197.2–4 battle of Borodino . . . Valmy] Battle of Borodino, September 7, 1812, French victory over Russian forces about seventy miles west of Moscow during the Napoleonic Wars. Battle of Arbela, Alexander the Great’s decisive defeat in 331 B.C.E. of the Persian army led by Darius III at Gaugamela, about thirty miles from the city of Arbela (present-day Arbil, Iraq). Battle of the Metaurus, Roman victory in 207 B.C.E. over the Carthaginians in a battle fought near the Metaurus River in Italy during the Second Punic War. Battle of Châlons or Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, fought in Gaul in 451 C.E. by Roman forces and Germanic allies against the Huns under the command of Attila, with neither side conclusively victorious. Battle of Pultowa or Poltava, July 8, 1709, a Russian victory over the Swedish Empire in the Great Northern War. Battle of Valmy, French victory against Prussian and Austrian forces on September 20, 1792, the first victory of French revolutionary forces against regular armies.
198.35 ‘Johnny Got a Zero.’] Hit song (1943) popular during World War II (“Zero” was a Japanese fighter aircraft), words by Mack David (1912–1993), music by Vee Lawnhurst (1905–1992).
199.9 On the third] October 3, 1864; the sentences following, describing events in northern Georgia, are taken directly from W. Birkbeck Wood and J. E. Edmunds, A History of the Civil War in the United States, 1861–65 (1905).
199.32 Yusef Lateef] Jazz musician and composer (1920–2013).
200.22 Gregg] Union cavalry general David McMurtrie Gregg (1833–1916).
200.23 Fitzhugh Lee] Confederate cavalry general (1835–1905).
204.11 ‘Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,’] Recording (1927) by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five.
204.15–16 “The Gypsy Baron.”] Operetta (1885) by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825–1899).
205.32 Henri Bendel] High-end retailer of women’s fashions and accessories on Fifth Avenue, founded in 1896.
208.23 Rutherford] The British physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937).
209.30 Komsomol] Soviet Communist Party youth organization.
211.13 Skinner box] Common name for a chamber used by behavioral scientists to observe animals’ responses to stimuli as forms of conditioning; it was created by the American scientist and psychologist B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) while he was a graduate student.
211.30 Palestrina] The Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?–1594).
211.36 Gog] In Jewish eschatological tradition, Israel’s battle against barbarian enemies led by the tribes Gog and Magog was prophesied to be one of the major events preceding the reign of the Messiah; they are also referred to in Revelation 20:7–8.
212.3 the Elgar] Pomp and Circumstance, or “The Land of Hope and Glory,” op. 39, no. 1 (1901), march by the English composer Edward Elgar (1857–1934) customary at graduations.
212.7–8 admiral . . . the Coral Sea] A reference to the Battle of the Coral Sea, May 7–8, 1942, in the Pacific.
216.10 “Is there any value that has value?”] From the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), Proposition 6.41.
216.29 Minnesota Multiphastic Muzzle Map] Cf. the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a widely used psychological test, the first iteration of which was published in 1943.
216.31 “Stella by Starlight,”] Popular song (1944), music by Victor Young (1899–1956), lyrics by Ned Washington (1901–1976).
217.31–32 “Mr. W. B. Yeats Presenting . . . Queen of the Fairies.”] Drawing (1904) by the English novelist, essayist, and caricaturist Max Beerbohm (1872–1956).
CITY LIFE
220.1 Roger Angell] Writer and editor (b. 1920), Barthelme’s longtime friend and editor at The New Yorker.
234.7–8 Teníamos grandes deseos de conocerlo,”] Spanish: We really wanted to meet you.
240.1 The Falling Dog] The title and the story are an allusion to a series of sculptures and paintings featuring a “Falling Man” figure as depicted by the self-taught American artist Ernest Trova (1927–2009).
241.11 Sax Rohmer] English novelist (pseud. Arthur Henry Ward, 1883–1959) best known for inventing Dr. Fu Manchu, a Chinese master criminal.
241.16–17 Olympia Press] Publishing house founded in Paris in 1953 that published erotica as well as experimental literary works by Samuel Beckett, William S. Burroughs, and Georges Bataille, among others.
