Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 13

2014-12-09T10:19:52Z

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==Page 207==
'''The vibes around Robbery-Homicide Division this morning''' 
Morning, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 208==
'''Code 7''' 
Meal break.

'''Swedish pancakes with lingonberries''' 
Possibly a Big Lebowski reference, since lingonberry pancakes are consumed by some of the faux-kidnapper Nihilists in that film.

However, may also just be a reference to Bjornsen's Swedish heritage, those being traditional Swedish foods.

'''Cielo Drive''' 
Site of the Manson family murders. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10050_Cielo_Drive here].

'''endless summer''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Endless_Summer The Endless Summer] is one of the first and most famous surfing films. And let's not forget The Endless/Eternal Summer Surf Shop on the [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Inherent_Vice_cover_analysis cover] of Inherent Vice.

==Page 209==

'''Black Dahlia''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dahlia Elizabeth Short] Victim of a famous unsolved murder.

'''Tom Ince''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_H._Ince Major film industry figure] On November 19, 1924, Ince died, officially of a heart attack suffered while on a weekend boat trip with William Randolph Hearst aboard Hearst's lavish yacht, the ''Oneida'', while attending a cruise in honor of Ince's 42nd birthday. Since then, rumors have circulated that Hearst murdered Ince in a fit of jealousy. The 2001 film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat%27s_Meow The Cat's Meow] was inspired by the murder rumors.

==Page 210==

'''deperate''' 
Typo for desperate.

==Page 211==
'''Evelyn Wood''' 
Developed a system for speed reading. More [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Wood_(teacher) here].

'''Fontana''' 
A city in San Bernardino County, roughly 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

'''Puck's file could be in storage...someplace like Fontana....''' 
Possibly an oblique reference to the 1939 crime novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep ''The Big Sleep'']. Art Huck's chop shop where Eddie Mars' wife is hiding out is located a mile beyond Realito (Rialto). Fontana is adjacent to Rialto in San Bernadino County.

==Page 212==
'''"Chotto, Kenichiro! Dozo, motto panukeiku."''' 
Hey, Ken! Please, more pancakes. (''Pannukakku'': Finnish Oven Baked Pancake)

'''man goes around like Prince Charles, like they're going to crown him chief any day''' 
And, of course, it's now nearly 40 years later, and Prince Charles is, as Talking Heads always say, still waiting...

==Page 216==
'''Waiting at the office when Doc got back from lunch''' 
afternoon, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

'''Trillium''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillium trillium] is a genus of about 40-50 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants.

==Page 217==

'''early-music''' 
Usually European music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, but sometimes used to include the Baroque as well. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_music Wiki.] Being involved in the early music scene during the time frame of the novel meant being a member of the classical music avant-garde.

'''double-quint pommer''' 
Very low voiced, large instrument that could be almost ten feet long.

'''sopranino shawm''' 
Small instrument voiced higher than soprano that could be around twenty inches long.

==Page 218==
[[File:1969_red_Camaro.jpg|thumb|right|1969 Camaro [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1969_red_Chevrolet_Camaro_SS_side.JPG © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons ]]]
''''69 Camaro''' 
a bright red '69 Camaro

==Page 219==
'''mug ... intended to keep the mustache of the drinker from getting soaked ... belonged to Marshal Earp''' 
Perhaps only a bizarre coincidence, but a colleague who worked with Pynchon at Boeing in the early '60s, speaking in 1990, described Pynchon as having sported a [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900114&slug=1050692 "kind of Wyatt Earp-type handlebar mustache."]

==Page 221==
'''They drove toward a spectacular desert sunset''' 
Evening, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 223==
[[File:1962Bonneville.jpg|thumb|right|1962 Bonneville, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksnell707/3212233895/in/set-72157608598376503/ Jack Snell / Creative Commons]]]
''''62 Bonneville''' a stolen '62 Bonneville parked in a cul-de-sac off Sunset

'''"Are you apologizing?" "I don't think so."''' 
Reminiscent of Bigfoot on [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_2#Page_35 page 35].

==Page 224==
'''quien es mas macho'''

Subject of a Saturday Night Live skit--Season 4, Episode 12 (2/17/79).

==Page 225==
'''Ernest Tubb, Jim Reeves, and Webb Pierce''' 
aka, old school country music.

'''John Garfield'''
John Garfield (March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor. Garfield was especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Garfield]

'''Puck and Einar might not be in tonight.''' 
Evening, Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 226==
'''Meantime there's the rent coming due and so forth.''' 
Plausible enough, as it's Tuesday, April 28, 1970.

