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343 · The Longest Chapter in the Book

Page 343

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

singular
unique

polysterene
styrofoam

ziggurats
an ancient type of Mesopotamian temple tower

fiberboard
board made of small fibers of wood, plastic, or some combination of these and other materials

Concord
Concord is about 20 miles west of Boston and is the site one of the first battles of the American Revolution.

Page 344

rotary
a traffic circle or, in the U.K., a roundabout

plywood
material made of thin layers of wood glued together

'12th-Step Work'
The twelfth and final step of AA is this: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

epigrammatic
of or pertaining to the use of short and pithy statements

pay it forward
thus the title of this movie

nip
drink of alcohol

Dick Cavett and Truman Capote
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett (born 1936) is an Emmy-award-winning television talk-show host. Truman Capote (1924-1984) was an American writer and novelist, best known for writing In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Both men were remarkably short.

Endnote 133

variegated
diverse

esoteric
understood or recognized by few people

Page 344 (cont'd)

piping
This is a tubular band of ornamental material; Nodie is probably a brand name.

imbricate
overlapping in sequence

tailor's notch
You get one from biting thread to cut it.

incisors
front top teeth

Page 345

insipid
without interesting qualities

AA Preamble
You can read it here.

empathy
one's ability to feel the emotions of another person

what he is
i.e., an alcoholic

Endnote 134

nonpunitive
not intended as a punishment

nitro
nitroglycerin, used for cardiac attacks

Page 345 (cont'd)

145 kph
a hair over 90 miles per hour

litany
a prolonged or tedious account

Page 345

waxing
growing in size, as for the first half of a lunar cycle

peritonitis
inflammation of the serous membrane lining the abdomenal cavity

cirrhotic
pertaining to hardening of liver tissue

nephritis
inflammation of the kidneys

Page 347

compadre
a close friend or companion, from the Spanish for "godfather"

ravening
voracious

maw
mouth

Black Mass
a Satanic ritual based on ten Roman Catholic mass

Page 348

"...something whimpery instead of banging."
a reference to the last line of T.S. Eliot's poem The Hollow Men

garish
loud and flashy

Balaclavan
a reference to Balaklava, Ukraine, and the suicidal Charge of the Light Brigade

thermal
a warm, rising air current

arbitrage
simultaneous purchase and sale of the same assets in different markets

compound
i.e., a compound fracture, where the bone protrudes through the skin

Svce
Service

Unitarian
Though the term refers to Unitarianism, here it suggestsa kind of hippyesque, wishy-washyness.

Page 349

Hindenburg
Named for Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (1847-1934), the German field marshal, hero of World War I, and last President of the Weimar Republic, the Hindenburg was a hydrogen-powered zeppelin that exploded over Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937.

nonuremic
so as not to appear in one's urine

foamer
beer

Page 350

beatific
blissful or angelic

Zippo
a brand of lighter

saccharin
A play on words. "Saccharin" is the artificial sweetener in Sweet & Low (coffee is being discussed); "saccharine" means "overly sweet."

flummoxed
confused or perplexed

burnished
rubbed smooth

squalid
foul and repulsive

Page 351

terse
using few words

imperative
a tense of verb implicating a command or directive

zealotry
fanaticism

green-card Irishman
an Irishman who is a permanent resident non-citizen of the U.S.

meal
ground grain

metal-pedalled
i.e., "with the pedal to the metal," i.e., at top speed

chemical psychosis
Psychosis (called "speed psychosisis") a not uncommon side effect of amphetamine abuse.

wax lyrical
to speak poetically

"'d been a confarmed..."
I'd been a confirmed bowl-splatterer for years beyond counting. I'd been barred from the facilities at all the truck stops betwixt here and New York for years. The wallpaper in the loo at home hung in these curled sheets from the wall, I tell you. But now one day . . . I'll remember it always. It were a week to the day after I stood up for my ninety-day chip. I were three months sober. I were there on the throne at home, you know. Not to put too fine a point on it, I produced as usual and . . . and I were so amazed as to not believing my ears. It was a sound so unfamiliar at the first I thought I'd dropped my wallet in the loo, do you know? I thought I'd dropped me wallet in the loo as god is my witness. So down I bend betwixt my knees and had a look in the dim of the loo and couldn't believe my eyes. So good people I do then I drop to my knees by the loo and had a real look. A lover's look, do you know? And friends it were a lovely past my poor powers to say. It were a turd in the loo. A real turd. It were firm and tapered and ever so gently arched. It looked . . . constructed instead of sprayed. It look as I felt in my heart God himself made a turd to look. My friends, this turd of mine practically had a pulse. I stayed down on my knees and thanked my Higher Power, which I choose to call my Higher Power God, and I been thanking my Higher Power on my knees ever since, morning and nighttime and in the loo as well, ever since.

