Revision as of 04:17, 5 March 2011

Editors: Please keep these annotations SPOILER-FREE by not revealing information from later pages in the novel. And please pay attention to formatting and grammar. Preview your changes before saving them. Thanks!

Joelle Cleans Her Room

Page 736

B.Y.P.
maybe Berkshire Young Professionals?

Page 737

Pokie
apparently a childhood nickname for Joelle

fifth wall
usually a reference to the ceiling of a room

Page 738

futon
being a couch that opens into a bed

amniotic
taking place in utero

greebles
There is such a thing as a greeble, but probably not as Joelle means it. The real term, medically speaking, is "rheum."

"Greebles had been her [Joelle's] own mother's word for the little bits of sleepy goo you got in your eyes' corners." p. 738

basso
having a very low voice

Page 739

Carefree
a brand of sanitary pads

disdain
dislike or hatred

Page 740

rancid
rotten

oeuvre
body of work

inbent
directed inward

Page 741

Everclear
a brand of pure grain alcohol

Shoats
young pigs

Boosters
members of a booster club

H.S.
high school

YardGuard
a brand name of insect repellent

Page 742

Vittorio
this would seem to be a museum name, but there is no museum by that name in the Boston area

Bernini's sculpture 'Ecstasy of St. Teresa' is located in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

herring
i.e., a red herring — a distraction

Page 743

Legal Seafood up in Brookline
Legal Sea Foods, a chain that got its start in Inman Square, has a restaurant at 43 Boylston St., at the border of Brookline and within five miles of ETA.

Endnote 309

boniface
an innkeeper

Page 743 (cont'd)

grouper
a family of fish including sea basses

Page 744

obtruding
pushing something forward without invitation

tri-faceted
three-sided

Albertan champagne
an oxymoron — champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France

Page 745

Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) was an American actor.

two meters
about 6.6 feet

heliotropes
plants that turn toward the sun

Candela
From the SI: The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540×1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.

freezing point of platinum
If the melting point of platinum is 3214.9 ° F, then at any temperature below this, it will be solid, i.e., frozen.

Bazin
André Bazin (1918 – 1958) was an influential French film critic and film theorist.

Thomist
ascribing to the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas

personalistes
One of the main currents of the non-conformist movement in France in the 1930s, the personalistes school's main organ was Emmanuel Mounier's jouranl Esprit, in which Bazin published film criticism. The aesthetic theory of the personalistes was formulated by Jacques Maritain. For a discussion of Bazin's relation to Mounier see this article.

Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (1934-1996) was an American astronomer and host of a television show called Cosmos.

Haplology
the elimination of a syllable in a word when two consecutive, identical syllables occur, e.g., "probly" for "probably"

Page 746

'the vapors'
a euphemism for hysteria

Spielberg's old computer-enhanced celluloid things
the Jurassic Park films

Page 747

Kahlua
a coffee-flavored liqueur

blancmange
a thick milk pudding

chickory
usually spelled chicory, is used as a coffee substitute or additive in some places

thymus
a bodily organ that plays a role in immune function

Marathe at Ennet House, cont.

Page 747

subaltern
a subordinate

"He had the great fatigue..."
A less literal translation would be: "He was very tired..."

Page 748

"...to smack, to scag, and to H..."
all the same thing, being street names for heroin

Page 749

bolt of death
i.e., a deadbolt lock

Chit Chat Farms
This is a real detox in Wernersville, Pa., about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Page 750

chez
a French preposition meaning "at the home of"

Page 751

comment-on-dit?
French: How do you say?

45 kph
almost 28 miles per hour

Caisse de Dépôt et Placement
French: Fund for Registration and Placement

Joelle Continues to Clean

Page 751

katexia
Just like when Joelle referred to CA newcomers as "catexic" on pg 707, there's no word "katexia" in any American dictionary, although Freud used "katexis" to refer to the process by means of which libido energy is tied or placed into the mental representation of a personality, idea, or thing." What would make more sense in context is cachexia, the weight loss and muscle atrophy caused by some chronic diseases.

Page 752

Feeling Good
One of the key books on cognitive therapy for depression by David D. Burns, M.D., an American psychiatrist.

Marathe's Intake, cont.

Page 752

volubly
to speak readily

M./Mlle.
French: Monsieur/Mademoiselle, i.e., Mr./Ms., used because of Steeply's disguise

restenotic
refers to restenosis, or the re-narrowing of blood vessels after initial stenosis

Page 753

spire
steeple

manche à balai
French: broom handle

chanteur-fou
French: crazy singer

calculus
here meaning simply "calculation"

Lopate
The name is perhaps taken from Philip Lopate (born 1943), an American film critic.

transpercé
pierced through

Page 754

Endnote 315

malentendu
mishearing

Page 755