AD

[Dustin Iler]

I noticed the discreprency in the dates as well, but I suspect that-- --just 
as the narrative of GR traces characters and events back to that war's 
catalyst (Weimar etc.) and M&D is a pre-American Revolutionary tale told to 
a room full of children post-American Revolution-- --AD's narrative will 
extend back a couple of decades from the main period of focus mentioned in 
the blurb.

Perhaps the symptoms become visible in 1892, or maybe a character who lives 
in 1892 becomes aware of the symptoms . . .


>From: "Ghetta Life" <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com>
>To: osirx277 at hotmail.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: AD
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:25:30 +0000
>
>
>This really is a find.
>
>Against the Day:
>"Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years 
>just after World War I"
>
>There is a discrepancy between the starting dates for the contraction of 
>the "disease."  Also, Stencil's focus would be primarily in Europe, but the 
>AD synopsis implies an American focus
>
>From the PBS "Great war" timeline for pre-1914 events:  1894 - "Nicolas is 
>crowned Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, a position he did not want. Germany and 
>Russia do not renew a friendship treaty and begin their adversary 
>relationship."
>
>1859 Wikpedia snippets:
>
>March 9 - The army of Piedmont-Sardinia mobilizes against Austria, 
>beginning the crisis which will lead to the Austro-Sardinian War.
>
>April 23 - The Austrians send an ultimatum to Piedmont, demanding 
>demobilization. This puts Austria in the position of an aggressor, and 
>leads to French intervention. Piedmont rejects the ultimatum, and war 
>breaks out.
>
>April 25 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal
>
>July 11 - Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, faced with an expensive war 
>against France and the kingdom of Sardinia and potential revolution in 
>Hungary, meets Napoleon III, who also worries at the costs of extending the 
>war and fears the effects of Italian nationalism, at Villafranca. By the 
>preliminary treaty signed there, hostilities cease. Lombardy is ceded to 
>the French (who immediately cede it to Sardinia), while the Austrians keep 
>Venetia and the French promise to restore the Central Italian rulers 
>expelled in the course of the war. This brings the Austro-Sardinian War 
>effectively to a close.
>
>December 2 - Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his 
>October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.
>
>>From: "Dustin Iler" <osirx277 at hotmail.com>
>>
>>Sidney Stencil on the period in which AD is said to be set . . .
>>
>>" 'Which way does it go? As a youth I believed in social progress because 
>>I saw chances for personal progress of my own. Today, at age sixty, having 
>>gone as far as I'm about to, I see nothing but a dead end for myself, and 
>>if you're right, for my society as well. But then: suppose Sidney Stencil 
>>has remained constant after all--suppose instead sometime between 1859 and 
>>1919, the world contracted a disease which no one ever took the trouble to 
>>diagnose because the symptoms were too subtle-- blending in with the 
>>events of history, no different one by one but altogether--fatal. This is 
>>how the public, you know, see the late war. As a new and rare disease 
>>which has now been curred (sic) and conquered for ever.' "
>>
>>V. (Perrenial Classics) pg. 498
>>
>>
>>Against the Day, being set in this period and leading up to that 
>>cataclysmic event, promises to be the diagnosis.
>>
>
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