Pages 549-557

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 553

553.25 Let that Ludwig find his lemming
Ludwig's own name has several possible connotations: Beethoven, the mad King of Bavaria, and the brand of banjo played by George Formby, among others.

553.34 One lemming, kid?
The context here is different from those of Crutchfield and Rilke, alluded to by Weisenburger. Slothrop wonders at the improbability of finding just one specific lemming among the many who are rushing to their own destruction. Ursula (who is found later) is representative of the Saving Remnant that Pynchon evokes from time to time. See note at 561.26

Page 555

555.29-31 He wrote a long tract . . . burned in Boston.
In addition to Weisenburger’s note here, it is worth noting that William Pynchon’s tract took a position similar to the Arminian "heresy" that also seems to inform Frans van der Groov’s tortured encounters with the dodos. See note at 111.07-09.

Page 556

556.40-41 foreshortening too fast — it’s wideangle, smalltown space here
The wideangle (short) lens takes in a greater range of area than a normal (medium) focal–length lens and contributes to "deep focus" effects (keeping all planes in sharp focus). It does so, though, at the expense of distorting the space represented, including foreshortening effects.