IJ181
From Literature Concordances
181* · Madame Psychosis on the Radio
Contents |
Page 181
Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
Madame Psychosis
not just a byname for DMZ, but also a radio show host
Page 182
particidal
having a tendency to kill one's father
entomologist
a person who studies insects scientifically
sephenoid
a misspelling for sphenoid
Infundibular
having the form of a funnel
epiglottal
having to do with the epiglottis
Hillel
a nationwide (worldwide?) Jewish student union present on several campuses
corpus callosum
the part of the brain connecting the left and right hemispheres
larygeally fissured
having ridges like the human larynx
work-study
receiving funding from the university in exchange for work rendered to the university
Page 183
chiffon
a lightweight, balanced, plain-woven fabric
limned
To limn means to describe
parietal
referring to the parietal lobe of the brain, responsible for sensory memory and response
pop
Midwesterners in the U.S. use this word to denote what others call "soda," i.e., Coca-Cola, 7-Up, etc.
Dow
a pun on the Chinese word tao, ("the way") and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
gasper
cigarette
E.S.T.
Eastern Standard Time
medulla
literally that part of the brain responsible for autonomic functions like heartbeat, organ activity, etc.
Page 184
I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei (born 1917) is a Chinese-born American architect who designed, among other famous buildings, MIT's Green Building.
Endnote 60
J. A. Stratton
Julius Adams Stratton (1901-1994) was an American educator and president of MIT between 1959 and 1965.
Page 184 (cont'd)
cerebral cortex
that part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking
"...what she's said for three years of midnights..."
Up until 'Look at that fucker Dance,' the rest of her introduction is from Genesis 1.
Largest Whole Prime On The FM Band
109 is a prime number, i.e., divisible only by itself and by 1. Actually the highest number you can get on FM is 108, and there are no whole numbers in FM radio in the U.S.
EM
probably denoting "electromagnetic"
centrifugal
that force in a spinning object that tends to push away objects from the angle of rotation
Hundt Act
Reed E. Hundt (born 1948) was chairman of the Federal Communications Committee in 1996, when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. Wallace may be riffing on that, as it appears there was no equivalent legislation in 1966.
spatter's center
The spatter referred to here is probably the small amount of FM bands that can be sent out.
inelastic
When used with regard to demand, this term means tending not to change.
3-km. cannon
The range is about 1.86 miles.
P.E.
Physical Education
Philology
The love of language, the term is also used to describe the study of literature.
Page 185
hypogonadism
lack of function of the ovaries or testicles
Nodular leprosy with leonine facies
a form of leprosy that generates lesions made of nodes and that produces lion-like facial expressions (i.e., "leonine facies")
The acromegalic and hyperkeratosistic. The enuretic.
Arcomegaly is a disorder of the pituitary gland whereby it produces too much human growth hormone, resulting in giantism. Hyperkeratosistic means that one is suffering from hyperkeratosis. Enuresis is the inability to urinate.
The spasmodically torticollic.
having a head tilted to one side (torticollis) involving convulsions (spasmodic)
G.S.L.
Guaranteed Student Loan
treillage
latticework
interneural
between nerves
semitic ideograms
Semitic languages actually tend to be written uses alphabets, where a symbol denotes a phoneme, rather than in ideograms, like Chinese and Korean are. The oldest alphabet is the Phoenician, which was Semitic.0
rostral lamina
in biology, a beaklike or snoutlike (rostral) layer of tissue (lamina)
neuroform
Neuroform is actually the brand-name of a type of stent.
S.O.P.
Standard Operating Procedure
neorealist
adhering to Italian neorealism
Peterson/Broughton and Dali/Buñuel
Sidney Peterson and James Broughton collaborated on The Potted Psalm (1946), an experimental film.
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (1904-1989) and Luis Buñuel Portolés (1900-1983) were both Spanish artists. They collaborated on Un chien andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1929), another experimental film.
Deren/Hammid
Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid codirected Meshes of the Afternoon
Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) was an Italian filmmaker probably most famous for Blowup.
Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (1932-1986) was a Soviet-Russian filmmaker, most famous for Voyage in Time, made with Antonioni.
Sometimes Ozu and Bresson
Yasujirō Ozu (1903-1963) was a Japanese filmmaker. Robert Bresson (1901-1999) was a French filmmaker.
hoary dramaturgy
According to Wikipedia, dramaturgy is "the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage." To call it "hoary" would be to imply it's old.
Sir Herbert Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852-1917) was a British actor and manager. You can hear his performances of Hamlet here.
