MDMD Chapter 49 Notes and Questions (2)

Mon Apr 15 10:39:39 CDT 2002

Sarong Sari 479.24-26  
---------------------
  From a transcript of a broadcast
(http://www.m-w.com/mw/mw/textonly/wftw/121096.htm) of the
Merriam-Webster Word for the Wise radio program:

> A sarong is a loose garment made of a long strip of cloth 
> wrapped around the body. It's worn by men and women chiefly
> of the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific islands. When 
> English adopted kain sarong from Malay in 1830, we dropped 
> kain, meaning "cloth," and retained the sarong. In Malay, 
> sarong literally means "sheath" or "covering."
>
> Half a century before the Malaysian strip of cloth was 
> introduced to English-speakers, the Hindi sari appeared in 
> English. Worn by Southern Asian women, a sari consists of 
> several yards of lightweight cloth draped so that one end 
> forms a skirt and the other a head or shoulder covering. 
> The Hindi word has its origin in the Sanskrit term sati -- 
> literally, "strip of cloth."

[...]

> Sadly, this brings an end to our foray into the world of 
> exotic dress names, but, as the French say, 
> che sarong sarong. (Complaints regarding the previous pun 
> may be sent to Word for the Wise, 318  Central Avenue, 
> Albany, NY, 12206 or e-mailed to us at wftw at aol.com.)

So, no way M & D may have been aware of the sari/sarong distinction?

 From http://deatspeace.tripod.com/laughing.html, a page about the book
_How To Keep Laughing: Even Though You've Considered All The Facts_, by
Richard Deats Paperback (June 1994):

> On my first trip to India i saw a woman in a beautiful 
> native costume. "That's a lovely sarong," I said. "But 
> it isn't a sarong," she said, "it's a sari." "Oh," I 
> replied, "sari I was sarong."

In his article "Other than Postmodern?--Foucault, Pynchon, Hybridity,
Ethics" (Post Modern Culture 12.1, 2001) Frank Palmeri, discussing,
among other things, conspiracy theories in M&D, claims that:

> [...] in Mason & Dixon, Pynchon represents the world of 
> the 1760s and of the eighteenth century generally as 
> already largely shaped by shadowy transnational 
> institutions. [...] However, such speculations are repeatedly 
> undermined by their outlandishness, mocked by a 
> tongue-in-cheek tone and deflating puns. For instance, when 
> they are already well advanced in their project and Dixon 
> suggests that perhaps "we shouldn't be runnin' this Line...?" 
> (478), Mason shares some of his "darker Sentiments" with 
> his partner; Mason supposes that the Astronomer Royal may 
> be a spy transmitting the daily  Greenwich observations to 
> French Jesuits who line up the numbers and analyze them like a 
> kabbalistic text until they reveal a mysterious  message. When
> Dixon responds with his own version of a "likely Conspiracy... 
> form'd in the Interest of Trade," it is clear that he doubts 
> the existence of a Jesuit scheme, just as Mason disputes the 
> relevance of the East India Company. But Dixon goes on to 
> press Mason about evidence of trade with the spice islands: 
>
> Come, Sir, can you not sense here, there, just 'round the 
> corner, the pattering feet and swift Hands of John Company, 
> the Lanthorns of the East...? the scent of fresh Coriander, 
> the whisper of a Sarong...?"

> "Sari," corrects Mason.

> "Not at all Sir,-- 'twas I who was sarong." (479) 

> On this deflating note, the two-page section with its 
> consideration of vast conspiracies breaks off. Mason and 
> Dixon's discussions of possible conspiracies usually become 
> absurd in this way and stop abruptly, lead nowhere, or 
> otherwise fail to reach even a tentative conclusion.

Christ and Peter visit the Indians 481.8
----------------------------------------
A possible reference to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
According to the basic beliefs of the church,
(http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,1090-1,00.html) 
> Christ appeared, after His Resurrection, to the people in America, taught 
> them His gospel, and formed His Church among them. 

