(no subject)

[Justin Pittas-Giroux]

I am revising my master's thesis--an annotation of _V_--and I'm almost 
done.  Most of Pynchon's references are readily available in any 
library, but a few of them have eluded my best efforts.  Can any members 
of PYNCHON-L help me out with these queries?

1. (most important)  Where can I find the British "Report of the 
Commission..." on the uprising in Valletta on 7 June 1919 which 
(according to onetime Univ. of Rome prof. Arnold Cassola) was the 
primary source for the Epilogue?  The University of South Carolina's ILL 
has turned up nothing.  And, for that matter, where can I find Arnold 
Cassola?  Does anybody know where he is now or where I can reach him?

2. What is this "decky dance" that Roony Winsome is so proud of?

3. Where could Pynchon have learned about the semi-monthly tours of the 
Paris sewers?  Certainly the reference is too specific to have been 
inspired by Les Miserables--I suspect Baedeker, but I've read every 
%$^#*& one of them and can't find a word about this.

4. Was there a real Polish freighter called Mikolaj Rey, and did a 
sailor really jump ship from it in 1949?

A couple of these queries are _really_ obscure, I know, but I've found 
that Pynchon's weird ultraprecise details frequently lead the careful 
reader to fascinating sources--see the 1918 British Blue Book report on 
the atrocities in South-West Africa (the source of Ch. 9) for the best 
example of this.

I'd be glad to receive or give and information about this novel.  My 
addresses are:

Justin A. Pittas-Giroux   T270166 at univscvm.csd.sc.edu
Dept. of English
Univ. of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208