mdmd(4) - Notes

[Brian D. McCary]

MDMD(4) - notes:  AD signifies Andrew Dinn Contribution

Chapter 11:

105.1  St. Helena - South Atlantic island, east of the Angola/Nambia
boarder.  Just off the straight route from England/Cape Verde and Cape
Town, making it a natural lay-over point.  About 16 degrees south
longitude, around 6 degrees latitude, making it (interestingly ) sort
of due south of western England.  Named for St.  Helena, (mother of
Constantine, who saw the latin phrase INSV in the air, as discussed)
who went to Jerusalem and supposedly foun d the nails and pieces of the
true cross.  Note that crucifixion was a form of death by slow
strangulation: it serves as a form of gallows, although proper hangings
were supposed to sp eed up the process by breaking the neck.  Andrew
notes that St. Helena had just come under B ritish rule at the time of
M&D's visit

105.1  Euphrenia - no direct derivation, but W3 derives euphroe (a
nautical term: bl ock of wood with holes in it, part of a crowfoot)
from Dutch and German Jung Frau, ie young girl, also mistress.

105.3    "Gone before your time, Euphe."/"Does that mean I am
forbidden to morn them? They are mine as much as anyone's, to mourn." -
A fine retort to those who might fault Pynchon for any sentimentality
he might show for less technologically complicated ages.   Could be
applied more generally as well, (for instance, with respect to northern
California scenes he may or may not have been part of or understood, as
was discussed at length earlier) but it raises the question: does
Eurphrenia mourn the loss of St. Helena, or the loss of what she wishes
St. Helena had been?

105.8   "St. Helena was a part of the Tale that I miss'd.." OK,
so what follows is co mpletely made up.

105.10 `. . . publishing his Almanack and doing his bit for global
Trade.' Maskelyne succeed ed the 2 year incumbent Nathaniel Bliss (who
succeeded Mason's mentor Bradley) as Astronomer Royal. He published his
Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris in 1766. The almanac ha s
remained in print (in updated versions) to the present and was in used
into the C19th. Rev ^d C's remark is rather snide since Maskelyne was
probably doing his bit more for Maskelyne than global trade, but he did
indeed give Britain an great edge in overseas trading. - (Andrew Dinn)

105.13 `Celestial' i.e. to do with God, not Mammon, emphasizing the
association of the Heave ns with the spiritual and the Earth with the
corporeal (Andrew Dinn)

105.15 `Merchant of Purposeful Explosion' because he deals in arms (cf
MDMD(1) 31.3) (AD)

106.16 `Didn't days take twenty-four Hours to pass, as they do now?'
Well yes, but . . . Thi s is a matter of agreement, not experience,
and, perhaps, not so unlike all other historical
 fact in this respect.

107.2          "...Darkness, *rising up* out of the sea..."  A familiar
inversion, like the sound shadow, making darkness active, rather than
the passive absence of light.

107.11 "Sirius, ... Apocrypha of Astrology.)"  Maskelyne is there
observing the dog star, tr ying to measure the distance there-to by
taking measurements from opposite sides of the eart h's orbit around
the sun, six months apart.  Permits yet another Dog reference.
(`Sirius' a lso known as the dog star and Canicula. Any relation to the
LED? - AD)

107.15  "Ev'ry Midnight the baleful thing is there, crossing directly
overhead..."  I think this is an outright error on TRP's part:  No
single star resides overhead each midnight of the year, otherwise the
longitude problem would have been a great deal easier.  Could just be
 sloppy writing.

107.18    Portsmouth Poll - Also mentioned in the Gambling Den in
Chapter 3.

107.21    "The Wind, brutal and pure..."  A major theme here.  Also a
theme in GR, during Ti tcherine's exile in (I believe) Siberia, before
he goes to Kirgistan?