Kaelesque
In the style of Pauline Kael (1919-2001), an American film critic for New Yorker magazine.
De Palma, Tarantino
Brian De Palma and Quentin Tarantino
Endnote 61
dissociative formalism
presumably formalism that focuses too much on form and not enough on character and other aspects of filmmaking
Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton
Stan Brakhage (1933-2003) and Hollis Frampton (1936-1984) were American avant-garde filmmakers.
Beth B.
You can read about here here.
the Snow brothers, Vigdis Simpson
One of the Snow brothers would have to be Michael Snow (born 1929), a Canadian-American filmmaker, principally known for Wavelength. Vigdis Simpson seems created.
Page 185 (cont'd)
Brutalism, Found Drama
Brutalism may refer to brutalist architecture. Found Drama is the cinematic extension of Found Art.
dissonant
inharmonious with other things (here, aspects of Madame Psychosis's taste)
Page 186
Baraka
Imamu Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones, 1934) is an African-American poet, playwright, author, and political activist.
piamater
actually two words: Pia mater
sulci
plural of "sulcus," a furrow or groove, particularly between sections of the brain
A.Y. ('V.F.') Rickey's summum opus
V. Frederick Rickey is a prominent mathematician. I don't know who A.Y. Rickey is/was, but it is notable that there is, in fact, no Student Union building at MIT.
Summum opus would be a "great work" while magnum opus would be the "best work."
parietooccipital
referring to both the parietal lobe of the brain, as well as the occipital lobe, which is where vision is processed
Pons and abducent
The Pons is a structure on the brain stem, while the abducens nerve is a nerve in the muscles of the eye.
basilar-stem artery
a stem of an artery that carries blood to the brain
oblongata
the second half of the full name of the medulla
Page 187
FHC
acronym for "fluorohydrocarbon," this is a type of fluroplastic, known to give off poisonous fumes
Heathkit
The company's Web site is here.
10ºC
fifty degrees Fahrenheit
five m.
almost 16.5 feet
vascularly hued
colored like a blood vessel
mercuric
employing the element mercury
wooferless
lacking the larger speaker (i.e., the "woofer") found in multi-speaker systems
saddle-noses
noses having a collapsed nasal bridge
atrophic
shrinking in size
Scleredema adultorum
a disease characterized by non-pitting induration of the skin
serodermatotic
suffering from serodermatosis, a skin disease with serous effusion into the skin
hydrocephalic
having water on the brain
tabescent and chachetic
Tabescent refers to a person with tabes dorsalis, and chachetic (probably misspelled) apparently refers to a person with cachexia.
Brag's-Diseased
This would seem to be a type of glioma, though it is mentioned almost nowhere.
carbuncular or steatocryptotic
Carbuncular means "pimply," while steatocryptotic refers to a person suffering from steatocryptosis, which is derangement of the sebaceous glands.
Marin-Amat Syndrome
This is involuntary closure on one eye, named for Manuel Marin Amat, an early 20th century Spanish ophthalmologist.
scrofulodermic
suffering from cutaneous tuberculosis
Bell-shaped steatopygiacs
A steatopygiac is a person suffering from steatopygia; if you're bell-shaped, it just means the fat is closer to the bottom than the top
Pityriasis Rosea
a skin disease marked by patches of pink, oval rash
"Blessed are the poor in body, for they."
This is not one of the Beatitudes.
U.H.I.D.
This is a bona fide acronym for "Universal Health Identifier," though it's doubtful this is what Wallace means. A HID is a "Human Interface Device"; U could stand for "university" or "universal" or something else entirely. Ah, what he means: Union of Hideous and Improbably Deformed
probability waves for subhadronics
Probability waves are a concept in quantum physics that expresses the probability that "a particle or particles in a particular state will be measured to have a given position and momentum" (Wikipedia). Subhadronic refers to a particle smaller than a hadron.
Page 188
Radcliffe's Bunting Institute
Radcliffe is the women's college at Harvard University. According to the Harvard Web site, "The Bunting Institute is a mutidisciplinary center for women scholars, writers, artists, and activists of demonstrated achievement and promise. Each year, approximately 40 women pursue projects that make significant contributions to their fields, working in a community that fosters interdisciplinary discourse, and creative and intellectual leadership. Some describe their experience as "the Bunting transformation."
L.A.S. tradition
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Endnote 64
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1709-1784), was a British poet, essayist, novelist, literary critic, and lexicographer.
