MDMD(3): Notes and Questions

[Meg Larson]

Andrew graciously prepared the bulk of these notes, for which I am very
grateful.  I have combined my own notes into this post, but be not fooled
as to who did more work here.

Thank you, Andrew.

Meg 

> MDMD(3) Notes and Questions
> ---------------------------
> 
> 77.2 `Sensorium' - The seat of sensation in the brain of humans and
> animals; the percipient centre to which sensory impulses are
> transmitted byth enerves; the whole sensory apparatus (jncluding the
> nerves). Formerly also, the brain regarded as the centre of
> consciousness and nervous energy. M17 I believe Newton referred to the
> physical world as `God's sensorium'. Anyone confirm.
> 
> 77.4 `Etesian wind' a dry north wind blowing over the Aegean and
> Eastern Mediterranean in the summer E17 from Latin Etesiae.
> 
> 
> 77.6 `Pelog' ??? In this context, it appears to be a musickal mode???
> 
> 77.10 `Torpedick' Torpedo = n. electric ray (fish) E16; a person who
> or thing which has a numbing effect; a timed explosive device designed
> to detonate underwater L18; v.t. benumb, deaden, rare, only in L18! So
> I guess this is derived from the latter.
> 
> 77.13 `Spot Contest' ??? perhaps as in adj. involving immediate cash
> payment L19
> 
> 77.14 `Batavia' ??? According to Funk and Wagnall's, this is the former
name of      Jakarta
> 
> 77.15 `Drosters' cf MDMD(2) notes
> 
> 77.19 `Dagga' - cannabis
> 
> 77.22 `Pumplenose' ??? perhaps = grapefruit from Fr pomplemousse
> 
> 78.14 `virid' green, verdant E17
> 
> 78.16 `Voorhuis' the entrance hall of a house (esp one in Cape Dutch
> style) often used as a living-room (E19 in English)
> 
> 79.32 `Fumulus' cloud of smoke??? as in cumulus cloud???  F&W defines it
as "a delicate, almost invisible veil of cloud", which suggests that
Cornelius in enveloped in this cloud 
> 
> 80.2 `Stoep' S Afr L18 A raised platform or veranda running along the
> front and sometimes around the sde of a house. as in US stoop.
> 
> 80.24 `Younkers' E16 f M Du a youngster or youth
> 
> 82.10 `lengkua' ???
> 
> 82.24 `Bilimbi' the edible astringent fruit of a tropical Asian
> evergreen tree, Averrhoa bilimbi, of the oxalis family. Also called
> cucumber tree. L18 from Malay bilimbing
> 
> 82.25 `Bobotie' S Afr L19 prob of Malay or Jav origin, a dish of
> curried meat with a variety of additional ingredients. `Frikkadel' S
> Afr L19 Afrk from Fr fricadelle, a fried or baked meatball, a rissole.
> 
> 82.26 `Constantia' cf MDMD(2) notes
> 
> 86.3 `Nidor' E17 now rare, the smell of burned or cooked (esp. fatty)
> animal substances. Formerly also, a strong esp unpleasant, odour of
> any kind. Does Pynchon spend hours searching for the right word? Or
> does he find a word and then go out of his way to find an opportunity
> it use it? (like he does with those excruciatingly bad puns). Maybe
> the whole S Afr episode is just an excuse for old `dictionary breath'
> to huff and puff (and I ill add that I am proud to have been insulted
> using this very cognomen).
> 
> 88.4 `Elytra' each of the horny forewings of a coleoptera insect
> (that's a beetle to you or me), which form protective sheaths for the
> hind wings L18
> 
> 89.2 `lixiviated' p of v. = impregnate with lye M17 now rare or
> obsolete (not in Pynchon's book, it isn't) also to separate into
> soluble and insluble constituents by percolating of liquids usu water;
> leach M18 i.e. soak the crap out of . . .
> 
> 91.4 `As, . . .' = Like, . . . - welcome to the valley
> 
> 92.3 `Gun-Purchase Arrangement' ???
> 
> 92.15 `fescue' a pointer E16 now rare
> 
> 
> 92.22 `gibbous' this means convex and protuberant but also has an
> astronomical meaning dating from L17 to describe a moon greater than
> half illuminated (but not full). Truly awesome.
> 
> 92.36 ` a Goddess descended from light to Matter' cf celestial
> metaphor at start of chapter 10 and also relate to spiritual/physical
> (equally Astral/Earthly) dichotomy used as a metaphor throughout the
> book.
> 
> 93.20 `the Heliocentric system in its true Mechanism; His artisanship
> how pure' agains refer this to the opening of chapter 10.
> 
> 94.11 `Orrery' a mechanical model of the solar system which derives
> its name from Charles Boyle 4th Earl of orrery who commissioned such a
> device.
> 
> 96.12 `A Vector of Desire' by transporting us to that which we wish to
> observe.
> 
> 96.17 `God be merciful to him' Why? This is a very peculiar
> interjection from the Reverend.
> 
> 96.26 `this is Sun-Rise, Dear, -- Rise, not sun-Set.' Hesperus is the
> evening star, Phosphorus the morning star, both actually being the
> planet venus. The transit occuring in the mroning, Hesperus is perhaps
> inappropriate. N.b. who is this speaking - just one of many observers
> around the world, or is it someone particular.
> 
> 97.7 `Refractors of preposterous French focal length' ok, anyone know
> the details of the Opticks well enough to explain that `French', not
> to mention give us the goods on all those achromaticks etc (no
> half-baked statements of the obvious, please)
> 
> 97.8 `Amongst those attending Snouts Earth-wide, the mnoment of first
> contact produces a collective brain-pang, as if someting lost and
> already unclaimable, -- after the Years of preparation [. . .] --
> and at last `tis, "Eh, where am I?"' Sounds a bit like diving
> into M&D for the first time, no?
> 
> 98.7 `chicken-Battery' as in row of chicken cages M20 usage
> 
> 98.16 `Gregorian reflector' reflecting telescope invented by J Gregory
> (1638-75), Scotish mathematician, in which ligt reflected from a
> secondary mirror passes through a hole in the primary mirror M18
> 
> 99.8 `we may imagine what Els was up to' ok, so we have permission ???
> 
> 99.29 `Inanition' the condition of being empty; a conditon of
> exhaustion resulting from lack of nourishment.
> 
> 100.2 `False Bay' ??? `Delver Warp and the Brothers Vowtay' ???
> knowing Pynchon these are probably real names
> 
> 100.25 `out-keel'd' ??? tipped him over? `Hetton-le-Hole' a real place
> (honest, the le is pronounced as in General Lee) in Co Durham quite
> near Dixon's home town.
> 
> 101.12 `Howbeit, tis all Desire, -- ad Desire, but Embodiment, in the
> World, of wat Quakers have understood as Grace . . .?' - anyone want
> to explain this passage, particularly with ref to Buddhism, craving
> and meditation/enlightenment?
> 
> 101.3 `Sterloops' `inverted silver star' ??? first what isa Sterloop
> and second what does it stand for? why does it appear here (and later
> in America)?
> 
> 
   103.25 'the difficult years of 'eighty and 'eighty-one'???

   104.5 `the Scamozzetta from I Gluttoni' well my Italian is pretty
> piss-poor but this looks to me remarkably like that famous aria `The
> Little Scam' from the opera `The Gluttons'! (somehow, I suspect this
> one is more Rossini than Beethoven).
 
 
Andrew's excellent commentary on the opening of chapter 10 will follow . . .