Difference between revisions of "ATD 171-198"

Revision as of 09:30, 20 December 2006

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

Page 174

"your own brother"
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was turned in by his brother. ("Kaczynski" means 'ducky' or 'duckman'. Did TRP hide this somewhere?)

Page 176

Tortoni's on Arapahoe
Italian restaurant located in the 1500 block of Arapahoe Street in downtown Denver. Photo

Gahan's saloon across the street from City Hall
Saloon operated by William Gahan, a Denver City Councilman, and his brothers conveniently located at 1401 Larimer Street in Denver, across the street from City Hall. Gahan operated two other saloons, including one at 1133 Larimer Street, which he supposedly kept open on Sundays, harbored gambling, and sponsored a boys' baseball team that played for beer.

Ed Chase, the boss of the red-light district
Edward "Big Ed" Chase (1838-1921) was a New Yorker from Saratoga Springs who became the leader of criminal activities in Denver from 1860 on, and as such was an influential and respected man. He ran saloons, gambling houses, bordellos, and theaters (specializing in "burlesque"), and served on the Denver City Council from 1866-1869. After that, he was a behind-the-scenes ward boss and power broker for the Republican party, which dominated Denver politics at the time. Nearly every 19th century election in Denver was clouded by charges that Chase had organized an army of voters out of riffraff, vagrants, prostitutes, barflies and gamblers. By the time of his death in 1921, Chase had come to be regarded as a respected real estate investor and capitalist. For more info, consult The City & The Saloon: Denver 1858-1918 by Thomas J. Noel.

Page 179

different tempos and keys
Cf 'anarchist miracle' in "Lot 49" (chapter 5).

Page 180

Valley Tan
Mormon whiskey reported by Mark Twain. cite

Page 182

P.E.T.N.
Ingredient of Semtex, discovered 1891. Wikipedia

Page 185

excursion
Wilde's US lecture tour was in 1882.

Page 186

grifa
Marijuana. cite

Miss Colman-Smith is West Indian [tarot cards]

From Wikipedia: Pamela Colman Smith (1878—1951) was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite. Smith was born in England, the daughter of an American merchant from Brooklyn, Charles Edward Smith and his Jamaican wife Corinne Colman. Due to her father’s job with the West India Improvement Company, the family often moved, spending time in London, Kingston, Jamaica and Brooklyn, New York.

Pynchon's interest in the tarot is evident in Gravity's Rainbow. Two tarot cards are referred to here -- The Hanged Man card can be seen at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Waite. The Knight of Swords can be seen at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_arcana#Swords

The reference is an anachronism, as the deck wasn't published until 1909.

Perseid
August (1900).

Page 188

Galveston Hurricane
An historical event (8th September 1900, 6000 dead). [Wikipedia]

Page 192

nearly twenty
1883 + 19yo = 1902?

Page 193

Uncompahgre

A Plateau in Western Colorado, named after the Uncompahgre Ute Indian Tribe. [Wikipedia]

three-dollar sack suit

That is, a suit one might buy at a store where one fills a sack with clothes and then pays three dollars for the lot. A sack suit is an ordinary 19th-c. business suit which "evolved into the modern three piece suit." [1]

Page 194

Dallas Divide

Mountain Pass dividing the Uncompahgre Plateau from the San Juan Mountains. [Wikipedia]

Page 195

Sloat Fresno

Possibly named for Commodore John D. Sloat, American naval officer who claimed California, then a territory of Mexico, as part of the United States on July 7, 1846. The text of the declaration can be found [here]. Another source may be the Sloat Lumber Co. of Quincy, CA, which used an uncommon 30 gauge track, about which all I can find is [here]. Fresno is presumably a reference to the [city in California], though its direct relation to either the Commodore or the Sloat Lumber Co. is unclear. [Wikipedia Site on John D. Sloat]

Sloat is another term for slat, a narrow piece of wood. Fresno is Spanish for ash.

Montrose

Montrose, CO. [Wikipedia]

Page 197

coupling pin
pic

Page 198

The Light Over the Ranges
Repeats the title of Part One and also suggests Tesla's 03 July 1899 'vision'. (The singular 'range' seems called for-- so why plural here?)

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