==Page 228==
'''Wild Bill Hickok's last poker hand''' 
Maybe the most (in)famous hand in poker history. When Hickok was shot dead in 1876, he was playing poker and holding two pair: aces and eights. Since then, that hand has been called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_hand "Dead Man's Hand"].

==Page 232==
'''Next thing he knew it seemed to be early afternoon''' 
Afternoon, Wednesday, April 29, 1970.

'''As it was getting dark, Trillium finally showed up.''' 
Evening, Wednesday, April 29, 1970.

==Page 233==
'''Dietz & Schwartz, ''Haunted Heart''''' 

:In the night, 
:though we're apart 
:there's a ghost of you 
:within my haunted heart . . . 

:Ghost of you, 
:my last romance, 
:lips that laughed, 
:eyes that danced . . . 

:Haunted heart 
:won't let me be 
:dreams repeat a sweet 
:but lonely song to me . . . 

:Dreams are dust, 
:it's you who must 
:belong to me . . . 
:and thrill my haunted heart . . . 

:Be still, my haunted heart . . . 

:< instrumental break > 

:Dreams are dust, 
:it's you who must 
:belong to me . . . 
:and thrill my haunted heart . . . 

:Be still, my haunted heart . . . 

--from the musical production ''Inside U.S.A.''
Music by Arthur Schwartz
with lyrics by Howard Dietz, 1948

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLbSwaWaFx0 Listen] to Renee Fleming.

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Chapter 9

2014-12-04T06:01:15Z

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==Page 124==
'''headed up to Topanga that afternoon''' 
Afternoon, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970.

'''Stone Turntable''' 
The name is presumably intended to be a jokey reference to Rolling Stone: a stone turntable being not a rolling stone, but a rotating one. It also suggests the phrase "no stone unturned", which is appropriate both to journalism and detective work.

==Page 125==
'''Jurgensen's''' 
Jurgensen's was an upscale, gourmet grocery store with locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and throughout greater LA.

'''porte cochere''' 
Porch-like structure on the entrance of a building, large enough for vehicles, horses, and carriages to pass through, providing shelter from the weather.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte-cochere Wikipedia]

[[File:Hokusai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]]]
'''Hokusai's famous ''Great Wave off Kanagawa''''' 
a famous woodblock print. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa Wikipedia]
<div style="clear:both"></div>

==Page 126==
'''uncountableth''' 
In mathematics, "uncountable" is used to describe the size of infinite sets larger than the set of natural numbers. Pynchon's use of the word here is deliberately oxymoronic. See also the reference to George Cantor further in the same paragraph.

'''the Boards...''' 
As the surf band that makes it big, the Boards suggest the Beach Boys. Pynchon himself once visited the home of Brian Wilson in Beverly Hills. See [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pynchon_and_Brian_Wilson Pynchon and Brian Wilson]. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

'''Cantor's Delicatessen''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor Georg Cantor] (1845-1918) was a German mathematician who pioneered the subject of set theory, now at the foundation of all modern mathematics. He proved that there are different sizes of infinity - for example, the set of natural numbers is smaller than the set of real numbers, though both sets are infinite. The name of the restaurant is a play on the real [http://www.cantersdeli.com/ Canter's Deli] in Los Angeles, established 1931.

==Page 127==
'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_dick Spotted Dick]''' 
Spotted Dick is a suet pudding served in England. Possibly a parody of British band Cream.

'''[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_762505728/general_pause.html General Pause]''' 
A musical rest during which the entire ensemble remains silent.

==Page 128==
'''''Dark Shadows''. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows ''Dark Shadows''] was an innovative TV show in the late 1960's and early 70's that focuses on the Collins family. The show included many Gothic elements, including vampires, zombies, and witches. It also played with time travel and parallel universes in which the same character would be played by different actors or the same actor would play different characters.

In both parallel time storylines (1970 and 1840), one or more characters went to a specific room in Collinwood which shifted periodically from one universe to the other, so if you were in the room at the wrong (right) time, suddenly you were surrounded by people who looked like the people you knew (played by the same actors), but had different personalities, different relationships, and sometimes different names.

If this is April 1, 1970, here's a plot summary of today's show from [http://www.darkshadows.com/cgi-bin/eplist.pl?ep=983 darkshadows.com], all in parallel time today:

:Daniel plans to drive Maggie out of Collinwood. Quentin tells Chris to make sure Bruno Hess, another loyal friend of Angelique, is kicked off the estate. Daniel frightens Maggie by having Amy hum a tune, making it sound like it was coming from Angelique's portrait; Amy later tells Daniel that she did not make the humming sound.

