V-2nd, under the rose

[Michael Bailey]

Mark Kohut wrote:
> It can be such speculative fun to simply think about how and when Pynchon's key
> tropes, metaphors and notions came to him......
>
> As it can be fun to, Stencil-like, to find THIS in Google Book Search: a 1903
> novel entitled---You Guessed It..
>        * Under the rose
>  Frederic Stewart Isham - 1903 - 427 pages
> UNDER THE ROSE CHAPTER IA NEST OF NINNIES "A song, sweet Jacqueline 1" "No, no—" "Jacqueline ! — Jacqueline ! — " "No more, I say — " A jingle of tinkling bells mingled with the squeak of a viola; the guffaws of a ...
>

wikipedia has information about the phrase "sub rosa"

now, I personally have a distinct memory of reading that that phrase
was invented by a secret group of scholars meeting under the rose
window in Notre Dame Cathedral...however, wikipedia has anecdotes that
are, if anything, even better, viz:
----------------
The rose was the emblem of the god Horus in ancient Egypt. Later, the
Greeks and Romans regarded Horus as the god of silence. This
originates from a Greek/Roman misinterpretation of an Egyptian
hieroglyphic adopting Horus along with Isis and Osiris as a god. The
Greeks translated his Egyptian name Har-pa-khered as Harpocrates.

The rose's connotation of secrecy dates back also to Greek mythology.
Aphrodite gave a rose to her son Eros, the god of love; he, in turn,
gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to ensure that his
mother's indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other
accounts) were not disclosed. Paintings of roses on the ceilings of
Roman banquet rooms were also a reminder that things said under the
influence of wine (sub vino) should also remain sub rosa. [1] In the
Middle Ages a rose suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber
similarly pledged all present (those under the rose) to secrecy.[1]

In Christian symbolism, the phrase "sub rosa" has a special place in
confessions. Pictures of five-petalled roses were often carved on
confessionals, indicating that the conversations would remain secret.
The phrase has also been understood to make reference to the
mysterious virginal conception of Christ.
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-- 
Yippy dippy dippy,
Flippy zippy zippy,
Smippy gdippy gdippy, too!
- Thomas Pynchon ("'Zo Meatman's Gone AWOL")