241.33 Baskin, Bacon, Landseer] American artist Leonard Baskin (1922–2000); English artist Francis Bacon (1909–1992); English painter Edwin Landseer (1802–1873) who specialized in animals.
253.1 story of Tolstoy’s] “The Three Hermits” (1886).
255.5–6 Nekrasov, and Fet] The Russian poets Nikolay Nekrasov (1821–1878) and Afanasy Fet (1820–1892).
258.34 Vercingetorix] Gallic chieftain (c. 82–46 B.C.E.), leader of a revolt against Roman rule that was crushed by Julius Caesar.
260.1 The Glass Mountain] Polish fairy tale about a princess whose golden mountaintop castle can only be entered by a man who, bearing a golden apple plucked from a tree on the mountainside, completes a perilous climb up the slope where many have previously failed. In the version given by Hermann Kletke, the tale was included in The Yellow Fairy Book (1894), edited by Andrew Lang, which is quoted here on p. 263.
262.7–8 “A weakening . . . a close.”] From The Hidden Order of Art by the Austrian-born British aesthetic theorist Anton Ehrenzweig (1908–1966), published posthumously in 1967.
262.34 M. Pompidou] Georges Pompidou (1911–1974), France’s prime minister, 1962–68.
264.2–3 “In some centuries . . . energies.”] From Shakespeare and Spiritual Life (1924) by the English poet John Masefield (1878–1967).
270.17 Schumann Festival.] Recurring festivals featuring the works of the composer Robert Schumann (1810–1856) in his hometown of Zwickau and in other German cities.
275.1 Kierkegaard . . . Schlegel] The Danish philosopher and religious thinker Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855); the German philosopher and man of letters Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829).
276.38 Sierra Maestra types] Supporters of the Cuban Revolution.
278.14–16 quoted Nietzsche . . . many a bad night] In Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil, 1886).
281.37 Hitchcock-Truffaut book] Hitchcock/Truffaut (1966) by the French filmmaker François Truffaut (1932–1984), based on conversations with the English director Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980).
282.33–34 Mme. Boucicault, widow of the department-store owner.] Marguerite Boucicault (1816–1887), the widow of the cofounder of Paris’s Bon Marché department store, made significant contributions to its operations and was a philanthropist.
285.2–3 his great work Don Juan Triumphant] The name of the fictional opera composed by Erik (or the Phantom), the protagonist of The Phantom of the Opera (1910), novel by the French writer Gaston Leroux (1868–1927).
285.34 Christine] Christine Daaé, singer with whom the Phantom is in love.
286.10 The acid] The Phantom’s face has been disfigured by acid in the novel’s 1943 film adaptation but not in the novel itself.
286.36–37 The Secret of the Yellow Room.] Novel by Leroux published in 1907.
287.7–8 “All men that are ruined . . . natural propensities,”] From “Letters on a Regicide Peace,” letter 1 (1796), by the Anglo-Irish philosopher and social theorist Edmund Burke (1729–1797).
293.1 Bulwer-Lytton] The English novelist, playwright, and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873).
293.17 Robert-Houdin] The French illusionist, watchmaker, and popular Parisian performer Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–1871).
293.33 Mr. Christopher medal] The devotional St. Christophe
r medal depicts the patron saint of travelers.
294.3 Moholy-Nagy] László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946), Hungarian-born artist who worked across media, and especially in photography, painting, and design; he taught at the Bauhaus, an experimental school of art and design in Weimar, Germany, 1923–28.
294.35 Tugendhat House] Villa Tugendhat, modernist residence (1928–30) in Brno, Czechoslovakia, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) and Lilly Reich (1885–1947).
297.34 bozzetti] Italian: sketches.
298.24 King Lud] Legendary pre-Roman British king, reputed to have founded London.
302.11 Swedenborg] Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), Swedish theologian, philosopher, and mystic.
302.25–30 “Some of the most intelligent . . . not clothed.”] From Swedenborg’s Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell, from Things Heard and Seen (1758).
306.4 Toynbee’s] The English historian Arnold Toynbee (1889–1975).
317.3 “Masters of War”] Song (1963) by Bob Dylan (b. 1941).
