Pages 244-249

This page-by-page annotation is organized by sections, as delineated by the seven squares (sprockets) which separate each section. The page numbers for this page-by-page annotation are for the original Viking edition (760 pages). Editions by other publishers vary in pagination — the newer Penguin editions are 776 pages; the Bantam edition is 886 pages.

Contributors: Please use a 760-page edition (either the original Viking edition with the orange cover or the Penguin USA edition with the blue cover and rocket diagram — there are plenty on Ebay for around $10) or search the Google edition for the correct page number. Readers: To calculate the Bantam edition use this formula: Bantam page # x 1.165. Before p.50 it's about a page earlier; as you get later in the book, add a page.

Finally, profound thanks to Prof. Don Larsson for providing the foundation for this page-by-page annotation.

Page 246

Waxwing

Waxwing’s last name may come from Pale Fire by Pynchon’s Cornell teacher Vladimir Nabokov. The novel takes the form of a long poem with annotations by a mad scholar. The poem begins, "I was the shadow of the waxwing slain/ By the false azure in the windowpane." Blodgett is the "real" last name of the heroine in all three versions of the film A Star Is Born. The waxwing is also of interest because of its striking appearance: Its black "mask" is appropriate for someone in Blodgett's line of work.

Page 247

Steele & JPK

Steele’s westerns were produced by Nalline Slothrop’s pal, Joseph Kennedy, Sr.

247.14 Theophile
From the Greek for "Lover of God."

Page 248

248.40-41 a business card, embossed with a chess knight
On the television show Have Gun Will Travel, which debuted in 1957, the gunslinger-for-hire Paladin (Richard Boone) gave out business cards embossed with a chess knight.