html and Hawaii references]) also appear in ''Gravity's Rainbow'', ''Vineland'', ''Mason & Dixon'', ''Inherent Vice'', and ''Bleeding Edge''. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. [[Hawaii|More on Hawaii &c. in ''Against the Day'']]...
 +
 
 +
'''Vagabonds of the Void'''<br>
 +
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.<br>
  
 
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br>
 
[[image:Macassar-Oil.jpg|thumb|175px|''Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads''|right]]'''Beaufort Scale'''<br>
 
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.
 
A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.
 +
 +
'''"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"<br>
 +
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.
  
 
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br>
 
'''"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."<br>
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890.
+
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.
  
 
'''port section of the crew'''<br>
 
'''port section of the crew'''<br>
Line 489: Line 457:
 
'''Macassar oil'''<br />
 
'''Macassar oil'''<br />
 
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang,  a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]
 
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang,  a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macassar_oil Wikipedia entry]
 +
<br>This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called '''''antimacassars'''''.
  
 
==Page 16==
 
==Page 16==
 +
 +
 +
'''mufti'''<br/>
 +
civvies, with an Arabic root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)]
 +
 +
'''ascot'''<br/>
 +
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascot_tie]
 +
 +
'''Kentucky hemp'''<br/>
 +
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected.
 +
 +
-No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to suppress it's cultivation.
 +
  
 
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/>
 
'''About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.'''<br/>
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes.  Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'.  Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses.  Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder.  It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation.  Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter.  It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]
+
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes.  Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'.  Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses.  Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder.  It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation.  Two very good books about Holmes are <i>The Devil In The White City</i> by Erik Larson and <i>Depraved</i> by Harold Schechter.  It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._H.H._Holmes Wikipedia entry]<br>
 +
 
 +
This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.
  
 
'''tension of the gas'''<br>
 
'''tension of the gas'''<br>
Line 501: Line 485:
  
 
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br>
 
'''"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"'''<br>
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page...as is this book, ATD?...Again a Pynchonian theme: no book is the reality.
+
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.
  
 
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br>
 
'''"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."'''<br>
 
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to
 
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? Cf. earthly surface, p.9
+
all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders? <br>
 
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?
 
:Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?
  
Line 519: Line 503:
  
 
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br />
 
'''"...goldurn Keeley Cure"'''<br />
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure". Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.
+
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Keeley Dr. Leslie E. Keeley,] who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in [http://www.dwighthigh.k12.il.us/dwight/dwight.htm Dwight, Illinois], not far from Chicago, in 1879.
  
 
==Page 18==
 
==Page 18==
Line 525: Line 509:
 
'''headgear'''<br>
 
'''headgear'''<br>
 
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]
 
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [http://robotwisdom.com/flaubert/bovary/bovary1.html [notes]]
 +
 +
 +
'''indigo'''<br>
 +
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair]
  
 
'''eclipse green'''<br>
 
'''eclipse green'''<br>
Line 533: Line 521:
  
 
'''("Penny") Black'''<br>
 
'''("Penny") Black'''<br>
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black [Wikipedia]]
+
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black Wikipedia entry]; See also [[ATD_219-242#Page 231|p.231]].
  
 
'''Tzigane'''<br>
 
'''Tzigane'''<br>
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) [Wikipedia]]
+
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel) Wikipedia entry]
  
 
'''Egypt'''<br>
 
'''Egypt'''<br>
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) [Wikipedia]]
+
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Egypt_(region) Wikipedia entry]
  
 
==Page 19==
 
==Page 19==
Line 567: Line 555:
  
 
==Page 21==
 
==Page 21==
 +
 +
'''electrical glow of the Fair'''<br>
 +
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition#Electricity_at_the_fair here].
  
 
'''admissions gate'''<br>
 
'''admissions gate'''<br>
Line 572: Line 563:
  
 
'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br>
 
'''fifty-cent pieces'''<br>
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.
+
Odd. According to [http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html this remarkable Columbian Exposition site,] regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]
  
 
==Page 22==
 
==Page 22==
 +
'''quatercentennial celebration'''<br>
 +
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition."
 +
 +
'''Columbus's advent'''<br>
 +
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent."
 +
 +
'''music . . . unusually syncopated'''<br>
 +
nascent jazz
 +
 +
'''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'''<br>
 +
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill here].
 +
 +
'''''white'' exhibits . . darkness and savagery'''<br>.
 +
Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized.
  
 
'''Kodaks'''<br>
 
'''Kodaks'''<br>
Line 592: Line 597:
 
'''"geek"'''<br>
 
'''"geek"'''<br>
 
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.
 
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.
 +
 +
'''Negro in a "pork-pie" hat'''<br>
 +
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork-pie_hat Wikipedia] What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless ''Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'', or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Pork_Pie_Hat Wikipedia] In ''The Crying of Lot 49'', McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.
  
 
'''monte'''<br>
 
'''monte'''<br>
Line 600: Line 608:
 
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br>
 
'''the curse of Scotland'''<br>
 
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]
 
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Scotland [Wikipedia]]
 +
 +
'''nine of diamonds'''<br>
 +
The name of a club in ''Inherent Vice''. See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=N here]. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok#Death "Dead Man's Hand"]. When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds.
  
 
'''like the electricity coming on...  how everything fits together, connects.  It doesn't last long, though.'''<br>
 
'''like the electricity coming on...  how everything fits together, connects.  It doesn't last long, though.'''<br>
 
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here).  The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial.  
 
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here).  The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial.  
  
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On page 4, Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.
+
What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On [[#Page 4|page 4]], Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.
 +
 
 +
Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity.  They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them.  They also feel confusion, not clarity.  The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state.  I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states.
 +
 
 +
This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.
  
 
'''Cracker Jack'''<br>
 
'''Cracker Jack'''<br>
Line 622: Line 637:
 
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br>
 
'''if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers'''<br>
 
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square.  Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air.  After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd.  Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman.  The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent.  The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.'  Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.
 