Page 352

Enuresis
bed-wetting

Priapism
an erection that won't go away

Projectile-incontinence
inability to hold owns bowels to the extent that feces shoot out of the anus

Autocastration
castration of one's self

fringe-Birchism
Birchism is adherence to the principles of the John Birch Society, an ultra-right-wing political organization

National-Socialist-Bundism
probably something like the German-American Bund of Fritz Julius Kuhn

Coprophilia and -phagia
sexual excitement brought on by feces and eating of feces, respectively

candelabrum
a holder for more than one candle

Page 353

vitriol
something highly caustic or severe, as criticism

orevwar
They trying to say au revoir, i.e., French for "goodbye."

fremitic
characterized by tremor vibrations in any part of the body

Page 354

verdant
green with vegetation

varicose
having veins that are visible through the skin

shamanistic fiat
A shaman is a priest or religious official, usually of an indigenous religion. A fiat is an order, based on the Latin for the imperative form of the verb "to be."

30 kph
18.6 miles per hour

talismanically
in a way suggesting something having to do with a magic charm or amulet

Lord's Prayer
from Matthew 20:9-13

ballast
meaning an electric ballast, which is used to regulate and stabilize the current in lights

Page 355

gnarled
knotty of misshappen

Sixers
the short name for the Philadelphia 76ers

MCI-Walpole
This is the Massachusetts Correction Institute at Walpole, about 25 miles southwest of Boston.

raisin jack
an alcoholic drink fermented from raisins, commonly made in prisons

spectral
looking like a ghost

Page 356

LeSabre
the Buick LeSabre

jack-legged
a slang term meaning "always screwing up"

dash
short for "dashboard"

abject
sunken to a low position, as in "abject poverty"

regs
regulations

autonomy
control or rule over one's self

Page 357

fibrosis
scarring

Endnote 139

entomologic
Entomology is the study of insects.

Page 357 (cont'd)

Mr. Rogers
The Reverend Frederick McFeely "Fred" Rogers (1928-2003) was an American minister and children's television show host.

rhapsodize
speak in an extravagantly elegant manner

fisticuffery
fist-fighting

invectives
abusive expressions of opinion

Sergeant at Arms
an officer appointed to keep order

Page 358

apothegm
a short, pithy statement

head
bathroom

spuds
potatoes

nocturnal
happening at night

crook
a shepherd's staff

French-curled
You can see French-curled jewelry here

demurely
in an effectedly modest way

Page 359

circumferences
distances around the edge of a circle

cuticles
dead skin at the bottom of the fingernails

astringent
a chemical that tends to dry something else out

onionlight
You can see onionlights here.

isopropyl
a type of alcohol, found in rubbing alcohol

reek
to smell very badly

A.D.A.
Assistant District Attorney

Page 360

fumigated
permeated with gas to kill insects

idiosyncrasy
a peculiarity of personality

rattan
material taken from the rattan plant, a climbing palm with very long stems

Big Book
This is the AA "bible," so to speak, and can be found online here.

As Bill Sees It
a book by Bill W., one of AA's founders, first published in 1967

Came To Believe
another AA publication, this one published in 1973

Page 361

joggling
shaking slightly

Demerol
a brand name of pethidine, a painkiller

photic
having to do with light

Page 362

copperheads
one of five species of poisonous snake

tongues
The reference is to glossolalia.

larynx
voice box

requisite
essential or necessary

venulated
The word means "able to see the veins"; this condition of the nose is very common among advanced alcoholics.

'Volare'
This is a song whose title is from the Italian for "to fly." The song was written by Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci. Modugno went on to be a member of Italy's parliament

Page 363

pupil and iris
The pupil is the black circle at the center of the eye, while the iris is the colored part (blue, green, brown).

cognito
which is to say, in Lenz's case, unsuccessfully incognito

Ferragamos
an Italian brand of shoes

periphery
an external boundary

11-Step
recalling the 12th step on page 344, UHID must lack this step, or perhaps one of the others

Page 364

Rémy
Rémy-Martin, a brand of cognac

Tiparillo
a brand name of cigar

Year of Dairy Products From the American Heartland

defib paddles
the paddles used in defibrillation, the application of electric shocks to the heart to re-start it

divot
Normally a golf term, a divot is the hole left by the dirt displaced when one strikes a golf ball.

rankness
the quality of being offensive

proprietary
Usually referring to an owner, here it refers to feeling as if one has a sense of ownership.

Page 365

rectum
the very end of the large intestine

hubristic
having exaggerated pride or self-confidence

7-iron
a type of golf club

tenth rough
off the fairway on the tenth hole of a golf course

Page 366

flats
women's shoes without heels

subjunctive
contingent on something else happening

counterfactual
at variance with what really happened

indicative
According to Merriam-Webster, "indicative" means "of, relating to, or constituting a verb form or set of verb forms that represents the denoted act or state as an objective fact."

transposition
switching the position of two things

Radarange
microwave

pass
here used to mean "place"

allude
here used to mean "give an impression of"

Page 367

velour
a piled and nappy material resembling velvet

caparison
an ornamental covering for a horse, or just rich clothing

gavel
the type of hammer a judge uses to restore or maintain order

367 (1) · Statue of Liberty

Page 367

huge photo album
The book held by the statue reads, "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI [1776]."

product
as opposed to the torch it currently holds

pitons
spikes used by mountain climbers for support

367 (2) · Boston AA Meeting (continued)

Page 367

deprecate
to express disapproval

Page 368

conundrum
something puzzling

cunctations
delays

chagrin
embarrassment

aphasiac
inability to speak

Filene's
now owned by Macy's

Page 369

unironic
i.e., totally expected and not at all a surprise

disingenuous
lacking in sincerity

schlepping
moving awkwardly or slowly

Page 370

Naked I Club
a real strip club mentioned here

Route 1
U.S. 1 runs from Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border down to Key West, Fla., mainly through small towns.

