Difference between revisions of "Chapter 17"

Latest revision as of 04:01, 27 December 2018

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2 Page 185
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11 Page 195
12 Page 196

Page 185

when WYNY switched formats overnight from country to classic disco
Some anachronistic joshing from Pynchon here, perhaps an old WYNY country fan, as per WIKI on July 5, 2012 WYNY changed their format from country to adult contemporary.

"Middletown New York"
Wonder what this song may sound like? NY-based Visit interpreted it over at YouTube.

Page 186

what Jodi Della Femina might call shortcuts
In 1999 Jodi Della Femina published a book ("Jodi's Shortcuts") about the Hamptons. "The book outraged plenty of Hamptons folks who aren't blue-chip Maidstone types, since it revealed all the sacred backroads detours through leafy neighborhoods off the Montauk highway." (NY Mag)

Page 187

some Meat Loaf reference
Bat Out of Hell?

Page 188

schadenfreudefest
The enjoyment, and making it a festive occasion, of others's failures and misfortunes.

Page 189

Cheatin side of town, as the Eagles like to say
Here are some lyrics from the song "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles: "She is headed for the cheatin' side of town." See the WIKI.

where a man can kick out the jambs
A play on "Kick Out the Jams," an album and song by the band MC5. And Pynchon has used this before, see Vineland pg. 191.

See also Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy for another version: "Kick out the JAMS!", referring to the Justified Ancients of Mu [p. 123 and intermittently for next 650 pages]. On same page, a reference to D.E.A.T.H. and Pynchon.

Penthouse Forum
The letters page of Penthouse magazine was famous for people writing in with funny/crazy stories about sex. Or so I've been told.

Page 190

Bobby Van's people
Bobby Van was born Robert Jack Stein to vaudeville parents in The Bronx, New York City, and grew up backstage, witnessing many memorable Depression-era acts. See the WIKI.

Bobby Van's was then (and is still in 2014) a steakhouse in Bridgehampton on Montauk Highway. It had a reputation of be frequented by writers (some of whom reportedly wrote there) and by both celebrities and celebrity watchers. The statement that "Got to lose this scrunchy thing, right now you are lookin to much like these Bobby Van's people" likely refers to Maxine needing to dress down a bit for the role of contractor's helper at the Ice mansion.

Page 191

Gurney's
Gurney's Inn is a historic oceanfront resort on the very tip of Long Island, located on 290 Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, New York. U.S. President Richard Nixon wrote his acceptance speech at the Skippers Cottage. It has a famous Thalasso spa. From WIKI.

Har-Tru tennis court
American-style green clay court. Clay courts aren't made of clay, by the way. Instead they are made of "shale, stone, or brick." WIKI. Har-Tru courts are typically constructed with crushed Pre-Cambrian metabasalt. More trivia: the Har-Tru company got its odd name by combining the first initials of the owner's name "Henry Alexander Robinson" and a variant spelling of "true" that stressed the "true bounce" of the court. Company history page.

Page 193

Bluebeard's Castle
Bluebeard is a French folk tale, in which a wealthy aristocrat leaves his castle and tells his wife not to enter a mysterious locked room in the castle under any circumstances. Wikipedia

Bluebeard, thank you, wiki, is possibly based on a real man, Gilles de Rais, who lived in France in the early 1400s. He was executed in 1440, having been found guilty of committing numerous child murders. Centuries later, in 1697 Paris, Charles Perrault published a fairy tale that really got the Bluebeard legend rolling. In the Perrault version, Bluebeard is slain and the story has a happy ending.

Could be another opera reference too. In Bela Bartok's version, there are multiple locked rooms which the new wife insists on seeing, and each of which turns out to contain the corpse of a previous wife. The last room of course is reserved for the new Duchess Bluebeard. The mood of the opera is very close to that of an Alfred Hitchcock film (eg Psycho), and we've seen more than a couple of Hitchcock references in this book so far, so this connection might not be that much of a stretch.

phonetic letters including Whisky, Tango, and Foxtrot
a.k.a., WTF or What The Fuck

But we later learn what they stand for. See Page 261.

Page 194

her coordinates all at once shift ninety degrees, so that she can't tell if she's staring vertically down uncountable levels or straight ahead down another long hallway. It lasts only a heartbeat, but how does it have to?
About 33 seconds into this clip from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" see something similar, an effect created, by the way, with a model of the stairwell laid down horizontally on the floor. More on the "Vertigo Effect."

a child? Something in a child-size fatigue uniform...rising as if on wings
Very Korean horror.

And, 1:32 into this clip from, yes, "Vertigo" again, see a small, but quickly enlarging, frightening form emerge from the darkness, a creature that evokes great fear in a woman.

Vosne-Romanée
Vosne-Romanée wine is produced in the commune of Vosne-Romanée in Côte de Nuits of Burgundy as well as in the neighbouring commune of Flagey-Échezeaux. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Vosne-Romanée may only be used for red wine with Pinot noir as the main grape. There are a total of 15 Premier Cru vineyards in the two communes, as well as six Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and two in Flagey-Échezeaux. These Grand Cru vineyards include Burgundy's most iconic, sought-after and expensive red wines, with Romanée-Conti of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at the pinnacle: "There can be little doubt that in the firmament of the Cote de nuits, Vosne-Romanée is the brightest star." From WIKI.

