Difference between revisions of "Chapter 9"

Revision as of 15:29, 12 August 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 125

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

Hokusai's famous Great Wave off Kanagawa
a famous woodblock print. Wikipedia

Great Wave off Kanagawa, image from Wikipedia

Page 126

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 Pynchon and Brian Wilson. Perhaps this chapter drew some inspiration from that visit?

Page 128

Dark Shadows. . . The Collins family . . . parallel time
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.

parallel time
This paragraph may be a coded reference to Pynchon's own 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. I dunno. Bleakhaus 22:59, 9 August 2009 (PDT)

Hanon
Hanon was a 19th-century French piano teacher and composer. He's most famous for developing exercises for piano students.

Farfisa
One of the first electric keyboards/organs used in rock and roll. More here.

Page 130

George Formby
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."

Page 131

Donna Lee
Donna Lee, way more than Coy's usual 1 or 2 note solos.

abrazo
Spanish for hug.

Page 132

third ballet position
here

louche
Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.

Page 133

1949 Mercury woodie
The Mod Squad drove a Mercury woodie, either a '49 or '50.

1949 Mercury Woodie © Ken Leonardused with permission

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.

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."

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." This seems a bit of a stretch.
The phrase is apparently used - at least in the South, and not commonly - to refer to unappetizing or unclean food.

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."

Page 148

Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1962-1978. [1]

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. 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.