Saugus MA
a suburb of Boston about ten miles south of the city

etiology
the cause or source of a medical problem

Mud-Bug
a Southern term for a crawfish

invertebrate
an animal with a spine

chordate phylum
the phylum of the animal kingdom containing all animals with spines

Page 371

Campfire Girls
apparently not just for girls anymore

Lancôme
one of France's largest cosmetics manufacturers

lurid
gruesome or shocking

ubiquitousness
the quality of always being present

Aetna
a real insurance company

Doric column
columns of buildings built according to the Doric order

pliability
the ability to be easily bent

Page 372

Ramparts and Commonweal
Ramparts was a magazine founded for a Catholic leadership but eventually found its niche with the New Left. Commonweal was and still is a publication by and for lay Catholics.

Sally Jessy Raphael M.S.W.
Sally Jessy Raphael (born Sally Lowenthal, 1938) is an American talk-show host. She does not hold an M.S.W., i.e., a Master's of Social Work

complicity
the status of being an accomplice in a wrongdoing

Wounded, Hurting, Inadequately Nurtured but Ever-Recovering Survivors
Look at the initials of the capitalized words.

auburn
reddish-brown

perimeter
the oustide edge of something

Page 373

vanity
a dressing table

limbic system
a complex system within the brain

gauntlet
an attack from all sides

rasa the tabula
This is a pun on tabula rasa, Latin for "blank state" and used in the philosophy of John Locke (1632-1704). The sense here is the clean the slate.

bandanna
a large printed handkerchief, typically red or blue with a white design

circumoral
surrounding the mouth

vacuole and optica
These are parts of a cell, the optica likely being some kind of "seeing" organ.

protozoan
a single-celled organism

some Catholic statue
The statue described strongly appears to be Bernini's The Ecstasy of St Theresa. This statue is also referred to by name at endnote 24, page 988 in the synopsis of James Incandenza's film Pre-Nuptial Agreement of Heaven and Hell.

Hours
another name for the Horae

prurient
causing lust

cherub
Often this word is used to denote a baby angel, but the actual connotation of the original Hebrew is of a fearsome warrior angel. A cherub guards the Garden of Eden in Genesis so that Adam and Eve cannot go back in.

lolled
dropped

Page 374

IV
intravenous, i.e., directly into a vein

lucidity
mental clarity

implicit
unspoken but implied

Six Flags Over the Poconos
Six Flags is a chain of amusement parks. There is not currently one in the Pocono Mountains.

labrynth
This is the mythological spelling of "labyrinth," meaning generically a maze, but more specifically denoting the maze built by Daedalus of ancient Greek myth.

minotaurs
Daedalus build his famous maze to house the minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull and the product of sexual congress between Europa, queen of Crete, and Zeus in the form of a bull.

aides de camp
a confidential assistant to a military officer

absconded
departed suddenly and in secret

proto-Fascist
Wallace really means "quasi-Fascist" rather than "proto-Fascist"; it's not as if the rules of AA are the harbinger of Fascism later to come.

decamped
a synonym of "absconded"

Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad

commode
toilet

Page 375

Endnote 143

Sic
This word means: "Thus; so. Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form or written intentionally" (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

375 (1) · More Marathe & Steeply

Page 375

Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment

shelf
a projecting ridge on a mountain

spangle
a small bright spot

"...launching even one ship or vessel."
unlike Helen of Troy, whose face "launched a thousand ships" according to Homer

375 (2) · Himself and Lyle

Page 375

blotto
drunk

Endnote 144

Year of the Purdue Wonderchicken

Page 376

Endnote 145

376 · More Boston AA

Page 376

brogue
an accent, usually Irish

Eightball
an eighth of an ounce of cocaine

translucent
capable of having light pass through

Page 377

swaddled
wrapped tightly in clothes

fuchsia
hot pink

dysplasia
abnormal growth of cells or tissue

remonstrances
acts of protest

beat-cop
a policeman who patrols the streets

tungsten
another name for wolframite

Page 378

Chanel
the fashion house known in long form as the House of Chanel

reticence
reluctance

D&C
dilation (of the cervix) and curetage (scraping) of the uterus

placenta
the tissue that nourishes a fetus and makes up the afterbirth

S.S.I.
Social Security Insurance

Page 379

379 · More With Himself and Lyle

Page 379

libations
alcoholic drinks

injudicious
showing lack of judgment

chyme
This is "the semifluid mass into which food is converted by gastric secretion and which passes from the stomach into the small intestine" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary).

Endnote`146

L.M.P.
Latrodectus Mactans Productions