Beesley
Patricia Beesley, an early 20th century American educator who did author the book named.
cornup3.COM
There is no such Web site.
mens-sana pedagogy
"healthy-mind" teaching
ad valorem
Latin: by value
corpore potis
Latin: able of body
Thorp's Trigonometry of Cubes
Edward Oakley Thorp (born 1932) is an American mathematician, but he seems not to have created a "trigonometry of cubes," which would be, frankly, impossible.
aphotic to apochromatic
Aphotic means without light, while apochromatic means developing color.
Best Boy
a member of a film crew, assistant to either the gaffer or key grip
Cambridgeport
an area of Cambridge, Mass.
Page 189
leukodermatic
white-skinned
xanthodantic
misspelling of xanthodontic, which means yellow-toothed
basilisk-breathed and pyorrheic
A basilisk is a type of dragon, and pyorrhea is the condition of having gum disease.
Page 190
peronic or teratoidal
Peronic means having a bent penis, while teratoidal means malformed.
prenologically malformed
malformed in the shape of the skull
supuratively lesioned
having lesions that ooze pus
acervulus-nosed
having blisters on the nose
radically -ectomied
-having to do with body-part removal (think radical mastectomy)
diaphoretic
perspiring
granulomatous
having masses of ulcerated infections of the skin
lazarettes and oubliettes
A lazarette is a hospital that treats infectious diseases, while an oubliette is a dungeon accessible only by trapdoor.
kyphotic and lordotic
Kyphotic means having abnormal rear curvature of the spine (i.e., hunchbacked), while lordotic having abnormal forward curvature of the spine.
cellulitic
fat
fatally pulchritudinous
deadly good-looking
Actaeonizing
turning into a deer; growing horns
Medusoid
looking like a gorgon
papuled, the macular, the albinic
Papules are inflammatory elevations of the skin. Macular means having opaque spots on the cornea. Albinic is having no melanin.
odalisques
a concubine or slave in a harem
ital
italics, used for emphasis
crosiers
a crosier is a type of French roll
lager
a type of beer, medium in darkness
vin blanc
French: white wine
Page 191
Good Morning, Midnight and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Giovanni's Room and Under the Volcano
Good Morning, Midnight is a novel by Jean Rhys (1890-1979), born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, a Caribbean novelist, on the topic of a woman forced to confront her own loneliness and despair. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is a novel by Stephen Crane (1871-1900), an American novelist, on the topic of a child prostitute. Giovanni's Room by African-American expatriate author James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987) is a novel on the topic of a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality. Under the Volcano is a novel by Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957), a British writer, on the topic of alcoholism.
Bret Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis (born 1965) is an American novelist probably best known for Less Than Zero (1985), about a drug addict who turns to prostitution, and American Psycho (1991), about a serial killer.
van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was a German-born American architect.
Endnote 66
R.E.M. and Pearl Jam
R.E.M.'s lead singer, Michael Stipe, was famous for his unintelligible lyrics until around 1987's Document. Pearl Jam's vocalist, Eddie Vedder, is as cryptic now as he was fifteen years ago, when they released their first record.
Page 191 (cont'd)
wall- and cross-eyed
To be wall-eyed is to suffer from exotropia, which is a form of ocular paralysis in which one or both eyes turn outward.
ergotic of St. Anthony
An old name for ergot poisoning is "St. Anthony's fire," which is ergot poisoning. However, given the context, Wallace may be referring here to shingles.
varicelliformally eruptive
a type of eczema due to herpes.
sarcoma'd of Kaposi
Karposi's sarcoma is a usually benign skin cancer common in elderly Mediterranean men that has become the most easily identifiable visible symptom of AIDS.
M. Hamilton as Oz's West Witch
Referring to The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West (and East) was played by Margaret Hamilton.
Page 192
RCA-Victorish
The image can be seen to the right.
snaggle-toothed
having a broken or projecting tooth
wattled
having flesh hanging from one's chin, like a turkey
lycanthropically
in a way suggesting a werewolf
Tourettic
suffering from Tourette's syndrome
teratoid
resembling a monster
halitotic
having bad breath
saurian- and equine-looking
looking like a lizard or horse, respectively
invaginate
sheathed
Cushing's Disease
Named for Harvey Williams Cushing (1869-1939), an American neurologist, this disease is an endocrine disorder resulting in rapid weight gain, sweating, thinning of skin, and other negative side effects.
Rhinoplasty
nose job
subdural
below the dura mater in the skull
Page 193
les bâtiments sanctifíes
French: the holy buildings
Metropolis
a 1927 film directed by Fritz Lang
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