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square.  Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air.  After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd.  Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman.  The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent.  The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.'  Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include <i>The Haymarket Tragedy</i> by Paul Avrich and <i>Death In The Haymarket</i> by James Green.
 +
 +
'''Pinkertons'''<br>
 +
The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkertons Pinkerton National Detective Agency] was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests.
  
 
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br>
 
'''mixture of contempt and pity'''<br>

Latest revision as of 11:53, 27 April 2021

Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.


cover text

An alphabet viewed through Iceland spar ('birefringence')

Words viewed through the translucent crystal known as 'Iceland spar,' look like this-- with multiple 'ghost' images. Note that here, the ghost images appear in multiple typefaces. The combination of traditional serif fonts with modern sans-serif fonts suggests the themes of time, past/present, etc.

cover seal

The seal is written in Tibetan. Someone going by the name 'Ya Sam' posted on the Pynchon-l message board:

"I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.

It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan Government Chamber of Commerce.

Read their response below:

Dear Ya Sam,
I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?
Best wishes,
Sandy Belth
Tibetan Cultural Center"

The seal also bears some resemblance to the doubloon in Moby-Dick that Ahab nails to the mainmast as a prize to the first crew member to sight the white whale. Melville's description runs thus:

"It so chanced that the doubloon of the Pequod was a most wealthy example of these things. On its round border it bore the letters, REPUBLICA DEL ECUADOR: QUITO. So this bright coin came from a country planted in the middle of the world, and beneath the great equator, and named after it; and it had been cast midway up the Andes, in the unwaning clime that knows no autumn. Zoned by those letters you saw the likeness of three Andes' summits; from one a flame; a tower on another; on the third a crowing cock; while arching over all was a segment of the partitioned zodiac, the signs all marked with their usual cabalistics, and the keystone sun entering the equinoctial point at Libra." (Ch.99, "The Doubloon")

The seal draws attention in Pynchonian fashion to a rarely discussed aspect of Tibet. In the West Tibet is regarded as a land of mysticism and supernatural events, far removed from the materialistic concerns of the spiritually immature West. But the seal shows: even Tibet had a Chamber of Commerce. "There is money everywhere", even in Shambhala.

copyright page

The copyright page states that Against the Day is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see errata). I have confirmed from inside Penguin Press that this is a copyediting mistake. Here is a direct e-mail answer about the Viking Penguin listing: "this was a copyediting mistake that will be corrected. There was never a Viking contract for this book."

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 Fariña")-- but not so Against the Day, as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply publisher-speak for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank.

Epigraph

"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light." - 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 “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (Slow Learner, Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog notes that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2)
Time Magazine, Feb 28, 1964
the character McClintic Sphere in V. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere (although, reportedly, Pynchon at the time didn't know Sphere was Monk's middle name); and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said.

On page 732: "...daylit America ... its steadfast denial of night."

The epigraph's possible source: Time magazine, February 28, 1964 article titled “The Loneliest Monk” written by Barry Farrell (pp. 84-88).

NOTE: There's no reason to believe that the above-linked article is the "possible source" of Monk's oft-repeated quote. Perhaps Pynchon saw this article, perhaps he encountered that quote via more esoteric channels. Whatever. It's all just speculation.

In 1960, Saxophonist Steve Lacy transcribed a list of advice from Monk. One of the items reads: "It must be always night, otherwise they wouldn't need any the lights.

NOTE: Reading Charles Hollander's excellent article on Thelonious Monk and McClintic Sphere, a character in Pynchon's V..

Page 1

"Now single up all lines!""
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.

But 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."
"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in V., pp. 11 and 438; The Crying of Lot 49, p.31; Gravity's Rainbow, p.489; Mason & Dixon, pp.258 and 260; Inherent Vice, p. 119-120. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but Vineland?) — in preparation for a voyage to...?

Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) — "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on page 10: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" — a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." See also annotation, page 585 and more on Routinization of Charisma.

The missing quotation mark indicates continuation. Are we holding in our hands the latest boy's adventure tale featuring our favorites, "the Chums of Chance."? (While in all likelihood purely coincidental, it is nevertheless interesting to note the following from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake "boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum of chance!" p. 85 Penguin Books, 1999)

The Finnegans Wake line you quote is actually "be British, boys to your bellybone and chuck a chum a chance!" but close enough anyway to suspect a source WikiAdmin 07:38, 16 April 2010 (PDT)

Henry Veggian in his paper entitled "Thomas Pynchon Against the Day" makes the same point:

"The novel begins quietly, almost without irony, with a typographical lapse. A set of quotation marks are missing before the first lines of Against the Day." Veggian playfully intimates that it is the authorial "hot air" which takes the "Inconvenience" aloft.
The "missing quotation mark" is not a typo or any sort of Authorial Intention; it's simply the publisher's style for the large-font first letter of each section to stand outside the punctuation and font style. On page 588, there is no quotation mark before the "S" in "Smells" and on page 318 the "T" in "Tengo" is not italicized whereas the rest of the word is. Veggian's interpretation is a great example of reading a bit too much into Pynchon's work. I'm surprised that he missed something that seems to me fairly obvious. WikiAdmin 11:55, 4 April 2009 (PDT)

The Light Over the Ranges
"Range" is defined in the Oxford American Dictionary as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.
Some other connotations may include:

'Ranges' may also refer to farms, homesteads and ranches in 1893 America. America was predominantly that in 1893. Cf. "Home, home on the range".
"celebrating in song the wider range of life..." Thomas Pynchon on Helen Waddell's The Wandering Scholars, p. 8, Introduction to Slow Learner, 1984.
In addition, light over ranges is an issue throughout the novel: exploitation and development of electrical and electronics was a concern of the Raymond, Pynchon & Company and Pynchon and company, an investment firm run by yacht enthusiast George M. Pynchon. Pynchon & Company invested in Edison's work.
I wonder whether "light over the ranges" could refer to space-time along the line of the theories of general relativity, particularly since the voyage of inconvenience appears at times to take place under that conceptual framework. In addition, keeping in mind Pynchon's educational background, I would add to the above definitions and considerations that "range" is also a mathematical concept.