'''parallel time''' 
This paragraph ''may'' be a coded reference to Pynchon's own [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Against the Day] and its reception. ''Against the Day'' features parallel universes/time (?) and confounded readers nation- (and world-)wide. This interpretation may be a stretch.

In [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/ ''V.''] Pynchon talks about [http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time "Mirror Time"]:

:"Rachel was looking into the mirror at an angle of 45°, and so had a view of the face turned toward the room and the face on the other side, reflected in the mirror; here were time and reverse-time, co-existing, cancelling one another exactly out. Were there many such reference points, scattered through the world, perhaps only at nodes like this room which housed a transient population of the imperfect, the dissatisfied [...]" ([http://v.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mirror_Time ''V.'', p.46])

'''Hanon''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanon Hanon] was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises exercises], rather than the guy who wrote them, are the primary focus of the reference. These are the basic finger exercises that almost everyone who took piano played for some period, and almost everyone who has had a family member who took piano listend to over and over for seemingly endless periods. They're basically short, hurried, unmelodic scales that work up and down the keyboard without any regard for key. The more advanced exercises feature 4th- and 5th-finger repetitions and trills that are about as pleasant to listen to as a skipping record. They would sound particularly silly on a portable Farfisa, and practicing them on a Farfisa would be strange, as the instrument, unlike a piano, has soft organ keys with virtually no action.

An [http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/84678_nuehq/HanonFarfisa.mp3 MP3] of Hanon's Exercise 1 played on a Farfisa (actually a synthesizer emulating a Farfisa).

'''Farfisa''' 
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock 'n' roll. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa Wikipedia entry...] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkvK638yKuY "Ninety-six Tears" by ? & the Mysterians] is a classic example of the Farfisa sound, as is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6x_m4zvFs&feature=fvw "Light My Fire" by the Doors].

==Page 130==
'''George Formby''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby,_Jr. George Formby, Jr.] performed "Leaning on a Lamppost" (written by Noel Gay) which Herman's Hermits covered. Tyrone Slothrop, protagonist of ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is described as "sort of an American George Formby, if you can imagine such a thing." Obvious influence on "The Bonzo Dog Band." Here's a video of George Formby singing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc Leaning On A Lamp Post.]

==Page 131==
'''Donna Lee''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Lee Donna Lee], way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

'''abrazo''' 
Spanish for hug.

==Page 132==
'''third ballet position''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_of_the_feet_in_ballet here]

'''louche''' 
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

'''psilocybe mushrooms''' 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe ''Psilocybe mushrooms''], pronounced either ''sill uh suy bee'' (accent on the first) or ''suy luh suh bee'' (accent on the last) mushrooms [I think], is another term for "magic mushrooms" which are known for their psychedelic or hallucinogenic properties.

'''Doc suddenly found himself fleeing through the corridors of the creepy old mansion with uncertain numbers of screaming flesh-eating creatures behind him.''' 
This line, along with Doc and Denis' visit to Topanga as a whole, is highly reminiscent of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo''], especially with Denis raiding the kitchen and Jade dropping in on them out of a tree. Doc lampshades the cartoonishness of the scene in the middle of their escape with "'''What am I, the Skipper?'''"

==Page 133==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|1949 Mercury Woodie [http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/image/3748891 © Ken Leonard] used with permission]]
'''1949 Mercury woodie''' 
''The Mod Squad'' drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

==Page 134==
'''more heel-and-toe double-clutching'''

See the couplet, ''GR'' p. 626:
''Double-declutchingly, heel and toe, away goes Roger Mexico.''

'''no longer saw the headlights''' 
Evening, the ninth day of the narrative, Wednesday, April 1, 1970.

==Page 135==
'''hoddible''' 
The way an old-movie society lady might pronounce "horrible"

==Page 138==
'''van Houten, Leslie''' 
b. 1949. A former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. She remains imprisoned at the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernadino County, California.

'''did he happen to catch the game with Phoenix''' 
Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970. Doc is probably referring to the second game of the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers beat Phoenix 114-101 on March 29. Again, Pynchon has anchored the text in real time by referring to an NBA playoff game.

This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the 69-70 NBA season was a big one for Lakers fans. Bill Russell had just retired as a player, after leading the Celtics to 11 of the last 13 championships. Finally, other teams would have a shot at the title. The Lakers thought that the title would be theirs. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, so did the Knicks.

Pynchon also uses Lakers games in [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_15#Page_377 ''Vineland'']. He depicts the 1984 NBA Finals via a TV-movie rather than live, in keeping with ''Vineland's'' themes and its late summer 1984 timeline.

