Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon (1997)
Read Professor Irwin Corey's acceptance speech for Pynchon's 1974 National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow.
Also, have a look at Douglas Kløvedal Lannark's exhaustive documenting of "love" in Gravity's Rainbow.
V
Vacuum
44; 155; 197; 356; 363; 428; 556
Vampire
425; Hungarian, 728
Vampyr of Covent Garden
117; Gothick novel Mason names to Maskelyne
Vane, Sir Henry (1613-62) (The Younger)
To Sr Henry Vane The Younger
by John Milton (1645)
Vane, young in yeares, but in sage counsell old,
Then whome a better Senatour nere held
The helme of Rome, when gownes not armes repelld
The feirce Epeirot & the African bold,
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold
The drift of hollow states, hard to be spelld,
Then to advise how warr may best, upheld,
Move by her two maine nerves, Iron & Gold
In all her equipage; besides to know
Both spirituall powre & civill, what each meanes
What which each thou hast learnt, which few have don.
The bounds of either sword to thee wee ow.
Therfore on thy firme hand religion leanes
In peace, & reck'ns thee her eldest son.
116; English statesman who, between 1635 and 1637, was governor of Massachusetts; After returning to England, he entered the House of Commons. Along with John Pym, he played a major part in securing the execution of the 1st Earl of Strafford; 225; 226; [MORE]
Varna, Battle of
The 1444 campaign the King of Hungary, Ulaszlo I, launched against the Turks (the "infidels") in an attempt to drive them out of Europe. The Christian army was utterly destroyed; lost by Caesarini, 591
Vasquez Brothers
477; have Marimba Quartet on M-D Line crew; 546
Vaucanson, Jacques de (1709-82)
372; He actually did make a mechanical Duck that could eat and excrete. Perhaps his most significant automata were his automatic looms, because years later, Jacquard would invent the punched card so as to program Vaucanson's looms; 450; 668; See also Duck; [More]
Vector of Desire
96; how DePugh LeSpark describes a telescope; [Eymological Musings]
Veery Brothers
289; Cosmo & Damian, professional effigy-makers in Philadelphia
Veevle
53; on crew of Seahorse
Vendue
511; an auction; 682
Venus
27; 137; 138; "from a Machine" 668
Verger
8; church caretaker
Vesuvius, Mt.
235
Vineland
633; 634
Vinovium
218
Vis centrifuga
555; Latin: "centrifugal force"
Vis Fulgoris
685; Latin: "power of lightning"
Vis Inertiae
708; Latin: "power of inertia"
Vis Martis
765; Latin: "power of Mars"
Visto
234; To facilitate sighting and marking, the surveyors employed axmen to clear a rough corridor, the Visto, "8 or 9 yards wide" along the points of their periodic observations and measurements; "Gravity along the Visto, is become locally less important than Rapture" 651; "upon the Atlantick Sea" 712
Viudas de Cristo, Las
518; Spanish: "The Widows of Christ"; See also Widows of Christ
Voam, Professor
321; "camp naturalist" & "Philosophical Operator" on M-D Line crew; FYI: In Pennsylvania and New Jersey there's an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. - and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter; 425; 550; 619
V.O.C.
58; Dutch: "Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie" (Dutch East India Company); 69
Void
179; 183; 288; Vacancy, 709
Volcano, Captain
402; sobriquet of "Amy's" "Uncle"; in Montague's, 564
Voltaire (1694-1778)
372; one of the greatest French authors and embodiment of the spirit of the Age of Reason; "remark about Gas and As-tronomers" 385; "Thorns and Angels" 568; writing about the Mechanickal Duck, 668
Vongolli
707; Italian: vongole = clam; "French-Shawanese half-breed Renegado" who is M&D's "sidekick"; reminiscent of Von Göll in Gravity's Rainbow.
Vortices
220; Vortices were an attempt by Continental philosophers and mathematicians to explain how space could be continuously occupied by solid matter (i.e. with no gaps) and yet allow movement. Atomic theories were deemed unacceptable because either they required space between atoms with nothing to fill it or they required solid atoms which interlocked and tesselated to fill space but thereby disallowed any movement; 556; Of Further Interest
Vowtay Brothers
100; Company writers
Vroom, Cornelius
60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; patriarch of the 5-person Vroom family
Vroom, Jemima ("Jet")
60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; 16-year-old daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.
Vroom, Kezia ("Greet")
60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; middle daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.
Vroom, Kerrenhappuch ("Els")
60: Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; 12-year-old daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.
Vroom, Johanna ("Vrou")
60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; wife of Cornelius; ripping her bodice in front of Mason, 87