Page 3

"Now single up all lines!"
Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common nautical term. Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.

But 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."

IN ATD readers might want to envision a Hot Air Ballon ride with TRP as the Air-Ship Commander and with primary passengers Plato and Heidegger- a ride which covers the globe during a 30 year period, a ride in which the major ideas of the era are made apparent through the wind that carries us hither and thither. If Pynchon is exploring Heideggerian thinking, ATD may be the text in which we understand that thinking most clearly. Remembering Heidegger's "es gibt" and his concept of "the step-back" [v., Country Path Conversation / aka, Gelassenheit], then perhaps readers might experience the sense of Gelassenheit during their reading of ATD, the Inconvenience being the "Great Step-Back"

"single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in V., p.11; The Crying of Lot 49, p.31; Gravity's Rainbow, p.489; and Mason & Dixon, pp.258 and 260. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but Vineland and Bleeding Edge) — in preparation for a voyage to...?

Also, in the very first sentence, Pynchon introduces the concept of doubling (with the word "Single"!) — "single up all lines" as a call to journey, to movement and expansion, a beginning. Then, on page 10: "only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor." Thus, a progressive singling or reduction of all lines/paths, a rationalization/routinization unto death. Both represent "a progressive reduction of choices" — a collapsing of many possibilities into one "reality." See also annotation, page 585 and more on Routinization of Charisma.

"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"
Cheerly means "heartily," and was traditionally used as cry of encouragement among sailors. Handsomely (in nautical context): carefully, in good order, unhurriedly.

Pynchon uses nautical language in most of his novels. Mason & Dixon: "Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..." (54).

William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I Sc. 1, line 5: "Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts!"

"Windy City, here we come!"
The nickname for Chicago, of course; here of particular relevance, given the nature of the ship. The earliest known references to the "Windy City" are from 1876. Origin of name "Windy City" at Wikipedia

"Up we go!"
"Up" is an unexpected direction in the context of nautical language, and the anonymous character's observation gives the narrator an excuse to explain that this is no ordinary ship.

Randolph St. Cosmo, the ship commander

Ex voti of Wax, from Isernia
Historically, there are two versions of the 3rd century CE figure St. Cosmo (aka St. Cosmas): the "randy" St. Cosmo, aka the "modern Priapus," and the saintly martyred St. Cosmo of Church lore (associated with healing cult, in some places succeeding Greek Askleipios cult). Pynchon, it seems, is connecting Randolph St. Cosmo to the former. "Randy," as astute observers will note, is an adjective which means, well, "horny." There's a distinct sexual thread woven throughout Against the Day (See the beginnings of exploring this angle...) — a-and Heartsease, St. Cosmo's mate, is the first to get pregnant! — so this seems to fit right in. Read more about the historical St. Cosmo...; and Wikipedia entry; More on Randolph St. Cosmo

In Mason & Dixon, Pynchon has the Veery brothers, Cosmo and Damian, who are professional effigy makes in Philadelphia! And, just to make it interesting, "He's a rare Wax Artist, our Cosmo is." (p. 290) (Note: Wax phallus effigies were offered by the women to St. Cosmo at the festivals held in his name, as shown above.) Read more about the historical St. Cosmo; Wikipedia entry

The commander's name also evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in Chicago. Perhaps also saint(liness) and cosmos?

Now secure the Special Sky Detail
When a naval vessel is departing from port or returning to port, a specially trained team is put in charge of the complicated process. The command is, "Now set the Special Sea Detail." 'Once the ship is aloft and clear of ground obstructions, the command comes, "Now secure the Special Sky Detail," meaning disband the team for the time being and all return to regular duties.

"scuttlebutt" . . . thousand . . . wonders
A most vigorous campaign [to host the Columbian Exposition] was then inaugurated, the three other cities making a common cause against Washington, whose claim was based on the fact that the proposed exposition was to be held under auspices of the national government, and hence that the capital was the most appropriate place.... By each of the claimants every advantage was urged, and by each of their rivals every defect was exaggerated. Congressional committees accorded a hearing to the several delegations, that of Chicago being represented, among others, by DeWitt C. Cregier, Thomas B. Bryan, and Edward T. Jeffery. from "Book of the Fair" by Hubert Bancroft, 1893.

"Scuttlebutt" is a very close equivalent to "water-cooler gossip." Here is a glossary of nautical terms with some of the etymologies.

Inconvenience
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold, Impulsive, and the Susanna Squaducci (V.), and the John E. Badass (GR). Chumps of Choice blog notes that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.

Here a possible pun on the homonym "in" ("not", as "in-credible", or just "in", as "in-side"); "in-convenience" is a fitting name for a vehicle ("convey in").

In other Pynchon novels: 1) In Mason & Dixon, the H.M.S. Inconvenience is the ship of Fender-Belly Bodine. More. 2) In Mason & Dixon, the word is applied to the difficulties of an Other, other human beings as we act, interact. See citations at the M & D wiki. 2) In Gravity's Rainbow: "the gift of Daedalus that allowed him [Pokler] to put as much labyrinth as required between himself and the inconveniences of caring. [Italics mine] They had sold him convenience, so much of it, all on credit, and now They were collecting." (435)

patriotic bunting
TRP reminds again that this is a very American skyship. Compare the Chums' uniform below.

AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood.

aeronautics
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied to the Britannica 11th as a major reference for his treatment of early aeronautics. 11th on Aeronautics

five-lad crew
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly.

The Chums of Chance
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, adventurous, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident.

The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the Chumps of Choice blog.

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."

