Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Pages 617-626

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==Page 617==
'''What? - Richard M. Nixon''' 
The uncorrected galleys of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' sent in advance to book critics featured a different epigraph here. [http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=15378 source]. (Or [http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1973/03/one-mans-meat-is-another-mans-poisson here.]) 

Instead of the Nixon quote, it used the following:

''“She has brought them to her senses, 
''They have laughed inside her laughter, 
''Now she rallies her defenses, 
''For she fears someone will ask her 
''For eternity — 
''And she’s so busy being free….” — Joni Mitchell. ''

These lyrics come from the song "Cactus Tree," from Mitchell's 1968 album, "Song To A Seagull." Full lyrics and sample at (fansite) [http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=84 Jonimitchell.com]. 

==Page 622==
[[image:shadow-waltz.jpg|thumb|100px|The Shadow Waltz|right]]622.30-31 '''that dreamy Dick Powell song''' 
Is actually titled "The Shadow Waltz," composed by Al Dubin and Harry Warren for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_diggers_of_1933 ''The Gold Diggers of 1933''] (not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlight_Parade ''Footlight Parade'']). The song in the film gives way to a typically bizarre [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley Busby Berkeley] musical production in which women on roller skates play violins outlined with neon lights.

==Page 625==
625.10 '''gnaedige Frau:''' 
The literal meaning of the usual polite form of address of a lady of a high rank ("merciful" or "benevolent Madam") has got a new value here.

==Page 626==
626.02 '''Chapter 81 work''' 
This obscure reference comes (again) from [[Pages_20-29#Page 27|''The Berkshire Hills'']]. As the authors note:

:" ... the one occupation which survives all depressions in the small Berkshire villages is road work. Regardless of bad financial conditions, citizens sidetrack other appropriations to continue voting to raise and appropriate the sum of --- dollars for Chapter 81 highways..." (p. 214).

:"Chapter 81 work is for road improvement, during which a scraper removes sod and dirt from ditches and shoulders, followed by workers who clean out the ditches and replace culverts and drains" (p. 216).

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Pages 189-205

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==Page 189==
189.20 '''Grischa''' 
Diminutive of Grigori

189.30-31 '''another episode in some huge pathological dream of Stalin's''' 
Whether intended or not, this brought to mind the [http://paleotrope.wordpress.com/2006/09/13/solipsism-and-other-minds/ Dream of the Red King] in ''Alice in Wonderland''. People in Soviet Russia were real, like Alice, only in that they exist in the Red King's (Stalin) dreams. And as Alice learned, crying can only make matters worse: her tears cannot make her any more real and crying risks waking the king -- in which case, of course, no more Alice.

==Page 190==
190.8 '''pirozhok''' 
An individual-sized baked or fried bun stuffed with a variety of fillings; a pirog (plural pirogi) is a full-sized pie

190.23 '''RHIP''' 
"Rank has its privileges."

190.32 '''Wormwood Scrubs School Tie''' 
Wormwood Scrubs Prison, in London, was built by convicts in 1874; that Slothrop would wear a prison school tie says a lot about his (and Pynchon's) sense of humor. [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H#hptie Hand-painted ties] also feature in Inherent Vice.

==Page 192==
[[image:mark-sheridan.jpg|thumb|100px|Mark Sheridan|right]]192.15-16 '''humming "You Can Do a Lot of Things at the Seaside That You Can’t Do in Town"''' 
This pre-World War I British music hall tune was composed by Mark Sheridan. It appears as the "B" side of his recording of the early WWI song "Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser."

==Page 194==
194.6 '''Himmler-Spielsaal''' 
German: Himmler-Gameroom; named after Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and a Nazi leader

194.6-7 '''chemin-de-fer''' 
French: 'railroad'; but in this case a version of Baccarat, as it was originally introduced in France

194.18 '''Choate''' 
A prep school in Wallingford, Connecticut; now known as Choate Rosemary Hall after a merger in 1971 of two eminent single-sex establishments.

==Page 198==
198.19-21 '''My little chickadee...gets in bed w-with that ''goat''?''' 
''My Little Chickadee'' (1940) is a Universal comedy/western motion picture starring [[W#maewest|Mae West]] and W. C. Fields. Fields (of course) ends up in bed with a goat. 
[http://video.anyclip.com/movies/my-little-chickadee/sleeping-with-a-goat/ Clip.]

==Page 200==
200.5-6 '''They are playing croquet.''' 

The surreal quality of a treed Slothrop landing in the midst of senior officers and plump ladies playing croquet brings to mind Alice playing [http://xahlee.org/p/alice/alice-ch08.html croquet] with the plump Queen of Hearts, the King of Hearts and their court in ''Alice in Wonderland''.

==Page 201==
201.5 '''Lawrence of Arabia''' 
Lawrence did not command regular troops in the Mediterranean Theatre, as described by Weisenburger, but led Arab partisan operations against the Turks during the war. The subaltern’s snide remarks to Slothrop echo the scene in David Lean's 1962 ''Lawrence of Arabia'' when Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) first appears at British headquarters in Cairo wearing Arab clothing.

==Page 202==
[[image:charles-coburn.jpg|thumb|100px|Charles Coburn|right]]202.34 '''Bwa-deboolong''' 
It is no wonder that Weisenburger cannot find a Bois de Boulogne in Monaco: The reference is actually to a turn-of-the-century music hall tune, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," by Fred Gilbert. The persona of the song is a man who has recently returned to Paris after a streak of luck at the tables. The chorus:

:As I walk along the Bois de Boulogne 
:With an independent air, 
:You can hear the girls declare, 
:"There goes a millionaire!" 
:You can hear them sigh and wish to die, 
:You can see them wink the other eye 
:At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

The song crops up in several films, notably in Orson Welles’ ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942). The song’s meter is also echoed in the "Vulgar Song" at p.213.20-30 and the song at p244.13-16. The song was made very popular by performer Charles Coborn, who was still making appearances at music halls until his death in 1945. Audio clips of Coborn performing are available [http://www.rfwilmut.clara.net/musichll/musich.html here].