107.25 `Eagres' no, not a Japanese Rawk tribute band honouring one of
the finest group of ea sy-on-the-ear riff-n-twang merchants to have
contributed to the the nadir of America's music al culture. apparently
it is E17, a tideal bore in a river, now esp that of the river Trent.
A tidal bore (I knew you would ask, and stop sniggering you two in the
back row) is a steep -fronted wave caused by the meeting of two tides
or by the constriction of a spring tide as it passes up an estuary.
(Andrew Dinn)

107.25 `Riffles' no, not a diminutive Japanese Eagres version of the
sort of guitar line whi ch made their US namesakes famous (and I'm
beginning to wonder - not without a trace of para noia - whether the
Eagres drive around in Cataracts?) but actually a rocky or shallow part
o f a river or stream where the water flows brokenly; a rapid; a patch
of ripples or waves, L1 8 chielfy N Amer.  (Andrew Dinn)

108.3     Town with the Jacobite Name:  James II, Catholic King of
England exiled in 1688, o f the Stuart line.  His supporters in exile
were known as the Jacobites.  Interestingly, his
 son (James Edward Stuart) and grandson (Charles Edward Stuart) were
 known as the Older and Younger Pretenders, a variant Elder/Younger
pair.

108.14    "...Sea gone mad,..."  Insanity and St. Helena become closely
linked in Chapter 13
."

108.21    "...Gallows, simplified to Penstrokes.."  A visual 11.

108.26    "for Commerce without Slavery is unthinkable, whilst Slavery
must ever include, as
 an essential Term, the Gallows,- Slavery without the Gallows being as
 hollow and Waste a Pr oceeding , as a Crusade without the Cross."
Note earlier relationship between the cross and
 the gallows.  I think this is a very provocative statement.  This is
 also, stylistically, a very blunt statement, an absolutist aphorism,
 quoteable.  It sounds eighteen'th century to me.

109.9     "Black Hole of Calcutta" Alleged incident in Bengal, where
146 English were suppos ed to have been imprisoned for a night in an
impossibly small cell, killing most of them.  Clive of India retook
Bengal, and the Black Hole incident was a rallying point for British in
dignation.  Also, possible physics/astronomy overtones in Black Hole,
an exceedingly dense a stronomical object, I believe from a collapsed
star, with extreme gravitational characterist ics, from which no light
escapes.  Recall p 107-8, "anti-luminary object".

109.29 `Brave Lord ferrers' cf 111.8 ff (AD)

110.1     "'Of your silver -trimme'd Coat,/I'll admit I made note,/But
must no longer claim it, oh dear, oh!"  Remember the Roman soldiers who
played for Jesus' cloths, and this recall s the crucifixion / gallows
connection.

110.10    Year after Rebecca's death - 1760, I believe

110.13 `Hellfire Club' E18 club famous for debauchery (AD)

110.19 `Grub Street' M17, a street in London, later Milton Street,
Moorgate, where many need y and struggling authors lived, come to
symbolize needy authors and literary hacks.

110.24    "(Uncle, Uncle..."  RC falls asleep, possibly from the brandy
proffered at the beg inning of the chapter, and the twins protest.
Could also be TRP's own cry of uncle from the purple prose immediately
proceeding.

110.24 `Uncle, Uncle!' Presumably Tenebrae interrupting for the sake of
the Twins' morals. ( AD)

110.25    "upon a number of assumptions, many of which would not widely
be regarded as sane.  "  More insanity

111.10    Nonce-Hats:  hats made expressly for a single occasion.  None
should be seen again , otherwise they are not really nonce hats.

111.26    "Mason gapes in despair.  He'll be days late thinking up any
reply to speech as so phisticated as this.  "In my experience," he
might say, "'tis usually the Innocent who get t hem, and the Guilty who
fail to."/"How very curious."  She will not blink, tho' her nostrils
may flare..."  These two paragraphs read as if the reported
conversation only took place in Mason's mind, days after the event, but
almost immediately after, the verb tenses simplify.  There must of been
a rejoinder, since she recalls him well now.  To  further confuse
things , the Rev. has to be making this up, so it is his construction
of Mason's fantasy, or the reality.