Dart-explorigator.jpg
The Chums are reminiscent of two comics of the early 20th century, Little Nemo in Slumberland, by Windsor McCay, and The Explorigator, by Harry Grant Dart. "The Explorigator" was the name of a fantastic airship that traversed the universe. It was manned by Admiral Fudge, a youthful adventurer and inventor, accompanied by a group of friends, also children his age (around nine or ten): Detective Rubbersole, Maurice Mizzentop, Nicholas Nohooks, Grenadier Shift, Teddy Typewriter, and Ah Fergetitt. More on The Explorigator

Chicago
It has been suggested that Pynchon relied on the 1911 Edition of the Encycl[[http://www.example.com link title]opaedia Britannica] as a major reference for his treatment of 1890s Chicago. 1911 Britannica entry on Chicago

World's Columbian Exposition
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. Wikipedia entry. This World's Fair was enveloped in optimism for the future. "The thousand or more such wonders which awaited [the Chums] there." p.3. See also the 2004 bestseller, The Devil in the White City, a non-fiction work that details the building of the Fair, the growth of Chicago, and the first serial murderer in America.


Ferris wheel
The first of its kind, designed for the Exposition [1]

...temples of commerce and industry
evocative of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, which rests on the very site of the Exposition's White City, overlooking its "sparkling lagoon" [2]. A central theme of the text is the relationship between Science and Commerce.

Since their orders had come through . . .
A first intimation of the shadowy power structure behind the Chums' operations.

lifelines
Called "manropes" on sailing ships. Ropes running fore-and-aft above the gunwales to prevent sailors getting blown overboard. They were held up by short stanchions inserted into holes in the rails. Source: The Ashley Book of Knots, 1944.

as my faithful readers will remember
Pynchon here is immediately inserting this story into a larger canon of Chums of Chance fictions, titles of which are mentioned in subsequent pages.

mascotte
The English word 'mascot' has its origin from French mascotte: an operetta first performed in 1880 [3], with the virginal mascotte a sort of good luck charmer. The spelling may also be a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. Wikipedia

Page 4

Professor
Randolph St. Cosmo is called Professor. "Professor" was a common title for early hot-air balloonists. [EC]

"Turn to"
a shipboard expression, "put your back into it". Evokes the "Go to!" of Majistral and compatriots, V., chapter 11.

"a form of monomania"
an overdetermined obsession with a single idea or goal. In Moby Dick, which Pynchon references in several of his novels, Ahab suffers from monomania in his obsessive quest for the white whale; aboard the Inconvenience, Lindsay Noseworth is a parodic version of the Melvillian disciplinary autocrat, exemplified by Ahab or, even more, by Claggart, the Master-at-Arms in Billy Budd. --POD 16:07, 9 June 2009 (PDT)

Perhaps its familiarity... rendered it temporarily invisible to you."
Perhaps an admonition from the author that familiar things will be easily overlooked? I think the fact that they were picnic baskets matters... TRP perhaps saying, as he seems to suggest elsewhere, that we overlook the simple pleasures too often.

There's more to this, as becomes apparent shortly. Here are more opposites; things seen vs unseen, visible vs. invisible.

Chick Counterfly
Rich with meaning or just another goofy Pynchon name? Some possibilities include: (1) A counter fly is an annoyance in (say) the butcher's shop. (2) Chick always speaks "counter" to anyone else's "flight" of imagery. (3) The only non-AtD-related uses of this word that I've found came in patents describing mechanisms; "the counterfly direction" means contrary to the direction everything else is flying in, hence this character counters the flying of the craft? (4) He is the only Chum we know who was "rescued" from the "real" world. Meaning there? To be counter to flying is to be earthbound, where he started and he is the one with whom the conversation about relanding on a different "earth" happens.

Page 5

picklesome
Having the nature of a pickle, i.e, a boy who is inclined to mischief.

Pugnax
'Pugnax' is Latin for, "combative, fond of fighting, stubborn, contentious" (i.e. one who is pugnacious). Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent Pynchon dog, the Learned English Dog (referred to as "LED") in Mason & Dixon. Perhaps Pugnax is the Chums's sixth "lad": "Learned American Dog." His manner of speech is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and members of PYNCHON-L have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the Wallace and Gromit claymation films.

Perhaps, in keeping with a very strong "bird" theme (the original aeronauts!) in Against the Day, Pynchon may have named Pugnax after a bird called the Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) which is a medium-sized wader. Note that Pugnax's first "utterance" is "Rr Rff-rff Rr-rr-rff-rrf-rrf"... You can even make a semiserious case that the Aeronauts are named for a bird, the white-throated swift, Aeronautes saxatalis (mentioned on p. 266).

"...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 an American President, present or past. President Bush is a candidate, considering the Pynchon-authored Amazon.com book description which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."

The Chums "rescued Pugnax, then but a pup"--an innocent, a child creature--"from a furious encounter..between rival packs of the city's wild dogs". The wild dogs equal both political parties?

Washington Monument
Begun 1848, completed 1884 [[4]]

lavatorial assaults
recalls jokes and urban legends regarding frozen waste from leaky airplane lavatories (i.e., "you can still be hit by an icy B.M.")

Loosely reminiscent of the V-2 rockets in Gravity's Rainbow, "from the sky, which no one can "begin to try to record, much less coordinate reports of"... That is, pee from the sky is "folklore, superstition, or perhaps...the religious" in ATD compared to rockets screaming across the sky and the destruction in GR.

Page 6

Princess Casamassima
The Princess Casamassima is an 1886 novel by Henry James. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot. The novel certainly does have notable relevance in today's climate of terrorism and political violence. While the book's details are not directly applicable to current issues, the central theme — admiration for the beautiful if imperfect world vs. a desire to change it through terrorism — will seem all too familiar to contemporary readers. Wikipedia Discussion of The Princess Casamassima

Placing . . . an emphasis
Lapse of authorial control? Surely the creator of the Chums novels would not write such a Pynchonian sentence fragment!

Pugnax sniffed . . . as always this scent eluded him
It is unclear so far why Pugnax would detect no scent from Lindsay.

Krakatoa
Erupted 1883. Wikipedia entry.

Heino Vanderjuice of New Haven
Scientist who designed the Inconvenience's hydrogen engine. "Vanderjuice" is a Dutch-sounding name suggesting "fond o' juice," "wonder juice", and "wander juice". "Heino" is a man's given name meaning 'home' in German, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian. Perhaps an allusion to the German pop star, Heino.

no better than a perpetual-motion machine
A perpetual-motion machine is not just one that runs forever, but one that performs work forever without any input of energy. All PM machines ever invented have been either hoaxes ("secret free energy source the government doesn't want you to know about") or mistakes. The hydrogen generator/engine is neither, which is why the disdainful phrase "no better than" is crucial.

