Chapter 6
- Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel.
136/143 "Mierda. Mierda. Mierda."
Shit. Shit. Shit.
136/143 Randolph Scott
Stage & screen actor who played in many Westerns in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
137/144 . . .ready to come in a flying machine
Reference to the popular song "Come Josephine, In My Flying Machine (Up She Goes!)" — words by Alfred Bryan, music by Fred Fisher. Wikipedia, Lyrics. Clearly irresistible to Pynchon, in addition to the double entendre on "come."
138/142 The Feast of San' Ercole dei Rinoceronti
The Feast of Saint Hercules of the Rhinoceros, a reference to the Central and South American Hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules, in the subfamily Dynastinae (rhinoceros beetles). [1]
140/147 Sfacim
Italian for semen, insulting or ironically affectionate name, like a**hole. WordReference.com
148/156 George Raft
Screen Actor & pop icon from the 1930s. Dapper dresser in the period gangster style. Pynchons description of the padded shoulders seems to fit.
| 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 |
