Difference between revisions of "ATD 1-25"

Revision as of 05:01, 12 December 2006

Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.

Let's start with the title. "Against the Day" may come from a speech by William Faulkner which has the line, "Speak now against the day"...

cover seal
The seal appears to be written in Tibetan language, according to somebody who posts regularly to Pynchon-l under the name "Ya Sam", who reports:

I contacted the Tibetan Cultural Centre with the request to translate the mysterious legend on the AtD seal. They were kind enough to forward my request to the Tibetan tranlsator Tenzin Namgyal to whose generosity we owe the solution of one more ATD related mystery.

It is the Tibetan language, alright, and it means ...... Tibetan Government Chamber of Commerce.

Read their response below:

Dear Ya Sam,

I showed the seal you sent to our Tibetan translator, Tenzin Namgyal. He says the word to word translation is: Tibetan Government Commerce Chamber in other words: Tibetan Government Chamber of commerce. Why Pynchon has chosen to place this on the cover of his book is anyones guess. Reading the book reviews gave no insight into the reason. Perhaps after one has read it?

Best wishes,

Sandy Belth

Tibetan Cultural Center

Copyright page
The copyright page states that Against the Day is published by Viking Penguin, but on the title page and elsewhere we can read that the book is published by Penguin Press. The copyright pages of other books from Penguin Press state "Penguin Press" as the publisher, as could be expected, and it seems likely that the substitution of "Penguin Press" with "Viking" is one of many typographical errors in the book (see errata).

Dedication
Most of Pynchon's novels contain dedications-- Mason & Dixon ("For Melanie, and for Jackson") , Vineland ("For my mother and father"), and Gravity's Rainbow ("For Richard Fariña")-- but not so Against the Day, as published. Advance reading copies of the book did contain the words "Dedication TK" in italics, but this is simply publisher-speak for "dedication to come." It is unknown whether Pynchon ever considered inclusion of a dedication or whether the publisher simply left the page open just in case, but the ultimate lack of a dedication may suggest that Pynchon feels he's thanked everyone he needs to thank.

"It's always night, or we wouldn't need light."
Epigraph by Thelonious Monk. Jazz and particularly bebop seem to be a lifelong interest of Pynchon’s, appearing in some form in all his works and what biographical snippets exist. As a college student, Pynchon “spent a lot of time in jazz clubs, nursing the two-beer minimum,” by his own admission (Slow Learner, Introduction). The Chumps of Choice blog notes that: 1) in his youth, Pynchon allegedly referred to Monk as a "God"; 2) the character McClintick Sphere in V. takes Monk's middle name, Sphere; and 3) "It's always night, or we wouldn't need light" was apparently something Monk was given to saying, rather than something he once said. For more on McClintick Sphere and Monk, see Charles Hollander's essay.

Page 1

The Light Over the Ranges
The singular 'range' seems called for-- so why plural here?

Range is defined in the Oxford American Dictionary as "a line or series of mountains or hills : the coastal ranges of the northwest," so perhaps "range" or "ranges" can be used to denote a number of mountains.

Page 3

"Now single up all lines!"
Docked ships normally use doubled lines, then remove them in two stages when leaving the port. Pynchon was in the Navy for a spell and "single up all lines" is a common enough nautical term: Ships are docked with lines doubled -- that is, with two sets of ropes or chains holding the vessel to the dock. To "single up all lines" is to remove the redundant second lines in preparation to make way.

But the opening line has many possible connotations.

The Modern Word's Quail writes that "it is simultaneously a self-directive and a call to the reader; suggesting that Against the Day is a culmination of his previous work, and also charging the reader to find meaning within its twisting labyrinth. It may also be a sly, preemptive joke on the book’s initial critics, as the novel begins with the launch of a bloated gasbag bearing a somewhat provocative name."

"Single up all lines" is used in its normal nautical context in V., 11; COL49, 31; Gravity's Rainbow, 489; and Mason & Dixon, 258, 260. Perhaps we can understand this "line" as a text-string linking Pynchon's novels together (all but Vineland?)--in preparation for a voyage to . . . .?

For more on lines, see page 146. One may also want to pay attention to sections on 'vectors' (represented by arrows).

