Talk:Chapter 1

Some guidelines to improve pages

This page and subsequent ones could be improved in a couple of ways:

• More exhaustive sources: for instance, in the first entry, the sentence "Also, bene [Latin] = "well-intentioned", observes Molly Hite." Who's Molly White? Where did she observed it?

Molly Hite was an associate professor at Cornell. She wrote a critical analysis of Pynchon's first three books titled Ideas of Order in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon, copyright 1983. The full quote where this exists is "The structural metaphor for the 'present' seems to be Profane's habit of yo-yoing, and the well-intentioned (bene) Benny himself, the presiding deity of the profane world, travels in a circumscribed orbit that is finally a parody of the linear plot, going from Norfolk to New York to Valletta without learning anything." Here is the Chicago style Citation:

“Duplicity and Duplication in ‘V.’” Essay. In Ideas of Order in the Novels of Thomas Pynchon, 59. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1983. Jkvannort (talk) 15:59, 6 March 2024 (PST) Jkvannort (talk) 14:15, 26 March 2024 (PDT)

I added the definition of schlemiel/schlemihl, which alludes to a 19th century novel called Peter Schlemihl, who sells his shadow to the Devil. Jkvannort (talk) 07:55, 18 March 2024 (PDT)

I would also add that while the use of capitalization in V is derived from Germanic grammar, in Mason & Dixon, it follows the typical capitalization stylings of the 18th century Enlightenment, which probably does go back to German roots. However, when compared with novels like Pamela or Tom Jones, the language of M&D is imitating those. Jkvannort (talk) 18:52, 18 March 2024 (PDT)

• Update of dead links and cross-referencing of information: for instance, second entry, "Pynchon worked on aspects of NORAD [later acronym] when he was at Boeing." without source.

• Readibility: style uniformity when quoting texts, single words and links, for instance.

Mojomoyo (talk) 12:44, 8 November 2019 (PST)

I'm curious about the entry about "pedestrian girls". First, the word pedestrian is on page 23/16, but it refers to basic road etiquette and not to a girl or girls. Rachel hits Profane with her MG. He thought that since he was carrying garbage, he had the right of way. What double meaning are you making of this? That it's ordinary? everyday? boring? All true of Profane but not of being hit by an MG. Finally you mention a 1913 Webster Dictionary edition as the one Pynchon prefers. How did you determine this? Any links to a 1913 Webster Dictionary edition? If I don't hear any response in a couple of weeks, then I'm going to delete that entry as not really pertinent or useful. Jkvannort (talk) 12:42, 29 March 2024 (PDT)

I would ask the same questions about the first half of the iceberg lettuce entry. The link is no longer valid, and the website that it does go to is a Japanese family-owned farm who were interned in camps during the war and lost their original iceberg lettuce farm. I can find no support for the idea that WWII vets returning from the war demanded iceberg lettuce. I suppose it would be more interesting to point out that the name comes from the shipping process of packing the heads in ice. If no one explains this, I will edit this entry in the next two weeks. Jkvannort (talk) 13:06, 29 March 2024 (PDT)

The watercress entry has a quotation that the link to wikipedia doesn't match. While the history section does mention von Braun, it doesn't discuss watercress. This is another entry that needs updating. Jkvannort (talk) 13:20, 29 March 2024 (PDT)