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Pages 167-174

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==Page 167==
167.36 '''"And the crowds they swarm in Knightsbridge, and the wireless carols drone, and the Underground's a mob-scene, but Pointsman's all alone"'''
Sung to the tune of the Kinks' "A Well-Respected Man" ... "And he gets up in the morning, and he goes to work at 9, etc etc"]

==Page 168==
168.22-23 '''"What did the Cockney exclaim to the cowboy from San Antonio?"'''
I think Weisenburger tries way too hard on this one. If you ask me, the punchline to this terrible joke is simply "Cor, Tex!" with the "cor" from the Cockney slang exclamation "Cor blimey!" and the "Tex" from the American cowboy diminutive, indicating a person from Texas.
--[[User:Jpicco|Jpicco]] 12:47, 31 May 2009 (PDT)

==Page 169==
169.7-8 '''...some piece by Ernesto Lecuona, ''Siboney'' perhaps...''' 
Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (1895-1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist. ''Siboney'' (''Canto Siboney'') was from 1929. Siboney is also a town in Cuba.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy2_XnsFro 1929 version] on Youtube.

169.30 '''bass part to ''Diadem''''' 
One of several tunes used for the hymn ''All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name''; James Ellor wrote the tune.

169.31 '''Flying Fortress''' 
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps.

169.39 '''Welshman in ''Henry V''''' 
Refers to Fluellen, a comically stereotyped Welsh soldier in Shakespeare's historical play, believed to have been written around 1599. 
[http://nfs.sparknotes.com/henryv/page_242.html Act 5, scene 1,] of ''Henry V'' is the famous leek eating scene, which can be hilarious onstage.

==page 170==
170.4 '''Ashkenazic Jews''' 
also known as Ashkenazi Jews or Ashkenazim; Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. ''Ashkenaz'' is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany.

170.10 '''BMRs''' 
Basal metabolic rate: the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment.

170.13 '''Vincentesque invaders''' 
According to Weisenburger, this refers to germs which cause trench-mouth, a disease diagnosed by the French doctor Jean Vincent.

170.29 '''Cymri''' 
The Welsh (also ''Cymry''); ''Cymru'' is the name of the country in Welsh

==page 171==
171.7 '''''Aberystwyth''''' 
A tune composed by Joseph Parry, often used in hymns; Aberystwyth is a city in Wales.

171.11 '''bubble-and-squeak''' 
A traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables, usually potato and cabbage, from a roast dinner.

171.12 '''slap-and-tickle''' 
British-English slang: playful kissing, tickling, caressing; foreplay

==page 172==
172.29 '''the white riders''' 
Death. American [Arizonian; some sources say] Folktale. ''The White Rider''[[http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/az2.html]]

==Page 173==
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173.21 '''Vat 69''' 
A brand of blended whisky. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vat_69 Wiki.] 
 
 

173.26-27 '''babies born...also following a Poisson Distribution''' 
births parallel the rockets of death.

173.39 '''Christmas bugs''' 
Waterbugs... that are "agents of unification". Pynchon likes Christmas and creatures in the 'Low-lands'. These bugs were in History's most famous 'manger'....a tranquil world.

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==Page 167==
167.36 '''"And the crowds they swarm in Knightsbridge, and the wireless carols drone, and the Underground's a mob-scene, but Pointsman's all alone"'''
Sung to the tune of the Kinks' "A Well-Respected Man" ... "And he gets up in the morning, and he goes to work at 9, etc etc"]

==Page 168==
168.22-23 '''"What did the Cockney exclaim to the cowboy from San Antonio?"'''
I think Weisenburger tries way too hard on this one. If you ask me, the punchline to this terrible joke is simply "Cor, Tex!" with the "cor" from the Cockney slang exclamation "Cor blimey!" and the "Tex" from the American cowboy diminutive, indicating a person from Texas.
--[[User:Jpicco|Jpicco]] 12:47, 31 May 2009 (PDT)

==Page 169==
169.7-8 '''...some piece by Ernesto Lecuona, ''Siboney'' perhaps...''' 
Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (1895-1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist. ''Siboney'' (''Canto Siboney'') was from 1929. Siboney is also a town in Cuba.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy2_XnsFro 1929 version] on Youtube.

169.30 '''bass part to ''Diadem''''' 
One of several tunes used for the hymn ''All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name''; James Ellor wrote the tune.

169.31 '''Flying Fortress''' 
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps.

169.39 '''Welshman in ''Henry V''''' 
Refers to Fluellen, a comically stereotyped Welsh soldier in Shakespeare's historical play, believed to have been written around 1599. 
[http://nfs.sparknotes.com/henryv/page_242.html Act 5, scene 1,] of ''Henry V'' is the famous leek eating scene, which can be hilarious onstage.

==page 170==
170.4 '''Ashkenazic Jews''' 
also known as Ashkenazi Jews or Ashkenazim; Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. ''Ashkenaz'' is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany.

170.10 '''BMRs''' 
Basal metabolic rate: the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment.

170.13 '''Vincentesque invaders''' 
According to Weisenburger, this refers to germs which cause trench-mouth, a disease diagnosed by the French doctor Jean Vincent.

170.29 '''Cymri''' 
The Welsh (also ''Cymry''); ''Cymru'' is the name of the country in Welsh

==page 171==
171.7 '''''Aberystwyth''''' 
A tune composed by Joseph Parry, often used in hymns; Aberystwyth is a city in Wales.

171.11 '''bubble-and-squeak''' 
A traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables, usually potato and cabbage, from a roast dinner.

171.12 '''slap-and-tickle''' 
British-English slang: playful kissing, tickling, caressing; foreplay

==page 172==
172.29 '''the white riders''' 
Death. American [Arizonian; some sources say] Folktale. ''The White Rider''[[http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/az2.html]]

==Page 173==
173.21 '''Vat 69''' 
A brand of blended whisky.

173.26-27 '''babies born...also following a Poisson Distribution''' 
births parallel the rockets of death.

173.39 '''Christmas bugs''' 
Waterbugs... that are "agents of unification". Pynchon likes Christmas and creatures in the 'Low-lands'. These bugs were in History's most famous 'manger'....a tranquil world.

