Terms and References
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p.2 Pachuco:
A young Mexican-American having a taste for flashy clothes and a special jargon and usually belonging to a neighborhood gang.
www.brownpride.com
http://freeweb.digiweb.com/people/Pachuco/index.html
p.2 Gestapo officer:
A secret-police organization in Germany which employed underhanded and terrorist methods against persons suspected of disloyalty.
p.3 Lamont Cranston: (Commissioner Weston, Professor Quackenbush, The Shadow):
Lamont Cranston was the secret identity of The Shadow, the main character of a radio program which ran in the 1930's and 40's. The Shadow, who aids the forces of law and order, is in reality Lamont Cranston, wealthy, young man-about-town. Years ago in the Orient, Cranston learned a strange and mysterious secret, the hypnotic power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him. Cranston's friend and companion, the lovely Margo Lane, is the only person that knows to whom the voice of the invisible Shadow belongs. http://www.otal.umd.edu/~vg/amst205.F96/vj52/homework7-1.html
http://www.thepulp.net/theshadow.html
p.3. Mazatlán:
City in west Mexico, in Sinaloa State, on the Vigia Peninsula, overlooking Olas Atlas Bay, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. A major tourist resort, Mazatlán lies on the Pacific Railway and the west coast part of the Pan-American Highway, just south of the tropic of Cancer and near the entrance to the Gulf of California.
http://www.fwkc.com/encyclopedia/low/articles/m/m016001198f.html
p.4 Jack Lemmon:
American actor, b. 1925-d. Made his debut in the movies in 1954 with Judy Holliday in It Should Happen To You.
p.7. Die Brücke:
Literally, The Bridge.
Ed. Note: Possible significance to the die Brücke movement of German Artists, which promoted free living and narcotic stimulus?http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Kevin_Christian/brukfram.htm
p.8 LSD-25, mescaline, psilocybin:
Hallucinogenic agents.
p.8 TAT picture:
Thematic Apperception Test. A test done by looking at a picture and telling a short story about it. The story you tell reflects your personality.
p.9 Fu-Manchu:
The main character in a 1932 horror thriller about a Chinese madman (played by Boris Karloff) threatening an expedition to the tomb of Ghengis Khan.
p.9 Perry Mason:
Courtroom drama which ran from 1957 until 1966. In the first half hour, a murder is committed and the police arrest the wrong person. One way or another, Perry is engaged for the defense. A trial (or hearing), ensues. Perry solves the case and usually gets the guilty party to break down and confess (often while giving testimony on the witness stand). His client goes free. After the last commercial, Perry and some of the participants in the case get together and all is explained.
p.10 Kinneret:
YAM KINNERET (SEA OF GALILEE)
The Kinneret is a sweet water lake and is Israel's main reservoir of water. It is also a holy place for the Christian pilgrims.
Ed. Note: If this is the reference that Pynchon intended, then why does he say "salt fogs of Kinneret?"
p.10 Rapunzel:
A fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm in which the prince reaches his beloved by climbing up her hair into a tower where she has been locked up by a witch. When the witch finds out, she cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her. The witch then fools the prince into climbing up the shorn locks and when he sees the witch instead of Rapunzel, he falls from the tower into a thorn bush and pierces his eyes. He wanders in the forest until one day he hears the voice of Rapunzel and when she sees him she cries tears which fall into his eyes and heal him. They live happily ever after.
p.11 Remedios Varo (1908-1963):
Born in Spain. Led a very bohemian life style. Lived in Paris much of her life. Fled to Mexico in 1941 after the occupation of the Nazis in WWII.
http://www.artesmexico.com.mx/obr8/rvaroe1.htm
p.11 "Bordando el Manto Terrestre": (Trans. "Embroidering the Earth's Mantle", 1961)
p.12 San Narciso (Narcissism) [See also, page 16, Echo Courts Hotel]:
The Myth of Narcissus:
Narcissus was a beautiful lad whom all the girls wished to have, however, he scorned all of them. Eventually one of his victims prayed to the goddess Nemesis, or righteous anger, and she punished him. When he saw his own reflection he fell in love with it and pined away looking at his own image.Ed. Note: Narcissism: 1. Egoism or egocentrism. 2. Love of or sexual desire for one's own body.