112.3     "And subsequently up" - the beginning of a number of harmless
conversational puns and word plays.

112.11 `Modesty-Piece' arch E18, a piece of lace etc covering the
bosom, worn with a low-cut
 dress (AD)

112.31    "- all things being equal, if not all Men".  ref-Declaration
of Independence.

112.32 `Thuggee' from Hindu = devotees of Kali, professional assassins
who strangled their v ictims with silk ropes, not to be confused with
the original assassins (from the arabic hasi si), muslims who ate
hashish which, note, is made from (Indian) hemp, also used to make rope
.

113.29 `Kiddy' variant of Kiddie, a young criminal or other person who
assumes a flash manner and style of dress, arch L18

113.3     Orange girls- selling oranges, an Asian exotica, reputed by
some to be the fruit in the garden of Eden

113.7     Ejaculation - in word and deed.  See Wm. Borroughs.

113.31    "Florinda"  - name both reminiscent of Florin, a coin, and
Florida, the land of Or anges.  If we take it to be from Florin, then
the answer to the riddle Dodington poses could be women or money, both
of which are Florinda!

114.3     Fitch: Polecat (skunk/ferret)

114.7     "Mason's Soles beginning to ache, his Brain unable to muster
a thought."  Another typical Pynchonian moment:  I swear I've seen this
exact sentence in GR, with a different na me.

115.3     "Mr. Mornival....the tall, cadaverous Personage"  The
subsequent curator of the ear, deathly in countenance.

115.10    Yup, its another chance to discuss the Joke.

Chapter 12:

116.7     Christopher Smart:  I don't know the reference (see
questions) but Maskelyne's dis comfort appears to be due to the fact
that Mr. Smart went mad, a fate Neville might fear.  D ixon may not
know this unhappy fact, or he may be trying to kid Maskelyne.

118.4     Count Senzacapa:  A-yup...

118.24    "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"  Maskelyne's birthday.  From
this, we should be able to date the episode exactly, and relate it to
the transit of Venus, but I haven't done it yet.

119.6     "what hold'st thou for the superannuated?"/"Marriage!" shouts
a Sailor./"Death!"/" The Morn!" All the Pewter rings with dour
Amusement".  Marriage and Death in the fourth decade.  Rebecca died
when Mason was in his early thirties.  Possible Pun on Morn (Both
morning and mourning)

119.17    "The sector...doesn't...work."  as mentioned in 11,
Maskelyne's sector is faulty, so that attempting accurate observations
is something of a waste of time.

119.29    damn'd Bencoolen again - M&D are stuck doing silly things
because of the politics of the Royal Society.

120.1     John Birds Field Rep - a nicely modern concept.

120.24    "...a cunning Chinese Duck-Press, won at Eucher from a
fugitive aristocrat of that Land, in which Force may be multiplied to
unprecedented Values, extracting mystick Humors n ot obtain'd in other
Receipts."  The fugitive may be Capt. Zhang, the Jesuite Hunter / Feng
Shui master who shows up later.  The duck press and recipe foreshadows
the French Chef in Am erica.  Indeed, other ducklings show up near the
bottom of page 121 (line 32).

121.9     "It follows, if we've two clocks, that we must find out all
we may of their separa te goings"  Dixon is to go to Cape Town to
reproduce previous measurements using the Shelton Clock.  By comparing
them to measurements made by the Ellicot Clock, error induced by the
clocks may be deduced, and accounted for in the final calculations.
This is an effect similar to reversing the sector.

121.25    "the Pendulum, as is well known, being a Clock's most
sensitive Organ of communication.-"  Ha!

