ATD 119-148
Contents
Page 122
dazzle-painting
A camouflage painting technique used on WWI ships. Link: [1]
Lloyd's of the high spectrum [...] the next fateful Lutine announcement.
The HMS Lutine (Lutine translates as "the tease") was a ship commissioned in the French Royal Navy which was later given to the English Royal Navy during the Revolution. In 1799 she sank in the North Sea while blockading Holland; her hold was full of gold. Lloyd's of London, an independent insurance market still known for being willing to assume large insurance risks for the right price, had insured the gold, and paid the claim in full, acquiring nominal ownership of the still-unsalvaged cargo.
Page 123
Igor Padzhitnoff
The whole passage that introduces the rival airship captain is a play on Tetris. Igor's surname is similar to that of the creator of Tetris, Alexey Pazhitnov. Also, the captain himself flies a ship called "The Great Game" and drops "bricks and masonry, always in the four-block fragments which had become his "signature," to fall on and damage targets designated by his superiors."
Tovarishchi Slutchainyi
Tovarishchi translates as comrades; the literal translation of "Slutchainyi" is "accidental", leading to one possible reading of the phrase being: Chums of Chance.
The phrase "Tovarishchi Slutchainyi" could also mean someone who is friends, but not intentionally, ie: perhaps people who are conscripted into a situation where they are forced to be communal. (Thanks to Anna Zaytseva for the idiomatic help!)
A third reading is introduced when the homophonic correspondence between the final two syllables of Slutchainyi and Vice-President Cheney's name is noted.
Ice Pirates
This turn of phrase echoes the spoof movie of camraderie and dangerous "space herpes" that was released in the 1980s. There's no textual evidence that Pynchon means to refer to the movie, but the satirical humor and outlandish situations presented in the film might be attractive to someone with his sensibilities.
Page 126
Étienne-Louis Malus
Etienne-Louis Malus (July 23, 1775 – February 24, 1812) was a French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician. Wikipedia Entry
Malus is best known for his law describing intensity of light as it passes through polarized materials. There are delicious metaphorical implications for any reader of a Pynchon novel.
Page 133
Ynglingsaga
See also Ynglinga Saga, or the story of the ancient Norse kings. Wikipedia entry
... even of days not yet transpired.
Reminiscent of the Borges short story "The Library of Babel" about an "infinite library" which contains every possible book. Wikipedia entry
Page 146
lines
The description of the single-file line at the train station basically describes current security conditions at American airports. A single line (i.e. linear thinking) does not seem to be a 'positive' in the Pynchon world.
