Difference between revisions of "Chapter 14"

Revision as of 17:40, 7 October 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 235

Kismet means Fate or fortune, but note also the other meanings below connected both to the history of the Vegas strip detailed here and to a certain earlier novel by Mr. Pynchon with "Lot" in the title:
Turkish, from Persian qismat; from Arabic qisma, lot; from qasama, to divide.

"page right out of history," as the Flintstones might say
The Flintstones is animated American television sitcom that ran from 1960 to 1966 on ABC, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The Flintstones theme begins:

Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones.

They're the modern stone age family.

From the town of Bedrock,

They're a page right out of history.

Have a listen on YouTube...

Page 237

Qiana minidress
Qiana: silky nylon made by DuPont that swept the fashion world in the 1970s. Fake-silk shiny material often used in bold patterns and, yes, disco-clothing/costumes. Difficult to tailor, apparently. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it.

Page 238

lines of latitude
Impossible not to think of Mason & Dixon here.

bespoke suit
Haute couture for men. This could be a very expensive suit considering it was custom made for the individual, starting from hand-picked fabrics, and "created without use of a pre-existing pattern." Sign of a man who's really into suits, in other words.

Aimee Semple McPherson-type
Evangelist, very popular in the 20's and 30's, founder of the Foursquare Church. She's mentioned here because she was allegedly abducted, only to escape several days later and stumble out of the Arizona desert. But her stories had some holes and raised a lot of questions. Read more here.

Page 239

gumsandal
Obvious joke on a hippie, sandal wearing, private investigator, but also, just perhaps, with a hint of Dashiel Hammett's infamous 'gunsel.' Listen to Pynchon himself say 'gumsandal' on the video promo to Inherent Vice.

Marty Robbins'd call foul evil deeds.
Marty Robbins' hit country song El Paso.

Page 244

Casey Kasem's Saturday-morning Shaggy voice
That's right. Legendary radio host Casey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy on the original Scooby Doo cartoon, which premiered in 1969. How many Scooby Doo references does this make?

Page 245

settled in in front of All-Nite Freaky Features
Late night, Wednesday, April 29, 1970.

Page 246

awakening next morning to Henry Kissinger
Morning, Thursday, April 30, 1970

Page 247

tiptoein through no tulips
Another reference to Tiny Tim.

Page 248

et cetera et cetera, and so forth as the King of Siam always sez
In the 1956 film The King and I, Yul Brynner, who played King Mongkut of Siam, repeatedly used the phrase "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera" to characterize the King as wanting to impress with his great knowledge of many things and his importance in not having to detail them. This was based upon the usage in the book Anna and the King of Siam which related the real king's playful interest in numerous things, with the phrase, "&c, &c" (used often by Pynchon).

Evening came, taking everybody by surprise.
Evening, Thursday, April 30,1970.

Page 249

and in first light got to the turnoff
Dawn, Friday, May 1, 1970.

Page 250

Riggs Warbling with a couple weeks' start on a beard
I'm hoping that this will help to connect the timelines of the first and second halves of the book.

Page 251

more space, judging from the outside, than there could possibly be in here.
Remember the house and the carriage from Mason & Dixon?

Page 253

They left him watching Let's Make a Deal
Midday, Friday, May 1, 1970.

Page 254

Ya gonna eat dis toikey!
As Glenn Kenny points out, the actual quote is "Cawve da toikey." Was it Pynchon's intention to misquote or a lapse in memory?

...Toobfreex at play in the video universe...stubbing it out for good.
Possible statement of the Inherent Vice that closed "this little parenthesis of light", the Psychedelic Sixties?

the tropic isle
"Gilligan's Island" leads, of course, this list of '50s & '60s TV shows

the Long Branch Saloon
"Miss Kitty" Russell's saloon in Dodge City, KS in the long-running "Gunsmoke" more info here

the Starship Enterprise
Captain Kirk's ship on "Star Trek", the cancellation of which sparks protests earlier in the book

Hawaiian crime fantasies
"Hawaii Five-0" more info here

cute kids...with invisible audiences
Is there anything more more of a "low level bummer" about television than the laugh track? In later decades, it was sometimes replaced by a live audience, and more recently by comedies with neither. for a defense of the "laugh track"

a slave girl in a bottle
Barbara Eden as Jeannie in "I Dream of Jeannie" coming 11/09 on DVD

and Arnold the Pig
Fred and Doris Zifel's pig on "Green Acres" more info here

Page 255

...how a certain hand might reach terribly out of the darkness and reclaim the time, easy as taking a joint from a doper and stubbing it out for good.
Can't help thinking about the great 'wave speech' from Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Worth reading/watching/listening to (pick your format) alongside of "Inherent Vice." Video clip of Depp reading from it.

Doc didn't fall asleep until close to dawn
Early morning, Saturday, May 2, 1970.