VV(11):April 15th

[Terrance]

Dave Monroe wrote:
> 
> I've also been told that March 15th might well have
> been the U.S. Tax Day in the 1950's, though I can't
> seem to corroborate that.  Im not even quite sure when
> it became April 15th.  Again, I do not like relying on
> the Internet, but there's only so many books one can
> lug around, so ...

Serendipity! Today is March 15th, at least it is in NYC at
the moment. April 15th became the new tax return date in
1955. It was, as you were told, March 15th prior to 1955.
So, turning back to Chapter Six for a moment, Benny is said
to have met the Playboys at the Feast of San' Ercole dei
Rinoceronti, which comes on the Ides of March or March 15th,
the old tax due date. There is not now, nor has there ever
been in NYC nor anyplace else, as far as I have been able to
discover, a Feast of San' Ercole dei Rinoceronti. This seems
to be a Pynchon day. What it alludes to, I have no idea.
There are several Saints, RC and other Orthodox Church
Saints that are candidates by name and date, but the
Rhinoceroses don't seem to be associated with any of these.
Someone said the Pope's rhinoceros, but how does that fit in
here? The rhinoceros (particularly the horn, white horn)  is
symbolic in the RC Church and in Gnostic traditions of all
sorts of things, including the Cross. Pynchon has obviously
mingled elements of the two major Italian Feasts celebrated
in NYC--San Giuseppe and San Gennaro, but these are not
celebrated on March 15th. In one calendar in this novel
Pynchon turns to the NY Times. Here, March 15th was indeed,
as the narrator informs us, a Thursday. 
"It was Thursday night, tomorrow--according according to the
nimble calculations of Geronimo...Bung...on a weird
calendar...sunlight, streetlight, moonlight, nightlight...."

Benny's job with SHOCK and SHROUD also has shifts and
although people refer to them as early and late, Benny
reverses these. Now, in the current chapter we are told that
it is April 15th, but in Chapter Six we passed April 15th.
Now this may all seem like a waste of time. Maybe it is.
I'll let you know.