Chapter 13: 125-145
Contents
Page 125
against the Day swelling near
just note.
whiten'd Rock Walls
White is the color of the buildings in the Columbian Exposition in ATD. White is usually the color of the elite in ATD. Also Cf. The White Visitation in GR.
James's Town
No curfew, everyone full of a good time, ruled by the moon. A Pynchon 'paradise". "Not Cape Town".
Page 128
Governor Hutchinson
British royal governor of colonial Massachusetts from 1771 to 1774 and a prominent Loyalist in the years before the American Revolution. See WIKI.
Page 129
no one here knows how he appears to anyone else
Americans there, then, exist independently. All status is more or less equal. A century later, Alexis de Tocqueville will write of the awareness by others--status consciousness-- in society
as a defining trait of Americans.
Etesian Winds
strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea. During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. Wiki
the face of a Woman of the Town, multiply-patch'd
In the 18th century, black silk patches were worn not only to cover blemishes like pox scars. Their placement on different regions of the face was used as a code to indicate the wearer's attitudes.
Page 130
strange mind-to-mind throb
Many believe that in pre-modern communities, the community inhabitants
thought and felt much as if of one mind. See J. James book, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. See an early Powell movie......[to be researched]
Page 132
violent explosion
Internal metpahor re America? Founded with violence, as many including D.H.Lawrence famously emphasised, which can erupt again at any moment?
Page 134
Mathesis
Hypothetical universal science modeled on mathematics envisaged by Leibniz and Descartes. From WIKI
Saint Brendan
Irish monastic, St Brendan is chiefly renowned for his legendary journey to The Isle of the Blessed as described in the ninth century Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator. See WIKI.
Paradise
Age of Reason disposes of the notion. Cf. search for Shambala in ATD.
Page 135
Motto of Jacob Bernouilli
One of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Following his father's wish, Jacob studied theology and entered the ministry. But contrary to the desires of his parents, he also studied mathematics and astronomy. See WIKI.
Page 137
Mason begins to edge toward the Tent opening
Tent? This conversation started on p.134 with them standing 'in the scent of an orange grove... they have been searching for it all the long declining Day... in the volcanic meadow where the two stand.' If the meadow was only three pages of conversation from Maskelyne's observatory, surely they would have found the orange grove easily?
Page 139
common acquaintance but lately withdrawn
The absent God, again.
Page 141
Longitude Act of 1714
The Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government through an Act of Parliament in 1714 for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude. The prize was administered by the Board of Longitude. See WIKI.
Page 142
using what influence you can with Astronomers of other Principalities, as well as among the Jesuits &c... my Zero Meridian not upon Greenwich, nor Paris, but a certain Himalayan Observatory
See WIKI entry for Jesuit China missions.
Dr. Zhang
Though Zhang is common name in the East, it is likely that Pynchon had Zhang Heng in mind in regard to this character. An anachronism, Zhang was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan, and lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (CE 25–220) of China. See WIKI for much more.
