V.V.(4): Notes, Comments, and Queries III

[Dedalus]

V.V.(4):  Impersonation II --- Notes, Comments, and Queries III (pp.
62-66)
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~~ Notes:

62.25 --- "factotum": a person having many diverse activities or
responsibilities

62.25 --- "Hotel Khedival": in Alexandria, across the street from the
Austrian Consulate

63.11 --- Kitchener, Sirdar (1850-1916): "England's newest colonial
hero"; General Horatio Kitchener, sirdar of the Egyptian army from 1890,
led the British army in the Sudan which, in 1898, defeated the army of
the Mahdi's successor, the Khalifa, at the Battle of Omdurman.
http://www.uq.net.au/~zzrwotto/britmil-bio2.html
http://www.britannica.com/seo/h/horatio-herbert-kitchener-kitchener-of-khartoum-and-of-broome-1st-earl/

63.12 --- "Khartoum": the capital of Sudan, located near the junction of
the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers in central Sudan. In 1885 the
Mahdists, led by Muhammed Ahmed ibn Abdallah (who had declared himself
Mahdi--"the expected one"--in 1881), revolted
against Egyptian rule and laid siege to Khartoum, defeating the British
forces, led by General Charles Gordon (the Egyptian-appointed governor
general of the Sudan). The British were assisting the Egyptians (who
controled northern Sudan). A combined British-Egyptian offensive, led by
Lord Kitchener, defeated the Mahdists in 1898. The following year Sudan
was claimed as a condominium under joint administration of Britain and
Egypt.
http://i-cias.com/m.s/sudan/khartoum.htm
http://www.sudan.net/

63.14 --- "General Marchand": Frenchman on the White Nile; in July 1898,
French General Marchand, coming from the West Coast of Africa, occupied
Fashoda, a town (now Kodok) in southeast Sudan, 400 miles south of
Khartoum on the White Nile river, in an attempt to control the Upper
Nile. Britain, which controlled the area, threatened war and the French
withdrew. The next year, the Sudan became an Anglo-Egyptian condominium.

63.16 --- "M. Delcasse": Delcassé, Théophile (1852-1923),  Foreign
Minister of French Cabinet, 1898-1905, 1914-15.
http://www.britannica.com/seo/t/theophile-delcasse/

63.34 --- "muezzin":  Muslim crier who calls the hour of daily prayers

64.10 --- "Victoria.  Named after her queen": Queen Victoria
(1819-1901), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
and, in 1876, empress of India. She was a staunch conservative who was
shrewd and politically savvy.
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nonsuch/dict/glossary/victoria.htm
http://www.victorianstation.com/queen.html

64.21 --- "Levantine": the Levant is the region of the eastern shore of
the Mediterranean, the lands from Greece to Egypt.
http://almashriq.hiof.no/

64.25 --- "Count Khevenhüller-Metsch": Austrian consul in Alexandria.
Recall from my previous post that Pynchon, in his introduction to _Slow
Learner_, writes, "Loot the Baedeker I did, all the details of a time
and place I had never been to, right down to the names of the diplomatic
corps. Who'd make up a name like Khevenhüller-Metsch?" (p.17).

65.10 --- "Mr. Goodfellow":  fat Englishman with Porpentine; In David
Cowart's _Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Illusion_, the author states,
"according to Eric Partridge's _Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional
English_, 'goodfellow' is Covent Garden slang for 'a vigorous
fornicator'" (p.68).

65.23 --- "Tewfik the assassin":  the historical Tewfik was a Turkish
pasha in Cairo from
1879-92.


~~ Comments:

Pynchon resumes his use of body-part imagery in this section --- resumes
it with a vengeance:

-- "combed his mustaches"
-- "Italian breasts were the finest --- ah!"  (again with the Italian
references!!)
-- "the first sneer . . . to ripple across a knowledgeable mouth"
-- "gaily-dyed pig's intestine"
-- "from the corner of his eye now: miracle"
-- "any other cavities you wish filled, my English lady"
-- "As thy belly . . . enough"
-- "Yusef, whose hands were sticky with Chablis punch, mustache a sad
tangle --- he had a habit of unconsciously trimming the ends with his
teeth"
-- "happened to be in earshot"
-- "another man whose face looked sunburned"
-- "the blond head"
-- "the red face"
-- "he held up five fingers"
-- "touched the Englishman lightly on one shoulder"
-- "eyebrows went up a fraction of an inch"
-- "The Englishman's hands had relaxed"
-- "He wore blue-tinted spectacles and a false nose"
-- "removed the nose, pocketed it and vanished"
-- "a one-legged mongrel dog who fed on donkey excrement"

I find Pynchon's use of body-part imagery interesting, if only for the
simple fact that it is used sporadically throughout the work, in waves.
It's been a whole chapter and a half since we saw it used with such
deliberation, and now its use fills the entire section.  Unlike other
writers of literary merit, who employ imagery evenly throughout a work,
Pynchon seems to use it heavily for a section or two, drop it completely
for another, then resume.  Is this the mark of unevenness and literary
"flaw" in a typical first novel, or is there a significance to it?


~ Related Links:

MELA Notes 64 (Spring, 1997)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Area.Programs/Near.East/rev64.htm