Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 3: 14-29

2007-03-13T21:48:42Z

Dharper: /* Page 22 */

==Page 14==

'''Spiritual Day-Book''' 
Day-Book = the daily written record of events

'''Day's Fatigue''' 
A kind of foreecho, so to speak, of a leitmotif of Against the Day. The working day against which, etc., etc. 
Extrapolating from a letter TRP wrote to his editor after V., in which he spoke of working on three books at the time, some people think he may have worked on his later works simultaneously---discretely simultaneously, of course, perhaps a little like another theme of ATD.

'''waking Traverse was done''' 
Traverse: Here are key definitions that might apply most to M & D: . 9. To survey by traverse 6. To look over carefully; examine.

NOUN: trav·erse ( trvrs, tr-vûrs) 8. A line established by sighting in surveying a tract of land.
1. A passing across, over, or through. 2. A route or path across or over. 3. Something that lies across, especially: a. An intersecting line; a transversal. 4. Something that obstructs and thwarts; an obstacle. American Heritage Dictionary.

Traverse is the main family name in ATD; Webb Traverse and his three generation family. There are a lot of associations, see any unabridged dictionary, AHD above is online; ATD and wikipedia.
All of the associations are worth looking up and reflecting on with Pynchon, especially as he seems to love the manifold associations, using it also in Vineland, where descendants of Webb live in America in the late 20th Century.

'''another Term in the Contract''' 
The social contract?--- with all attendant allusions to Rousseau, with whom the phrase might be most linked, and to many social/political philosophers? The rise of the contract. 
The major creators of the Constitution were reading many of these thinkers
during this period, of course.

Herein is the anti-city position stated, at least.
It shows that Mason only sees the danger and crowding of the city whilst Dixon is overcome by the marvel that is the result of the Contract.

==Page 15==

'''Wapping High Street''' 
The area was first settled by Saxons, from whom it takes its name (meaning literally "[the place of] Wæppa's people"). It developed along the embankment of the Thames, hemmed in by the river to the south and the now-drained Wapping Marsh to the north. This gave it a peculiarly narrow and constricted shape, consisting of little more than the axis of Wapping High Street and some north-south side streets. John Stow, the 16th century historian, described it as a "continual street, or a filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers."

'''Tyburn''' 
The village [of Tyburn] was notorious for centuries as the site of the Tyburn gallows, London's principal location for public executions by hanging. Executions took place at Tyburn from the 12th to the 18th century (with the prisoners processed from Newgate Prison in the City).
wikipedia, abridged.

'''Motrix''' 
Female motor. [http://books.google.com//books?q=motrix&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0&num=100 GoogleBooks]

==Page 16==

'''edging away''' 
Pynchonian cliche.

'''the forms of ''You''''' 
"You've" and "Your" from the preceding words.

==Page 17==

'''Ha-Ha''' 
Ha-ha (garden)
The ha-ha or sunken fence is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until closely approached. The ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is perpendicular and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed - making it in effect a sunken fence. The ha-ha is a feature in the landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman, the originator of the ha-ha, according to Horace Walpole (Walpole 1780) and by William Kent and was an essential component of the "swept" views of Capability Brown.
"The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without. " — Walpole, "Essay upon modern gardening" 
"The "ha ha" is a below-grade ditch, which acts as a fence. It is used in classical vista gardens where views are to be uninterrupted, and in zoos for direct viewing of large and potentially dangerous animals. It is also a defence for villagers again stock where the resources do not allow wire fences, but labour or a machine can be obtained. It is essentially a deep pit, dry or wet, with one steep wall faced by stone. it can be scaled to size for the species excluded." - Mollison, Bill. [http://www.amazon.com/PERMACULTURE-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015 Permaculture Designers Manual.]

'''Aristarchus''' 
Aristarchus (310 BC - c. 230 BC) was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, born on the island of Samos, in ancient Greece. He is considered the first person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, placing the Sun, not the Earth, at the center of the known universe (hence he is sometimes known as the "Greek Copernicus").

'''the other fellow''' 
Satan? No, not Satan.
isn't Dixon just rambling on a litst of Astronomers and can't remember some guy's name? I don't think he is referring to Satan here. 
Maybe Galileo? Copernicus? Tyco Brahe? I vote for one of the latter two--see wikipedia--or someone else, since Galileo seems harder to forget.

