Chapter 30

Page 332

her backpack ... does seem to run to Himalayan-expedition scale
Pynchon also uses this trope of containers larger on the inside than the outside suggests in Mason & Dixon at page 354

Music track? Frank Sinatra..."Time After Time," beginning the phrase "in the evening when the day is through,".
Indeed, a most poignant lounge music song. HearSinatra sing it. The lyrics in question come around early, at the 0:41 mark.

Page 333

Sarcófago
A heavy metal band from Brazil.

Burzum and Mayhem
Both real bands.

among widely reported Ambien hallucinations being numbers of small people busy running around doing a variety of household tasks
These little people are recapped on page 346. Psychobotanist Terrence McKenna postulated the existence of "machine elves" seen while under the influence of DMT:

Terence McKenna advocated the exploration of altered states of mind via the ingestion of naturally occurring psychedelic substances. For example, and in particular, as facilitated by the ingestion of high doses of psychedelic mushrooms, and DMT, which he believed was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience. He spoke of meeting entities he described as "jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs" or "self-transforming machine elves" which one can encounter in those states. [1]

Page 335

no more fictional reading assignments
Reminds me of Uncle Ives in Mason & Dixon who thinks fiction is immoral: "I cannot I say, energetically enough insist upon the danger of reading these storybooks,— in particular those known as 'Novel.' . . . these irresponsible narratives, that will not distinguish between fact and fancy" (350-51).