Difference between revisions of "Chapter 35: 349-361"
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'''Invisible Snake Trick''' <br> | '''Invisible Snake Trick''' <br> | ||
| − | Is there really something called the Invisible Snake Trick, or is this pure joshing (à la ''Get Smart'': "the old Invisible Snake Trick, eh?")? Curiously, [[Aunt Euphrenia]], hoisting an oboe, follows this witty braggadocio by playing “a sinuous Air full of exotick sharps and flats” – perhaps this “sinuous Air” is, itself, the Invisible Snake. And the Trick? Note that once she starts playing, “The Company redeploy themselves in the direction of Comfort” – it’s as if she’s charmed her challengers into wandering away from her and the dispute. | + | Is there really something called the Invisible Snake Trick, or is this pure joshing (à la ''Get Smart'': "the old Invisible Snake Trick, eh?")? Curiously, [[Aunt Euphrenia]], hoisting an oboe, follows this witty braggadocio by playing “a sinuous Air full of exotick sharps and flats” – perhaps this “sinuous Air” is, itself, the Invisible Snake. And the Trick? Note that once she starts playing, “The Company redeploy themselves in the direction of Comfort” – it’s as if she’s charmed her challengers into wandering away from her and the dispute. |
==Page 353== | ==Page 353== | ||
Revision as of 19:50, 11 August 2007
Contents
Page 349
quidnunc
A gossip or busybody; an ever-curious questioner; newsmonger
Page 350
certain Egyptian Deity
???
Page 351
Bedlam ... Salpêtriére
Two early mental asylums, both quite horrific. The suggestion, of course, is that readers of novels like Mason & Dixon will drive themselves crazy by indulging in such fantasies.
Page 352
Invisible Snake Trick
Is there really something called the Invisible Snake Trick, or is this pure joshing (à la Get Smart: "the old Invisible Snake Trick, eh?")? Curiously, Aunt Euphrenia, hoisting an oboe, follows this witty braggadocio by playing “a sinuous Air full of exotick sharps and flats” – perhaps this “sinuous Air” is, itself, the Invisible Snake. And the Trick? Note that once she starts playing, “The Company redeploy themselves in the direction of Comfort” – it’s as if she’s charmed her challengers into wandering away from her and the dispute.
Page 353
I was back in America
The Secton from here until page 392 takes place from January 11, 1765 to January 17, 1765.
The Stamp Act Crisis
It's strange to note that the Stamp Act wasn't passed until March 22, 1765. The Rev is setting the mood of the times but this is really only the dissatisfaction waiting for a trigger.
Page 356
interprebendary
“Not in the dictionary, prebendary is described as someone who receives a stipend from a cathedral or collegiate church in England. Perhaps Wicks used this word because he was receiving stipends from more than one church” – Toby Levy’s ‘’’Mason & Dixon Three Pages a Day’’’ project
Page 359
Tales of the Pit
Funny phrase; is it a reference to something specific outside the text?
Page 361
...shall this Machine come abruptly to a Stop...only the Machine, fading as we stand, and a Prairie of desperate Immensity...
The passage recalls the closing scene of Vineland, in which Prairie Wheeler is lying on a meadow, waiting for Brock Vond to find her. He doesn't come though.
