Difference between revisions of "ATD 695-723"

Revision as of 19:42, 25 January 2007

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

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Page 697

Zengg
German name for the town of Sinj, Croatia.

Uskok
Serbian/Croatian: fugitive.

the Macedonian Question
Raised, apparently, only among non-Macedonians. What boundaries are the Powers to create and which Power is to have dominant interest there?

Page 698

knout-fancier
The knout was a heavy whip used for punishment and compulsion in Russia. A knout-fancier is a sadist specializing in this instrument.

Capuziner
Cappuccino.

Page 699

IX Bezirk
The Ninth District (or Ward) of Vienna. Freud among many others kept an office there.

Page 700

non-Prussian, indeed crypto-Oriental, blood
Some writers were at pains to equate brutal Germans with Huns.

"Ritter Georg Hoch!"
should be "Hoch, Ritter Georg!"; cheers for Ritter Georg von Schönerer (1842-1921), Austrian politician, Pan-Germanist, Arch-Anti-Semite, Slavophobe, Anti-Catholic. His ideas had a major influence on Adolf Hitler who lived in Vienna 1907-1913 Wikipedia

Page 702

Zsuzsa
Pronounced ZHOO-zha. Has TRP been watching "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"? The artiste in maquillage will give Cyprian's hair a little zhözh.

atelier
Shop.

Page 704

Kuppelei
German: Procuring, pimping.

Not even if England expects it
Allusion to Nelson's signal at Trafalgar: "England expects that every man will do his duty."

'we of the futurity"
Who is speaking from such an omniscient 'future"?

Page 707

Voznab
A typically Russian way of abbreviating a phrase with a lot of syllables.

vozdushnyi nablyudenie
Russian: as translated in the text, but the gender agreement is wrong (should be vozdushnoye).

Leics
Leicestershire.

Page 708

unreflective desire
Probably from a translation of Plato's Phaedrus.

Page 710

vecchio fazool
Mock-Italian: old bean.

Page 712

"history of human emotion"
Ah, wow! Cf. 'range of emotions' earlier.

subfusc
subfusc \sub-FUHSK\, adjective: Dark or dull in color; drab, dusky.

"romance"..in the history of human emotion..showed [with] great trembling through to "a hateful future"
Some connection. The Romantic movement in music/art led to a hateful future?

'Feinschmeckerei
German: epicureanism.

Page 713

Sachertorte mit Schlag
A world-renowned Viennese cake, here served with whipped cream. The next part of the exchange notes that Schlag also means a blow.

praetorian
Praetorian may mean:

Praetorian Guard, a special force of skilled and celebrated warriors used by Roman Emperors. Praetorian (software), an intelligent surveillance software suite.

Miskolci
Hungarian name derived from the town of Miskolc.

Page 714

Leclanché cells
A kind of dry-cell battery.

Cosmoline
A brand of petrolatum or petroleum jelly.

Beda Chanson‘s "Ausgerechnet Bananen"
Friedrich Löhner-Beda (1883-1942) was one of the most successful Austrian writers of lyrics for popular music and cabarets in the 1920s and early 30s, usually signing as "Beda" weblink. He translated/adapted Frank Silver and Irving Cohn's song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" (released 1923 (!)) into German. While the original makes fun of a fruitshop-owner who cant say "we run out of bananas", Beda's german version is the lamento of a beau/Don Juan about the capricious demands - the fruit being the symbol of the exotic back then and hard to find in Europe - of the adored lady. "Ausgerechnet Bananen" translates as: "Of all things, bananas (Bananas she's asking of me)". english/german lyrics

Yzhitsa
In the pre-1917 Russian alphabet, the last letter (not available in this character set), used in a few Greek-derived words. In present-day Russian it's called izhitsa, but the letter is shaped a little like a Y and may be correctly transliterated so. "To write izhitsa to someone" means to eliminate them.

Page 715

Liebling
German: darling.

Kundschaftsstelle
German: reconnaissance office.

Honigfalle
German: honey trap.

Leo Slezak
Tenor, born in Moravia 1873, performed in Europe and America, died 1946. His son was the actor Walter Slezak.

Dickwanst . . . Fettarsch
German: potbelly . . . fat-ass.

Page 716

Both offices
The Okhrana, Russian secret police, and the Kundschaftsstelle, Austrian security agency.

Page 717

Hypatia
Ca. 370-415, Alexandrian mathematician, murdered by a Christian sect.

Page 718

Getreidemarkt
German: grain market.

Szekszárdi Vörös
Red wine from the Szekszárd region of Hungary.

Gewürztraminer
White wine from Alsace.

Page 719

nervnost'
Russian: edginess.

Page 720

"Monsieur Azeff"
Yevno Fishelevich Azeff (1869-1918), Social Revolutionary provocateur and terrorist; in hiding outside Russia after 1908.

darázsfészek
Hungarian: literally, wasps' nest. A rolled, filled pastry with almonds.

Rigó Jancsi
A chocolate sponge cake with chocolate mousse filling. The first word is Hungarian: thrush.

Váci út
A street name; the second word is Hungarian: way.

Page 722

high-tessitura dismay
Italian tessitura (literally "texture") means the way a vocal part "lies." High tessitura means sustained singing in a high register. The phrase here means screaming or shrieking.

Ma signori, um po' di moderazione, per piacere
Italian: Sirs, a little moderation, if you please.

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