'''latest Eclipse''' 
[http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/calendar/eclipsecycles.htm A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles] 
Search 5,000 years of eclipses 
NASA eclipse home page 
International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Solar Eclipses 
Solar and Lunar Eclipse Image Gallery

==Page 18==

'''mirror'd Lanthorns''' 
'Lanthorn' is a mistaken variant of 'lantern'. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lanthorn&searchmode=none etym]

Not mistaken, just a choice of spelling; Shakespeare and many others used this form. --[[User:Volver|Volver]] 08:56, 9 January 2007 (PST)

'''Norfolk Terrier''' 
[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Norfolk%20Terrier&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi pix]

==Page 19==

'''''Ministerial''''' 
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a minister of religion or of the ministry. 2. Of or relating to administrative and executive duties and functions of government. 3. Law Of, relating to, or being a mandatory act or duty admitting of no personal discretion or judgment in its performance. 4. Acting or serving as an agent; instrumental. From the American Heritage Dictionary.

'''Where the Bee Sucks''' +
A song from Shakespeare's Tempest put to music by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_(composer) Robert Johnson.] [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/312.html lyrics.][http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/media/mp3/beeV.html listen.]

'''Integral of One over (Book) d (Book)''' 
Freshman calculus gag. The antiderivative or integral of the function 1/x is the function logarithm of x. Written (integral sign) 1/x dx = log x. Substitute (Book) for x. Answer: log (Book) = logbook.

'''Pistoles''' 
Coins. [http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=pistole+coin pix]

'''Gate-Ways to Futurity''' 
Another foreshadowing of a major plotline in ATD. And the next line is Pynchon thematic, again esp. to ATD. It's also thematic to those days of the age of reason.

'''Metempsychosis''' 
Reincarnation.
ETYMOLOGY: Late Latin metempschsis, from Greek metempskhsis, from metempskhousthai, to transmigrate : meta-, meta- + empskhos, animate ( en, in; see en–2 + pskh, soul. American Heritage Dictionary

==Page 20==

'''upstart Chapels''' 
upstart: Suddenly raised to a position of consequence. 2. Self-important; presumptuous. Amer Her Dict.

'''singing Catches''' 
Catch: Noun, definition: Music-- A canonic, often rhythmically intricate composition for three or more voices, popular especially in the 17th and 18th centuries.

==Page 21==

'''Fender-Belly''' 
Fender: a cushion hung on the side of a ship to protect it if it bumps into a wharf or so. Old tires now serve this function. Fender-Belly has such a cushion in front.

'''Coconut-Ale''' 
A Beer with the taste of coconut; described as a "killer beer" online.

'''Macaronis''' 
A British and American subculture inspired by the fashion of continential Europe eps. that of Italy. The term comes from the Itallian "maccherone" which means "boorish fool" but was taken on by the British to mean over the top fashionable.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_%28fashion%29 Macaroni]
They would often speek in an affected manner and mix latin into their speech.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronic_verse Macaronic Verse]

'''Lunarians''' 
A Lunarian is an member of the movement of astronomers who felt that the solution to the Logitude prize lay in the development of lunar tables describing the moon of Jupiter. Famous Lunarians included Nevil Maskelyne.

'''Hostlers''' 
Singular...One who is employed to tend horses, especially at an inn. 2. One who services a large vehicle or engine, such as a locomotive. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman hostiler. American Heritage Dictionary

'''Glim-Jacks''' 
glim jack. Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose. 
A link-boy. Cant. A link-boy (or link boy or linkboy) was a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians at night. Linkboys were common in London in the days before street lighting.
The term derives from "link", a term for the cotton tow that formed the wick of the torch. Links are mentioned in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1, as Falstaff teases Bardolph about the shining redness of his face: 
"Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern." (Act III, scene 3) 
Sir Joshua Reynolds painted Cupid as a Link Boy and another appears in the first plate of William Hogarth's The Four Stages of Cruelty. In thieves' cant, a linkboy was known as a "Glym Jack" ("glym" meant "light") or a "moon-curser" (as their services would not be required on a moonlit night). Employing a linkboy could be dangerous, as some would lead their clients to dark alleyways, where they could be beset by footpads[1] Wikipedia

==Page 22==

'''The L.E.D. blinks, shivers, nods in a resign'd way.'''