121.33 `"You'll be on duty . . ."' n.b. this *is* the clocks speaking!
(AD)

122.4 `Breguet's Palsy' Breguet designed a clock with a hairspring
ending in an overcoil i.e. raised and bent in towards the centre to
improve timekeeping. Breguet was Fr 1747-1823 but the name for the
mechanism is listed as E19. It is unlikely that this was indeed the
mechan ism in the Ellison clock (does anyone know if these really were
the names of the clocks tran sferred by Dixon?).  n.b.  a hair spring
is not the main spring which drives the clock, it reg ulates the motion
of the balance wheel which serves to control the speed of the clock.
(AD)

122.17 `striking-train' set of wheels and pinions in a clock or watch
which activates the striking part L18

123.5     "The Gunfire at the Curfew, which has never once been on
time,- and might easily lead, in the uncaution'd, to a loss of
Sanity."  More craziness, see commentary.

123.14    "Maskelyne is insane, but not as insane as some, among whom
you must particularly watch out for-"  but we never learn who.

123.19    what they wanted to talk about all along, was the Ocean.
Somehow they could not get to the Topick."  The ocean unmentioned is
possibly also that which was unnamed in the previous chapter, a
metephor for some greater powers, perhaps?

123.33    ""There's never much to tell, so I have to embellish."  Rev.
likes embellishing, but the clock does not.

124.14    "Even one to whom Right Ascension may require a Wrong or
two." (Ascension to post of AR - Andrew Dinn)  A diglette at
Maskelyne.  Next chapter ends with a similar poke.

124.23    "See thee at Christastide, Charlie."  Earlier (119) Dixon
says he is leaving for at least three months, putting this farewell
around September.

Chapter 13:

125.15    Breakfast at a Whore-House, another french idea ;-)

125.22    John Company - British East India Company, I'm assuming John
for John Bull.

126.7     "Tho' small in secular Dimensions..."  Repeated later in the
Lepton castle.

126.20    Honorable John - Company agents.  Why escape the company?

127.14 `Brochette of Curried Albacore' albacore = long-finned tuna (AD)

128.3     "firmly believ'd this palce a conscious Creature"  The island
as massive whale:  a nimation of the inanimate.  Maskelyne seems to
imagine many creatures throughout his stay on
 the island.

128.22 `And, and . . .' A-and . . . ??? (AD)

128.34    "Baseline creeping ever longer" - They are using
triangulation to find the distance from the sun to Sirius.  Two angles
and a baseline define a triangle.  The longer the base line, the less
impact errors in your angle measurements have on the height.

129.5 `Lading' placing aboard ship as cargo (OE verb lade normally only
appears as laden or laded) n.b. larboard, now arch, meaning port side
(L15) comes from lade-board, orig ME, mean ing the side on which the
cargo was loaded. Thought you would enjoy that (AD)

129.9     "All that is not thus in Fragments, is Invisible."  True of
most of this story.

129.11    Anti-Etesian:  Winds occuring annually, usually said of
northerly winds in the summer over the Eastern Mediterranian.  I
suppose these winds are anti-Etesian because they blow all the time,
never dying down.

129.30    "Study Vortices, learn Chinese,"  later, (still looking for
the place) Emerson emerges as one who advises against studying
Vortices.  Although the basics of the physics of vortices are well
understood, they are also an example of chaotic or turbulent behavior,
and have engaged the attention of both artists and scientists for
centuries.

130.1     The Moon - unusual number of moon references in this
chapter.  See commentary.

130.16 `Usual Sir Cloudsley, Gov' As in Sir Clowdisley Shovell? If so
why? (this is a type of beer, presumably). (AD)

130.20 `Mr Bleckner' blackener is a M17 noun meaning someone who
defames or speaks ill of so meone else. Perhaps they are related? (AD)

130.20    Quidnunc: gossip, from L "what now?"

130.29    Clive of India: Soldier and later commander in the private
army of the EIC, who re captured Calcutta in 1757, among other
exploits.  Became British Goveneur of Bengal in the 1 756-1762 time
period.  Made a Baron in 1862.

130.29    "Intelligence-gathering mirror" - Note Maskelyne earlier
remarks about the dearth of real mirrors on the island.  I'd like to
build this double referance into an excuse to drag in Lewis Carol via
the Looking Glass, but the relevancy is mighty thin.