317.14 “Me and My Winstons,”] Commercial jingle from a television advertisement for Winston cigarettes.
320.5–11 original gravure . . . picture of a tree] Le 16 Septembre, etching by the Belgian artist René Magritte (1898–1967) after his 1955 painting.
325.29 “Victimas de Pecado,”] Victimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin, 1950), Mexican film directed by Emilio Fernández (1904–1986).
326.2 great singer Moonbelly] The name suggests a fusion of the folk and blues singer, songwriter, and guitar virtuoso Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter, 1889–1949) and the blind Manhattan street performer and avant-garde musician Moondog (Louis Hardin, 1916–1999), known as “the Viking of Sixth Avenue.”
326.5 Vercingetorix] See note 258.34.
328.30 Sacred Rota] The Vatican’s foremost tribunal.
330.18 Hector Guimard] Not a trombone player but a French architect and designer (1867–1942) at the forefront of the art nouveau movement.
331.22–23 As Goethe said . . . is green.] From the lines spoken by Mephistopheles in the first part (1808) of Goethe’s drama Faust, scene 7, lines 2038–39.
SADNESS
334.1 To Kirk . . . Starr] Kirkpatrick Sale (b. 1937), writer, political theorist, and environmentalist, and his wife the editor Faith Sale (1936–1999) lived in the same building as Barthelme in New York City; she would be the editor of Barthelme’s collection Sixty Stories at G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Barthelme’s friend Harrison Starr was a film producer and director.
335.1 Critique de la Vie Quotidienne] Critique of Everyday Life, title of three-volume study published from 1947 to 1981 by the Marxist French sociologist, philosopher, and theorist Henri Lefebvre (1901–1991), as well as a description more broadly of one of the chief emphases of his work.
335.7 “Femmes enceintes . . . de bifteck cru!”] French: Pregnant women, don’t eat raw steak!
335.13 Arne Jacobsen] Danish architect and designer (1902–1971).
335.14–15 “Une Maison Qui Capte la Nature.”] French: A House That Captures Nature.
335.16 actualité pieces] Current events pieces, articles about the present.
337.2–3 St. Catherine of Siena . . . Pope Gregory] Over three months in Avignon in 1376 and through later correspondence, Catherine of Siena (1347–1380) mounted a successful campaign to persuade Pope Gregory XI (c. 1329–1378) to restore the papacy to Rome.
339.9 “Intimations of mortality,”] Cf. the title of William Wordsworth’s poem “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” (1807).
342.24 best Piagetian principles.] Ideas about child development put forth by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980).
343.1 Träumerei] Title (“Dreaming”) of a piece in Robert Schumann’s piano suite Kinderszenen (Scenes of Childhood, 1838).
343.11 Nelson Mass of Haydn] The D-minor Missa in Angustiis (Mass for Troubled Times, 1798) by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809).
343.17 Spontini] The Italian composer Gaspare Spontini (1774–1851), whose works include the opera Agnes von Hohenstaufen (1827).
343.24 a Putzi] The nickname of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886).
343.28 bringing in the sheaves.] Title of hymn with words (1874) by Knowles Shaw (1834–1878), sung most often to music (1880) by George Minor (1845–1904).
344.11 Mascagni] Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945), Italian composer of operas, most notably Cavalleria Rusticana (1890).
344.28 the persistence of memory] Title of well-known painting (1931) by the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) depicting melting clocks.
345.23 Glazunov] The Russian composer Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936).
353.3 Parke-Bernet] New York City auction house that became part of Sotheby’s.
356.14 Marshal Foch] The French military leader Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929), supreme commander of the allied forces in the final months of World War I and the official who accepted Germany’s surrender on November 11, 1918.
358.11 Sturmgeschütz] A German armored vehicle of the Second World War.
359.9 Poets’ Corner] Section of Westminster Abbey in London dedicated to tombs and commemorative monuments of poets and writers, including Chaucer, Spenser, Dickens, and Tennyson.
366.4 Bonnard.] Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), French painter, member of the avant-garde artists’ group known as the Nabis.