p.14 Chrism:
Consecrated oil used in Greek and Latin churches especially in baptism, chrismation, confirmation, and ordination.Ed. Note: Chrismation: A confirmatory sacrament of the Eastern Orthodox Church in which a baptized member is anointed with chrism.
p.14 Censer:
A vessel for burning incense; especially, a covered incense burner swung on chains in a religious ritual.p.14 Chalice:
A drinking cup (Goblet); especially, the eucharistic cup.
p.16 Echo Courts Hotel:
The Myth of Echo:
Echo was a beautiful nymph who was in love with Narcissus. One day, Hera, the mightiest goddess, visited the nymphs suspecting one of them of being involved with Zeus. However, Hera was diverted by Echo's conversation and the rest of the nymphs sneaked away. Hera was angry with Echo and punished her by taking away her speech; the only exception being she could repeat what was said to her. This made it difficult for Echo to try and attract Narcissus who scorned all girls and eventually she hid in a cave from shame. She still exists there, but she is so wasted by sorrow that only her voice remains.
p.16 Beatles:
Very popular British rock band of the 1960's.
p.16 Frug:
A dance.
Ed. Note: I saw it used in this context: "snappy pop/punk band which will really get you doing the frug."
p.18 Bonanza:
Popular western TV show which started in 1959 and lasted for 14 seasons.
p.19 Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, Kephez, "River Clyde":
Ed. Note: The places and names surrounding the TV movie Metzger and Oedipa watch, Cashiered, do refer to actual events during WWI: British, French and Australian soldiers versus the Turks.
p.20 Hierophany:
Hiero = holy, sacred
p.20 (Egyptian) Book of the Dead (Also known as The Papyrus of Ani):
Ancient Egyptian collection of mortuary texts made up of spells or magic formulas, placed in tombs and believed to protect and aid the deceased in the hereafter. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,82815+1+80656,00.html[There is also a Tibetan Book of the Dead - http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/dead/]
p.21 Raymond Burr:
The actor who played the role of Perry Mason on the TV show of the same name.
p.24 Collier:
A ship for transporting coal.
p.25 Miasma:
An atmosphere that obscures.
p.26 Turkish bath:
A bath in which the bather passes through a series of steam rooms of increasing temperature and then receives a rubdown, massage, and cold shower.p.26 Hogan's Seraglio:
Seraglio:
1. A harem.
2. A palace of a sultan.
p.27 Cashiered:
1. To dismiss from service; especially, to dismiss dishonorably.
2. Reject, discard.
p.34 Oscilloscope:
An instrument in which the variations in a fluctuating electrical quantity appear temporarily as a visible wave form on the fluorescent screen of a cathode-ray tube.
p.34 Lissajous (mathematical equation):
Parametric Cartesian equation: x = a sin(nt+c), y = b sin(t)
A Lissajous figure is a path traced out in the plane by a particle; each of whose coordinates are under simple harmonic motion. Such trajectories are often encountered in physics.
p.34 je ne sais quoi:
"I don't know what." An expression used if someone has a certain flair or something you can't quite put your finger on that makes the person special.
p.35 Proselytizing:
1. To induce someone to convert to one's faith.
2. To recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause transitive senses. To recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause.
p.35 Peter Pinguid (The Disgruntled, War for Southern Independence, Czar Nicholas II of Russia, Rear Admiral Popov, Reb cruiser [Alabama, Sumter], Bogatir, Gaidamak, Pismo Beach ):
· The Alabama was a real (Confederate) ship, but it was never in San Francisco.
· The Sumter was also a real (Confederate) ship.
Ed. Note: Interestingly both were commanded, at one point, by Raphael Semmes of the Confederate navy. Coincidence?
Pinguid: fat, oily.
Peter: lewd reference to a penis.
Ed. Note: Could this be "The Fat (oily) Penis Society"? (Keep in mind this reference is given by Mike Fallopian!)
p.36 Bircher:
A member or supporter of the John Birch Society, an anti-Communist organization founded in 1958.
