The Annotated STATIONS OF THE TIDE (Part 3)

.

 

Page 21:

thesuppression of Whitemarsh:This and the related witch-cults were based on the Albigensian Crusades againstthe Cathars.

 

Page 22:

the maggot in the skull: A maggot is not only a larval fly, but alsoa whimsical notion, derived from the folk belief that an irrational personliterally had maggots in their brain.

 

Page 24:

the Third Unification: Of this phase of the Prosperan System’s longand tangled history, I know nothing.

 

Page 25:

barnacle flies: A dimorphic name: in Great Winter a barnacle and inGreat Summer a fly.

Rose Hall: Rose Hall, Jamaica, is known for the legend of WhiteWitch, Annie Palmer, a slave owner even crueler than most of her kind, who waspurportedly trained in voodoo.

 

Page 26:

sleeve job: A crude folk joke in which the sleeve job is described asa sex act of extreme perversity and effectiveness—yet whose specific workingsare never described. The term has since been appropriated for various sexualacts of greater or lesser likelihood.

Caliban: Miranda’s larger moon, inhospitable to life and usedprimarily to house prisons and military training camps.

 

Page 27:

TERMINAL HOTEL: This is an inside joke. There used to be a shabbyhotel across from the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia. The sign over its doorsimply read TERMINAL. Gardner Dozois was once filmed crossing the street infront of the Terminal Hotel for an incidental scene in Brian de Palma’s movie, BlowOut. Unhappily, the footage ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

Page 29:

Two television sets were wedged in thesand, one with the sound off, and the other turned away:When I first came to Center City in Philadelphia, I couldn’t afford to buy atelevision. So I went out on trash day and hauled every TV set I found back tomy apartment. I yanked the vacuum tubes (this was before printed circuits) andtook them to Radio Shack, which had a tube tester, and bought new tubes. Thisresulted in two sets, one of which had good sound and the other a good image. Istacked one on top of the other and the rest went back to the curb.

Sex, magic, and television are thematic inStations of the Tide, as intangible technologies whose maineffects are achieved inside the human brain.

 

Page 33:

the System government: Asmall joke here. Prospero and its attendant planets make up the ProsperanSystem. But the government is the System.

 

Page 36:

wands and orchids: Maleand female genitalia.

 

Page 37:

“All is pattern”: Thisis one of the major themes of Stations, along with the universality of change. I feelclose to embarrassed for pointing out something so obvious.

 

Page 38:

haunts: This is the firstmention of the aboriginal people who possessed Miranda before the coming ofhumans and the guilt for whose possible extinction haunts Mirandan society. The name is derived from the “haints” of African-American folklore.

 

Page 39:

Ariel: Miranda’s lessermoon.

Ararat: The resting-placeof Noah’s Ark. Also the first human city on Miranda, long since abandoned andlost.

 

 

*

@font-face {font-family:Courier; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 3 0;}@font-face {font-family:"MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:"_l_r __f_"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:"\@MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;}p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-link:"Plain Text Char"; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Courier; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}p {mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}span.PlainTextChar {mso-style-name:"Plain Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Plain Text"; font-family:Courier; mso-ascii-font-family:Courier; mso-hansi-font-family:Courier; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:0pt;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ligatures:none;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}