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Pages 167-174

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==Page 167==
167.36 '''"And the crowds they swarm in Knightsbridge, and the wireless carols drone, and the Underground's a mob-scene, but Pointsman's all alone"'''
Sung to the tune of the Kinks' "A Well-Respected Man" ... "And he gets up in the morning, and he goes to work at 9, etc etc"]

==Page 168==
168.22-23 '''"What did the Cockney exclaim to the cowboy from San Antonio?"'''
I think Weisenburger tries way too hard on this one. If you ask me, the punchline to this terrible joke is simply "Cor, Tex!" with the "cor" from the Cockney slang exclamation "Cor blimey!" and the "Tex" from the American cowboy diminutive, indicating a person from Texas.
--[[User:Jpicco|Jpicco]] 12:47, 31 May 2009 (PDT)

==Page 169==
169.7-8 '''...some piece by Ernesto Lecuona, ''Siboney'' perhaps...''' 
Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (1895-1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist. ''Siboney'' (''Canto Siboney'') was from 1929. Siboney is also a town in Cuba.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy2_XnsFro 1929 version] on Youtube.

169.30 '''bass part to ''Diadem''''' 
One of several tunes used for the hymn ''All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name''; James Ellor wrote the tune.

169.31 '''Flying Fortress''' 
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps.

169.39 '''Welshman in ''Henry V''''' 
Refers to Fluellen, a comically stereotyped Welsh soldier in Shakespeare's historical play, believed to have been written around 1599.

==page 170==
170.4 '''Ashkenazic Jews''' 
also known as Ashkenazi Jews or Ashkenazim; Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. ''Ashkenaz'' is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany.

170.10 '''BMRs''' 
Basal metabolic rate: the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment.

170.13 '''Vincentesque invaders''' 
According to Weisenburger, this refers to germs which cause trench-mouth, a disease diagnosed by the French doctor Jean Vincent.

170.29 '''Cymri''' 
The Welsh (also ''Cymry''); ''Cymru'' is the name of the country in Welsh

==page 171==
171.7 '''''Aberystwyth''''' 
A tune composed by Joseph Parry, often used in hymns; Aberystwyth is a city in Wales.

171.11 '''bubble-and-squeak''' 
A traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables, usually potato and cabbage, from a roast dinner.

171.12 '''slap-and-tickle''' 
British-English slang: playful kissing, tickling, caressing; foreplay

==page 172==
172.29 '''the white riders''' 
Death. American [Arizonian; some sources say] Folktale. ''The White Rider''[[http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/az2.html]]

==Page 173==
173.21 '''Vat 69''' 
A brand of blended whisky.

173.26-27 '''babies born...also following a Poisson Distribution''' 
births parallel the rockets of death.

173.39 '''Christmas bugs''' 
Waterbugs... that are "agents of unification". Pynchon likes Christmas and creatures in the 'Low-lands'. These bugs were in History's most famous 'manger'....a tranquil world.

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Pages 120-136

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==Page 121==
121.13-14 '''...watching Maria Montez and Jon Hall...''' 
The duo made a series of six Technicolor adventure films: ''Arabian Nights'' (1942), ''White Savage'' (1943), ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1944), ''Cobra Woman'' (1944), ''Gypsy Wildcat'' (1944), and ''Sudan'' (1945).

==Page 126==
126.19 '''this seventh Christmas of the War''' 
Although Weisenburger declares this a mistake ("a miscount"), upon closer inspection it's actually quite intentional, a sly device to underscore Roger's and Jessica's confusion. [[Sixes and Sevens|They're at sixes and sevens, you see...]]

==Page 127==
127.16 '''Tannoy''' 
Tannoy Ltd is an English manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address (PA) systems. It became a household name as a result of supplying PA systems to the armed forces during World War II, and to Butlins and Pontins holiday camps after the war.

==Page 128==
128.14 '''join the waits''' 
Leicester's ancient tradition of Town Waits official musicians who supported the Lord Mayor at civic events, entertained townspeople and feted visitors. The waits were originally guards or watchmen who walked round the town at night looking out for fires or other trouble. They rang bells to tell people the time, or called out '2 o'clock and all's well'. They also played music for the Lord Mayor's guests on big occasions, and entertained the general public. This became their main job. By 1900 the waits' instruments were a cornet, a euphonium, a tenor horn and a trombone. From then, the waits mostly played popular requests for a small fee, which was given to charity. By the 1940s, a request would cost about half a crown (12p). The Leicester Waits were disbanded around 1947. [http://www.leicester.gov.uk/NewsSite/index01.asp?pgid=3182]; [[W#waits|Picture]]

==Page 129==

129.9 '''Tallis, Thomas (c. 1505–1585)''' 
An English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England.

129.9 '''Purcell, Henry (c. 1659-1695)''' 
An English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music.

129.9 '''Suso, Heinrich (1295-1336)''' 
German mystic and preacher (Heinrich Seuse in German). His composition ''In Dulci Jubilo'' is a German/Latin macaronic carol (Pynchon (mis)dates it as "fifteenth century"); the first verse (of four), can be translated as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Original text
! English translation
|-
| In dulci jubilo,
| In sweet rejoicing
|-
| Nun singet und seid froh!
| now sing and be glad!
|-
| Alle unsre Wonne
| All our joy
|-
| Liegt in praesepio;
| lies in the manger;
|-
| Sie leuchtet wie die Sonne
| It shines like the sun
|-
| Matris in gremio.
| in the mother's lap.
|-
| Alpha es et O!
| You are the alpha and omega!
|}

==Page 130==
130.10-27 '''...thousands of old used toothpaste tubes...emptied and returned to the War...''' 
War with a minty smile? Menthol to cover the stench of the dead?
Toothpaste tubes were made of pewter, a valuable material worth recycling.

==Page 131==
[[Image:Ein_Volk,_Ein_Reich,_Ein_Fuehrer.jpeg|thumb|Ein Volk poster|130px|right]]
131.1 '''...ein Volk ein Führer...''' 
German: 'one people, one leader'

131.11 '''Rundstedt offensive''' 
1944's Ardennes offensive, or Battle of the Bulge, was directed by the German field marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953).

==Page 132==

132.11 '''Mr. Morrison''' 
Herbert Stanley Morrison (1888-1965), British Labour statesman who played a leading role in London local government for 25 years. At this point he was Home Secretary in Churchill's coalition government.

132.16 '''Alasils''' 
An English brand of pain relievers suggested for 'symptomatic pain generally, rheumatism, fibrositis, lumbago, headache, dysmenorrhoea, dental pain'.

132.20 '''Eyeties''' 
slang: Italians

132.20 '''''Giovinezza''''' 
The anthem of the Italian National Fascist Party; Italian for 'youth'

132.21 '''''Rigoletto''''' 
An opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851. It is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career.

