MD3PAD 151-153

[Toby G Levy]

        As they enter the bordello Dixon notices an odd Barometer on the
wall, which
is hung just above a "velvet meridien" from France..." As close as I can
determine this  is a painting of a navigation tool that represents the
globe.  It is also near a painting with something in the corner " all
but painted over..." But Pynchon does not say what it is.

        Austra enters on a leash being led by a Malay woman. Dixon
allows her to pass into another room.  He muses on Mason's obsession with
her.

vw#41: sylph - A slim, graceful woman or girl.

        Cornelius leads Dixon to peepholes called pornoscopes, where
they can watch other members engaged in sexual activity.

        There are prostitutes who are opium addicts, and they have a
room of their own.

        Pynchon writes "The Gunfire is at nine..." but I don't know what
this refers to. Sexual activity of the visiting sailors?

vw#42: Penetralia - The innermost parts of a building, especially the
sanctuary of a temple.

vw#43: Polity - The form of government of a nation, state, church, or
organization.

        The women have no idea what lies in the innermost parts of the
lodge. They hope that miracles occur there which transforms ill
treatment into joy.

        There is a room where madmen are kept and sometimes the men put
disobedient women in the room and observe what happens. Some women do
not survive the experience.

v#44: Herren - plural of Herr, so therefore German men.

vw#45: Rencontre - An unplanned meeting.

        It is rumored that there is a nine by seven foot room in which
members can have a "Black Hole of Calcutta Experience." Wicks muses to
himself in his day-book why there would be something like this in a
brothel. But he does not read his day-book aloud to the children. He
mentioned it to illustrate a moral, which is: slavery is bound to
produce horrors like the black hole of Calcutta.

vw#46: Dhoti - A loincloth worn by Hindu men in India.

        Cornelius leaves Dixon to go into the "Room of the Beasts" and
Dixon wanders on until he stumbles into a tap-room where he can drink
some ale.

Toby