131.11    Miss Peggy - Given the author, I claim that he's throwing in
a joke about Miss Piggy.

131.14 `Knit-wit' OED suggests nit wit comes from nit, as in egg of a
louse. Pynchon's alter native spelling and the etymology it implies are
not listed.

131.21 `Carnatic' usual rendering of karmnataka, a state in SW India,
when it was under British occupation - notable for its major port at
Cochin (AD)

131.45    Dr. Halley - predicted the orbit of comments, of Halley's
Comet fame.

132.8     ten times per day: one hundered days, just over 3 months.

132.23    A connical kiln used for drying hops, malt, or tobacco.
Misused here, or just a l imitation of Webser's III definitions?

133-22    Fug:  Stuffy Atmosphere, possibly also fog (scot.)

133.28    A little traveling Stage-Troupe - R&G.  Note also that
Stoppard specifically used Moons and moon imagery in his plays and his
novel.  The moon character was plagued by doubts.

133.34    Home Planet: Also shows up at 126-31.

134.4     "Maskelyne is the pur type of one who would tanscend the
Earth,-... " similar to passage in GR about Germans lieing on
hillsides, stareing at the stars, dreaming of destiny.

134.23    "last Orange Grove..." of which Eurphrenia spoke.  Note the
association between oranges and Paradise / the garden of Eden, thence
to the afterlife.

134.6     "What Serpent?"/"The one dwelling within the Volcanoe..."
another imaginary creatu re, recalls the serpent in the garden.  As an
interesting side note, recall that one possibl e explanation of the
origin of Yahweh is that he was the mountain god of the Levi tribe, and
was probably a volcano.  He is un-named, and the volcano gets scant
mention in the St. Helena section, as promised in Chapter 11.

134.15    "... with the last leaf of the last Old-Father-Never-Die bush
destroy'd" nice image.

134.28    ...because he is only...he would naturally oppose
Star-Gazing..." which, Mason's protests notwithstanding, we learn that
he does.

136.25    "Stargazing's ever a Whore's profession,-" Florinda's
accusation

138.5     Heavy O.O. - Once Over, I guess.

138.25    Sign of the Twins - Gemini, ref. Pitt & Pliney.

139.1     "or point zero one four..." Turns out that if there are 50
pairs of astronomers ob serving the Transit, there is a 50% chance that
one of the pairs will be sun ruled/venus ruled.  It just happens to be
M&D, in this case.

141.33    Elder Cabot: Elder & Younger, like the Plineys, Pitts, &
Pretenders.

142.26         Dr. Zhang - We meet him later.

142.28         Eta-Geminorum - Sounds like Aunt Jemimah (OK, it's a
stretch, but Bradly sees it as a clod, just in front of Castor's left
foot, perhaps eternally about to be kick'd, ie , lower cast.  Aunt
Jemimah is one of those unfortunate brand identities too valuable to
kil l and too embarrassing to really promote.  Relevant in a book about
slavery)

142.33 `paronomastically' paronomasia is punning, playing on words (AD)

143.18 `Mantua-Maker' mantua is a variant of manteau, a robe or loose
gown in C17-18th, later a cloak, and mantua-maker was a term for
dressmaker, L18.  (AD)

143.19         "A commission abroad for an Admirer grown invonvenient"
Mason imagines that Susannah Peach, object of his lust, might have
conspired to have him sent on the Transit observation to get him out
of her hair.

144.19         "Pray You, Moon Aspects Only" - see moon commentary

145.20..6 Trines & Sextiles:  heavanly bodies 120 and 60 degrees
apart.  Symetry is appearantly a good thing.  Squares would be bodies
90 degrees apart:  probably also good, by symmetry.  Mercury (named
after the messenger god) in retrograde:  Mercury is moving west to east
in the sky, unusual motion in heavenly bodies. Unusual bodes poorly,
thus, Mercury in retrograde suggests poor communication, explaining
Maskelyne's outburst.

145.13         "Bob's your Uncle.  ..."  One last dig at poor Nevile.