"Cheerly now...handsomely...very well!!"
Cheerly means cheerily. Just as 'single up all lines' is used in nautical context in V., so 'cheerly' appears on page 54 of Mason & Dixon ("Cheerly. Cheerly, then, Lads..."). The Chumps of Choice blog suggests that Patrick O'Brian, who makes an appearance in Mason & Dixon as "the finest yarn-spinner in all the Fleets," may also be an inspiration for the nautical language here.

Inconvenience
Pynchon's fictional navy includes the USS Scaffold and the Susanna Squaducci (V), and the John E. Badass (GR). Chumps of Choice blog notes that the British Royal Navy has a long tradition of warships with names like Impulsive, Incendiary, Inconstant, Indignant, etc.

patriotic bunting
AtD has many echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime": Doctorow fictionalises the same era, including anarchists, bombings, and early Hollywood.

five-lad crew
Randolph St. Cosmo (ship commander), Lindsay Noseworth (master-at-arms), Miles Blundell (handyman apprentice), Darby Suckling (factotum and mascot), and Chick Counterfly. 'Lad' suggests all are under 18 years old.

"lad" can also mean a young man (not necessarily under 18) and, in general, be used by a commanding officer toward his underlings of many ages.

The commander's name evokes Randolph St., a main thoroughfare in the city they are bound for.

The Chums of Chance
To be chummy with chance might mean lucky, fond of gambling, fond of chaos, irrational, or anarchist. Or maybe they became chums by accident. Cameraderie and isolation are two recurring topics in Pynchon's works. The Chums are a band of heroes like those commonly featured in the 19th century boys' fiction that Pynchon evokes, but also recall Pynchon's high school fictions, Voice of the Hamster and The Boys, in which the teenage Pynchon lovingly portrayed his group of high school chums, known as, simply, "The Boys." The names of the Chums may also be derived from famous Jazz musicians: Miles (Davis), Chick (Corea), Darby (Hicks), (Boots) Randolph, and (Vachel) Lindsay (a stretch here?), notes the Chums of Choice blog.

World's Columbian Exposition
also called The Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. The International Exposition was held in a building which for the first time was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. Wikipedia entry.

mascotte
The English word 'mascot' has its origin in the late 19th cent.: from French mascotte. The spelling may also a tribute to the Dutch brand of rolling papers. [Wikipedia]

Page 5

Pugnax
The name meaning, in Latin, "likes to fight." Pugnax's fantastic intelligence recalls another intelligent dog, the Learned English Dog in Mason & Dixon. His manner of speech is also reminiscent of the mystery-solving cartoon dog Scooby-Doo, and members of PYNCHON-L have speculated that his eyebrows and reading habits allude to Gromit, from the Wallace and Gromit claymation films.

"...during a confidential assignment in Our Nation's Capitol (see The Chums of Chance and the Evil Halfwit)..."
This could be seen as a criticism of American Presidents present or past, or perhaps the Vietnam War, which Pynchon himself opposed.

May also refer to President Bush, considering the Pynchon-authored Amazon.com book description which included "With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred."

Page 6

Princess Casamassima
Published 1886. etext

Krakatoa
Erupted 1883.

Heino Vanderjuice
Hey no wonderjuice???

"...anemometer of the Robinson's type"
Cup anemometer invented in 1846 by Dr. John Thomas Romney Robinson. Cup anemometers are still commonly used to measure wind speed because of their simplicity and reliability in a variety of environmental conditions.

Page 7

Porfirio Diaz
President of Mexico 1876-1880, 1884-1911. Wikipedia

"the Rebellion of thirty years previous"
The Civil War was not called such during the time it was occurring; the South called it "the war between the states" to emphasize both their right to secede from the union and that this was a war between sovereign states; the North called it "the Rebellion of 1861" or, after termination of hostilities, "the Rebellion of 1861-1865," appellations that did not recognize the South's right to secede.

"'Dick' Counterfly had absquatulated...."
Means to move away quickly, usually to avoid capture. Apparently a mock-Latinate formation, "to go off and squat somewhere else." Great verb!

Page 8

"which directs us never to interfere with legal customs of any locality down at which we may happen to have touched"
Like the Prime Directive in Star Trek.

way better than a mile a minute
New Orleans to Chicago is 834 miles, slightly less than 14 hours at 60 miles/hour.

