Difference between revisions of "Chapter 15"

Revision as of 14:58, 28 September 2009

Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.

Page numbers refer to editions with 369 pages, where the story begins on page 1. Not sure if there are other editions with variant pagination. Please let us know otherwise.

Page 256

Around nightfall Tito let Doc off
Early evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

Page 257

Some college break or something.
Saturday, May 2, 1970, six days after Easter. It's plausible that Spring Break could be going on.

Denis drifted off to watch Lawrence Welk.
Evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

The cover of a 1969 album

Norma Zimmer
She performed on the Lawrence Welk show and, in the story's period, looked approximately like this.

Page 258

This ARPAnet trip is eating up my time
Fritz is perhaps the world's first Internet addict.

Page 259

if it happened to Thomas Noguchi
Thomas Noguchi, Los Angeles' widely admired chief coroner, was fired by the LA County Board of Supervisors in 1969, and only reinstated after a month-long hearing. The firing was a cause celebre at the time, involving accusations of racial discrimination (against the Board) and of egotism, publicity-seeking, an inordinately gleeful attitude toward death (especially celebrity death), and other personality issues (against Noguchi). In 1982, he was demoted to Deputy Coroner for similar reasons.

Page 260

I had been enjoying a quiet family evening...watching Lawrence Welk
Evening, Saturday, May 2, 1970. Saturday was the usual night for Welk. Bigfoot seems like a more likely fan of the show than Denis. Welk's show was probably the least hip show on TV, without even the ironic laughs of a Dragnet.

Page 261

The Saturday horror movie tonight was
Late night, Saturday, May 2, 1970.

Next morning...Sunday Times
Morning, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

Shoot the Pier
In surfing, to "shoot the pier" is to ride a surfboard in between the pilings of a pier.

Page 262

positioning the Book Review over his lap
He's hiding his erection.

Page 264

Which didn't keep Doc from driving up to Venice that evening
Evening, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

Page 267

lagan
Pynchon makes lagans - which are literally left by Wolfmann earlier, and by Venice dopers here - into a metaphor for things that are deliberately lost and found again. Among other people and things, this could allude to Coy Harlingen, Mickey Wolfmann, pieces of information (a basic element of nearly all detective stories), Mickey Wolfmann's conscience or lack thereof, and innocence and purity generally.

Page 270

Swedish Fish
See note for page 49.

Page 271

Eleventh Commandment
See note for page 48.

as Elvis always sez, when you have such luck
Doc is quoting "All Shook Up":

My hands are shaky and my knees are weak

I can't seem to stand on my own two feet

Who do you thank when you have such luck?

I'm in love

I'm all shook up

Page 273

Dig yourself
This was probably a common enough phrase, but perhaps--just maybe--there's a connection to Bob Dylan here. In Dylan's iconic video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (the one in which Dylan holds placards with snippets from the lyrics), there are only three cards Dylan holds up that are not part of the song lyrics, including one that says: "Dig Yourself" (the other two, which appear in succession, say "Watch it!" and "Here they come!"). See the video here. The card in question is at 1:51. (I know that that might be a stretch, but a guy can dream, can't he?)

natch-meister
See note for pg. 166.

They approached a courtyard building nearly dissolved in the evening
Evening, Sunday, May 3, 1970.

Page 274

The moon rose
Night, Sunday, May 3, 1970. Almost a full moon.