Etymology: After John Birch (died 1945), American missionary and intelligence officer.
p.37 Marxism:
The political, economic, and social principles and policies advocated by Karl Marx; especially, a theory and practice of socialism including the labor theory of value, dialectical materialism, the class struggle, and dictatorship of the proletariat until the establishment of a classless society.
p.40 Bourbon Street:
The most famous and popular tourist attraction in New Orleans. On Bourbon, one will find everything from five star hotels to strip joints.
p.41 Art Nouveau:
A design style of late 19th century origin characterized especially by curved lines and leaf-like forms.
p.43 Adeste Fideles:
"Oh, Come all Ye Faithful" - Latin version.
p.43 Darrow, Clarence:
Trial lawyer in the early 1900's. Famous for his defense of the teenage killers "Leopold and Loeb" and especially for the controversial "Scope's Monkey Trial" which decided whether evolution should be taught in public schools.
p.44 XKE:
A model of the Jaguar automobile.
Ed. Note: Coincidence with Tony Jaguar?
p.45 Cosa Nostra:
The Mafia. Literally translated it means "This thing of ours."
http://www.alleged-mafia-site.com/
p.46 lago di Pietà (Tyrrhenian Coast, 1943):
Ed. Note: I could find no evidence that this was an actual event, though the advance on Rome by the GI's was something that actually happened at that time in the general area.
p.47 Forest Lawn and the American cult of the dead:
Five memorial parks in the southern California area which advertise themselves as a place for the living to enjoy!
Ed. Note: Could this be Pynchon's comment on how Americans observe their dead? Hence the echoing of his earlier comment on the Book of the Dead. Interestingly, the Glendale location boasts an exact replica of Michangelo's Pietà. Is this simply a coincidence or is there a connection with the lago di pietà?
http://www.forestlawn.com/index.html
p.47 Senator McCarthy (McCarthyism):
A mid-20th century political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to elements held to be subversive and by the use of tactics involving personal attacks on individuals by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges of communism.
p.48 Osteolysis:
Medical term meaning the softening and destruction of bone.
p. 49 Richard Wharfinger:
Ed. Note: I couldn't find any indication that Wharfinger was a real person.
p.50 Thurn and Taxis:
Thurn and Taxis Postal System Imperial and, after 1806, private Postal System operated in western and central Europe by the noble house of Thurn and Taxis. At least two early ancestors of the family, then called Tassis, had operated courier services in the Italian city-states from about 1290, but the family's important postal activities began with Franz von Taxis, who served as postmaster to the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I from 1489 and to Philip I of Spain from 1504. Von Taxis secured the right to carry both government and private mail throughout the Holy Roman Empire and in Spain for a fee and thereby founded the first public-access mail service. Taxis hired many relatives to operate his vast network, and the family was granted a patent of nobility by Maximilian I in 1512. For the next 355 years, branches of the family operated local and national postal services in Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, and the Low Countries (now The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg), working both with and against other couriers. The family employed up to 20,000 messengers not only to carry mail but also to deliver newspapers. From 1852 they issued postage stamps. The last Thurn and Taxis postal system was purchased and nationalized by the Prussian government in 1867. A coiled horn, part of the family's coat of arms, remains a symbol of many European postal services.
Ed. Note: The Thurn and Taxis family still exists today in Germany.
Prince Johannes and Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis (1982)
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p.51 Aqua Regia:
Mixture of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids, usually one part of the former to three parts of the latter by volume. This mixture was given its name (literally, "royal water") by the alchemists because of its ability to dissolve gold and other so-called noble metals.
p.59 Hap Harrigan:
Ed. Note: Perhaps he means Hop Harrigan. A radio character from the 1940's?
p.59 John Wayne:
Actor from 1926-1976. Made 174 movies during this time period. He is mostly known for his western films.
p.60 "Drop-the-Soap crowd:"
Slang for homosexual.
p.62 Trystero:
Ed. Note: I could find no evidence that Trystero was real or ever existed. I did find, however, that a group has adopted what he stands for in The Crying of Lot 49 and uses it on the internet. There is someone who requests to be contacted at webmaster@trystero.demon.nl and requests "If you can, please encrypt your mail using PGP and my public key." There is another site known as S T R I C K ( Silent Trystero Rules in Covert Kingdoms!).
http://www.yak.net/s/tryst.html
p.65 Cornell was Pynchon's alma mater.p.65 Bendix, Avco, Douglas, North American, Grumman, Martin, Lockheed, R&D, Piper Cub, Convair, Boeing, DOD:
Corporations which contract for the government to make military equipment.
p. 67 Thomas Edison:
Inventor (1847-1931). Known for the light bulb, the movie projector and the phonograph.
p.68 James Clerk Maxwell:
Lived from 1831 to 1879, and was one of the great mathematicians and physicists
of his time. He studied Saturn's rings and suggested that they were composed of solid particles. This theory was confirmed 100 years later by the Voyager 1 space probe.