Page 9

"Do not imagine, that in coming aboard Inconvenience you have escaped into any realm of the counterfactual..."
This may be Pynchon directly addressing the reader. Given that his introductory blurb proclaims the world of AtD as what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two, this paragraph seems to indicate that Pynchon, like all great fantasy or sci-fi writers, does not intend to create a world where anything goes. Rather, he will create a world that differs from ours but then obey the rules and constraints he's already established.

"Going up is like going north."
Air gets cooler as the ship ascends into higher altitudes, and therefore like travelling northward. This page also suggests some further mystery of the Chums may be revealed to Chick and the reader in time.

Page 11

plummet
Bad physics here—closing the valve wouldn't slow the descent. Objects in a fluid medium like air float if their weight is less than the weight of the fluid they displace (hence why one fills a balloon with a light gas such as hydrogen or helium). Once the Inconvenience loses its buoyancy, it will continue to fall, unless its weight is reduced to what a lesser amount of hydrogen could support.

Page 12

Liverpool Kiss
A head butt.

Herr Riemann
Riemann, Georg Friedrich Bernhard (1826-1866) (pronounced REE mahn or in IPA: ['ri:man]) was a German mathematician who made important contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them paving the way for the later development of general relativity. Wikipedia entry.

Page 13

"...quite as if were some giant eyeball, perhaps that of Society itself, ever scrutinizing from above, in a spirit of constructive censure."
This is strikingly reminiscent of Odilon Redon's 1882 Lithograph L'Oeil, comme un ballon bizarre se dirige vers l'infini (The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity). At MoMa's Online Collection

Reference also to ATD Pg. 51 and "The Unsleeping Eye", an apparent reference to Pinkerton's competing PI agency.

Page 14

Jacob's-ladder
Used here as "a marine ladder of rope or chain with wooden or iron rungs" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged) but is suggestive of Jacob's ladder in Genesis:

Genesis 28:12 And he [jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (King James version)

Page 15

ukulelist
Ukuleles also appear in Gravity's Rainbow and Vineland. According to Jules Siegel's article, "Who is Thomas Pynchon, and why did he take off with my wife?", Pynchon himself played the ukulele in college.

Beaufort Scale
Developed 1805.

Page 17

cubeb
The name for the berry and for the oil obtained from the unripe berry of the East Indian climbing shrub P. cubeba. The dried fruits are sometimes used as a condiment or are ground and smoked in cigarette form as a catarrh remedy. The oil is used medicinally and also in soap manufacture. The masticated roots of kava, P. methysticum, widely grown in its native Pacific islands, are made into a beverage called kavakava, which contains soporific alkaloids. It is an integral part of religious and social life there. A preparation of kava for commerce, also called kavakava, is sold widely as an herbal remedy for anxiety and insomnia. -- From The Free Dictionary Also appears in Gravity's Rainbow, page 118.

"...goldurn Keeley Cure"
A treatment for alcohol, nicotine and narcotic addiction involving injections of "bichloride" or "double chloride" of gold, and also known as the "gold cure". Named for Dr. Leslie E. Keeley, who opened the first of many Keeley Institutes in 1879.

Page 18

headgear
Description vaguely reminiscent of "Madame Bovary". [notes]

eclipse green
Apparently an actual shade. [cite]

A.C.
Athletic Club.

("Penny") Black
The first postage stamp (1840) [Wikipedia]

Tzigane
Meaning "gypsy". Also a piece by Ravel. [Wikipedia]

Egypt
Or Little Egypt. [Wikipedia]

Page 22

Isandhlwana
1879 battle. [Wikipedia]

Page 23

Tarahumara
Indian tribe of Northern New Mexico, in the Sierra Madres; About the Tarahumara. See also page 388ff. [Wikipedia]

Page 24

the curse of Scotland
Dates from 1710. [Wikipedia]

Cracker Jack
Introduced at 1893 Expo. [Wikipedia]

New Levee district
Chicago's redlight district c1890. [cite]

Epworth League
A Methodist youth organization founded in 1889. [cite]

Page 25

Haymarket bomb
The Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886, in Chicago may be the origin of international May Day observances and in popular literature inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating the business class and the working class in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. Wikipedia entry.

duck soup
Meaning "an easy task," but also the name of a Marx Bros. movie. Perhaps relevant, given the cameo by Groucho promised on the book sleeve.

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