367.14 Osservatore Romano . . . Diet of Worms] L’Osservatore Romano, daily newspaper of the Vatican; Diet of Worms, assembly of the Holy Roman Empire in the German city of Worms in 1521 that unsuccessfully demanded that Martin Luther repudiate his views.
369.15 d’Alembert] Jean le Rond d’Alembert (1717–1783), French mathematician who co-edited the Encyclopedia with Diderot.
373.8 Walden] The German artist and gallerist Herwarth Walden (pseud. Georg Lewin, 1879–1941), whose Sturm Gallery in Berlin exhibited Klee’s works.
376.3 Dreyer] The Danish filmmaker Carl Dreyer (1889–1968), director of The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and Gertrud (1964), among other films.
376.9 Dziga-Vertov] Soviet filmmaker (1896–1954) of films such as The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) and Three Songs of Lenin (1934), a leader of a movement in Soviet cinema.
376.35–37 Correlation . . . according to Hagman.] In Elmer R. Hagman, “A Study of Fears of Children of Pre-School Age,” Journal of Experimental Education (December 1932).
377.17 quoting Nietzsche] See Morgenröte (Daybreak, 1881), section 153.
378.25 Finlandia] Orchestral and choral work (1899) by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957).
378.26 I. F. Stone] Left-wing investigative journalist (1907–1989).
378.39–379.1 the change of Philomel, by the barbarous king] Quoted from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, part II, line 99, referring to the ancient Greek story of the rape of Philomela by King Tereus of Thrace, who also cut out her tongue; she was later transformed into a nightingale.
379.1 ¡huelga!] Spanish: strike.
379.2 Mongo Santamaria] Cuban-born conga drummer and bandleader (1917–2003).
379.2–3 St. John of the Cross] Spanish priest, mystical writer, and poet (1542–1591).
379.3 Melmoth the Wanderer] Eponymous protagonist of novel (1820) by the Irish writer Charles Robert Maturin (1782–1824) about a man who has sold his soul to the devil.
381.15 Victory through Air Power!] Wartime Disney animated documentary (1943) based on the book (1942) by the Russian-born pilot and aircraft designer Alexander de Seversky (1894–1974).
381.18 China Clipper] A Martin M-130, flying boat built for Pan American Airways that made transpacific flights for mail an
d passenger service, 1933–45.
381.19 Flying Wings] Aircraft without a fuselage or tail.
381.24 Spads and Fokkers] Planes made, respectively, by the French aircraft manufacturer SPAD (an acronym of Société pour l’aviation et ses dérivés), in operation 1911–21, and by the Dutch-based manufacturer Fokker.
395.33–34 “Let’s Burn Down the Cornfield.”] Song (1970) by the singer, songwriter, and composer Randy Newman (b. 1943).
396.10–11 “Bye Bye Baby . . . Baby.”] “Bye Bye Baby,” song from the musical Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1949), lyrics by Leo Robin (1900–1984), music by Jule Styne (1905–1994).
399.17 Charles Evans Hughes] American jurist (1862–1948) who served as a Supreme Court justice in 1910–16, secretary of state in 1921–25, and chief justice in 1930–41.
405.6 Scheler] Max Scheler (1874–1928), German phenomenologist philosopher and author of On the Eternal in Man (1960) and The Nature of Sympathy (1970).
410.7 Grand Cham] Cf. “The Grand Cham” (1922), story published in Adventure magazine by the American fiction writer Harold Lamb (1892–1962), and the “great Cham,” as Samuel Johnson was sometimes called.
419.10–11 “studiare da un punto . . . di un—”] Italian: study from a formalistic and semiological point of view the relationship between a text’s language and the codification of a—.
420.6–7 St. Paul says] In 1 Corinthians 7.
420.29 Simone Simon] French film actor (1910–2005) whose Hollywood films include The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) and Cat People (1942).
420.30 Raymond Radiguet] French writer (1903–1923), author of the novel Le Diable au Corps (The Devil in the Flesh, 1923); not an actor.
421.14 Casals] The Spanish cellist Pablo Casals (1876–1973).
430.9 VISTA] Volunteers in Service to America, national poverty relief program.
431.1 Daumier] The French artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1870), known for his political caricatures and satirical tableaux of French social life.
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