SLPAD - 29 & of course he goes on to add

[Michael Bailey]

how John Le Carré “upped the ante for the whole genre” - credit where
credit’s due. Very true, but the appeal of all those historical scenes in
UtR & V. is only partially from the spying and the Baedeker background. The
contrast with Slothrop breaks away from spy craft, to mention the most
obvious. But lots of other unique touches.



“Most of it, happily, is chase scenes, for which I remain a dedicated
sucker—it is one piece of puerility I am unable to let go of.”

V. - check - chasing V. by Stencil, great Profane’s chase scene action
onboard the USS Scaffold

CoL49 - Oedipa’s of course chase after meaning thru the whole book, the
Volkswagens when they steal the boat, sort of

GR - Major Marvy after Slothrop underground

M&D - ah, there’s gotta be one

IV - the Vegas getaway by Doc Sportello

BE - March & her ex with Maxine in the cigarette boat


Porpentine - Hamlet I, v
His father’s ghost refusing to describe the torments of Hell:
“I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine….”

But also, it’s the name of an inn in The Comedy of Errors.

& in Henry VI part 2, “[John Cade, under the name of John Mortimer] fought
so long that his thighs with darts were almost like a sharp-quilled
porpentine”

& in Troilus & Cressida, Ajax warns Thersites, “Do not, porpentine, do not;
my fingers itch”

(To which Thersites replies, “I would thou didst itch from head to foot,
and I had the scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest scab in
Greece.”
Geez guys, get a room!)



Moldweorp from Old Teutonic (so he’s the one who’s lurking and skulking for
Germany?) for “mole” unintentionally anticipating the Le Carré usage.

“ Less conscientiously, there is also an echo of the name of the reluctant
spy character
               Wormold, in Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, then recently
published”



Interesting article on the Intro in Pynchon Notes from Terry Reilly, who
seems less than thrilled with it, but brings in some worthwhile
perspectives nevertheless.

https://pynchonnotes.openlibhums.org/article/2563/galley/2956/download/