By the way, how does one generate hydrogen? In high school chem lab we used zinc filings and hydrochloric acid, but that seems unsuitable with Miles around. Is it possible Vanderjuice has invented a photovoltaic electrolysis cell?

Miles, with his marginal gifts of coördination, and Chick, with a want of alacrity fully as perceptible
Like the old gag: The food in this restaurant isn't any good, but the service is awful. Miles and Chick's telepathic intercourse during Bitches Brew era.

ratlines and shrouds
Inconvenience is rigged like a sailing ship of the period, though it's hard to see why she needs to be. Shrouds fan out from a masthead down to a rail; ratlines run horizontally to join them. The whole affair serves the sailors as a ladder.

". . . anemometer of the Robinson's type"
Cup anemometer (> Grk. anemos, "wind"; cf. Lat. animus, "spirit") invented in 1846 by Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions. pic

how rapidly the ship was proceeding
But you can't measure the craft's progress by measuring wind speed at a point on the craft itself. All you get from the anemometer is a speed relative to the air, which is in variable motion. Since the craft is moving at the speed of the wind plus the speed of its propulsion device, the speed found by the anemometer is basically useless.

Page 7

Porfirio Díaz
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. Wikipedia

In most countries, the Interior Ministry (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Home Office, etc.) ran programs like secret police. Are the Chums working for forces of conservativism?

"beside a black-water river of the Deep South".
Blackwater River is in lower central Florida, pretty deep south; but there are numerous rivers in swampy areas that run black with organic matter.
Given that it was founded in 1997, and is military-related and in the South, see Blackwater USA, a private military company founded by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[5] Thousands of news stories in September/October 2007.

a bitter and unresolved "piece of business"
Rather than give a proper reason for the Chums to be in the Deep South, the narrator cops out by pleading that it's "not advisable" to specify.

It's not a cop-out, it sets the question of what is going on in the mysterious organization to which the Chums belong.

"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"
The Civil War ended in 1865. The South called the Civil War "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion" and thus the soldiers were "rebels" or "rebs." The official papers of the war have the title of "Official Records of the War of Rebellion," emphasizing that the South had no right to secede.

"one still not advisable to set upon one's page"
The American Civil War, that "rebellion of thirty years previous," has not yet become a suitable subject for an adventure tale such as the Chums' series.

absquatulated
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." A brief article on the history and etymology of "absquatulate."
The word is used in Vineland.

commonly known as "Dick"
So together they would be Chick with Dick.

to approach the gates of the Penitentiary
A genuine saying. Matthew Quay, a political kingmaker of the 1880s and 90s, said of Benjamin Harrison's squeaker victory over Grover Cleveland in 1888 that Harrison would "never know how many Republicans were compelled to approach the gates of the penitentiary to make him president."

posse comitatus
What Western movie fans know as a "posse," i.e., citizens conscripted by a sheriff to assist in law enforcement. (See the Wikipedia entry on Posse Comitatus.) Remember that the Chums author gets paid by the word.

Page 8

a pocketful of specie
Specie means coins as opposed to paper money.

the town of Thick Bush
Aside from whether this phrase might apply to some political figure of the past or present, "thick bush" is the literal meaning of the Spanish Matagorda, the name of many towns in Latin America and one on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

carpetbagger
A carpetbagger is a derogatory term used by southerns to describe northerners who, like Dick, move down South.

"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. Lindsay's fussy syntax echoes Winston Churchill's exasperated "This is the kind of carping criticism up with which I will not put."

legal customs
Legal = pertaining to law, in this case lynch law. The Chums are interpreting their Prime Directive pretty broadly here.

Katie bar the door
An expression that means that there's trouble brewing. (See this article about the expression's etymology.)

Ku Klux Klan
Reminiscent of the Klan encounter scenes in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou.

tupelo, cypress, and hickory
The trees are no help in locating the town; all three kinds like bottom land and grow all over the South.

speed . . . made it nearly invisible from the ground
Few people in 1893 had seen a manmade object moving at 60 miles an hour, and many thought such a speed was lethal anyway. The Chums author suggests such an outlandish speed would make Inconvenience just a blur in the sky. Of course you can read the fin numbers on an airliner landing at 150 knots, but he didn't know that.

Pedantry alert: In perfectly transparent air a ship flying a mile off the ground is visible about 125 miles away. If its flight path takes it right over your head, you can follow it for 250 miles. If it is making a groundspeed of 60 miles per hour, it takes 4 hours and change to go from horizon to horizon. In typical "clear" air (visibility say 30 miles), you will see the ship in your sky for a solid hour. These rough figures show how wrong the narrator is about speed.

way better than a mile a minute
The Chums' point of departure is unknown, but they arrived in Chicago after catching a southerly wind (pg 3), southerly meaning "wind blowing from the south." The Chums surpass 60 miles an hour here, but as their previous speed was unknown, it's difficult to know where they were leaving from. (New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour, so a possibility.)

"Crackerjack!" exclaimed Chick.
Cracker Jack, the food, was first sold at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, though it did not bear its present name. As one word here, however, it is not the candy: "Crackerjack" entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. The foodstuff gained its present name, according to the official Cracker Jack website, in 1896. The OED lists the first written use of "crackerjack" as 1895, two years after the present scene. It is by no means impossible, however, that the term would have been current in the spoken language in 1893.

"rookies"
Again, the vocabulary is carefully chosen from the narrative period: wikipedia, citing the OED, "the earliest example [of 'rookie']... is from Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore'"

Page 9

locker
On board ship, any cabinet with a door or lid.

"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 book description proclaims the world of AtD as "what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two," this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.
Cf. Pynchon's own relevant words in the introduction to Slow Learner. He remarks that in non-realistic fiction, he had to learn that not anything went.