Page 195

Droolin' Floyd Womack
See page 51 in Inherent Vice where DFW also makes appearence with a song.

Roll on, four-wheeler, roll on.
Riffing on Charley Pride? Randy Newman's Burn On, as in, "burn on, big river, burn on"? The possibilities must be legion.

Page 196

Woodbury Common, Paramus
Shopping malls.

Chapter 1 pp. 1-7	Chapter 2 pp. 8-19	Chapter 3 pp. 20-29	Chapter 4 pp. 30-40	Chapter 5 pp. 41-52
Chapter 6 pp. 53-67	Chapter 7 pp. 68-79	Chapter 8 pp. 80-86	Chapter 9 pp. 87-95	Chapter 10 pp. 96-111
Chapter 11 pp. 112-120	Chapter 12 pp. 121-133	Chapter 13 pp. 134-144	Chapter 14 pp. 145-159	Chapter 15 pp. 160-171
Chapter 16 pp. 172-184	Chapter 17 pp. 185-197	Chapter 18 pp. 198-210	Chapter 19 pp. 211-218	Chapter 20 pp. 219-229
Chapter 21 pp. 230-238	Chapter 22 pp. 239-246	Chapter 23 pp. 247-255	Chapter 24 pp. 256-264	Chapter 25 pp. 265-273
Chapter 26 pp. 274-287	Chapter 27 pp. 288-300	Chapter 28 pp. 301-313	Chapter 29 pp. 314-326	Chapter 30 pp. 327-337
Chapter 31 pp. 338-346	Chapter 32 pp. 347-353	Chapter 33 pp. 354-364	Chapter 34 pp. 365-382	Chapter 35 pp. 383-394
Chapter 36 pp. 395-407	Chapter 37 pp. 408-422	Chapter 38 pp. 423-438	Chapter 39 pp. 439-447	Chapter 40 pp. 448-462
		Chapter 41 pp. 463-477

Retrieved from "http://bleedingedge.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_17&oldid=2682"

