Chapter 24

Page 256

Wised-up real-estate mavens of Maxine's acquaintance assure her that this is the next hot neighborhood... Someday there will be parks and soaring condos and luxury tourist hotels.
Pynchon is clairvoyantly referencing the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, which aims to build an entirely new neighborhood right in Manhattan. The project is ambitious and an engineering marvel - the foundation (currently under construction) is built directly on top of the West Side Rail Yard, and the complex of high-rises and malls and parks will compose the new neighborhood for the ultra-rich. It's one of the biggest development projects in New York City history. Wikipedia

Javits Center
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is a large convention center located on Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 40th streets, on the West side of Manhattan in New York, United States. It was designed by architect James Ingo Freed of I. M. Pei and partners. The revolutionary space frame structure was begun in 1980 and finished in 1986 and named for United States Senator Jacob K. Javits, who died that year. The Center is operated and maintained by the New York City Convention Center Operating Corporation. From WIKI.

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longer than the building's outside dimensions would suggest
Pynchon likes this image of a thing that's bigger on the inside than on the outside. See, for example, Page 21 of Inherent Vice and Page 354 of Mason & Dixon.

Insert obligatory, annoying, TARDIS comment here. Hey, any writer that uses phrases like this, especially a writer somewhat associated with science-fiction and whose career spans the 50 years Doctor Who has been around, is begging for it.

Page 261

FDR's silvery small cheekbone
In other words, pivoting on a dime.

the Wahhabi Transreligious Friendship (WTF)
These initials are first mentioned on page 193.

This acronym is commonly used to mean "what the fuck."

Can't help but think of the CIA from chapter five of The Crying of Lot 49. "Standing not for the agency you think, but for the clandestine Mexican outfit known as the Conjuración de los Insurgentes Anarquistas."

Bilhana Wa-ashifa Import-Export
"Bilhana wa ashifa" is a phrase given in response to a guest complimenting on the host's meal, meaning roughly: "I wish it would give you enjoyment and recovery."

Page 262

"Jerry" keeps them both in his mouth, continuing to puff away...
Perhaps a foreshadowing the visual of the smoking World Trade Center buildings after the events of 9/11.

Maxine comes awake screaming...
Echo of Gravity's Rainbow's first line?

Page 263

You know about Ice being Jewish...Superman, too...it's 1943 again?
Is this just a simple "Superman was created by Jews, and Germany was killing them in 1943" thing? Or was something more specific going on with Superman in 1943?

Page speculating on the Jewishness of Superman.

Nietsche's Man and Superman was one of the supposed justifications for the Nazi's 'Aryan superior race' thing

Gershorm Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
From 1941. Amazon page.