Maxwell is most famous for his equations linking electricity and magnetism. His revolutionary work led to the development of quantum physics in the early 1900's and to Einstein's theory of relativity. Maxwell also described the properties of gas molecules using statistics. His improvements to the kinetic theory of gases included showing that temperature and heat are caused only by molecular movement.
p.68 Maxwell's Demon:
Hypothetical intelligent being (or a functionally equivalent device) capable of detecting and reacting to the motions of individual molecules. It was imagined by James Clerk Maxwell in 1871, to illustrate the possibility of violating the second law of thermodynamics. Maxwell envisioned two vessels containing gas at equal temperatures and joined by a small hole. The hole could be opened or closed at will by "a being" to allow individual molecules of gas to pass through. By passing only fast-moving molecules from vessel A to vessel B and only slow-moving ones from B to A, the demon would bring about an effective flow from A to B of molecular kinetic energy. This excess energy in B would be usable to perform work (e.g., by generating steam), and the system could be a working perpetual motion machine. By allowing all molecules to pass only from A to B, an even more readily useful difference in pressure would be created between the two vessels. About 1950 the French physicist Léon Brillouin demonstrated that the decrease in entropy resulting from the demon's actions would be exceeded by the increase in entropy in choosing between the fast and slow molecules, thereby disproving Maxwell's theory.
p.68 Second Law of Thermodynamics:
Essentially, this law states that heat does not naturally flow from a cool body to a warmer; work must be expended to make it do so.
p.69 Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge:
When it was begun in 1698, the primary concern of the Society's founders was to "counteract the growth of vice and immorality", which they ascribed to "gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion". The main ways in which they felt the situation could be tackled were through encouraging education and through producing and distributing Christian literature. Through the work of SPCK, they hoped to build up a more learned clergy and to find ways of communicating the basic principles of the Christian faith to a wider audience, both in Britain and overseas.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03720a.htm
p.71 Wells, Fargo men:
Original company was founded in 1852 for express transport and banking between California and the eastern states. Wells and Fargo, the founders of the original company were Henry Wells (1805-78) and William George Fargo (1818-81), who had earlier helped found the American Express Company. They and other investors established Wells, Fargo & Company to handle the banking and express business prompted by the California Gold Rush. In California the company handled the purchase, sale, and transport of gold dust, bullion, and specie and other goods to be moved from the West to the East Coast by ship, via the Isthmus of Panama. In the decade following 1855, Wells Fargo expanded into staging activities overland from Missouri and the Midwest to the Rockies and the Far West, leading in 1866 to a grand consolidation of almost all Western stagecoach lines under the Wells Fargo name. The great days of stage-coaching gradually declined, however, after completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.Ed. Note: Wells Fargo still exists as a financial services company and still has a tough policy on criminal activity.
"...never to abandon or relax the pursuit of anyone who committed a criminal offense against it."
-- Wells Fargo Company Policy 1870.
p.72 Ford, Webster, Tourneur and Wharfinger:
John Ford (Tis Pity She's A Whore), John Webster (Duchess of Malfi) and Cyril Tourneur (The Revenger's Tragedy and The Atheist's Tragedy).p.72 Vesperhaven House:
Vesper: evening, and also, the sixth of the canonical hours of prayer.
p.73 Pony Express:
Mail delivery system which existed between the years of 1860 and 1861. Delivered mail between St. Joseph, MI and California. Riders left from St. Joseph and rode at clip of 10-15 miles changed horses and continued.
p.82 Dies Irae:
Day of wrath.
p.83 FSM's, YAF's, VDC's:FSM's:
Free Speech Movement.YAF's:
Young American's for Freedom.VDC:
Ed. Note: I found a communications corporation by this name, but I could not find how long they have been in business. I don't know if this is the reference Pynchon intended.
p.83 Siwash:
Etymology: Siwash, a fictional college in stories by American author George Fitch (died 1915).