'''Upstairs, Bigfoot, strangely jumpy today''' 
The '''today''' is what identifies this as Daytime, the tenth day of the narrative, Thursday, April 2, 1970.

==Page 140==
'''a hippie belief of the moment''' 
I don't know about the magazine articles, but this rumor was making the rounds at just about this time. It is odd, however, that Bigfoot's addiction to, and supply of, chocolate-covered frozen bananas is described in such detail here, and then is never mentioned again in the novel.

My immediate thought was that this was a reference to Arrested Development.

'''--not logical, Captain''' 
Star Trek reference, a phrase often spoken by Spock to Kirk.

==Page 141==
[[File:Triumph_Bonneville_T120.jpg|thumb|right|Triumph Bonneville T120, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_Bonneville_T120 Wikipedia]]]
'''Triumph Bonneville T120'''

[[File:Kawasaki_Mach_III.jpg|thumb|right|Kawasaki Mach III, photo by [http://www.flickr.com/photos/optikalblitz/2447598991/ optikal / Creative Commons]]] 
'''Kawasaki Mach III'''

==Page 142==
'''Around lunchtime, next day''' 
Midday, the eleventh day of the narrative, Friday, April 3, 1970.

'''Sinvergüenza''' 
Spanish for "scoundrel" or "rogue."

==Page 143==
'''SS396''' 
[http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cars_mentioned_in_Inherent_Vice#SS396 Photo]

==Page 144==
'''esta gente no sabe nada''' 
Spanish for "these people know nothing."

==Page 145==
'''hijo de puta''' 
Spanish for "son of a bitch."

'''otra vez''' 
Spanish for "again/one more time."

'''Looking forward to a peaceful morning in the office''' 
Morning, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970.

==Page 146==
'''"Cootie food!'''" 
What Doc means is "le coup de foudre," aka "bolt of lightning." This echos Reef's 'rounder Italian'; "Say surly topple!" he would scream..." (page 889) from [[Against the Day]]. 
The English meaning, if it has one, and the explanation for Clancy Charlock's response to Doc, is unclear. It may perhaps refer to the childish fear of being infected by a sort of imaginary germ borne by the opposite sex and known as "cooties," which - possibly - makes a member of the opposite sex whom you touch "cootie food." Or, it could just be a very idiosyncratic reference to oral sex. 

Another possibility is that Doc, whose French is likely weaker than his Spanish, memorized the phrase phonetically as "cootie food", since he would not have known the spelling when it was told to him. Assuming Clancy understands French, or at least this particular idiom, her reply is fairly natural.

The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

Cooties is slang for crabs or lice.

==Page 147==
'''Now, Voyager (1942)''' 
from Wikipedia: Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty, who borrowed her title from a line in the Walt Whitman poem "The Untold Want," which reads in its entirety, "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." Bette Davis' portrayal garnered her an Academy Award nomination, and the film continues to be popular not only due to its star power but also the "emotional crescendos" engendered in the storyline.

The film includes the line: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon... we have the stars."

The film's romantic smoke sequence, repeated during the film and much parodied, featured Paul Henried placing two cigarettes in his lips, lighting them both, then handing one to Bette Davis. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8 YouTube]

==Page 148==
'''That night Doc met Clancy''' 
Evening, the twelfth day of the narrative, Saturday, April 4, 1970.

'''Zubin Mehta''' 
A famous conductor, Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zubin_Mehta] In 1970, one of Mehta's projects was a collaboration with Frank Zappa (whose image had just appeared on a t-shirt on pg 146).

'''massé shots''' 
In billiards, a massé shot is when a player strikes a ball with the cue at a sharp angle and causes the ball to curve drastically or even eventually reverse direction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ly8Ee_7jM Here's an example.] Some pool halls (like this one) forbid this kind of shot because it often leads to scratching or tearing of the felt.

==Page 151==
'''forget the Smith''' 
Doc is presumably referring to the revolver in his ankle holser, which Boris rather obviously noticed a few lines earlier ("glancing quickly down in the direction of Doc's ankle rig"). "Smith" is short for "Smith & Wesson."

==Page 153==
'''"Happy Trails to You"''' 
Besides the reference to Roy Roger's theme song, this phrase is a favorite double entendre among those who use psychedelic drugs. "Acid trails" are a common hallucination produced by LSD.

Also the title (and last track) of the 1968, "live", genre-defining, acid-rock album by the Quicksilver Messenger Service [http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1108947/a/Happy+Trails.htm]

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