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 '''when WYNY switched formats overnight from country to classic disco'''<br>
 Some anachronistic joshing from Pynchon here, perhaps an old WYNY country fan, as per [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYNY_%28AM%29 WIKI] on July 5, 2012 WYNY changed their format from country to adult contemporary.
+'''"Middletown New York"'''<br>
+Wonder what this song may sound like? NY-based Visit interpreted it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CjYuCt71dU over at YouTube].
+{{#ev:youtube|-CjYuCt71dU}}
 ==Page 186==
 '''what Jodi Della Femina might call shortcuts'''<br>
-Or advertisements of the route, i.e. street signs?  Jerry Della Femina (born 1936 in Brooklyn) is an American advertising executive and restaurateur. Starting from a poor Italian background in Brooklyn, he eventually became chairman of Della Femina Travisano & Partners, an agency which he founded with Ron Travisano in the 1960s. Over the next two decades they grew the company into a major advertising house that was billing $250 million per year, and had 300 employees and offices in both New York and Los Angeles. Della Femina is known for his larger than life personality and colorful language and was referred to as a "'Madman' of Madison Avenue". In 1970, he wrote a book about the advertising industry, humorously titled, ''From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War''. It became a cult bestseller, described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the defining books about advertising", and eventually inspired the television series ''Mad Men''. Jodi is his son. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Della_Femina WIKI].
+In 1999 Jodi Della Femina published a book ("Jodi's Shortcuts") about the Hamptons. "The book outraged plenty of Hamptons folks who aren't blue-chip Maidstone types, since it revealed all the sacred backroads detours through leafy neighborhoods off the Montauk highway." (NY Mag)
 ==Page 187==
@@ Line 19: / Line 24: @@
 ==Page 189==
 '''Cheatin side of town, as the Eagles like to say'''<br/>
-Here are some lyrics from the song "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles: "She is headed for the cheatin' side of town." See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Van_%28actor%29 WIKI].
+Here are some lyrics from the song "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles: "She is headed for the cheatin' side of town." See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyin'_Eyes WIKI].
 '''where a man can kick out the jambs'''<br/>
 A play on "Kick Out the Jams," an album and song by the band MC5. And Pynchon has used this before, see [http://vineland.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9#Page_191 Vineland pg. 191].
+See also Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy for another version: "Kick out the JAMS!", referring to the Justified Ancients of Mu [p. 123 and intermittently for next 650 pages].  On same page, a reference to D.E.A.T.H. and Pynchon.
+'''Penthouse Forum'''<br/>
+The letters page of Penthouse magazine was famous for people writing in with funny/crazy stories about sex. Or so I've been told.
 ==Page 190==
 '''Bobby Van's people'''<br>
 Bobby Van was born Robert Jack Stein to vaudeville parents in The Bronx, New York City, and grew up backstage, witnessing many memorable Depression-era acts. See the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Van_%28actor%29 WIKI].
+Bobby Van's was then (and is still in 2014) a steakhouse in Bridgehampton on Montauk Highway. It had a reputation of be frequented by writers (some of whom reportedly wrote there) and by both celebrities and celebrity watchers. The statement that "Got to lose this scrunchy thing, right now you are lookin to much like these Bobby Van's people" likely refers to Maxine needing to dress down a bit for the role of contractor's helper at the Ice mansion.
 ==Page 191==
 '''Gurney's'''<br>
 Gurney's Inn is a historic oceanfront resort on the very tip of Long Island, located on 290 Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, New York. U.S. President Richard Nixon wrote his acceptance speech at the Skippers Cottage. It has a famous Thalasso spa. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurney%27s WIKI].
+'''Har-Tru tennis court'''<br />
+American-style green clay court. Clay courts aren't made of clay, by the way. Instead they are made of "shale, stone, or brick." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_court WIKI.] Har-Tru courts are typically constructed with crushed Pre-Cambrian metabasalt.
+More trivia: the Har-Tru company got its odd name by combining the first initials of the owner's name "Henry Alexander Robinson" and a variant spelling of "true" that stressed the "true bounce" of the court. [http://hartru.com/about-har-tru/history/ Company history page.]
 ==Page 193==
 '''Bluebeard's Castle'''<br>
-Judith and Bluebeard arrive at his castle, which is all dark. Bluebeard asks Judith if she wants to stay and even offers her an opportunity to leave, but she decides to stay. Judith insists that all the doors be opened, to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based on her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others, and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance. The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber, stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons, and behind the third a storehouse of riches. Bluebeard urges her on. Behind the fourth door is a secret garden of great beauty; behind the fifth, a window onto Bluebeard's vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden, and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard's kingdom. From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard%27s_Castle WIKI].
+Bluebeard is a French folk tale, in which a wealthy aristocrat leaves his castle and tells his wife not to enter a mysterious locked room in the castle under any circumstances. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard Wikipedia]
+:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard Bluebeard,] thank you, wiki, is possibly based on a real man, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais Gilles de Rais,] who lived in France in the early 1400s. He was executed in 1440, having been found guilty of committing numerous child murders. Centuries later, in 1697 Paris, Charles Perrault published a fairy tale that really got the Bluebeard legend rolling. In the [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bluebeard/ Perrault] version, Bluebeard is slain and the story has a happy ending.
+Could be another opera reference too. In Bela Bartok's version, there are multiple locked rooms which the new wife insists on seeing, and each of which turns out to contain the corpse of a previous wife. The last room of course is reserved for the new Duchess Bluebeard. The mood of the opera is very close to that of an Alfred Hitchcock film (eg Psycho), and we've seen more than a couple of Hitchcock references in this book so far, so this connection might not be that much of a stretch.
 '''phonetic letters including Whisky, Tango, and Foxtrot'''<br/>
@@ Line 42: / Line 62: @@
 ==Page 194==
+'''her coordinates all at once shift ninety degrees, so that she can't tell if she's staring vertically down uncountable levels or straight ahead down another long hallway. It lasts only a heartbeat, but how does it have to?'''<br />
+About 33 seconds into this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0NhvAQ6fM clip] from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" see something similar, an effect created, by the way, with a model of the stairwell laid down horizontally on the floor. [http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/stills-vertigo/shot.html More] on the "Vertigo Effect."
+'''a child? Something in a child-size fatigue uniform...rising as if on wings'''<br>
+Very Korean horror.
+And, 1:32 into this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-sWReV2DDQ clip] from, yes, "Vertigo" again, see a small, but quickly enlarging, frightening form emerge from the darkness, a creature that evokes great fear in a woman.
 '''Vosne-Romanée'''<br>
 Vosne-Romanée wine is produced in the commune of Vosne-Romanée in Côte de Nuits of Burgundy as well as in the neighbouring commune of Flagey-Échezeaux. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Vosne-Romanée may only be used for red wine with Pinot noir as the main grape. There are a total of 15 Premier Cru vineyards in the two communes, as well as six Grand Cru vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and two in Flagey-Échezeaux. These Grand Cru vineyards include Burgundy's most iconic, sought-after and expensive red wines, with Romanée-Conti of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at the pinnacle: "There can be little doubt that in the firmament of the Cote de nuits, Vosne-Romanée is the brightest star." From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosne-Roman%C3%A9e_wine WIKI].
+==Page 195==
+'''Droolin' Floyd Womack'''<br />
+See [http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_4#Page_51 page 51] in ''Inherent Vice'' where DFW also makes appearence with a song.<br />
+'''Roll on, four-wheeler, roll on.'''<br />
+Riffing on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEL7nGyQ_iA Charley Pride?] Randy Newman's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPmjTG8NLuw Burn On,] as in, "burn on, big river, burn on"? The possibilities must be legion.
+==Page 196==
+'''Woodbury Common, Paramus'''<br />
+Shopping malls.
 {{Bleeding Edge PbP}}