It was Joseph Smith (founder of the Church, who spent a period of his
life at Susquehanna county with his wife) who found this gospel.
According to http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=19561

> in 1823 an angel told him of a hidden gospel on golden plates, 
> with accompanying stones that would enable him to translate 
> the text from "reformed Egyptian." On September 22, 1827, 
> these records were delivered to him. He published them as The 
> Book of Mormon in 1830 and organized The Church of Jesus Christ 
> of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) in April of that year.

Golem 481.9
-----------
>From http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Golem 

> A golem, in Medieval folklore, is an animated being made from 
> clay or stone. It is derived from Hebrew mythology and is 
> said to contain a scroll with magic or religious words that keep 
> it animated. 
>
> Their existence was a mixed blessing.  Although not overly intelligent 
> they could be made to perform simple tasks over and over forever, 
> the problem however was getting them to stop. 
> 
> The most famous tale involves the golem created by the 16th century 
> rabbi [Judah Low ben Bezulel]? of Prague, and was the basis for 
> Gustav Meyrink's 1915 novel Der Golem. 
>
> The word "golem" is used in the Bible (Psalms 19:16) and in Tamudic 
> literature to refer to an embryonic or incomplete substance. 

For a detailed examination of the Golem myth see
http://scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/golem/index.html

And if you'd like to see pictures of the Golem performing tasks such as
"getting water from the well and going to the market", visit this page
(http://rhs.jack.k12.wv.us/sthrills/golem/golemsb2.htm) on Der Golem
(1920) movie, the third part of "what were the first horror movie
sequels."

Needlewoman 483.6
-----------------
Probably a reference to The Needlewoman, c. 1640/1650, a painting by 
Diego Velazquez (1599 - 1660). For more information on Velazquez and a
reproduction of the painting visit
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/velazquez/

Heaven and Hell geography 482-483 
---------------------------------

>"Impossible," ventures the Revd. "For is Hell, by this Scheme,
> not a Point, without Dimension?"
>
> "Indeed. Yet, suppose Hell to be almost a Point," argues the
> doughty DePugh, already Wrangler material, "--they would then 
> be inscribing their Line eternal, upon the inner surface of the 
> smallest possible Spheroid that can be imagin'd, and then some."

This figure (http://www.anth.org.uk/NCT/images/Polarsph.gif) reminds me
of the Heaven - Hell description in the book, although Heaven is a
sphere of course, not a circle as in the picture. It's from a page on
projective geometry basics (http://www.anth.org.uk/NCT/basics.htm).

Now, I'm no mathematician, but wouldn't you say that if Heaven is an
ever expanding sphere, Hell must be constantly moving closer to Earth,
if the projection between H and H is supposed to hold along the way? But
then, notice this posting from MDMD98, where William Karlin states that
"if we reckon logarithmickally earth lies closer to heav'n than to
hell". 

> One uses a log plot when the range of data one is dealing 
> with is very  large. (i.e., the distance between heaven and hell).
> It works thusly: on a normal graph each tic is one number (100 
> tics equals one through 100) while a log graph starts with the 
> first ten tics equalling one through ten; the second ten represent 
> 10, 20, 30...100; the third set of ten equal 100, 200, 300...1000; 
> and so forth, each group of ten tics represents a higher order of 
> magnitude and therefore very large numbers can be accomodated. 
>
> So if hell is at one, and heaven is at one million the logarithmick 
> midpoint will lie closer to heaven than to hell because of how the 
> numbers are plotted. (I wish I could draw a picture -- I hope what 
> I'm trying to describe is somewhat clear to everyone.) So, if we
> reckon logarithickally earth lies closer to heav'n than to hell...an 
> intriging image, IMO. 

I could not find any literary representations of Hell as "almost a
Point" but, for hell (and heaven, unfortunately) as a really congested
place, see M.C. Escher's
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~davemc/Pic/Escher/Heaven_Hell.jpg