Difference between revisions of "Chapter 36: 362-370"

Revision as of 17:58, 15 August 2007

Page 362

The Driver, having observed through the low clouds, candle-lit Windows in the Distance ... The rush of the Weather past the smooth outer Shell ... Link-men waiting in a double line ... their torches sparking intensely yellow
Is the coach flying? Are the Link-men's torches illuminating the outer-edges of a landing strip?

Cremona Violin
Cremona is a town in Italy. "From the 16th century onwards, Cremona was renowned as a centre of musical instrument manufacture, beginning with the violins of the Amati family, and later included the products of the Guarneri and Stradivari shops. To the present day, their work is widely considered to be the summit of achievement in string instrument making" -- Wikipedia

Zouks ???

Page 363

"Another bonny gahn-on tha've got us into"
Reference to Laurel and Hardy ("That's another fine fess you've gotten us into!")?

Page 364

in strata
This image of layering appears frequently in the text--compare this image, for example, with the descriptions of Cape Town which also had a multifaceted society, with various groups layered, operating with large degrees of independence. See, also, "as above, so below" (ch. 50, p. 487) and Great Chain of Being.

trans-Elemental Uncle Toby
Uncle Toby is a character created by Laurence Sterne in his major novel. Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 – March 18, 1768) was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.

Sparks Notes notes that "after sustaining a groin-wound in battle, he [Uncle Toby] retires to a life of obsessive attention to the history and science of military fortifications." Mr. Mr. Knockwood was also obsessed with fortifying his home front, though his concerns were directed towards the element of water.

Page 365

Land-Jobbers
???
I cannot find a good definition, but the term appears to refer to professional land dealers or developers; the terms seems to often have negative connotations, associated with underhanded dealings.

Labor Crimps
maritime labor brokers; in addition to signing up volunteers and negotiating for deserters, crimps routinely shanghaied "unfree" labor.

"Until 1915 unfree labor was widely used aboard American merchant ships. A person conscripted to such work was said to have been shanghaied when coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence were used. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. The related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in the British Royal Navy" -- Wikipedia

Check out this interesting article on the topic: "Down to the Sea in Ships" (The San Francisco Flyer 9/25/97).

crepuscular
twilight; here used figuratively: dim or indistinct

Pleiades
star cluster in Taurus, commonly called the Seven Sisters

Legerdemain
"Sleight of hand; "magic" trickery" -- Wiktionary

dyspeptic
indigestive

Page 366

Apiary
"a place where bees are kept" -- Wiktionary

brumal
"Of, relating to, or occurring in winter ... Here's one of Pynchon's puns: Squire Haligast states 'Tis a brumal night, for behold it sweepeth by' -- Toby Levy's Mason & Dixon 3 Pages a Day Project

gnomic
"mysterious and often incomprehensible yet seemingly wise" -- Wiktionary

Page 370

Iliad of Inconvenience
Another example of "inconvenience" meaning life, the unplannable details of one's life with others in the world. See Inconvenience in the Alphabetic Index listing for other page references. As well as ATD, of course.

Annotation Index