A-and it must mean, coming from the commander, that all aboard the Inconvenience are also subject to the 'facts' of the world. "The World is All that is the Case", from Wittgenstein. [6]

"Going up is like going north."
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.

North is not a positive place in Pynchon's world. It is associated with anti-life — coldness as here — compared to the South.

Page 10

Columbian Exposition
aka The Chicago World's Fair. It was called "Columbian" because it was supposed to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in North America. They missed it by a year because of delays.

butchery unremitting
One is reminded of Carl Sandburg's famous poem about Chicago. The first line: "Hog butcher for the world."


rationalized into movement only in straight lines and at right angles and a progressive reduction of choices, until the final turn through the final gate that led to the killing-floor.

See p.3 entry, above for a comparison of this passage with "single up all lines." The Rationalization/Routinization of Charisma is a common trope in Pynchon, particularly in Gravity's Rainbow.

Page 11

plummet
In the real world, this might be bad physics, as closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the Inconvenience loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support. The Inconvenience, however, has a hydrogen producing apparatus that could kick in, slow, and eventually stop their descent.

bear a hand
Nautical: help out.

Page 12

Liverpool Kiss
A head butt.

your mother
A possible forerunner to the "yo mama" jokes, which appear in Mason & Dixon (pg. 445) and Inherent Vice (pg. 155). See also pg. 48 of this novel.

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.

Mr. Noseworth
Lindsay insisting on proper naval forms: an ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), lieutenant or lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy is correctly addressed as "Mister Surname."

"topological genius"
Riemann's differential geometry goes beyond the Cartesian grid. See conic sections and dimensionality above, page 10.

Page 13

There was an "eager stampede" to the rail
Why is eager stampede in quotation marks? The sentence reads fine without it. Does it seem to show ironic knowingness on the part of the narrator? If so, why and who is the narrator?

I suspect this is a stylistic device from the turn of the century light literature that Pynchon is emulating-- placing a novel term in quotation marks. Bleakhaus 01:35, 23 December 2006 (PST)
insightfully true, I suspect, but it still shows 'narratorial knowingness', yes?
Cf. Flaubert's use of quotations in Madame Bovary to isolate what he deemed the contemptible argot of the bourgeoisie.
Apparently not a cliche: GoogleBooks

"...among the brighter star-shapes of exploded ballast bags..."
Recalls the opening line of Mason & Dixon: "Snow-Balls have flown their Arcs, starr‘d the Sides of Outbuildings, as of Cousins..."

"...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 Notice that society = censure, if constructive. Gamboling nude on a summer day was OK until the Inconvenience, as eyeball, appeared.

The Odilon Redon lithograph appears on the cover of the 1998 Vintage paperback edition of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love, whose first unforgettable chapter triggers the novel with a ballooning incident leaving the reader dangling over the edge of suspense and suspension.

The giant eyeball is also the logo of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which plays an important role later in the novel. A similar image appears in Inherent Vice (pg. 14).

Not to mention a potent symbol from classic 1960s counterculture, often associated with psychedelia and the Grateful Dead _ yet another proud American institution with a penchant for hidden meanings, obsession with minute symbolic details, and many passionate followers. From what Deadheads have told me, the Flying Eyeball symbol is associated with both dissociative drugs and Zen Buddhist thinking _ the detached observer free of an ego and all physical entrapments, the traveling trickster-voyeur, the absolutely freed soul.

the indecorous couple . . . foliage
Adam and Eve? We have a man and a naked woman hiding in the foliage from an all-seeing eye in the sky.

Page 14

charmed into docility
If it took only one small lad to moor the ship, she was indeed docile. A wiki contributor once saw a Goodyear blimp in Houston, Texas, landing. The craft had half a dozen long falls of rope hanging from her nose, and a ground crew of nearly two dozen men ready to take hold of them. The blimp approached nose-low, the crew took the ropes, and a gust of wind suddenly moved the ship. The crew chief gave a safety command and all the men let loose their ropes at once. On the third pass, all hands working together managed to stop the ship and get her moored. If Inconvenience was a fraction as changeable and hard to control, Darby made a great job of getting the ship staked out by himself.

Jacob's-ladder
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:

Genesis 28:12 And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)

a giant sack of soiled laundry
Perhaps freshly soiled during the great hydrogen valve disaster.

vol-à-voile
The narrator has turned the French phrase vol-à-voiles (gliding) into a verb (removing the s).

gold-beaters' skin
Very thin vellum (membrane taken from the caecum or blind stomach of an ox). To prepare gold for gilding, it was placed between sheets of vellum and hammered thin.

Evening Quarters
Naval practice of mustering the crew at the end of the day's work.

Hawaii
Hawaii appears in Inherent Vice (p. 191) and Vineland {pg. 60) and Gravity's Rainbow.

Page 15

ukulelist
Ukuleles (and Hawaii references) also appear in Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland, Mason & Dixon, Inherent Vice, and Bleeding Edge. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college. More on Hawaii &c. in Against the Day...

Vagabonds of the Void
The song performed by the Chums of Chance reflects the Rock and Roll attitude of the group towards the groundworld upon arrival. It's also the first time in the book we truly encounter the hipness of the group with some sort of Nine Inch Nails fronting edge to it.

Macassar Oil. An Oily Puff for Soft Heads
Beaufort Scale

A scale for measuring wind strength, developed 1805.

"Let the lightning lash ~ And the thunder trash"
Again, the Chums are rock stars, the coolest cats in town.

"...forty-four buttons...one for each State of the Union."
Wyoming was the 44th state admitted to the union in 1890. Recall the patriotic bunting and red-white-blue uniforms of the opening page.

port section of the crew
The half of the crew permitted to go freely ashore this time. The other half tomorrow. "Port" and "starboard": are these simply either/or words that sailors remember easily?

Macassar oil
Macassar oil is an oil used primarily by men in Victorian and Edwardian times to smooth their hair. It was advertised as containing oil from Macassar, which is the former name of Ujung Pandang, a district on the island of Celebes in Indonesia. Wikipedia entry
This is why the ornamental doily-like linen cloths on the upper backs and arms of upholstered furniture were called antimacassars.

