Pages 640-655

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 640

640.30 Eddie Pensiero
The name is actually an old pun, taken from "La Donna e Mobile," the most famous aria in Verdi’s Rigoletto. The main verse reads:

La donna e mobile

Quai piuma al vento,

Muta d’accento

E di pensiero. [emphasis added]

English:

Woman is fickle

As a feather in the wind,

She changes her tune

And her thoughts.

Page 642

642.05-06 It’s really a train of imperceptible light and dark.
The glow of the light bulb only appears to be steady, like the flow of light broken by the shutter in a movie projector.

Page 645

645.12 Buddy at the last minute decided to go see Dracula
See note at 591.18.