GRGR(19): Notes, pp. 409-421

[Jeremy Osner]

p. 409 "Had he chosen something else... they all might have saved
themselves": Pökler's life is a succession of missed chances to act --
always he chooses passivity.

p. 410 "I'd fit inside, wouldn't I?": to me, Ilse's question creates a
sardonic bridge between the dream (Franz's: that we will use rockets for
celestial navigation) and the nightmare (Gottfried and Blicero).

  p. 410 "Maskelyne B": always nice to catch an intertextual reference.

  p. 411 "Atlantes": this word is the plural of Atlas, not the book but
the god who holds up the world; its meaning in architecture is statues
of men used (in place of columns) to support an entablature.

  p. 412 "a bus driven by a maniac bent on suicide": might the opening
sequence of Salman Rushdie's (excellent) Haroun and the Sea of Stories
have been a reference to this very passage?

  p. 412 "'I lost my heart in Heidelberg,' well I have a friend who lost
both his *ears* here!": ?? ?? (a.) No, I don't know that song. (Though
I've heard a similar sentiment expressed wrt San Francisco.) (b.) Did
someone have his/her ears cut off in Heidelberg?

  p. 413 "Once, only once...": where does this Rilke quote come from?
and what is its context?

  p. 415 "1. It is a combination." usw: The only philosopher I've read
[using the term rather broadly here] that had his sentences numbered
like this, was Spinoza. Is this some kinda Spinoza reference, or what?

  p. 415 "'The new planet Pluto,' she had whispered...": I'm pretty
confused by this parenthesis. It's Leni talking, I got that; what's she
saying? Can any of you astrology buffs help me out here?

p. 416 A nice use of the word "maxima" -- the word I would have expected
to see here is, probably, "extremes". Is Pökler "smil[ing] up more than
he had in the year previous" as a way of kissing up, or because he's
happy at being able to speak to his Svengali again? The word "intimacy",
in italics, used to describe Weissman asking Pökler a technical
question... I think I understand this. It is W's way of stroking P,
letting him know he is forgiven his rebellious behavior; am I missing
anything here?

  p. 416 "It came to Pökler that the man didn't give a damn about
heating problems.": P understands that this is purely formal ceremony,
the recitation of a catechism.

  p. 417 "Why didn't you look closer last time, Pökler?": 2 things --
This starts us wondering (for those of us dense enough not already to
have been wondering) whether even the first Ilse was actual; and Pökler
is reproaching himself, I think, for being too withdrawn from contact
with other people; I see him making this self-reproach repeatedly.

  p. 417 "as he threw chessboard and pieces all into Weissman's
arrogantly blinking face...": (again, feeling kinda dense) Is there a
chessboard in W's office? or is this a continuation of the "game"
metaphor in the middle of p. 416?

  p. 418 "The child had suddenly come into his arms": W-wait, is this
after the fight with Weissman we were just reading about? is it before?
Did the fight take place in P's imagination?

  p. 420 "Papi, may I sleep next to you tonight?": This is probably not
knowable within the confines of the text or important, but was the Ilse
stand-in instructed by W to seduce P? -- P certainly thinks so, based on
the line, "He hadn't known he was so vital to the program." Maybe that's
all that matters.

  p. 421 Escape to Denmark: this seems like a kind of cute tease
directed toward the reader.

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