Walt Whitman, the great American poet, wrote in "The Song of the Exposition": This fair would have its own Crystal Palace to symbolize not only the achievements of the world, but also the nationalistic pride of a relatively young nation and all that she stood for. In fact, the next international fair was held only two years later, in 1853, in New York City. Following the success of the London fair, it was inevitable that other nations would soon try their hand at organizing their own exhibitions. The Great Exhibition marked the beginning of a tradition of world's fairs, which would be held in major cities all across the globe. When the first major international exhibition of arts and industries was held in London in 1851, the London Crystal Palace epitomized the achievements of the entire world at a time when progress was racing forward at a speed never before known to mankind. The narrator thinks that human nature will prefer destruction and chaos to the harmony symbolized by the Crystal Palace. In What Is to Be Done?, Russian author and philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky pledges to transform the society into a Crystal Palace thanks to a socialist revolution.įyodor Dostoevsky implicitly replied to Chernyshevsky in Notes from Underground. It soon became a symbol of modernity and civilization, hailed by some and decried by others. The Crystal Palace made a strong impression on visitors coming from all over Europe, including a number of writers. See Alpha entry, especially this re cultural meaning: She was also the terrible Queen of the dead, whose name was not safe to speak aloud, who was named simply "The Maiden". Of the four gods of Empedocles' elements it is the name of Persephone alone that is taboo, for the Greeks knew another face of Persephone as well. Queen Victoria's brass bed at the Crystal Palace has been the most famous antique brass bed.īy the late 19th century, metal beds were nearly out of fashion." Antique beds ]Īlso, In The Odyssey, when Odysseus goes to the Underworld, he refers to Persephone as the Iron Queen. Their main advantage at that time was that unlike wooden beds, these could not be infested with bedbugs. These were to be used both by soldiers and civilians. Queen Victoria had a famous brass (and iron) one in the Crystal Palace! "Beds made of hollow tubes of steel, iron, and brass came to be manufactured in the mid 19th century. Worth noting because the country, language and history loom so large in Gravity's Rainbow as well as Pynchon's first two novels, so much so that Pynchon scholar David Cowart refers these novels as Pynchon's "German period."īesides the normal meanings, including "theater of war", 'theatre' is the name that fireworks' organizers call a sky display.Ī queensize bed made of iron. In Mason & Dixon, Pynchon employs capitalization of nouns widely in semi-accordance with the style of 18th-century written English.For what it's worth, the audiobook of Gravity's Rainbow - presumably approved by Pynchon or his wife and agent, Melanie Jackson - begins with an audio montage of air-raid sirens and snatches of WWII radio broadcasts.įirst instance in Gravity's Rainbow of a lifetime stylistic trait of Pynchon's: unpredictable use of Capitalization. Within this opening nightmare, the "screaming" connects more strongly to the wailing of air-raid sirens and/or, more poetically, to the panic of the city dwellers seeking escape. But they are not a description of the sound actually made in target zones by the V-2 rocket, which was typically - depending on the auditor's location - the sharp "cracking" explosion of the 750-kg warhead followed by a deeper, more or less extended sonic boom. They may bring associations with bombs whistling as they fall, or with the high whine of postwar jet engines.
These opening words are forever linked with the V-2 (German A4) rocket.
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