Pages 236-244

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 237

237.1 Bleicheröde
According to McGovern, a cotton-mill town near Nordhausen where most of the rocket specialists and their families were resettled after Peenemünde was abandoned.

237 16-20 Carl Orff's lively...ardeo...
From Tempus es iocundum (This is the joyful time), a song from Orff's famous cantata Carmina Burana

Page 239

239.18-19 demons—yes, including Maxwell’s
Pynchon introduced Maxwell’s Demon in The Crying of Lot 49, where John Nefastis shows a supposedly working version of this theoretical entity to Oedipa. See the discussion of the Demon and the problem of entropy at the Pomona College Pynchon site.

Page 240

240.20-21 the sour stuff
a literal translation of the German word for oxygen: Sauerstoff

240.24 Esso
An American gas and oil company formed in 1911 upon the breakup of Standard Oil. It takes its name from the phonetic pronunciation of 'S.O.' In 1973, the name was replaced in the U.S. with Exxon.

240.27 Terraplane
A car brand and model built by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1932 and 1939.

240.41 like Cary Grant
Though he was a naturalized American, Grant’s accent was hardly "quasi-British," as Weisenburger describes it. He was born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England in 1904.

Page 241

241.3 Josef Israelplein
An esplanade in The Hague, actually Josef Israelsplein.

Page 243

243.3 LOX
Liquid Oxygen

243.17 Alkit uniforms
Alkit was a clothing manufacturer which supplied uniforms, "especially R.A.F. outifts" according to their ads, to the British military.

243.28 formée cross
A cross having four arms which are narrow at the center and expand toward the ends; Germany's Iron Cross is one example

243.39 George ("Poudre") de la Perlimpinpin
poudre is French for 'powder', but poudre de la perlimpinpin is slang for 'patent medicine' or 'snake oil'

Page 244

244.18 trente et quarante
French: thirty and forty also called rouge et noir (red and black), is a 17th century gambling card game of French origin played with cards and a special table. It is rarely found in US casinos, but still very popular in Continental Europe casinos, and one of the two games played in the gambling rooms at Monte Carlo, roulette being the other. Wikipedia entry

244.23 Apache
The term, used to describe Parisian thugs, was coined in 1902 by journalist Victor Morris. The word is also used in reference to the famous "Apache dance," where an Apache flings his woman about the floor.