LPPM MMV "The Nimble Little Machiavel"

[Dave Monroe]

"The cha cha side had been replaced by Bartok's
Concerto for Orchestra and Siegel smiled grimly
because of its appropriateness; because he knew he
could listen to anything else but this mad Hungarian
without getting bugged, but at the sound of an entire
string section run suddenly amok, shrieking like an
uprooted mandrakes trying to tear itself apart, the
nimble little Machiavel inside him would start to
throw things at the mensch who had just cast off
adolescence and who still sat perpetual shivall for
people like Debby Considine and Lucy and himself and
all the other dead, trying to goad it into action
...." (MMV, p. 10)


"cha cha side"

Main Entry: side 
Pronunciation: 'sId
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sIde; akin
to Old High German sIta side, Old English sId ample,
wide

[...]

11 : a recording of music

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


"Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra"

Cf. ...

"... a dry, disconsolate tune from the fourth movement
of the Bartók Concerto for Orchestra ..." (Lot 49, p.
1)

Bela Bartók, a Hungarian nationalist forced into exile
by the Nazis during the Second World War, fled to New
York, where he wrote his Concerto for Orchestra. The
concerto's frantic fourth movement has no "dry,
disconsolate tune" (CL 10). Maybe the ailing Bartók
was disconsolate, but the music is not. This inversion
is Pynchon's way of flagging Bartók so we will review
his biography. Bartók is mentioned in "Mortality and
Mercy in Vienna" as well; the category of the exile
was already important the the undergraduate Pynchon.
Lot 49 also mentions the Vivaldi Kazoo Orchestra (a
joke carried over from V.) to offset the Bartók
reference, to make it appear equally casual. But
Vivaldi was not a dispossessed political exile, as
Bartók was —a fact the mention of "a refugee Hungarian
pastry cook" (CL 13) reminds us of despite its joking
context.

http://www.vheissu.org/art/art_eng_49_hollander.htm


"run suddenly amok"

Main Entry: amok  
Pronunciation: &-'m&k, -'mäk
Function: noun
Etymology: Malay amok
: a murderous frenzy that occurs chiefly among Malays 

Cf. not only the Windigo psychosis, but ...

"... this running amok business ..." (M&D, p. 148)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9708&msg=19041

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0408&msg=92555


"uprooted mandrakes"

Main Entry: man·drake 
Pronunciation: 'man-"drAk
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, probably alteration of
mandragora
1 a : a Mediterranean herb (Mandragora officinarum) of
the nightshade family with ovate leaves, yellowish or
purple flowers, and a large forked root traditionally
credited with human attributes b : the root of a
mandrake formerly used especially to promote
conception, as a cathartic, or as a narcotic and
soporific
2 : MAYAPPLE

http://m-w.com/mw/art/mandrake.htm

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

The root of the mandrake resembles a phallus or a
human torso, and for this reason was believed to have
occult powers. Many weird superstitions collected
round the Mandrake root.

As early as 93 BC the historian Flavius Josephus
described the process of collecting the mandrake,
stories of which were embellished over the years.The
mandrake was fabled to grow under the gallows of
murderers and its anthropological shape evidently was
responsible for the superstition that it shrieked when
it was uprooted. The demon inhabiting the root would
be aroused and the sounds of its piercing groans of
agony would be so horrible that whoever heard it, die
or go deaf and insane.

http://monsters.monstrous.com/mandrake.htm

See also ...

http://www.shanmonster.com/witch/plants/mandrake.html

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://www.thehighwaystar.com/rosas/jouni/discos/0lyrics/mandrake.html

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mandrake/about.htm



"the nimble little Machiavel"

The first great political philosopher of the
Renaissance was Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). His
famous treatise, The Prince, stands apart from all
other political writings of the period insofar as it
focus on the practical problems a monarch faces in
staying in power, rather than more speculative issues
explaining the foundation of political authority. As
such, it is an expression of realpolitik, that is,
governmental policy based on retaining power rather
than pursuing ideals.

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/m/machiave.htm

E.g., ...

I can add colours to the chameleon,  
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,  
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.

(Shakespeare, Henry VI, III.iii.206-8)

http://sailor.gutenberg.org/etext97/1ws0310.txt

Cf. "little Jesuit thing" ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0408&msg=92483

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