132.21 '''''La bohème''''' 
An opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio and was conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.

132.29 '''cioè''' 
Italian: 'that is', 'i.e.'

132.31 '''mano morto''' 
Italian: dead hand (should be mano morta)

132.32 '''CBI''' 
China-Burma-India theatre of WWII

==Page 134==
134.38-39 '''...your mother hoping to hang that Gold Star...''' 
The group American Gold Star Mothers was formed after WWI. The name derives from the custom of families of servicemen hanging a banner called a Service Flag in their front window. It had a star for each family member in the military. Living servicemen were represented by a blue star, and those who had lost their lives were represented by a gold star.

134.40 '''Home Service programme''' 
The domestic arm of the BBC, as opposed to Overseas Service and European Service.

==Page 135==
135.5 '''Miraculous Medal''' 
aka the Medal of the Immaculate Conception; created after a vision of the Virgin Mary; often worn by Catholics (and even non-Catholics) as protection through Mary's intercession

135.33 '''...when the 88 fell...''' 
135.7 a German 88 mm shell

135.33 '''SPQR''' 
Latin: senatus populusque Romanus = the senate and the people of Rome; refers to the government of the ancient Roman Republic

135.39 '''...tippin' those Toledos...''' 
Scales from the company Toledo Scale, founded in Columbus, OH in 1901; now known as Mettler Toledo

==Page 136==
136.6-7 '''''O Jesu parvule''''' 
First two lines of second verse of ''In Dulci Jubilo'' (see [[Pages 120-136#Page 129|129.9 Suso]] above)
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Original text
! English translation
|-
| O Jesu parvule
| O little Jesus
|-
| Nach dir ist mir so weh...
| For thee I long alway...
|}

136.27 '''...Mosquitoes and Lancasters...''' 
Two types of British bomber during WWII.
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==Page 61==
'''Sodium Amytal''' 
Also known as "truth serum", Amobarbital is a drug that is a barbiturate derivative. It has sedative-hypnotic and analgesic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized in Germany in 1923. If amobarbital is taken for extended periods of time, physical and psychological dependence can develop.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_amytal]

61.25 '''Got a hardon in my fist...''' 
This song goes right along with the tune of "Bye Bye Blackbird," starting with the "Pack up all my cares and woe..." refrain that, in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO6PpD-tRLU YouTube], begins at about 0:52.

61.30 '''"ruptured duck"''' 
[[image:Ruptured_Duck.jpeg|150px|Ruptured duck|right]]
A [http://www.therupturedduck.com/WebPages/Whatis/whatis.htm cloth insignia] depicting a screaming eagle inside a wreath.

==Page 62==
'''Roxbury''' 
In the early 20th century, Roxbury became home to recent immigrants - A thriving Jewish community... A large Irish population... Following a massive migration from the South to northern cities in the 1940s and 1950s, Roxbury became the center of the African-American community in Boston. The center of African American residential and social activities in Boston had formerly been on the north slope of Beacon Hill and the South End. In particular, a riot in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in stores on Blue Hill Avenue being looted and eventually burned down, leaving a desolate and abandoned landscape which discouraged commerce and business development. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxbury,_Boston]

==Page 63==
'''Roseland Ballroom''' 
Roseland was founded initially in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1917 by Louis Brecker with financing by Frank Yuengling of the D. G. Yuengling & Son beer family, but in 1919, moved to 1658 Broadway at 51st Street in New York City. It was a "whites only" dance club called the "home of refined dancing", famed for the big band groups that played there, starting with Sam Lanin and his Ipana Troubadours. Couples danced the jitterbug, Lindy Hop, and Charleston under the Roseland's famed star-studded ceiling. The Fletcher Henderson Band played at the Roseland throughout the 1920 and 1930's. Orchestras that played the venue included Vincent Lopez, Harry James, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. The appearance by Count Basie was a turning point in his career and a break though in the all-white atmosphere of the club. One of his songs was to be the "Roseland Shuffle". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseland_Ballroom]

63.5 '''Moxie''' 
A carbonated beverage that was one of the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. In its advertising, it used “Make Mine Moxie!” advertising jingles, the slogan “Just Make It Moxie for Mine”, and a "Moxie Man" logo. The brand suffered a significant decline in sales during the 1930s.

63.22 '''Red, the Negro shoeshine boy''' 
Stating the obvious, Red is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcom_X#_note-timeline Malcolm X], whose nickname "Red" referred to his hair color -- a dark cinnamon brown. In February 1941 Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his older half-sister, worked a variety of jobs including shoeshine and became involved in Boston's "underworld fringe," pimping among other things.

63.32-37 '''"Yardbird" Parker is finding out [ . . . ]''' 
Refers to jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. Correspondent Igor Zabel offers the following addition to [[Weisenburger's Companion to Gravity's Rainbow|Weisenburger]]'s note on this passage:
"On one of Parker's CDs (Swedish Schnapps +), I found the passage which was quoted by [[Weisenburger's Companion to Gravity's Rainbow|Weisenburger]] after Max Harrison, but slightly different, and it is interesting because Parker directly mentions Cherokee: 'Well, that night, I was working over 'Cherokee' and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I'd been hearing. I came alive.' The quotation is taken from 'Hear Me Talkin' To Ya'."

==Page 64==

64.19 '''"'Slip the talcum to me, Malcolm!'"''' 
This homoerotic scene seems based on some facts. It is known that Malcolm X prostituted himself for money and according to Bruce Perry's biography, ''Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America'' (Station Hill, New York, 1991) he had various homosexual liaisons throughout his life. Interestingly, Malcolm worked as a butler to a wealthy Boston bachelor, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1486997,00.html William Paul Lennon]. According to Malcolm's sidekick Malcolm Jarvis, he [Malcolm] was paid to sprinkle Lennon with talcum powder and bring him to orgasm.

==Page 65==
'''Burma-Shave signs''' 
Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream, famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small, sequential highway billboard signs. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave_signs]

65.15 '''"Gobbler" Biddle''' 
The Biddles are one of the leading families of Philadelphia, who sometimes vacationed in the Berkshires. Specifically, the "Gobbler" could be Nicholas Biddle (Harvard, 1944). 
Interestingly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Beverly_Biddle Francis B. Biddle] (Harvard College 1909, Harvard Law 1911) was US Attorney General (1941-1945) at this time. FBB was responsible for directing the FBI to arrest "enemy aliens" leading to Japanese-American internment camps; served as the primary judge during the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal; and authored of ''The Fear of Freedom'' and other works.

