Chapter 12
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
Semitic: of or relating to the Semites, a group of peoples of southwestern Asia chiefly represented now by the Jews and Arabs, but in ancient times by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Aramaeans, Canaanites and Phoenicians.
Hamitic: relating to a group of chiefly northern African peoples that are mostly Muslims and mainly Caucasoid.
Joe Hill (1879-1915) was a labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (nicknamed "Wobblies").
An American journalist who vocally opposed labor unions and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.
John F. Kennedy International Airport was originally known as Idlewild Airport (IATA/FAA: IDL) after the Idlewild Golf Course that it displaced. The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963, one month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Country song released in 1954 and covered by a variety of musicians (Dinah Washington, Bob Dylan and The Band, Johnny Cash, et al). The odd thing here is that Pynchon's quoting the first line of the song, not the title. Snow's title is "I Don't Hurt Anymore." Hank Thompson first covered it as "It Don't Hurt Anymore" in 1957 and Johnny Cash recorded his cover with the same title in 2003 (released in 2010).
A physiological decrease in the reproductive capabilities in people, especially men. It's used here as the male equivalent to menopause.
The single was released on 2 July 1956.[1]
| Chapter 1 In which Benny Profane, a schlemihl and human yo-yo, gets to an apocheir 9/1 |
Chapter 2 The Whole Sick Crew 44/39 |
Chapter 3 In which Stencil, a quick-change artist, does eight impersonations 61/59 |
Chapter 4 In which Esther gets a nose job 95/97 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 5 In which Stencil nearly goes West with an alligator 111/115 |
Chapter 6 In which Profane returns to street level 134/141 |
Chapter 7 She hangs on the western wall 152/161 |
Chapter 8 In which Rachel gets her yo-yo back, Roony sings a song, and Stencil calls on Bloody Chiclitz 213/229 |
| Chapter 9 Mondaugen's story 229/247 |
Chapter 10 In which various sets of young people get together 280/305 |
Chapter 11 Confessions of Fausto Maijstral 304/333 |
Chapter 12 In which things are not so amusing 347/385 |
| Chapter 13 In which the yo-yo string is revealed as a state of mind 367/407 |
Chapter 14 V. in love 393/437 |
Chapter 15 Sahha 415/461 |
Chapter 16 Valletta 424/471 |
| Epilogue, 1919 456/507 |
