VLVL2 (15): The Octomaniacs

[Dave Monroe]

"The marathon crazy eights game in a battered but
shined-up Becker Airstream proceeded ageless as
genration begetting generation, like a pot-au-feu of
nickels, dimes, chips, greenbcaks, and nuggets that
might have been simmering continuoulsly since the
times of the Little Gold Rush.  Elsewhere in camp
there were other games, poker, pinochle, dominoes,
dice--but it was the Octomaniacs, as they thought of
themselves, who as a crowd carried a more coherent
look ...." (VL, Ch. 15, pp. 323-4)


"Airstream"

http://www.airstream.com/

http://www.airstream.net/


"pot-au-feu"

Main Entry: pot-au-feu  
Pronunciation: "pät-O-'f&(r), po-tO-f[OE]
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural pot-au-feu
Etymology: French, literally, pot on the fire
: a French boiled dinner of meat and vegetables

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=pot-au-feu


"Little Gold Rush"

http://www.calgoldrush.com/

http://www.pbs.org/goldrush/

http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist2/gold.html


"crazy eights"

Crazy Eights is a game for two or more players, in
which the object is to get rid of the cards in your
hand onto a discard pile by matching the number or
suit of the previous discard. 

There is a huge number of variations of this game, and
many alternative names. It is sometimes called Crates,
Switch, Swedish Rummy, Last One or Rockaway. In
Germany it is Mau-Mau; in Switzerland it is
Tschausepp; in the Netherlands it is Pesten. Some
British players call it Black Jack, which is
unfortunate as it can lead to confusion with the
well-known American banking card game Blackjack....

http://www.pagat.com/eights/crazy8s.html


p. 324 "Octomaniacs" = players of crazy eights.

http://www.mindspring.com/~shadow88/chapter15.htm


Cf. ...

"... an octopus--yes a gigantic, horror-movie
devilfish name of Grigori ..." (GR, Pt. I, p. 51)

" .. a much-rumoured Prodigy, styled 'The Octuple
Gloucester,'" (M&D, Ch. 16, p.167)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0111&msg=62721&sort=date

And see as well ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0112&msg=63506&sort=date

But why "a more coherent look"?  Let me know ...


	
		
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