ATD 724-747
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
Contents
Page XX
Sample entry
Please format like this.
Page 724
Dolomites
Mountains, a sub-chain of the Alps, northeast Italy.
Page 725
Squarcione
Francesco Squarcione (c.1397-1468) was a Padovan artist. His pupils included Andrea Mantegna (with whom he had many legal battles), Cosimo Tura and Crivelli. There are only two works signed by him: the Madonna with Child (imaged here, Berlin) and an altarpiece (Padua) [1].
On the Banks
Indiana's state song; lyrics.
Page 726
Haruspices
Roman religious functionaries who looked for clues to the future in the entrails of sacrificed animals.
strung by one foot upside down
The Hanged Man again.
Cassily Adam rendition
It's Adams. Titled "Custer's Last Fight," the picture was acquired by Anheuser-Busch, reproduced and placed in thousands of taverns. The company later gave the work to the 7th Cavalry Regiment.
Page 727
lucciole
Italian: "prostitutes"
squadri
Italian: "teams", "gangs"
soldi
Italian: "money"
Hottentot
Part of a series of zany distortions. French attentat = coup, assassination.
Page 728
Topinambur
Helianthus tuberosus: Jerusalem Artichoke, or sunchoke. It is a variety of sunflower; tuberous root was used as a potato substitute in WWII [2]. The name "topinambur" is used in Europe.
auguri, ragazzi
Italian: "all the best, folks"
Page 729
no . . . apiarian byproduct of hers
I.e., none of her beeswax (American slang for "business").
pennsilvoney
More foreign-language comedy. Italian pensione = pension (lodging with board included).
eighty-seven not out
Cricket metaphor: having a banner day and not close to the end of it.
Eleanora Duse
Consensus spelling is Eleonora. 1859-1924, Italian actress, pioneer of realism on the stage.
Page 730
Damned cowboy
Same expletive used on page 623 (annotations).
qualsiasi
Italian: "whatever"
Page 731
camerieri
Italian: "chambermaids"
levante
Italian: "east wind"
the ancient family arms
"[A] sponge couchant on a field chequy with flames at the foot." Pynchonian mock-heraldry. Couchant refers to an animal lying down with its erect head to the viewer's left. Well, at least sponges do belong to the animal kingdom. Chequy (one correct spelling) identifies the field or background of the shield as being divided into squares like a checkerboard. At the foot is a heraldic solecism; in base is preferable.
Taking two colors at random, say gules (red) and argent (silver or white), we could blazon the arms as "Chequy argent and gules, a sponge proper couchant above flames of fire of the third in base." Of course when the arms are carved in stone you can't see the colors. Proper means "in the color of the natural object," so . . . sponge-colored for the sponge, red and yellow for the flames.
Heraldists refer to "canting arms" when the charges on the shield pun on the bearer's name, as in this case: The flames are toasting the sponge.
Page 732
outnumbered . . . overwhelmingly
One of Cantor's results. If aleph0 represents the "cardinality" of the rationals (a measure for infinite sets that corresponds to the number of elements for finite ones) and C represents the cardinality of the real numbers, then C + aleph0 = C. In words, the reals don't even notice if you take away the rationals, leaving just the irrational numbers. Pretty overwhelming.
Page 733
areeferdirtcheap
Reef getting his Italian wrong again: arrivederci, goodbye.
Page 735
Cazzo
Italian: "shit"
Page 736
forty mule
A Reefian parting shot: French faute de mieux, meaning "for lack of anything better."
hangers
A kind of pocketbook or purse that hung from a wrist (not in the OED, however).
Page 737
Brother Berkmann
Alexander Berkmann, also spelled Berkman, Anarchist and lover of Emma Goldman, with whom he plotted his unsuccessful 1892 attempt to assassinate Henry Clay Frick after the bitter Homestead Steel Strike [3]. Dally dates this to "fifteen years ago", making it 1907 in book time.
Page 740
Lampo, Gaulois
A very small firearm. Some great photos and a description (in French). [4]
Page 741
imprimatura
The first layer of paint applied to a canvas, a base color that helps establish and control tone in the painting.
Page 742
his terrible intention
moral judgment of the attempted assassin.
like the glowing coal in the Buddhist parable
???
piano nobile
In a large house, the level holding formal spaces, usually the first or second floor above ground level.
Page 743
Vibe "takes on mass" (!)
- his gravity increases! Cf. GR, of course.
rectified
Main Entry: rec·ti·fi
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fy·ing
Etymology: Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-French rectifier, from Medieval Latin rectificare, from Latin rectus right -- more at RIGHT
1 : to set right : REMEDY
2 : to purify (as alcohol) especially by repeated or fractional distillation
3 : to correct by removing errors : ADJUST <rectify the calendar>
4 : to make (an alternating current) unidirectional
synonym see CORRECT
- rec·ti·fi·ca·tion /"rek-t&-f&-'kA-sh&n/ noun--Amer Heritage Dictionary
Here: self-justification into "iron impregnability". Pynchon does not use iron positively in ATD.
Page 745
Somebody shopped him
Betrayed him (in exchange for something). Shop= to trade 1)in buying and selling for profit. 2. To make an exchange of one thing for another. American Heritage.
Page 747
melancholy of departure
Allusion to: Giorgio de Chirico's painting: Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure), dated to 1913 or early 1914; the title was reused in works with the same theme of 1914, 1915 and 1916. The paintings reproduce the sadness of separations by depiciting haunting, empty railway stations, pictorially or in abstract [5].
Annotation Index
| Part One: The Light Over the Ranges |
|
|---|---|
| Part Two: Iceland Spar |
119-148, 149-170, 171-198, 199-218, 219-242, 243-272, 273-295, 296-317, 318-335, 336-357, 358-373, 374-396, 397-428 |
| Part Three: Bilocations |
429-459, 460-488, 489-524, 525-556, 557-587, 588-614, 615-643, 644-677, 678-694 |
| Part Four: Against the Day |
695-723, 724-747, 748-767, 768-791, 792-820, 821-848, 849-863, 864-891, 892-918, 919-945, 946-975, 976-999, 1000-1017, 1018-1039, 1040-1062 |
| Part Five: Rue du Départ |