A small, usually inland, college that is notably provincial in outlook, as in, "cheer for dear old Siwash."
p.83 Somnolent:
1. Of a kind likely to induce sleep.
2. Inclined to or heavy with sleep.
p.84 Truman:
Harry S. Truman. Thirty-third President of the United States from 1945-1953.
P.84 Simpatico:
(Spanish) Charming, likable, nice.p.84 Entropy:
The measure of a system's energy that is unavailable for work. Since work is obtained from order, the amount of entropy is also a measure of the disorder, or randomness, of a system. Pynchon's early short story, "Entropy," is his most anthologized.
p.87 Babushka:
1. A usually triangularly folded kerchief for the head b : a head covering resembling a babushka.
2. An elderly Russian woman.
p.89 The Greek Way:
A homosexual bar.
p.89 Lavender crowd:
Slang for Homosexuals.
p.89 City by the Bay:
San Francisco.
p.90 Sinophile:
Lover of the study of China or the Chinese.
p.91 AA:
Alcoholics Anonymous.
p.91 Eschatology:
1. A branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of mankind.
2. A belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of mankind; specifically, any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment.
p. 92 Brody:
To commit suicide.
p.94 SS:
Etymology: (German) abbreviation for Schutzstaffel, literally, "protection echelon."
A unit of Nazis created to serve as bodyguards to Hitler and later expanded to take charge of intelligence, central security, policing action, and the mass extermination of those considered inferior or undesirable.
p.94 Ideographs (ideogram):
A picture or symbol used in a system of writing to represent a thing or an idea but not a particular word or phrase for it; especially, one that represents not the object pictured but some thing or idea that the object pictured is supposed to suggest.
p.95 Turned around collar:
Indicating a priest.
p.96 Flores Mgón brothers and later with Zapata:Zapata:
Mexican revolutionary (1879-1919).Flores Mgon brothers:
Ed. Note: I found no information on this term.
p.97 Yucateco:
People who come from the Yucatan.
p.97 Gringo:
Spanish slang for a non-Hispanic person.
p.97 Bakunin:
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, 1814-1876, a Russian anarchist and writer; active in European revolutionary movements (1848-49); organized many secret revolutionary societies; quarreled with Karl Marx.
p.98 Priistas:
Ed. Note: I could not find the translation to this term.
p.101 Embarcadero:
A pier or jetty (The pier area of San Francisco)
p.109 PBX
(Etymology: Private Branch Exchange)
A private telephone switchboard.
p.109 Freudian:
Of, relating to, or according with the psychoanalytic theories or practices of Freud.
p.110 Oubliette:
A dungeon with an opening only at the top.
p.111 Buchenwald/Auschwitz:
Concentration camps during WWII.p.111 Brechtian vignettes:
Brecht:
Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, a German dramatist; evolved theater of social criticism; wrote The Threepenny Opera (with Kurt Weill, 1928), Mother Courage and Her Children (with Paul Dessau, 1941).Vignette:
To describe briefly or sketch in miniature.
p.112 Eichmann:
Karl Adolf Eichmann. German war criminal in WWII (1906-1962).p.112 Jung:
Carl Gustav Jung, 1875-1961, a Swiss psychologist; founded analytic psychology; developed theory of collective unconscious and archetypes.
p.112 Nicht wahr?:
(German) "Not true?"; "Isn't it so?"
p.112 Solfeggio:
(Italian) Solfeggiare means "to sing sol-fa" or a cappella.
p.113 Monaural (monophonic):
1. Having a single unaccompanied melodic line.
2. Of or relating to sound transmission, recording, or reproduction involving a single transmission path.
p.118 National Automobile Dealers' Association, N.A.D.A.:
Nada (Spanish) literally means "nothing."
p.124 Bowdlerize:
1. To expurgate (as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgar.
2. To modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content.
p.127 Poetaster:
An inferior poet.
p.130 Philatelic:
The collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps; stamp collecting.
p.133 Muscatel:
1. A sweet fortified wine from muscat grapes.
2. A raisin from muscat grapes.
p.135 Particularism:
1. Exclusive or special devotion to a particular interest.
2. A political theory that each political group has a right to promote its own interests and especially independence without regard to the interests of larger groups.
3. A tendency to explain complex social phenomena in terms of a single causative factor.
This was a useful site:
http://www.pynchonfiles.com/PynchonFilesMainPage.htm