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.

The waxwing also eats the aril, the bright red, seed-containing berry of the yew tree, thus dispersing the yew seed undamaged. The yew, mentioned in the text, is the tree of death. All parts of the tree, including the seed but not the aril, are poisonous and if eaten can literally kill a horse (also pigs, cattle and other livestock).

Like the bird, this man Waxwing is able to safely carry and distribute lethal cargo, undamaged, without harm to himself.

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.