queries

[CyrusGeo at netscape.net]

Robert S. wrote:

>>>>3. "Semirechie" (V.340, 610) Can't find any Russian equivalent of that name. Is it a Kirghiz town, a geographical region?
>>>>6. "very serious-looking French refugee kid, funny haircut with ears perfectly outlined in hair that starts abruptly a quarter-inch strip of bare plastc skin away": (V.675) I somehow can't evisage his haircut. Where exactly does the hair start? "Away" from what?  
>>>>7 . "pretty soon there's a crowd, subdeb cuties each a $65 fine and worht every penny dropping in epileptiform seizures into selfless heaps of cable-stitching, ryaon pleats and Xmastree applique".  (V.700) All the words are clear, but I can't make any sense of it.
>>>>8.. "The other sure-fire calibration" (V. 708) Obviously refers to those gigantic foam penises, but somehow it's beyond me. 


Hello Robert

I will attempt to answer to those of your queries that have not yet been answered on-list.

3. "Semirechie", meaning "Seven Rivers", is a place in Kazakhstan. And Pynchon translates it himself at the end of the page: "The great silences of Seven Rivers have not yet been alphabetized, and perhaps never will be."

6. Away from the ears. Remember, Marcel is a robot, an android, if you like, and his resemblance to a human is not very accurate. Imagine the false hairline beginning a quarter of an inch above and around the ears (so: outline the ears).

7. Dzabajev is posing as Frank Sinatra. At that time, Sinatra in America was as big the Beatles in the 60's: Little girls would faint or get hysterical at the sight of him or the sound of his voice (so: "epileptiform seizures"). "Cable-stitching, ryaon pleats and Xmastree applique" refer to their clothes. And of course, the would cost you a $65 fine because they are lovely and arousing, but underage, so it would be considered illegal for you to have sex with them.

8. I think this refers to Their methods of manipulating Jeremy.
Cyrus


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