Page 16

mufti
civvies, with an Arabic root [7]

ascot
formal morning dress of the period, with a later counter-culture comeback (witness Fred in Scooby Doo) [8]

Kentucky hemp
hemp was once a primary cash crop of Kentucky; and, given Randy St. Cosmo's dual nature, a further counter-culture reference may be detected.

-No counter-culture reference whatsoever. Hemp was completely legal in 1893 at the time of the Chicago world's fair of 1893, and not until the 1937 tax act was there any deliberate push by industry to suppress it's cultivation.


About the fringes,' Randolph reminded the liberty-goers, 'of any gathering on the scale of this Exposition, are apt to lurk vicious and debased elements, whose sole aim is to take advantage of the unwary.
Indeed, the Chicago World's Fair was haunted by one of America's more prolific and original serial killers, H.H. Holmes. Born in 1861, Holmes came to Chicago as a pharmacist and built an office building that was eventually dubbed 'The Castle'. Consisting of commercial stores on the first floor, and offices and apartments on the upper floors, the building also housed hidden rooms where Holmes murdered his victims, chutes that conveyed the bodies to the basement, and a chamber of horrors in the basement where he destroyed the corpses. Holmes took advantage of the World's Columbian Exposition to lure victims, primarily females who had come unaccompanied to Chicago, to the Castle for torture and murder. It is estimated that he killed over 200 people at the Castle while the Exposition was in operation. Two very good books about Holmes are The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson and Depraved by Harold Schechter. It is doubtful that Pynchon was thinking explicitly of Holmes when he wrote this passage, although he must be aware of the story. Randolph could not have known about Holmes since Holmes was not captured until after the Fair was over. Wikipedia entry

This also sets up oppositions between dark vs light (of the White City), order vs disorder; good vs evil.

tension of the gas
I.e., the pressure in the bag.

Page 17

"as if it were something the stripling had only read about, in some boys' book of adventures...as if that page of their chronicles lay turned and done"
The narrator makes us aware that Darby's adventures are as if/will be written down...the 'reality' of almost killing all of them is now just words on a page.

"and the order 'About-face' had been uttered by some potent though invisible Commandant of Earthly Days, toward whom Darby, in amiable obedience, had turned again."
Is this just a metaphor from the narrator to describe what it is like for Darby, or is it also self-referential to all the adventures of the Chums?. Another Q: Is the Commandant of Earthly Days the invisible presence from whom the chums get their orders?

Related Q: Do the Chums receive their orders from the author of their books?

we were usually out the door and on the main road
Dick and Chick knew the judge was more likely to order them out of town than into the lockup.

Chinese foofooraw
Also spelled foofaraw, a great deal of fuss, or useless frills. Cf folderol. However, why Chinese?

Chick's father tried to sell Mississippi to a Chinese syndicate.

cubeb
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub P. cubeba. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as an herbal remedy. The Free Dictionary Also appears in Gravity's Rainbow, page 118.

"...goldurn Keeley Cure"
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure" (note the curious use of the euphemism 'goldurn' for 'goddamn' and the recurring preoccupation with the gold standard). Named for Dr. Leslie E. Keeley, who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in Dwight, Illinois, not far from Chicago, in 1879.

Page 18

headgear
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [notes]


indigo
An influential and ancient dye, not synthetic until 1878 (commercially 1897)[9]. Dare we mention the indigo and scarlet (πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον) of Revelation 17.4's 'great prostitute'? The colors, at least, seem more ancient than the Chums' red-white-blues (and the Chums are "runts of the organization", p. 19); add in the oriental fez reference with the Shriners' Masonic/Arabic overtones [10] and Arabic Mohair (angora goat, easily dyed)[11]

eclipse green
Apparently an actual shade. [cite]

Bindlestiffs of the Blue A.C.
Bindlestiff means hobo; hence, the Hoboes of the Sky Aeronautical Club.

("Penny") Black
The Penny Black was the world's first official adhesive postage stamp, issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1840. Wikipedia entry; See also p.231.

Tzigane
French for "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. Wikipedia entry

Egypt
Little Egypt is the southern area of the state of Illinois in the United States of America. Named so because it has a considerable river delta and a metropolis called Cairo (KAY-roe). The region is and was sometimes called simply "Egypt," especially in the 19th century. Wikipedia entry

Page 19

goin all blue from the light of that electric fluid
Their ship was beset by St. Elmo's fire, a low-energy electrical discharge often seen on surface vessels and occasionally on aircraft. Electric charge does behave in some respects like a fluid and was long described in such terms.

Voices calling out together
There is no reason to doubt they heard the voices, but an aural hallucination is not out of the question: a chorus of voices is one of the easiest effects to produce with a synthesizer.

Garçons de '71
Garçons de '71

French: The Boys of '71; During the Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871, balloons were manufactured within railroad stations in Paris. The balloons were used to get mail and passengers out of Paris. The Garçons de '71 are a (probably) fictional cadre of young men who operated such balloons Read on...

a condition of permanent siege
Surely no one has failed to notice what a "wartime president" is allowed to get away with. "No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."

pétroleurs de Paris
An early form of Molotov cocktail thrower during the Siege of Paris. There were pétroleurs and pétroleuses.

Page 20

they'll fly wherever they're needed
While the Chums obey orders from above, the Garçons de '71 follow a different imperative.

energy we could feel, directed personally at us
Someone may be trying to influence what the Bindlestiffs do, or keep them away from the Garçons' work of mercy.

Page 21

electrical glow of the Fair
Electricity played an important role at the Fair. There was a battle between Edison's direct current and Tesla's alternating current. More here.

admissions gate
Apparently a break in the fence, capitalized on by freelance impresarios.

fifty-cent pieces
Odd. According to this remarkable Columbian Exposition site, regular admission was just half a dollar. Maybe Lindsay and Miles could have negotiated with the midget.[The link is broken.]

Page 22

quatercentennial celebration
The Fair was supposed to take place in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in North America. That's why it's called the "World's Columbian Exposition."

