VLVL2 (9): Chaliapin & the Seasons

[Tim Strzechowski]

140.1:  "But it came about, after a night and a day of jackhammer sex, amphetamines, champagne, and chaliapin Steaks ordered up from Les Saisons, that she was sped by Lincoln limo, semen drying on her stockings and one earring lost forever, through rainglare and wet streets to the notorious Haru no Depaato, or Department Store of Spring, installed in a room of their own, and handed a large clutch purse stuffed full of yen, for transitional expenses till she went officially on the payroll."


Although "Chaliapin Steaks" continue the assortment of food images found in this novel, here is some background on the name "Chaliapin" itself:

"Feodor Chaliapin was the first Russian singer to establish a great international reputation. He was to a great degree self-taught. In developing his performance style, he studied actors and painters as well as singers. His style of acting and singing was very broad, sometimes over the top, but never boring -- he believed in painting a picture when he performed a role. When he first performed outside Russia, it was in the "traditional" bass roles. According to Henry Pleasants, "His characterizations in these roles have been acknowledged as not only original but unique, unbecoming to any other singer or actor." He began his career in Russia, performing with the Marinski Theater company and the Bolshoi. He made his European debut in Milan in 1902 and his New York debut in 1907. But it was not until Diaghilev brought Boris Godunov to Paris in 1908 and to London in 1913 that Chaliapin could establish himself fully as the great artist he was [...]"
http://bassocantante.com/opera/chaliapin.html

"In addition to the Russian repertory, he excelled as Mephistopheles (in Gounod's Faust), and as Don Basilio, Leporello, Boito's Mefistofele, and King Philip. A huge man with dark-timbred basso, Chaliapin was one of the first singers to apply psychological techniques to operatic acting. He created the title role in Massenet's Don Quichotte at Monte Carlo in 1910 and later made a film of the opera."
http://russia-in-us.com/Music/Opera/Chaliapin/

http://members.tripod.com/orpheusandlyra/id37.htm


In keeping with a seasonal motif, introduced in the opening line of the novel, we have:

"les saisons" -- "the seasons"

"haru no depaato" -- "department store of spring"

I haven't really been watching for this, but I'm curious.  Has anyone noticed repeated references to seasons throughout the novel?  Do particularly important events in the novel seem to be equated with certain times of the year?  Might "seasons" somehow reinforce the organic / botanical imagery we've seen throughout the novel?



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20031108/616eb4d8/attachment.html>