Difference between revisions of "Chapter 3"

Revision as of 01:48, 20 September 2013

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Pinot E-Grigio
Pinot grigio is a kind of white wine.

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paraphrasing Jimi Hendrix
"mayonnaise! All in your brain" cf. "Purple haze! all in my brain"

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'59 Impala
A 1965 Impala appears in Inherent Vice.

three-month LIBOR
a banking term. The average interest rate estimated by banks in London for borrowing from other banks.

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Ceres
Roman goddess of agriculture, fitting name for the Board of Trade (i.e. commodities) bar.

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Kashruth
set of Jewish dietary laws.

Meyer Lansky
Known as the "Mob's Accountant," was a major organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful individuals in the country. From WIKI.

"it's a truth universally acknowledged"
First sentence of Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

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alexithymic lug
describing Horst; alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by the sub-clinical inability to identify and describe emotions in the self. The core characteristics of alexithymia are marked dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relating.

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Galician, actually
Galicia is an autonomous community in northwest Spain, with the official status of a nationality. Galician Jews are a subdivision of the Ashkenazim geographically originating from Galicia, and from the south-eastern corner of Poland. As of 1920, 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. Wikipedia

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

The Deseret
Boris Kachka, writing for New York Magazine, writes that this building is "obviously the Apthorp". Although the Apthorp building does not have turrents and gargoyles from pictures available, its courtyard (photos here) closely matches Pynchon's description of the Deseret. Kachka writes that Pynchon himself lived in an apartment facing this building for years.

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When Irish eyes are not smiling . . .
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is a song first published in 1912.