65.16 '''Fu’s Folly in Cambridge''' 
Although, as [[Weisenburger's Companion to Gravity's Rainbow|Weisenburger]] notes, the character is named for Fu Manchu (who is an important reference for Pointsman later in the novel), it should be recalled that there was also a "Fu" who was a member of the Whole Sick Crew in ''V.''

Resembles the old Young & Yee Restaurant (now closed) at 27 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, which for over 40 years slopped greasey chop suey. An anachronism to the novel's time period, yes, but perhaps an inspiration to the author.

65.33 '''Jack Kennedy''' 
Contrary to [[Weisenburger's Companion to Gravity's Rainbow|Weisenburger]], Kennedy’s first book was titled '''''Why''' England Slept'' (not "When"). 

JFK is said to be in Slothrop's Harvard class. Estimating, Slothrop was born ca 1917-18 and entered Harvard in 1936, the year of Harvard's tricentennial. They were both in their mid-20s during the action in ''GR''.

==Page 66==
66.39 '''Capehart''' 
The [http://www.myvintagetv.com/capehart.htm Capehart] automatic phonograph with a turn-over mechanism was the epitome of luxury phonographs, technical excellence and supreme electronics in the 1930s and 40s.

==Page 68==

68.01 '''Half an Ark’s better than none.''' 
For Crutchfield, there is only '''one''' of everything, as opposed to two of every animal on Noah’s (whole) Ark. (And how much use is half an Ark in a flood, anyway?)

==Page 69==

69.2 '''''terre mauvais''''' 
French "terre mauvaise" - the "badlands". A rare case of TRP misspelling a foreign word.

69.14 '''a bandana of the regulation magenta and green''' 
The coal-tar derived colors of organic chemistry that resonate throughout the novel. 
The visual clash between these colours appears elsewhere - 'A bit of lime green in with your rose' 12
Pynchon seems to associate positive things with these colors - see ''Against the Day'' particularly - as he does with bandanas. A-and bananas.

69.16 '''Rancho Peligroso''' 
Evokes the Siege Perilous of the Arthurian Grail legend as well as ''Rancho Notorious'', a 1952 Western directed by Fritz Lang and starring Marlene Dietrich. See note at [[V321.06-07]]

69.27 '''callipygian rondure''' 
[http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-cal3.htm callipygian] -- having shapely buttocks, originally used in conjunction with the noted statue of Aphrodite (which is itself a play on "Afro" and "Venus"), the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Kallipygos "Venus Kallipygos"].

rondure -- a circular or gracefully rounded object.

'''Toro Rojo''' 
Red Bull

==Page 70==
'''One ''mestiza''. One ''criolla''''' 
Mestiza: woman of mixed race, especially mixed of European and Native American ancestry. 
Criolla: Creole

'''the Ardennes''' 
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian (Devonian) Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France... The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for centuries... in both World War I and World War II, Germany successfully gambled on making a rapid passage through the Ardennes to attack a relatively lightly defended part of France. The Ardennes was the site of three major battles during the world wars – the Battle of the Ardennes in World War I, and the Battle of France and Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Many of the towns of the region were badly damaged during the two world wars. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardennes]

'''Newton Upper Falls''' 
Newton Upper Falls is a village situated on the east bank of the Charles River in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, in the United States. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Upper_Falls,_Massachusetts]

'''Beacon Street''' 
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and several of its western suburbs. Beacon Street in Boston, Brookline, Brighton, and Newton is not to be confused with the Beacon Street in nearby Somerville, or others elsewhere. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Street]

==Page 71==
[[image:tyrosine.jpg|thumb|100px|Tyrosine Molecule|right]]71.11 '''kryptosam''' 
Correspondent Matthias Bauer notes that "sam" derives from the German "samen," for "seed." "Krypto," of course, derives from the same word as "cryptography," the study of codes. [[Weisenburger's Companion to Gravity's Rainbow|Weisenburger]] claims that the "tyrosine" from which kryptosam is supposed to derive is "undoubtedly fictional," but it is in fact an amino acid, which can convert to melanin, just as Jamf's note indicates (although it is unclear whether semen will in fact act as the catalytic agent). 

Tyrosine is found in casein, and the name derives from the Greek, ''tyros'' meaning cheese. 

Significant properties of note for Tyrosine: 
- Tyrosine functions as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenol phenol], which Nazi doctors used in injections for rapid executions. Phenols were used extensively at Auschwitz-Birkenau. 
- Tyrosine occurs in proteins that are part of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_transduction signal transduction] process -- a biological processes that converts one kind of signal or stimulus into another -- cell signalling.

The SBB (SIS/MI6 forerunner) allegedly discovered that semen, if not a catalyst, did at least make a good invisible ink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen#Semen_in_espionage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_Smith-Cumming
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-spymaster-who-was-stranger-than-fiction-737707.html
spamhog [[User:Spamhog|Spamhog]] 08:58, 6 July 2010 (PDT)

{{GR PbP}}

2016-02-25T12:17:12Z

Froberger: /* Page 23 */

{{GR PbP Text}}

==Page 20==

20.34 '''A-and''' 
Does anyone know how TRP pronounces this? Is it just a stutter? (It will recur in [http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&tbo=p&q=a-and+inauthor:thomas+inauthor:pynchon&num=10 all] his subsequent books.)

20.36 '''TDY''' 
Not "tour of duty," as in Weisenburger, but "temporary duty."

20.37 '''East End'''
This is the East End of London, particularly heavily bombed by the Germans in the war as London's docks were situated there. It was, and still is, the area where the poorest people of London live. Famously, Queen Elizabeth's mother made a royal visit there during the war where she was enthusiastically received.

==Page 21==

21.07 '''A lot of stuff prior to 1944 is getting blurry now.''' 
Even this early in the novel, Slothrop has problems with his "temporal bandwidth."

21.36 '''86’d''' 
While sources do agree with Weisenburger that the term "86" might originate in rhyming slang (for "nix"), they also agree that it was first used in the restaurant business to indicate menu items that were no longer available. The wider usage here may not have originated until the 1950s.