L.E.D., here the "Learned English Dog", is also shorthand for "light-emitting diode", which do blink on a regular basis. Perhaps a reference to the dog being like a computer?

'''praeternatural... supernatural''' 
Praeternatural: Beyond or different from what is natural, or according to the regular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal

'''state of holy Insanity''' 
the second time an Eastern religious practice is linked to insanity. Rev.
Cherrycoke, page 10. Ecstasy or real madness or both?

''''Macaroni Italian Style'''' 
[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Macaroni+Italian+Style 454 hits] 

Macaroni, Italian Style
1 cup macaroni
11/2 cups scalded milk
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped cold boiled ham

Break macaroni in one-inch pieces and cook in boiling salted water, drain, and reheat in sauce made of butter, flour, and milk, to which is added cheese. As soon as cheese is melted, season with salt and paprika, and turn on to a serving dish. Sprinkle with ham, and garnish with parsley.....From the earliest Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1918. Still, many years later than the time of M & D, but the first cookbooks just collected
the most common recipes.

==Page 23==

'''circle of Absence''' 
???

'''fathom''' 
Six feet.

'''Bahf''' 
Bath.

'''"a British Dog, Sir. No one owns me"'''. 
Cf. Rev Cherrycoke, page 10.

'''Fabulous Jellows''' 
???

'''a-lop''' 
Lopsided. (One OED cite from 1865)

==Page 24==

'''the Point''' 
???

'''Welsh Main''' 
"...in which eight pairs were matched, the eight victors being again paired, then four, and finally the last surviving pair" [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Cock-fighting EB11-cockfighting]

==Page 25==

'''Fulhams''' 
???

'''Three-Threads''' 
???

'''Euphroe''' 
???

'''Hepsie''' 
Diminutive of [http://www.cutebabyname.com/hepsie.html Hephzibah.]Mother of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh Manasseh] in the Old Testiment.

'''smoaks''' 
understands..."gets"

==Page 26==

''''pert''' 
Shortened form of 'apert' (open, bold).

==Page 28==

'''share quarters''' 
Quite possible Mauve and Hepsie are the same girl.

'''Mauve''' 
The colour Mauve wasn't discovered until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauve 1830s.] However [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malva "Malva"] (the source for the word)or "Mallow" was one of the oldest known plants.

'''H.M.S. Inconvenience''' 
The airship in Against the Day is called "The Inconvenience".

==Annotation Index==

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Chapter 1: 5-11

2007-03-13T21:28:25Z

Dharper:

==Page 3==

'''Latitudes and Departures''' 
Portmanteau of 'latitudes and longitudes' with 'arrivals and departures'.

==Page 5==
'''[capitalization]''' 
No discernible pattern? Caps seem accented to be stressed as in reading poetry?

Uncapitalised nouns in the first paragraph include: shoes, slaps, afternoon, raer, years, table, side-benches, branch, family.

Capitalised abstract nouns include: Arcs, Sides, Descent, Dither, Fly.

'''mis-matche'd side-benches....Lancaster County" 
Lancaster County is one place where wood craftsmen like the Shakers and the Amish settled. Suggests handmade individual pieces?

'''Wand'ring Heart'''...end of it'''p. 6 
Thematic? One can not 'get to the end'of the Wand'ring Heart grain? Lovely internal metaphor if it is.

'''Wand'ring Heart grain [of wood]''' 
evidently a real name for a wood veneer. 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_veneer veneer] which is when you doing a rotating peeling cut around a log and then press or steam so it's flat and you can work with it. [http://www.woodveneer.asn.au/whatis-appearance.html Examples]

Also called Wild Heart. 
...is North America's largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood, veneer, and flooring. ... Wild Heart, etc. [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:u2NxGcUgQHUJ:ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/bitstream/1957/2475/1/FPL_2021ocr.pdf+%22wandering+heart%22+mahogany&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a here] is a link about wandring heart.

==Page 6==
'''Christmastide of 1786'''
sometime between 12/25 and 1/6. However since the year is mentioned, it is probably betwen Christmas and New Years Eve.

'''City today might be an Isle upon an Ocean''' 
Cf. the Earth in ATD: World-Island.

