SLSL: "Low-lands," part 2b: Notes, pg 67-77

[The Great Quail]

Pg 67: "Flange got the feeling that this dump was like an island or enclave
in the dreary country around it, a discrete kingdom with Bolingbroke as its
uncontested ruler." More to back up the Shakespearian cast to the name, also
reminiscent of "Bolingbroke Castle."

Pg 68: Ruby Keeler: Canadian actress & singer, wife of Al Jolson:
http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/bios/Keeler.html

Pg 68: Jack Sharkey: a boxer, "the only man to have fought both Jack Dempsey
and Joe Louis. But he may be best remembered for a pair of controversial
title fights with Max Schmeling." From:
http://www.ibhof.com/sharkey.htm

Pg 68: Whirlaway: a racing horse, winner of the Kentucky Derby. "Whirlaway
was a psychotic horse, prone to wild adventurous trips around the racetrack.
He was considered a mentally impaired horse who, intentionally or not, could
be a danger to himself and those around him." From:
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/tc99/history/winners/whirlaway/default.asp

Pg 68: Airedales -- Navy fliers.

Pg 70: Porcaccio -- any relevance to that name?

Pg 70: Very pistol -- from a naval thesaurus: "A pistol used to fire
pyrotechnic lights from on board a vessel or aircraft to indicate certain
messages. In general they are confined to naval use to indicate particular
signals."

Pg 71: Zenobia -- Queen of Syria, served as a Roman regent:
http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/LADYCONT/art19.htm

Pg 72: "a sea change into something not rare and strange" -- An allusion to
Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Pg 73: Doppelgänger: German term for a mystical double.

Pg 73: sitrep -- "Situation Report," a military term.

Pg 74: Nerissa -- Portia's servant from "The Merchant of Venice."
Additionally, it certain conjures up images of nereids, sea-nymphs, naiads,
etc. See Holdsworth for a comparison of Nerissa to Cervantes' Dulcinea:
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~cervantes/csa/artics88/holdswor.htm

Pg 74: "The Midget Problem" -- a parody of contemporary political speech,
"The Negro Problem."

Pg 75: "Sons of the Red Apocalypse." To the best of my knowledge, this group
of pinko anarchists is Pynchon's fictional creation. Am I wrong?

Pg 76: The rat named Hyacinth. Pynchon would return to attractive sewer rats
in "V.", where the sexy beast would be named "Veronica."

Pg 76: Violetta, the gypsy fortune teller. Another of Pynchon's "V" names.
Slade convincingly suggests that she is  the "Low-lands" analog to Eliot's
Madame Sosostris, and Flange is the drowned Phoenician sailor. (Verses
printed below.)

Pg 76: Hyacinth -- another reference to Eliot's  "The Wasteland."
http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html

Here are the relevant verses from Eliot:

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow     
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,      20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only     
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,     
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,     
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only     
There is shadow under this red rock,      25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),     
And I will show you something different from either     
Your shadow at morning striding behind you     
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;     
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.      30
                Frisch weht der Wind     
                Der Heimat zu.     
                Mein Irisch Kind,     
                Wo weilest du?     
'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;      35
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'     
‹Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,     
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not     
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither     
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,      40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.     
Od' und leer das Meer.     
 
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,     
Had a bad cold, nevertheless     
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,      45
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,     
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,     
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)     
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,     
The lady of situations.      50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,     
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,     
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,     
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find     
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.      55
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.     
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,     
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:     
One must be so careful these days.