21 '''Tantivy's guest at the Junior Athenaeum''' 
According to the London Encyclopedia the Junior Athenaeum purchased Hope House at 116 Piccadilly in 1868, owning it until the building was demolished in 1936. The JA appears to have closed its doors in 1931, making this a possible anachronism. The Athenaeum Club proper is the most intellectually elite of the gentlemen's clubs; Darwin, Dickens and Trollope were members and Michael Faraday was secretary of the first committee.

==Page 22==
22 '''a build out of the chorus line at the Windmill'''; also p39 "It's not backstage at the Windmill" 
The Windmill opened in 1932 in a building which had been the Palais de Luxe Cinema and then a theatre. It featured comedy and burlesque revues. The only London theatre to remain open throughout the war, the Windmill continued until 1964 when it became a cinema, reverted to a strip club in 1973, became a theatre/restaurant in 1982 and finally re-opened as a strip club in 1986. From a recent advertisement: "The Windmill International - London's Premier Tableside Dancing Club with 75 Beautiful Dancing Girls who will perform tableside for you - full Nudity - fantastic stage and light show - Dress Smart".

22.04 '''Frick Frack Club''' 
The term "frick and frack" is often used to designate two people or almost any two items closely associated with each other. The term originates from the stage names of a pair of Swiss skaters who starred in ice shows in the 1930s. Pynchon probably chose the name more for its senseless alliteration (like "Kit-Kat Club") than any specific meaning.

'''Thomas Hooker... wilde Thyme''' 
Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent Puritan religious and colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader of universal Christian suffrage. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hooker]

"wilde Thyme" also brings to mind "Wild Tyme", song by Jefferson Airplane on their 1967 LP ''After Bathing At Baxter's'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_bathing_at_baxter%27s]

==Page 23==

23.10 '''Bovril''' 
A beef extract--its main use is as a flavouring for soups, and as a drink when you put a teaspoon of the stuff in a mug of boiling water. The method for making the extract was perfected by Justus von Liebig, who co-founded the eponymous London based company.

23.19 '''Wrens''' 
Women's Royal Naval Service - British civilian support group of war effort

23.25 '''Ike jacket''' 
[[image:Ike_Jacket.jpeg|thumb|75px|right]]Eisenhower jacket-- officially the M-44; a waist-cropped style jacket designed in 1943 and meant to be worn beneath the standard US field jacket, the M-43, as an added layer of insulation; supposedly made at Eisenhower's request.

==Page 24==
'''Humber''' 
Humber is a British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers[1] acquired a controlling interest and joined the Humber board in 1932 making Humber part of their Rootes Group. The range focused on luxury models, such as the Humber Super Snipe. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber_(car)]

'''Morrison shelter''' 
The Morrison shelter, officially termed ''Table (Morrison) Indoor Shelter'', had a cage-like construction beneath it. It was designed by John Baker and named after Herbert Morrison, the Minister of Home Security at the time. It was the result of the realisation that due to the lack of house cellars it was necessary to develop an effective type of indoor shelter. The shelters came in assembly kits, to be bolted together inside the home. They were approximately 6 ft 6 in (2 m) long, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and 2 ft 6 in (0.75 m) high, had a solid 1/8 in (3 mm) steel plate “table” top, welded wire mesh sides, and a metal lath “mattress”- type floor. Altogether it had 359 parts and had 3 tools supplied with the pack. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison_shelter#Morrison_shelter]

==Page 25==

25.06-07 '''Slothrop’s Progress . . . a parable''' 
"Slothrop’s Progress" echoes John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory ''The Pilgrim’s Progress''. The word "parable," interestingly, comes from the same root as "parabola."

Slothrop's Progress may be Time itself. Sir Arthur Eddington coined the term "time's arrow" to describe entropy's progress and time's irreversibility-- i.e. "as the universe gets older, it becomes more disordered, following the second law of thermodynamics." Entropy's progress defines time. Cf. ''Scientific American'', Jan 2008, p.26 for more.

25. 29 '''Bond Street Underground station'''
This is a station in the wealthier West End of London - also a site on the British version of 'Monopoly'

==Page 26==

26.30 '''back home in Mingeborough, Massachusetts''' 
The Berkshire town was first created by Pynchon in the short story "The Secret Integration," set in the mid-1960s. This story also introduced the Slothrop family, in the person of Hogan Slothrop, who is apparently the son of Tyrone’s brother. Minges (or "midges") are small, biting insects. However, "minge" was originally also a British slang term for a woman's pubic hair, now generalised to the female genitals.

26.33 '''British Double Summer Time''' 
Correspondent Igor Zabel explains this term:
" . . . in Britain they had, during the war, the clocks an hour ahead in the winter time and two hours in the summer time."

26.37-38 '''Death is a debt to nature due . . . so must you.''' 
Weisenburger claims that this epitaph, with its debt to "nature" rather than God, would be heretical to Puritans. That might be so, but the inscription was fairly common on tombstones in the northeast from the mid-1700s until the early 1800s, a range that includes Constant’s 1760 death.

==Page 27==

27.04 '''Variable Slothrop''' 
The son of "Constant": The two names play a mathematical pun and suggest the family’s decline as well. Both names seem to be a pun as well on the name of Puritan minister and Harvard president, the Rev. Increase Mather of Massachusetts Bay Colony and his son, Cotton Mather. Increase attempted to decrease the heat surrounding the Salem Witch Trials through a series of sermons seeking moderation in the use of spectral evidence, even though he defended the trials and the judges. Parallels: Second law of thermodynamics - heated trials cooling. Increase-Cotton-Constant-Variable -- 

27.31-33 '''They began as fur traders, cordwainers, salters and smokers of bacon, went on into glassmaking, became selectmen, builders of tanneries, quarriers of marble.''' 
[[image:berkshire.jpg|thumb|100px|right]]One source listed in Weisenburger but that he did not have time to consult closely is ''The Berkshire Hills'' <ref>''The Berkshire Hills''', Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York, 1939</ref>, a guidebook prepared for this western Massachusetts region by the Federal Writers Project during the Depression. (See Pynchon’s comments in his introduction to ''Slow Learner''.) Although not the sole source, the book provides important background for "The Secret Integration" and the Berkshire segments of ''Gravity’s Rainbow''. Most of the offices and trades listed here (except for "smokers and salters of bacon") are noted at one place or another in the guidebook. Also see my article "From the Berkshires to the Brocken: Transformations of a Source in "The Secret Integration" and Gravity’s Rainbow," [http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm/pynchon.html Pynchon Notes] 22-23 (Spring-Fall 1988): 87-98.