Columbus's advent
"advent" means something like "arrival." It's often used in relation to Christmas, which is Christ's "advent."

music . . . unusually syncopated
nascent jazz

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Buffalo Bill's show was very popular at the time, but for some reason he was not allowed to be part of the Fair, so he set up his own exhibition right near the Fair and drew a large audience. More here.

white exhibits . . darkness and savagery
. Nice play on whiteness here. The "White City" (the center of the Fair) was so called because of the white stucco used. But the novel points out here that whiteness (aka--cultural, racial whiteness) held the center of the fair while exhibits from people/cultures of color were relegated to the perimeters of the Fair--literally marginalized.

Kodaks
The word Kodak was trademarked in 1888, and the first Kodak camera was sold with the slogan, "You press the button - we do the rest." In 1891, the company released the first daylight-loading camera, so film could be changed without a darkroom. Kodaks would have been a novelty at the fair in 1893.

half-light . . . in the interests of mercy . . . the safety of the lights
Interesting contrast suggesting a tradeoff between comfort/solace in the shadows and safety in the bright light.

Isandhlwana
Isandlwana is an isolated hill in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On January 22, 1879, it was the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where over 20,000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of British soldiers in the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu War. Almost the entire column of about 1,200 British soldiers was killed. [Wikipedia] You will find a chapter on Isandhlwana in any book that has the words "military" and "blunders" in the title.

Page 23

Tarahumara
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres, known for cave-dwelling in the late 19th century. About the Tarahumara. [Wikipedia]

"geek"
A geek's act comprised things no one would do who had not sunk all the way to the bottom of the carnie world: eating live creatures, throwing fits, and so forth. Much like the television show "Fear Factor," but sad rather than stultifying.

Negro in a "pork-pie" hat
A type of hat made of felt or straw which has a cylindrical crown and flat top, originated in mid-19th century. Wikipedia What with all the jazz references in Pynchon's work, this may be a tip of the hat to Charles Mingus, composer of the timeless Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, or Lester Young, to whom Mingus dedicated the tune. Wikipedia In The Crying of Lot 49, McMingus is a partner in a law firm representing Pierce Inverarity.

monte
Three-card monte.

Page 24

the curse of Scotland
A term used in poker, bridge and various other card games for the nine of diamonds. Dates from 1710. [Wikipedia]

nine of diamonds
The name of a club in Inherent Vice. See here. The nine of diamonds is also famous for possibly being the fifth card in the "Dead Man's Hand". When Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker. He was holding two pairs (aces and eights), which is called the "Dead Man's Hand." The fifth card was rumored to be a nine of diamonds.

like the electricity coming on... how everything fits together, connects. It doesn't last long, though.
From something as random as calling out a card trick comes this extremely profound quote by Miles Blundell (full quote edited here). The heart of this quote/thought seems to be crucial.

What Miles describes is also the symptoms of a mild seizure - could he be epileptic? Epileptics were often credited with shamanic or prophetic powers, and many sightings of religious figures have been attributed to seizures. On page 4, Miles is also said to suffer from "confusion in his motor processes", which may be related.

Although seizures are electrical discharges from the brain, epileptics rarely describe sensing electricity. They see altered light, hear altered sounds, or feel auras, though usually described as inside of themselves, not around them. They also feel confusion, not clarity. The full description seems to better represent that of a "peak experience", or a transcendental state. I also wonder whether, "Pretty soon, I'm just back to tripping over my feet again", refers to more earth-bound means of attaining mind-altered states.

This is one of several early suggestions that Miles and Lew Basnight experience similar states.

Cracker Jack
First sold at the at the first Chicago World's Fair in 1893. [Wikipedia]

New Levee district
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [cite]

Epworth League
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [cite]

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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.

if the Governor decides to pardon that gang of anarchistic murderers
In May of 1886, 350,000 workers, including 70,000 in Chicago were taking to the streets to rally for the eight hour work day. After four workers were killed by the police on May 3, the anarchist leaders in Chicago called for a meeting in Haymarket Square. Although the rally was peaceful, the police came in on horseback to break it up and an unknown individual in the crowd hurled a homemade bomb into the air. After the explosion, which killed a policeman, the police opened fire on the crowd. Subsequently, the anarchist leaders deemed responsible for the rally were arrested and tried for the murder of the policeman. The Eight men were convicted of the bombing and seven of them sentenced to death. Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two death sentences to life. Four were hanged and a fifth committed suicide. A later governor, John P. Altgeld, pardoned the three survivors on June 26, 1893, concluding that all eight of them were innocent. The last words of anarchist August Spies before he was hanged were 'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' Two very good books on the Haymarket Riot and the events surrounding it include The Haymarket Tragedy by Paul Avrich and Death In The Haymarket by James Green.

Pinkertons
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was established in 1850 and soon became the most famous and ubiquitous detective agency in the country. At one point, there were more Pinkerton agents than US soldiers. They were especially used by federal and state agencies to break up union organizations and protests.

mixture of contempt and pity
This is definitely not from one of the Chums' adventure stories.

embonpoint
Convexity of body; what used to be called a "prosperous" look.

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. Many of the Marx Brothers early movies had animal references in the title: Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup. The titles usually had nothing at all to do with the plot, although they contributed to the lunatic nature of the comedy. The expression 'Horse Feathers' is used a few times later on in Against The Day.

References


Annotation Index

Part One:
The Light Over the Ranges

1-25, 26-56, 57-80, 81-96, 97-118

Part Two:
Iceland Spar

119-148, 149-170, 171-198, 199-218, 219-242, 243-272, 273-295, 296-317, 318-335, 336-357, 358-373, 374-396, 397-428

Part Three:
Bilocations

429-459, 460-488, 489-524, 525-556, 557-587, 588-614, 615-643, 644-677, 678-694

Part Four:
Against the Day

695-723, 724-747, 748-767, 768-791, 792-820, 821-848, 849-863, 864-891, 892-918, 919-945, 946-975, 976-999, 1000-1017, 1018-1039, 1040-1062

Part Five:
Rue du Départ

1063-1085

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