Difference between revisions of "Chapter 66: 633-645"

Revision as of 14:44, 27 October 2009

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Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (October 10, 1684 – July 18, 1721) was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement (in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens), and revitalized the waning Baroque idiom, which eventually became known as Rococo. He is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes: scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with an air of theatricality. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet... Watteau's influence on the arts (not only painting, but the decorative arts, costume, film, poetry, music) was more extensive than that of almost any other 18th-century artist. According to the 1911 Britannica, "in his treatment of the landscape background and of the atmospheric surroundings of the figures can be found the germs of Impressionism". The Watteau dress, a long, sacklike dress with loose pleats hanging from the shoulder at the back, similar to those worn by many of the women in his paintings, is named after him. From WIKI

"To Thorfinn Karlsefni's settlement at Hop... None but Gudrid ever saw the woman"
The excerpt comes almost word by word from Grœnlendinga saga or The saga of the Greenlanders (Wikipedia entry), which, along with the Saga of Erik the Red, are the two main literary sources of information for the Norse exploration of North America.

Vineland
Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norseman, about the year 1000 CE. From WIKI- Also, see page 322 of Vineland.

Skrællings
Skræling (plural skrælingar) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the Thule people whom they encountered in Greenland. When they traveled to present-day Newfoundland ("Vinland"), the Norse used the same term for the inhabitants (possibly the ancestors of the later Beothuk) of North America. From WIKI

Gudrid... Snorri
She stayed on ther home island but moved to Brattahlíð, where she married a merchant named Thorfinn Karlsefni (Þorfinnr Karlsefni Þórðarson). She and her new husband had a son named Snorri Þorfinnsson, who was the first child born in North America of European descent. Shortly after Snorri was born the small family traveled back to Greenland. After a while her husband died and his farm was inherited by Snorri. From WIKI

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this first Act of American murder, and the collapse of Vineland the Good
Cf. Vineland, of course. Especially echoes the scene on page 322, where Zoyd is planning to "harbor in Vineland, Vineland the Good".

Vineland was the name given to North America by the Vikings. It was named so because of the wild grapes they found there... With the abandonment of Greenland, needed supplies no longer made their way to the way station point in North America (Vineland). Major climate change has happened since. They had 'conflicts' with the Native Americans who lived there, perhaps the first acts of American murder? The conflict was probably short-lived while the commerce went on for 500 years. Adapted from 'Vineland' [[1]]

Helgi and Finnbogi
Helgi and Finnbogi were two merchant brothers from Iceland, born in the late tenth century A.D. The Saga of the Greenlanders describes them as coming to Greenland one summer. There they negotiated a deal with Freydis Eiriksdottir, agreeing to share the profits of a voyage to newly-discovered Vinland. Each agreed to take 30 crewmembers, but Freydis secretly took more. In Vinland, there was tension between the two groups. Helgi and Finnbogi set up a settlement separate from Freydis and her crew. Freydis eventually went to the brothers' hut and asked how they were faring. "Well," responded the brothers, "but we do not like this ill-feeling that has sprung up between us." The two sides made peace. Freydis, once outside, beat herself so that it would appear as if she had been ill-treated. When she returned to her husband, he asked who had beaten her. Freydis claimed Helgi and Finnbogi were the culprits, and, calling him a coward, demanded that he extract revenge on her behalf, or else she would divorce him. He gathered his men and killed Helgi and Finnbogi, as well as the men in their camp. When he refused to kill the women, Freydis herself picked up an axe and massacred them. When she returned to Greenland, she told her brother Leif Eiriksson that Helgi and Finnbogi had decided to stay in Vinland. From WIKI

Thorstein the Swarthy
Thorstein Eriksson resolves to go to Vinland for the body of his brother. The same ship is prepared yet again and Thorstein sets sail with a crew of 25 and his wife Gudrid (ON: Guðríðr). The expedition never reaches Vinland and after driving about the whole summer the ship ends up back at the coast of Greenland. During the winter, Thorstein falls ill and dies but speaks out of his dead body and tells the fortune of his wife Gudrid, predicting a long and prosperous life for her. From WIKI

Biarni Heriulfsson
Bjarni is believed to be the first European to see North America. The Grœnlendinga saga ('Greenlanders Saga') tells that he was sailing from Iceland to visit his parents as usual, except he came home and his father had gone with Eric the Red to Greenland. So he took his crew and set off to find him. But in that summer of 985 or 986, Bjarni was blown off course by a storm with no map or compass. He saw a piece of land that was not Greenland. It was covered with trees and mountains and although his crew begged him to, he refused to stop and look around. Since no one in his crew had been to Greenland before, they had to search for it. Although he managed to regain his course, he reported seeing low-lying hills covered with forests some distance farther to the west. The land looked hospitable, but Bjarni was eager to reach Greenland to see his parents and did not land and explore the new lands. He reported his findings both in Greenland and in Norway, but no one at the time seems to have shown interest in them. From WIKI

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Dogs run free
Possible allusion to Bob Dylan's 1970 song "If Dogs Run Free"?

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an unopen'd Goober Pea-Shell, exhibiting it to both Astronomers before cracking it open to reveael two red Pea-Nuts within...
Mason and Dixon, two peas in a pod, maybe?

Annotation Index