BEER Ch. 3 East European Roots

[Dave Monroe]

   "It probably helped that they both had East European roots ..."
(BE, Ch. 3, pp. 25-6)


Upper West Side

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_West_Side


"Hochdeutsch and Ashkenazi"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochdeutsch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi

Hochdeutsch generally means the standard German language (as opposed
to regional dialects). Ashkenazi Jews historically spoke Yiddish.

http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26


Czornak

?


Strubels

from a diminutive of Middle High German strup (see Strub).from a pet
form of the personal name Strubo, possibly originally Strudbald, a
compound of the Germanic elements strud ‘lay waste’, ‘destroy’ + bald
‘bold’, ‘daring’.

http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=strubel

The surname Struble was a name for a man who was unkempt and had hair
that was shaggy and bristly.... derived from the Old German "strub,"
which means "rough" or "unke[m?]pt."

http://www.houseofnames.com/struble-family-crest

Antje Rávic Strubel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antje_R%C3%A1vic_Strubel


Evan Strubel

Evan is a Welsh masculine given name derived from "lefen", a Welsh
form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to
"Ivan", "Ian", and "Juan"; the name John is derived from the ancient
Hebrew name יְהֹוחָנָן Yəhôḥānān, which means "YHWH Is Gracious". Evan
is also a Celtic name meaning "Young Warrior". It can also be the
shortened version of the Greek name Evangelos.... The surname version
of the name often used is Evans. In Hebrew, Evan means "rock"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan


"'Gallician, actually.'"

The Galicia referred to here is the eastern European area that today
forms most of western Ukraine and was part of the Austrian Empire from
the late eighteenth to early twentieth century. During that time, the
Jewish population of Galicia swelled significantly. After the Great
War, Galicia passed to Poland. The Polish government prohibited both
Galician Jews and Ukrainians from working in the state enterprises,
institutions, railway, post, telegraph etc. These measures were
applied in their strictest form. Galician Jews and Ukrainians
experienced ethnic oppression by undergoing a forceful Polonization.
In September 1939, most of Galicia passed to Soviet Ukraine. The
majority of Galician Jews perished during the Holocaust. Most
survivors immigrated to Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom
or Australia.

http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Galicia_%28Eastern_Europe%29


Helvetia

Helvetia is the female national personification of Switzerland,
officially Confœderatio Helvetica, the Swiss Confederation. The
allegory is typically pictured in a flowing gown, with a spear and a
shield emblazoned with the Swiss flag, and commonly with braided hair,
commonly with a wreath as a symbol of confederation. The name is a
derivation of the ethnonym Helvetii, the name of the Gaulish tribe
inhabiting the Swiss Plateau prior to the Roman conquest.

http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetia


"St John suit"

http://www.sjk.com/
http://www.discoverstjohn.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_%28clothing%29


"Certain lobes of Heidi's spirit may have been compromised" (BE, Ch. 3, p. 26)

You mean servers?

http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26


Mexican divorce

In the 1960s, some New Yorkers traveled south to obtain a "Mexican
divorce". A Mexican divorce was easier, quicker, and less expensive
than a divorce in most U.S. states. Celebrities who obtained a Mexican
divorce include Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Burton,
Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Don Hewitt. It is also mentioned
in the Jack Kerouac book On The Road. It was often referred to as a
quickie (or quicky) divorce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_divorce
http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26


"Bob Barker at a Miss Universe pageant"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Miss_Universe_hosts_and_invited_artists

He quit a lucrative gig as host of the Miss Universe pageant because
they wouldn't stop giving contestants furs.

http://www.nndb.com/people/375/000022309/


"echt Latina ... boricua" (BE, Ch. 3, p. 27)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgHtBxOs4qw

Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Wood

Echt = German (and Yiddish?) for "genuine, real". Boricua = Puerto Rican.

http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_3#Page_26
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l