Chapter 51: 491-498
Contents
Page 491
Cant
Cant is an example of an argot or cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group... The origin of the word cant itself has not been agreed upon. The word may be derived from the Irish word caint ("speech, talk"), or it may be from the English word "chant or Latin cantare. From WIKI
Shappo
A hat: corruption of CHAPEAU. Cant. Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Punch's Voice
Punch is the name of the prince of puppets, the chief wit and support of a puppet-show. Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
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Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. It comes from the Greek: μετωνυμία, metōnymía, "a change of name", from μετά, metá, "after, beyond" and -ωνυμία, -ōnymía, a suffix used to name figures of speech, from ὄνῠμα, ónyma or ὄνομα, ónoma, "name"[1] Metonymy may also be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on similarity, whereas, in metonymy, the substitution is based on contiguity. From WIKI
Sect having begun with a Hat
Quakers do not believe in removing their hat for anyone (this includes not tipping it, etc) except for God alone (during prayer, etc). This was found peculiar by others, as the usual custom was to remove your hat when around social superiors or leaders, indoors, etc.
hynagogic passage... Zenithward
See page 338.
Astral projection (or astral travel) is an esoteric interpretation of any form of out-of-body experience (OOBE) that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of travelling outside it. Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the astral plane. From WIKI
Capella
Capella (α Aurigae / α Aur / Alpha Aurigae / Alpha Aur) is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest star in the night sky and the third brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs. From WIKI
Page 493
sleeping with thine Eyes open wide
Brock Vond in Vineland also sleeps with his eyes open. See Vineland, page 217.
his Soul's off God knows where
Mind-body dualism [1]
and out-of-body travel. The mind-body dichotomy is the starting point of Dualism, and became conceptualized in the form as it is currently known in the Western world in René Descartes philosophy, but also appeared in pre-Aristotelian concepts. from Wikipedia.
Descartes is a philosopher whom Thomas Pynchon has expressed negativity about in other works. See Against the Day.
what, in thy Absence, is doing the Staring for thee?
The philosophical "problem" of self-consciousness? With the mind off elsewhere, what is looking out of the mind's eyes?
what Verger of the Temple of the Self...?
verg·er (vûrjr)
NOUN:
Chiefly British
One who carries the verge or other emblem of authority before a scholastic, legal, or religious dignitary in a procession.
One who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during ceremonies. American Heritage Dictionary
Page 494
"Really? 'The Black Dog'?... Things That Are Never Said."
File:Example.jpg
A black dog is the name given to a being found primarily in the folklores of the British Isles. The black dog is essentially a nocturnal Apparition, often said to be associated with the Devil, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal dog, and often has large, glowing eyes. It is often associated with electrical storms (such as Black Shuck's appearance at Bungay, Suffolk), and also with crossroads, places of execution and ancient pathways. From WIKI
The Black Dog was Winston Churchill's name for the massive depression that sometimes took him over.
Page 495
of a certain farm animal?
a pig of course,perhaps Pynchon's favorite animal [see V.and other works] which, along with the Black Dog, is one of the Things That Are Never Said....and counterpointed to the Names of the Holy Trinity,"names most likely to matter".
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Sensorium
The term originally enters English from the Late Latin in the mid-17th century, from the stem sens- (see: sense).The term sensorium (plural: sensoria) refers to the sum of an organism's perception, the "seat of sensation" where it experiences and interprets the environments within which it lives.
In earlier use it referred, in a broader sense, to the brain as the mind's organ (Oxford English Dictionary 1989). In medical, psychological, and physiological discourse it has come to refer to the total character of the unique and changing sensory environments perceived by individuals. These include the sensation, perception, and interpretation of information about the world by senses, perceptual systems and minds (MedTerms 2001). wikipedia
Philadelphia, where he has just been elected Dog Catcher
Philadelphia is like Washington, D.C. at this time, where "rival packs of
wild dogs" existed in Against the Day at a later time. Against the Day Dogs rule?
another dog allusion which feeds the idea that "man's best friend" is almost like the humans in Pynchon's work.
"I'm a Dog Person"--Dixon, page 495
whim-wham
WHIM-WHAM- A word from around the 16th century from which the word Whimsical was derived.
A whimsical decorative object or device.
A fantastic creation of the brain or hand. whim-wham
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Cavern beneath the Earth....Ceilings! high as Heaven!
A hallowed place? Notice how large the space becomes immediately after the entrance arch that is only 6 yards by four feet. Reminds one of the rooms that are larger inside than out. Perhaps "inner space" and hallowed underground spaces [lower than lowlands; depths that had "no names" in Gravity's Rainbow] contain--or could contain--much more than we think?
Pencil of Time
Compare knives of the seasons from GR.
tears of the Rocks
And what follows. All [the awareness of mortality] is even older than the Indians.
Cf. Rachel Owlglass in V., p. 20: "the dead rocks that were here before us and will be here after us."
Ogham
Ogham (Old Irish Ogam or Oġam) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to represent the "Old Irish" language.
Ogham
Monology
monology. n. soliloquy; monopoly of the conversation. monologian, monologist, n. monologic(al), a. monologize, v.i.. © From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia. ...
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