==Page 28==

28.02 '''converted acres at a clip into paper''' 
A paper clip? A likely reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip Operation Paper Clip], the OSS program to recruit Nazi scientists to work for the US and deny them to the Russians. Von Braun was brought to the US under this program.

28.02-03 '''paper—toilet paper, banknote stock, newsprint''' 
The Berkshire Hills describes several paper mills in the region and notes the importance of the industry. One producer, Crane and Company, first used the term "bond" for high-quality paper and provided special paper for U.S. currency from 1879 on <ref>Ibid, p. 238</ref>. Another company, in the town of Lee, gave the "first practical demonstration in America of the process of manufacturing paper from wood pulp instead of rags" <ref>Ibid, p. 143</ref>.

'''Somerset Club''' 
The Somerset Club is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded perhaps as early as 1826. The original club was informal, without a clubhouse. By the 1830s this had evolved into a group called the Temple. In 1851 the group purchased the home of Benjamin W. Crowninshield, located at the corner of Beacon and Somerset Streets. Originally called the Beacon Club, it was renamed the Somerset Club in 1852. In 1871 the Somerset Club purchased the David Sears townhouse at 42 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill. Originally designed by Alexander Parris and built in 1819, Sears had added to the house in 1832 and had built the adjacent Crowninshield-Amory house at 43 Beacon Street for his daughter. The land on which the house stood was originally part of an 18-acre (73,000 m2) parcel owned by John Singleton Copley, who called it "his farm on Beacon Street." Eventually the Club bought 43 Beacon Street and joined the two houses into one large clubhouse. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Club]

V28.33-34 '''Harrimans and Whitneys gone''' 
The Harrimans are mentioned in passing several times in The Berkshire Hills as being among the wealthy families who spent their summers in the region. William C. Whitney, President Cleveland’s Secretary of the Navy, is specifically mentioned as the founder of a vacation colony in Lenox in 1886 <ref>Ibid, p. 224</ref>.

==Page 29==

29.04 '''Hogan''' 
Tyrone Slothrop’s brother, presumably the father of the Hogan Slothrop of "The Secret Integration," set in the Berkshires a generation later.

'''laminar''' 
Laminar flow, sometimes known as streamline flow, occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between the layers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow]

==References==
<references/>

{{GR PbP}}

2016-02-24T22:17:16Z

Froberger: Froberger uploaded a new version of File:Ike Jacket.jpeg

Pages 20-29

2016-02-24T22:14:14Z

Froberger: /* Page 23 */

{{GR PbP Text}}

==Page 20==

20.34 '''A-and''' 
Does anyone know how TRP pronounces this? Is it just a stutter? (It will recur in [http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&tbo=p&q=a-and+inauthor:thomas+inauthor:pynchon&num=10 all] his subsequent books.)

20.36 '''TDY''' 
Not "tour of duty," as in Weisenburger, but "temporary duty."

20.37 '''East End'''
This is the East End of London, particularly heavily bombed by the Germans in the war as London's docks were situated there. It was, and still is, the area where the poorest people of London live. Famously, Queen Elizabeth's mother made a royal visit there during the war where she was enthusiastically received.

==Page 21==

21.07 '''A lot of stuff prior to 1944 is getting blurry now.''' 
Even this early in the novel, Slothrop has problems with his "temporal bandwidth."

21.36 '''86’d''' 
While sources do agree with Weisenburger that the term "86" might originate in rhyming slang (for "nix"), they also agree that it was first used in the restaurant business to indicate menu items that were no longer available. The wider usage here may not have originated until the 1950s.

21 '''Tantivy's guest at the Junior Athenaeum''' 
According to the London Encyclopedia the Junior Athenaeum purchased Hope House at 116 Piccadilly in 1868, owning it until the building was demolished in 1936. The JA appears to have closed its doors in 1931, making this a possible anachronism. The Athenaeum Club proper is the most intellectually elite of the gentlemen's clubs; Darwin, Dickens and Trollope were members and Michael Faraday was secretary of the first committee.

==Page 22==
22 '''a build out of the chorus line at the Windmill'''; also p39 "It's not backstage at the Windmill" 
The Windmill opened in 1932 in a building which had been the Palais de Luxe Cinema and then a theatre. It featured comedy and burlesque revues. The only London theatre to remain open throughout the war, the Windmill continued until 1964 when it became a cinema, reverted to a strip club in 1973, became a theatre/restaurant in 1982 and finally re-opened as a strip club in 1986. From a recent advertisement: "The Windmill International - London's Premier Tableside Dancing Club with 75 Beautiful Dancing Girls who will perform tableside for you - full Nudity - fantastic stage and light show - Dress Smart".

22.04 '''Frick Frack Club''' 
The term "frick and frack" is often used to designate two people or almost any two items closely associated with each other. The term originates from the stage names of a pair of Swiss skaters who starred in ice shows in the 1930s. Pynchon probably chose the name more for its senseless alliteration (like "Kit-Kat Club") than any specific meaning.

'''Thomas Hooker... wilde Thyme''' 
Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent Puritan religious and colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader of universal Christian suffrage. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hooker]

"wilde Thyme" also brings to mind "Wild Tyme", song by Jefferson Airplane on their 1967 LP ''After Bathing At Baxter's'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_bathing_at_baxter%27s]

==Page 23==

23.10 '''Bovril''' 
A beef extract--its main use is as a flavouring for soups, and as a drink when you put a teaspoon of the stuff in a mug of boiling water. The method for making the extract was perfected by Justus von Liebig, who co-founded the eponymous London based company.

