V.V.(8) Chapter Six - notes

[Michael Perez]

135.4  “coño” :  Spanish for “cunt.”  All definitions for the Latino
slang (and many more colorful expressions for many specific
Spanish speaking countries and regions) used in this chapter can be
found at The Alternative Spanish Dictionary at:
http://www.notam.uio.no/%7Ehcholm/altlang/ht/Spanish.html

140.6  “sfacim”:
>From J. Kerry Grant’s _A Companion to V._:

“Pynchon-list contributors have argued back and forth
inconclusively on the subject, confirming the difficulty
posed by the presence of so many dialectal variations in
Italian.  Some possibilities aired on the list include the
Neopolitan ‘fucker,’ the Calabrese ‘two-faced bastard,’ and
the unidentified ‘ah,shit.’  The latter seems the most
plausible, given the translation of ‘sfacimento’ offered by
Pynchon.” [Grant 76]

Well I don’t know about Grant’s conclusion here.  I haven’t been
able to find the original exchanges in the archives, but if I do (or
anyone else that cares to make the attempt) I may repost some of
what was written.  Judging from the context in the subsequent two
appearences of the word at 140.28 (“Bedmates and all the sfacim
they have yet to get rid of drift on, and if some stays with her and
swells into another little drifter who’ll go someday, too, why she
wouldn’t like that too much, he reckoned”) and 141.33 (“He
wanted to take the girl by the fingers, lead her to someplace out of
the wind, anyplace warm, pivot her back on those poor
ball-bearing heels and show her his name is Sfacim after all.”),
these would tend to support the definition given by Tony Assenza
on Tim Ware’s _GR_ site at:
http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/gravity-f.html?gravity.h
eader.html&gravity.left.html&s.html

“299: sfacim-a: from ‘sfaciàre’ = to dismantle
Tony Assenza graciously supplied the following regarding
‘sfacim’: 
Having been called a ‘sfacim’ by my uncles and other
relatives more than a few times in my life, I believe
your reference might require more elaboration. In its
original form, ‘sfacim’ is Neapolitan slang for semen
— equivalent to US slang such as spunk or gism.
However, it's also widely used as a term of endearment,
as in ‘Hey, sfacim. Come over here and give your
grandmother a kiss before I break your face.’ The
closest US slang term would be ‘spunky.’ It's a term
that someone living on Long Island or Upstate New
York would probably hear a lot in Italian-American
neighborhoods. One would pronounce it ‘SFA
CHEEM’”

It is also, apparently, a mathematical term.
>From :
http://z.ca.sandia.gov/~melius/java/demos/docs/index-all.html#_S_

“sfacim   Variable in class demos.particle. Ewald
coefficient The imaginary part of the scale factor.”

141.1  “The eyes of a New York woman . . .”
This is, apparently, a Pynchon invention.  However, the lyrics were
used in a song by a late sixties band called The Incect Trust.
>From the Great Quail’s site Spermatikos Logos at:
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_intro.html
"Another late 60's and early 70's band indebted to Pynchon was
called ‘The Insect Trust.’ Its most famous member was the noted
writer, critic, and ethnomusicologist Robert Palmer. Two albums,
Insect Trust (Capitol, 1968), and Hoboken Saturday Night (ATCO,
1970), were produced. The music ranges from surreal folk-rock, to
pop-soul in the style of Booker-T, to flat-out free jazz. It is the
latter style which is adopted on a song called ‘The Eyes of a New
York Woman,’ sung by Nancy Jefferies and accompanied by a
haunting jazz descant recorder solo played in a true virtuoso style.
The song's composers are listed as Jeff Ogden and Thomas
Pynchon, and the lyrics are taken verbatim from V., where they are
sung by Benny Profane as he, Angel, and Geronimo are trying to
pick up some girls (V. [1963; rpt. New York: Bantam Books,
1979], 127). When he sings his despairing song, all the girls can
say is: ‘It doesn't have any beat’ (128). Fortunately, ‘The Insect
Trust’ version has a great beat. The whole piece is moody and lazy,
just like a hot Hoboken Saturday night, and you are lost, perhaps,
in the streets with the Whole Sick Crew, where ‘The eyes of a New
York woman/ Are the twilit side of the moon.’”

141.30  “Non dimenticar . . .”
Possibly from the popular song done by Nat “King” Cole, Dean
Martin, and others.  It has become a standard Italian love song. 
These lyrics may be from the Italian original by Michele Galdieri. 
I could not find the original Italian lyrics.  Perhaps these lines are
important in _V._ because of the *tanto bene* (“very good”) line
that may have caught someone’s attention that may have heard
“Benny.”  Babalfish went nuts trying to translate these particular
lines:  “I have intentional very well known to love.” (?)
>From the following web site: 
http://www.ntl.matrix.com.br/~pfilho/html/english/nkc/lyrics/non_
dimenticar_dont_forget.txt

“Non Dimenticar (Don't Forget) 
composed for the 1951 Italian film "Anna" starring
Silvana Magnano, Raf Vallone, -and Vittorio Gassman
-Italian words by Michele Galdieri and Music by P.G.
Redi -English words by Shelley Dobbins 

Non dimenticar means don't forget you are my darling 
Don't forget to be
All you mean to me 
Non dimenticar my love is like a star, my darling 
Shining bright and clear 
Just because you're here 

Please do not forget that our lips have met 
And I've held you tight, dear 
Was it dreams ago my heart felt this glow? 
Or only just tonight, dear? 

Non dimenticar although you travel far, my darling 
It's my heart you own, so I'll wait alone 
Non dimenticar 

Se ci separò, se ci allontanò 
L'ala del destino 
Non ne ho colpa, no, e mi sentiro sempre a te vicino 

Non dimenticar although you travel far, my darling 
It's my heart you own, so I'll wait alone 
Non dimenticar”




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