'''and the Nation bickering itself into fragments''' 
America then was, politically, a "Nation" of states, each with their own laws, agendas and even currency. In the following year, 1787, a "national" convention was called for. That convention was gathered merely to revise the earlier Articles of Confederation but chose instead to abandon the articles in favor of a completely new document. The Constitution, of course. On [[1787#September|September]] 17, 1787, the Constitution was finished in Philadelphia and Benjamin Franklin urged unanimous acceptance by all the states. See wikipedia, various.

'''"Mischianza"''' 
[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Philadelphia,_Philadelphia#History EB11-Philadelphia history]

'''Nerve-Lines''' 
1. A line or place at which two things are joined. 2. Anatomy- a. A tract of nerve fibers passing from one side to the other of the spinal cord or brain. b. The point or surface where two parts, such as the eyelids, lips, or cardiac valves, join or form a connection. 3. Botany- The surface or place along which two structures, such as carpels, are joined. Also "commissure". American Heritage Dictionary

'''Northern Liberties''' 
located north of Center City (specifically, Old City) and is bordered by Girard Avenue to the north and the Delaware River to the east.
The district first gained limited autonomy from the township by an Act of Assembly on March 9, 1771. The Act provided for the appointment of persons to regulate streets, direction of buildings, etc. By March 30, 1791 a second Act enabled the inhabitants of a portion of the Northern Liberties to lay taxes for the purpose of lighting, watching and establishing pumps within those bounds. Wikipedia, excerpted.

'''Spring Garden''' 
Spring Garden District is a defunct district that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The district ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.
Spring Garden appears in Varie’s map of 1796 as a small settlement between Vine Street and Buttonwood Lane. Wikipedia.

'''Germantown''' 
Germantown was originally the Borough of Germantown, a town in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and is today a neighborhood in Philadelphia, about six miles northwest from the center of the city. The neighborhood has been fully built up as a part of an urban city, but is rich in historic sites and buildings that have been preserved. Many of these are open to the public. Germantown stretches for about two miles along Germantown Avenue northwest "though there is no universally recognized exact boundary". ! wikipedia.

'''Distance to a Star''' 
Not until 1838. 
Not true, Lalande got a pretty good figure off of the Transit of Venus data from 1761 and 1769, with a figure of 153 million kilometres(±1 million km) Which is only 2.27% off of the correct value of 149,597,870,691 ± 30 metres

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus Transit of Venus]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit Astronomical Unit]

==Page 7==

'''Boppo''' 
Not in OED. 
"A very deep love. Enduring and never ending." From the online Urban Dictionary, 2005. Does not seem correct in context.

'''Winter's Block and Blade''' 
A Winter's Block seems to be a building for storing grain in the winter.
Blade might refer to the front of a plowshare--a coulter. 
Implication seems to be the juvenile will have no farming to do if turned out.

'''Tenebrae''' 
Darkness (Latin).

'''size and difficulty''' 
Cf "Lot 49"?

'''Jabot''' 
[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=jabot pix]

'''Darby and Cope''' 
This is the actually name of the Mason and Dixon's "chainmen" on the expedition. 
Darby is a character name repeated in Against the Day.

==Page 8==

'''Secret Relation''' 
His journal? (relation = narrative or account [http://www.answers.com/relation&r=67 def])

==Page 9==
'''The crime of "Anonymity"...Gaol...Exile''' 
With this description of the Revs Crime of exposing power with the intention of being anonymous and seeking exile as a way of avoiding prison, there is an implication that Cherrycoke's voice is Pynchon himself.

==Page 10==

'''my name had never been my own''' 
Bestowed by 'Authorities', there is the implication in the following lines that one is "owned"---like a collar around one's neck---by those authorities.

'''entire loss of Self, perfect union with All''' 
Satirizing certain Eastern religious beliefs? Or embracing them?

'''Captain (John) Smith, of The Seahorse''' 
a Captain John Smith wrote An Accidence, or the Path-Way to Experience(1626) and offered elemenatary instruction on seamanship in Sea Grammar (1627) an enlarged version of the first book. Cited in a footnote to The Tempest, Arden edition.

'''Keep away from harmful Substances, in particular Coffee, Tobacco, and Indian Hemp. If you must use the latter, do not inhale.''' 
A clear reference to Bill Clinton's oft-quoted statement that he had tried marijuana in his youth, but "did not inhale."

==Annotation Index==

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