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| − | Connections to Pynchon's wide-spread yet remarkably hidden family history are scattered throughout this masterwork. Well known author, [http://files.splinder.com/f7cdee4dc9eb635bb8fa51940e388bf1.jpeg bag man], and urban legend [http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/gary_boyd_roberts/48_659_448.asp Thomas Ruggles Pynchon the Fifth] comes from a long line that begins with [http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/Pynchon/meritorious.html William Pynchon], founder of the town of Springfield, Massachusetts. [http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/4832 Thomas Ruggles Pynchon the Third] is more than a footnote to [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=5FB21F083E60E4CE450B0320759422AF.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=8545 Nathaniel Hawthorne]. This [http://www.vheissu.info/bio/eng_tijdlijn.htm Pynchon Timetable] comes from the [http://www.vheissu.info/index.htm Vheissu] website:
| + | [[File:Book_GR_sm.jpg|350px|thumb|''Gravity's Rainbow''<br />'''Jacket Art:''' [[Marc_Getter_-_Designer_and_Artist|Marc Getter]]<br />'''Publication date:''' Feb 28, 1973|right]] |
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| − | :Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The House of the Seven Gables. Rev. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon (1823-1904) writes the author a letter, complaining about the 'abuse' of the 'Pyncheon' name. This rev. Thomas Ruggles Pynchon will become the ninth president of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn, where he teaches science and religion. In 1881 he publishes an Introduction to Chemical Physics. His brother William is the great-grandfather of author Thomas Pynchon.
| + | ==Cover Art== |
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| − | The use of language in his '[http://books.google.com/books?id=QmdOAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA16&dq=Thomas+Ruggles+Pynchon+Trinity+college&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Introduction to Chemical Physics]' is reminiscent of his younger namesake:
| + | '''NOTE:''' You can view the many variations of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' cover art through the years at [http://thomaspynchon.com/pynchon-cover-art/gravitys-rainbow/ ThomasPynchon.com] |
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| − | :"The name Chemistry, is said to be derived from the Arabic word Kimia, something hidden or concealed, and from this, to have been converted into Xyueia*, a word first used by the Greeks about the eleventh century, and meaning the art of making gold and silver. Between the fifth century and the taking of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, says Dr. Thomson, in his History of Chemistry, the Greeks believed in the possibility of making god and silver artificially; and the art which professed to teach the processes was called by them, Chemistry. This idea, however, has long since been thoroughly discarded, and is now no longer heard of."
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| − | Like the author we are discussing, The Thomas Pynchon of [http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/leadership/jones/inauguration/past_presidents.htm Trinity College], Hartford Connecticut, was a daunting polymath. If you open '[http://books.google.com/books?id=QmdOAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA16&dq=Thomas+Ruggles+Pynchon+Trinity+college&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 Introduction to Chemical Physics]', one of the first things you will see is are [http://www.hawaiipictures.com/pictures/kauai/rainbows1-1.jpg Rainbows], the rainbows from the workings of a Chemical [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrometer Spectrometer]:
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| − | :When a material is heated to incandescence it emits light that is characteristic of the atomic makeup of the material. Particular light frequencies give rise to sharply defined bands on the scale which can be thought of as fingerprints. For example, the element sodium has a very characteristic double yellow band known as the Sodium D-lines at 588.9950 and 589.5924 nanometers, the colour of which will be familiar to anyone who has seen a low pressure sodium vapor lamp.
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| − | Much of the scientific material in Gravity's Rainbow concerns the commercial applications of Chemistry. One of the branches of the Pynchon Clan, George M. Pynchon, ran the Wall Street Investment firm [http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0711&msg=122572&sort=author Pynchon & Company] In Gravity's Rainbow, 'we' start in a train:
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| − | :"There are no lights inside the cars."
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| − | . . . .and wind up in a theater, waiting for the end to come, singing an old church hymn from Tyrone Slothrop's [http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ma/county/hampden/spfld/hist1/p49-88.html Pig Farming Ancestor, William Slothrop. Pynchon & Company started in the Railroads, got involved in all sorts of [then] high-tech enterprises, and lost out when film maker and investor William Fox was taken down by a consortium of Banking and Technology interests.
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| − | More to come,
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| − | Robin Landseadel
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