atdtda: 31 - pg 873

[Bekah]

Some quickies from page 873:

Starting at the bottom of page 872,  where  Cyprian says "Your  
Highness" to the Prince,  on page 873 the Prince is a bit wary of the  
comment,  but keeps his thoughts to himself.   This killing is all  
Cyprian wants?

** Well,  yes,  that's all he wants from the Prince,  because he now  
wants Yashmeen - or perhaps Reef or perhaps just "out" of it.

Cyprian is invited to the island for the annual ball.  The  
Principessa will find something for Cyprian to wear.

*** Although this scene seems to take place in or near February and  
the time of Carnivale,   that holiday time was not celebrated in  
Venice as lustfully as it had been prior to  Austrian control.    
Except for a brief rebellion in 1848,  Austrian control basically  
lasted from 1797 to 1866 when Venice was ceded to Sardinian Italy in  
by the Treaty of Prague after the Seven Weeks War between Austria and  
Prussia and which Austria lost.   Austria had to give up Venezia to  
Italy which sided with the Prussians.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 
Austro-Prussian_War

  So a bit later in this section an alternative carnival-type party   
is given by the Prince on the Saturday night prior to Easter.  (whole  
different subject over there - still,  a feast of carnal stuff - end  
of Lent and all that).     But Pynchon certainly doesn't go into this  
aspect of Carnivale in Venice - it's unnecessary anyway.    Fwiw,   
carnival did not regain popularity in Venice until the 1980s and by  
that time Venice was a big metropolis and could support a great one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice

***********
873.9 Montepulciano    red wine made from the Montepulciano grapes
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montepulciano_d'Abruzzo

***********
873.14-15    "The moment he emerged from the station and set foot on  
the Ponte degli Scalzi..."
This bridge is directly in front of the train station so Theign got  
off the train and on to the bridge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77136894@N00/2280264926/
the train station:     http://www.michaeltaylor.ca/Stations/ 
Venezia.shtml
from the air:   http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/32068/

***********
873.16 - "prætorians" - body-guards but derived from the phrase  
Pretorian Guard of Rome - 9 members for protection of the Emperor.    
Old style spelling would indicate old style use?
***********

873.18-.19   "He tried to imagine that he had not come to Venice,  
perhaps for the last time, in any way because of Cyprian Latewood.  
Those fires certainly had been  banked for ages."

* Theign is apparently still infatuated with Cyprian.

***********
873.21  "pale little sod"   sodomite

***********
873.23-.24  Vincenzo and Pasquale

** Pasquale -   "Evil Duke Angelo, meanwhile, is scheming to  
amalgamate the duchies of Squamuglia and Faggio, by marrying off the  
only royal female available, his sister Francesca, to Pasquale, the  
Faggian usurper…"

Crying of Lot 49,  The Courier's Tragedy, a play in Chapter 2.    
(There you go,  Mark.)

** Is Vincenzo the Vincenzo Miserere, salesman for the mirror factory  
mentioned on page 569? He knows of the Zombinis and has lots of  
historical documents.
( "I think once there were Zombinis around Venice, 569
No real reason to think the Vincenzos are connected although the last  
name of the former Vincenzo means "miserable me."  (heh)

***********
873.29-.30   "Signor Theign,  I believe you have forgotten something  
back on terra firma."  Strangers,  "unknowns"  say this meaning "come  
with us back onto the land."

***********
873.34-35   "'Ghosts,' Vastroslav said. 'Industrial ghosts.  Your  
world refuses them so they haunt it, they walk, they chant, when  
needed they wake it from its slumbers.'"

** more ghosts - how many incidents of ghosts in AtD?   It's "almost  
seems as if"  there's a ghostly presence.   Are there any evil ghosts  
- or were they all victims in some way?

***********
873.37-838.3   Very visually descriptive paragraph - nice even if it  
does foreshadow some violence.

Bekah





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