23.19 '''Wrens''' 
Women's Royal Naval Service - British civilian support group of war effort

23.25 '''Ike jacket''' 
Eisenhower jacket--officially the M-44; a waist-cropped style jacket designed in 1943 and meant to be worn beneath the standard US field jacket, the M-43, as an added layer of insulation; supposedly made at Eisenhower's request

[[Image:Ike_Jacket.jpeg|thumb|caption|right]]

==Page 24==
'''Humber''' 
Humber is a British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers[1] acquired a controlling interest and joined the Humber board in 1932 making Humber part of their Rootes Group. The range focused on luxury models, such as the Humber Super Snipe. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber_(car)]

'''Morrison shelter''' 
The Morrison shelter, officially termed ''Table (Morrison) Indoor Shelter'', had a cage-like construction beneath it. It was designed by John Baker and named after Herbert Morrison, the Minister of Home Security at the time. It was the result of the realisation that due to the lack of house cellars it was necessary to develop an effective type of indoor shelter. The shelters came in assembly kits, to be bolted together inside the home. They were approximately 6 ft 6 in (2 m) long, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and 2 ft 6 in (0.75 m) high, had a solid 1/8 in (3 mm) steel plate “table” top, welded wire mesh sides, and a metal lath “mattress”- type floor. Altogether it had 359 parts and had 3 tools supplied with the pack. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison_shelter#Morrison_shelter]

==Page 25==

25.06-07 '''Slothrop’s Progress . . . a parable''' 
"Slothrop’s Progress" echoes John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory ''The Pilgrim’s Progress''. The word "parable," interestingly, comes from the same root as "parabola."

Slothrop's Progress may be Time itself. Sir Arthur Eddington coined the term "time's arrow" to describe entropy's progress and time's irreversibility-- i.e. "as the universe gets older, it becomes more disordered, following the second law of thermodynamics." Entropy's progress defines time. Cf. ''Scientific American'', Jan 2008, p.26 for more.

25. 29 '''Bond Street Underground station'''
This is a station in the wealthier West End of London - also a site on the British version of 'Monopoly'

==Page 26==

26.30 '''back home in Mingeborough, Massachusetts''' 
The Berkshire town was first created by Pynchon in the short story "The Secret Integration," set in the mid-1960s. This story also introduced the Slothrop family, in the person of Hogan Slothrop, who is apparently the son of Tyrone’s brother. Minges (or "midges") are small, biting insects. However, "minge" was originally also a British slang term for a woman's pubic hair, now generalised to the female genitals.

26.33 '''British Double Summer Time''' 
Correspondent Igor Zabel explains this term:
" . . . in Britain they had, during the war, the clocks an hour ahead in the winter time and two hours in the summer time."

26.37-38 '''Death is a debt to nature due . . . so must you.''' 
Weisenburger claims that this epitaph, with its debt to "nature" rather than God, would be heretical to Puritans. That might be so, but the inscription was fairly common on tombstones in the northeast from the mid-1700s until the early 1800s, a range that includes Constant’s 1760 death.

==Page 27==

27.04 '''Variable Slothrop''' 
The son of "Constant": The two names play a mathematical pun and suggest the family’s decline as well. Both names seem to be a pun as well on the name of Puritan minister and Harvard president, the Rev. Increase Mather of Massachusetts Bay Colony and his son, Cotton Mather. Increase attempted to decrease the heat surrounding the Salem Witch Trials through a series of sermons seeking moderation in the use of spectral evidence, even though he defended the trials and the judges. Parallels: Second law of thermodynamics - heated trials cooling. Increase-Cotton-Constant-Variable -- 

27.31-33 '''They began as fur traders, cordwainers, salters and smokers of bacon, went on into glassmaking, became selectmen, builders of tanneries, quarriers of marble.''' 
[[image:berkshire.jpg|thumb|100px|right]]One source listed in Weisenburger but that he did not have time to consult closely is ''The Berkshire Hills'' <ref>''The Berkshire Hills''', Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York, 1939</ref>, a guidebook prepared for this western Massachusetts region by the Federal Writers Project during the Depression. (See Pynchon’s comments in his introduction to ''Slow Learner''.) Although not the sole source, the book provides important background for "The Secret Integration" and the Berkshire segments of ''Gravity’s Rainbow''. Most of the offices and trades listed here (except for "smokers and salters of bacon") are noted at one place or another in the guidebook. Also see my article "From the Berkshires to the Brocken: Transformations of a Source in "The Secret Integration" and Gravity’s Rainbow," [http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm/pynchon.html Pynchon Notes] 22-23 (Spring-Fall 1988): 87-98.

==Page 28==

28.02 '''converted acres at a clip into paper''' 
A paper clip? A likely reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip Operation Paper Clip], the OSS program to recruit Nazi scientists to work for the US and deny them to the Russians. Von Braun was brought to the US under this program.

28.02-03 '''paper—toilet paper, banknote stock, newsprint''' 
The Berkshire Hills describes several paper mills in the region and notes the importance of the industry. One producer, Crane and Company, first used the term "bond" for high-quality paper and provided special paper for U.S. currency from 1879 on <ref>Ibid, p. 238</ref>. Another company, in the town of Lee, gave the "first practical demonstration in America of the process of manufacturing paper from wood pulp instead of rags" <ref>Ibid, p. 143</ref>.

'''Somerset Club''' 
The Somerset Club is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts, founded perhaps as early as 1826. The original club was informal, without a clubhouse. By the 1830s this had evolved into a group called the Temple. In 1851 the group purchased the home of Benjamin W. Crowninshield, located at the corner of Beacon and Somerset Streets. Originally called the Beacon Club, it was renamed the Somerset Club in 1852. In 1871 the Somerset Club purchased the David Sears townhouse at 42 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill. Originally designed by Alexander Parris and built in 1819, Sears had added to the house in 1832 and had built the adjacent Crowninshield-Amory house at 43 Beacon Street for his daughter. The land on which the house stood was originally part of an 18-acre (73,000 m2) parcel owned by John Singleton Copley, who called it "his farm on Beacon Street." Eventually the Club bought 43 Beacon Street and joined the two houses into one large clubhouse. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Club]

V28.33-34 '''Harrimans and Whitneys gone''' 
The Harrimans are mentioned in passing several times in The Berkshire Hills as being among the wealthy families who spent their summers in the region. William C. Whitney, President Cleveland’s Secretary of the Navy, is specifically mentioned as the founder of a vacation colony in Lenox in 1886 <ref>Ibid, p. 224</ref>.

==Page 29==

29.04 '''Hogan''' 
Tyrone Slothrop’s brother, presumably the father of the Hogan Slothrop of "The Secret Integration," set in the Berkshires a generation later.

'''laminar''' 
Laminar flow, sometimes known as streamline flow, occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between the layers. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow]

==References==
<references/>

{{GR PbP}}

File:Ike Jacket.jpeg

2016-02-24T22:11:59Z

Froberger: