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TF1 cover, Intro, Act 1
Here’s my notes for Act 1 of the
volume 1. These where done during a recent re-read and thus have spoilers up through Volume 4. Hope they are helpful!Structure There are 5 acts with 6 chapters each (the narcon chapter does not count) of the character sections. There is an entre’acte between each act. And one at the end of act 5, which makes the copyright page, fonts, thank you and animal sections a sort of sixth act. No more than two chapters per act take place outside of LA.
Cover "one rainy day in may" it did not rain in LA on this day.
-the font of the chapter titles match the font of the chapter but the epigraphs are all the same font regardless of chapter and match the font of the subtitle.
Spine I love the touch of the pink triangle in the Pantheon logo
Inside cover only volume with 10 spheres. The tenth is the pomegranate that matches with the last Xanther splash page (TF1.787). I also love how this pomegranate sphere peeks through the cut out 1 when looking at the cover.
-The size of each sphere corresponds to how much "screen time" each character gets in the book.
-The background star field is slowly moving and shifting colors from vol 1 onwards.
Reverse endpaper There's no attribution for the reverse endpaper in TF1 there is attribution in TF2-4. The picture appears to be a galaxy seen edge on. (These photos are all attributed to MZD although I'm not sure how he got the one for TF3)
Circle Round a Stone Productions There are photo attributions for everything except the CRASP page. Which I assume was done by AZ. Also this page comes before the Pantheon page, which makes me wonder if in The
Pantheon is not fictionalized as the publisher in conjunction with or under the auspices of CRASP. CRAS also shows up in HoL.513 and the program from T50YS Halloween shows. It has also been used as a music publishing company for some of Poe’s album Haunted, including Hey Pretty, which MZD is credited on. It's also used on the OR audio book. Lastly, it is a business registered to MZD that he appears to run out of a residential address (makes sense for a writer). I can't help but think that CRAS is just MZD himself reframed as a production/publishing company - the link of sorts between the actual human named Mark Danielewski (the tax-payer who pays for health insurance) and the curated, myth-cultivating Author, Mark Z. Danielewski.-see Andy Goldsworthy for likely inspiration for the rock collage.
Epigraph Sheila Nightingale - anthropologist at CUNY. Can't find quote. I sent her message on Facebook asking about it and I never heard back. There's also a cool picture of her online with pink hair, coincidence? She also has some cool anthropology videolectures on YouTube. However I’m not positive the quote is from her. Here is something I found in a dissertation (“The
, the remediation of a TV series” by de Bartoli, 2017, online”:On February 18, 2017 I wrote to Danielewski to ask him about Sheila Nightinghale’s (sic) epigraph and he replied:
“Tricky, isn’t it? What of those voices that don’t live on the web or are canonized in academic discourse? Don’t they too deserve to resound through worlds?”.
-At signings MZD always signs the epigraphs page with specific lines
TF1: So it begins…
TF2: Toward the ridge…
TF3: Breaker of locks, opener of e(a)yes (I think the a is just a mistake he made signing my copy). Note also the similar wording in The Panther from HoL
TF4: ???? Haven't got this one signed yet, maybe someone else can chime in.
Advertisements why is “who said that?” trademarked?
LA Police - real
The Urban Pet - real
Galvadyne - fictional. For trademark “own the future” see TF4.246. For Mefisto's opposition to this idea see TF4.107 (“free the future”)
ZSL - fictional (note TF3.602)
Re-Adven(ture) - fake, not sure where this one appears in the book. It could be seen as Cas' and Bobby’s RV (TF1.139)
10 "more than reading" seems to be a custom Pantheon tagline for this series. I could not find it used anywhere else.
Astral Omega despite the whole section being in Narcon quotes, the title is not in a known narcon font
-The decrypted section is in narcon quotes and font for Narcon 9.
-Panel 6 uses "allways" when referring to humanity being hunted. But then uses "always" in panel 8 when referring to being plagued by war.
-VEM 5 alpha system: does this mean this is the fifth time the universe has restarted and VEM is a way to restart it? Or that this is the fifth simulation?
-see TF4.AO for how this message was encrypted into the current universe from the previous one.
Caged Hunt only Caged Hunt with HD in blue.
-Lawler is from Garlic to Irish means “somewhat leprous/sickly"
-Edsel can mean rich, Noble, or hall (probably all from semantic drift) but more interesting is how it's used in marketing. The Edsel was a car that Ford Motors lost 250 million dollars on. Also it was named after Henry Ford's son Edsel Ford. Now the word Edsel can mean a giant commercial failure.
-Weejun is a moccasin loafer. But also may be related to the Arabic Wijdan meaning consciousness, thinking, agency or free will.
-who is pixelating their eyes and who got their footage and shared/posted it? Where does this come from?
33 planetarity is also used as one of the road signs in the notes of the eBook of OR (fun side note - the OR spoiler poster is also included in the eBook!)
34 why does this section have page numbers but the narcon interruption does not? Also the page numbers are in a different font than the page numbers in the rest of the book. "Twin Rivers Ochre Artifact" title - as well as dialogue - is done by Narcon 27. Setting is done by Narcon 9, and descriptions are by Narcon 3
-the paper color does not match that of the Narcon Interruption.
-no corner tags or slanted page numbers.
35 starts seasonal pattern for these sections. Volume 1 is in spring, 2 is in summer, 3 is late fall, and 4 is winter.
39 Compare kids discovery of the red ochre (this moment being the first glimmer of abstraction and language acquisition (man's first technology)) with Cas receiving the orb equations and writing them down in crayon (TF1.151) (the first glimmers of VEM) see TheFirst Signs by Potzinger, pg. 178. There is even some evidence that these early ochre artifacts were used as "crayons" to paint the body. (The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter-Gatherers) Some works theorize that abstracting color was the first step toward language. See also New Perspectives on the Origin of Language by Levebre, et Al.
45 the location on the page of "volume 1" is lower on the page than in volume 2-4
47 "One Rainy Day in May" is located lower on the page than the subtitles on volumes 2-4
49 not quite signiconic enough to not have crumbs or pg number but pg 51 is and doesn't have either.
Note the symmetry: Xanther starts with a question (or storm of questions) and the novel ends with the word answerable (TF1.839)
Also note the phrase “raining cats and dogs” as the world-wide storm seems to have brought Xanther's cat into the world of The
.People have tried to calculate “how many raindrops?”. In 1 sq. Mile in 5 minutes of heavy rain there are around 1.5 trillion raindrops.
50 Xanther - this name comes from Greek root xanthe meaning blonde and also has a few thematic links to The
and MZD. Xanthe Terra is the is a region of rugged terrain on Mars that drained onto the Chryse Planitia where the Viking 1 landed (TF1.630) The word “xanthic” in the field of fisheries can also mean a deficiency of black. This is interesting in terms of the Astral Omega sections and the idea that Xanther is a “deficiency in black” or something that can overcome/transcend the darkness that begins to envelope her and eventually the whole Verse. The word “Xanthic” also shows up in the Now Here Found Concordance in OR in the list of color terms. On that note Xanther starts with a “X” which is rotationally symmetric like S and H from OR and Xanther’s eyes have flecks of gold and green like Sam and Hailey (TF2.767). Xanthe was also a name of Asclepius’ wife Epione who was the goddess of soothing pain (compare with Xanther's urges to heal and soothe the pain of animals, especially Satya and the animals around Xanther’s home.51 note the raindrops also look like claw marks.
53 Anwar - Arabic for luminous - compare with Xanther (blonde), and Mefisto (not lover of light) see Sadat (TF4.preview2), see also Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian politician
Astair - most likely from the Greek aster. This is has become star and flowering plant (TF1.288) in Latin in more modern languages. For more on the mythology of aster see: http://www.uvm.edu/pss/ppp/articles/asters.html
Ibrahim's know about Lupita's drug operation on Baxter St. Xanther is driving past where Luther is currently passed out (TF1.209)
54 "she's a Virgo" related to Demeter. "Not a bull" opposite of Luther who is minatory, or Taurus
55 note the rain spells out three phrases:
“Many raindrops?”
“Y rain”
“Any raindrops?”
61 first “cat” typo. These seem to be there as a result of the storm that is bringing the cat. They seem to disappear with the storm (see also TF1.110)
62-65 first time the colored corner tags disappear. This only happens from Xanther’s perspective and we only see things through her eyes when this happens. Exceptions are: TF2.618 for the poem The Reunionist (this is also the only black page in the series outside of a Xanther section. It's also a page from another book altogether).
TF2.751,753,755 for Narcon only pages in Luther’s chapter.
TF3.816 for Cas remembering her detonation of her orb.
TF4.812-816 when Anwar is “tested” by Galvadyne. He seems to be triggered into seeing something outside of his sphere (or at least the mechanism that constructs his sphere)
70 beast - first mention of the beast Woder do
72 Xanther is thinking of Dov, the next chapter is titled Lupita (whose first name is Paloma, which is Spanish for Dove)
73 Luther's splash pages are similar to Isandorno in that they both contain one image that is split in 2 and moved to opposite corners.
74 Luther - German for "People army" GK eleutheros "free". Compare with Ozgur which also means free but in Turkish.
75 Chitel - see cheetal: a spotted deer. In this scene he is Luther's prey.
76 Castaño 'chestnut (tree)' (Latin castanea) see "old as trees", "arms thin as high branches"
Paloma from Latin palumbus meaning dove Cadenaza chain link or strap.
82 Anwar’s splash page has repeating triangles for technology, while Astair’s has rosettes for nature.
85 Talbot - unit of measure in physics of luminous energy. The etymology of the name most likely comes from the Old German “talabod” which means “messenger of destruction”. Note Talbot is the one with the most info about Clip 4 and he seems peripherally aware of the world of Cas and friends (TF1.384)
87 Sementera - building where Anwar designs game engine is a Spanish word for planting or seeding. This makes it all the more likely that Anwar's game engine is the early seeds of the future sci-fi elements and the simulated world they inhabit.
Mefisto - may be from Hebrew for scatterer or from GK meaning "not-light loving" which is concerning. Although maybe this just means he is part of DARK. Compare with Anwar which means luminous.
Dazine - compare with Heidegger’s term dasein meaning a being aware of and confronted with it's on existence (ontology). Also homonym for design.
88-2187 is a multiple of 27. See TF4.802 last Anwar chap.
90 during seizures xanther is hot to the touch but feels cold inside. When away from cat she is cold to the touch but feels hot inside (TF2.778-9)
91 dov promised xanther his gun (TF4.724)
97 eyes flying open - compare with TF2.781 for thematic link of Xanther seeing things in her mind.
101 Zhong - from Confucianism meaning loyalty or duty to community or group
101 jingjing - in traditional Chinese medicine Jing means “essence”. It can also mean spirit.
102 Spencer - occupational name for someone employed in the pantry of a great
or monastery, from Middle English spense ‘larder’ + the agent suffix -er.103 Tian Li from Confucianism - it means natural ordering or pattern. With the connotation that the ordering comes from the heavens and is put in Nature/universe. Thus it is also translated as "heavenly principles" see "Vanishing Into Things" and the story
"Cook Ding Cuts Up an Ox" from the Zhuangzi (see wikipedia page)
104 Extra fun side note - TF-Narcon9 makes an appearance in the OR eBook OR.H.291. He shows up in one of the notes for the word “
”. He says here “Seriously. Not you google bitch.” Also is in pink. )108 compare with Xanther having green pricks of light on her ceiling after finding the cat (TF1.770, 796) with Tian Li speaking of "all that's never green" when the cat is not around. See also TF1.105,107.
-My attempt at translating Tian Li's promise to Jingjing:
1st promise: "you won't be caged by the tragedy of pleasure".
2nd promise "captured in the fragrance of a place is the abundance of it's blooming signs, if thou knowest these signs thou knowest this woman's end". See TF3.88,95,830;TF4.147,333,514,749. Apparently owning the cat let's you see these "fragrances"
3rd promise Chinese phrase "darkness braved ceases to be darkness". It also appears in English in Xanther's text in TF4.313 (Narcon 3? translates it to Chinese to the consternation of Narcon 27.)
110 first pink
in text111 Sim Lin - May be part of Hokkien phrase meaning "trading people are very sparing of their money" (or rich people are cheap)
113 Tian Li wants some tea, Astair is making tea on the very next page (note TF3.50,134 for another connection between the two)
117 Cyril Kosiginski - Cyril is means lordly or masterful, which is a great name for a landlord.
118 Itsy Bitsy Spider, American nursery rhyme. This most likely an allusion to the Hopi emergence myth (The Spider Woman leads man to emerge into the Fourth World from the Third World.) Compare also with the ladder in Freya's floor (TF4.217). Also mentions rain, "washed the spider out" but when the rain ends the spider ascends again. See also (TF2.818)
118 the distribution publicized Anwar and Astair's cell phone number, landline and Anwar's email (see also TF1.87). This is done to stop Galvadyne from reaching out to Anwar to protect him and his family. Thus Galvadyne can't get through (TF1.266,456) However Recluse is able to remove every trace of the Distribution (TF1.144,138,149) thus Galvadyne is able to contact Anwar and offer him a job (TF3.691). See TF3.494,701 for further description of the Distribution and its failure.
120 ice cream koans - note that Xanther and Anwar visit an ice cream shop with this title (and it shows up in TF2 advertisements). While there Xanther eats pomegranate ice cream (TF2.320) thus metaphorically embodying Persephone and paving the way for her “trip” to Hades in volume 4.
122 having two abortions, one at 15 and one at 16 makes me about concerned for Astair's past and the potential that she may have been abused.
123. Pacifica Graduate Institute is a real school located in Carpenteria, CA; however later in the book the name appears as Oceanica (which is not real) and is in Santa Barbara. It stays that way throughout (TF1.709, TF3.569). This same sort of glitch happens with the name of Xanther’s school which changes from Thomas Starr King (a real school) to Thomas Star Kane (TF1.130; TF2.121). These glitches hint at a multiverse with multiple versions of each story that is slightly different.
133 the Narcons see these as The Wizard’s chapters, despite knowing her real name and labeling the other chapters with the characters real names.
138 Cas - short for Cassandra. In GK mythology she was given the gift of prophecy but the curse of not being believed. See also CAS9 CRISPR Gene editing technique.
142 the negative space orb blocks the crumbs
143 the orb requires connectivity to some type of network (maybe just the internet?)
144 Recluse - from Late Latin reclusus, past participle of recludere "to shut up, enclose" opposite of Xanther after finding the cat where all doors and windows are thrown open. See also Agamben's The Open. Note also Anwar's game Paradise Open. Themes of open/closed are numerous throughout the series.
-VEM window reduction: Currently the orbs can only see into the past and the closest of the clips we have seen is 2008. (TF1.654; Mefisto's orb, which he gifted to Cas after she destroyed hers, is only able to see up to 40 yrs before present TF4.229. This is also why they are so concerned when Xanther's Clip 6 changes, the past is not supposed to change TF2.285). As far as Cas and Bobby know the smallest window reduction that can be achieved is 1 year (TF1.156, TF2.281,821). The future is, so far, out of the question (TF2.821). Cas is worried that Recluse was able to reduce this window on his orb and see the design of the Distribution and thus be able to stop it. However we find out later that he was able to trace the orbs (TF2.825) and this is how they are all found. Later on Bobby urges her to "max the window" in an attempt to see as close to present as possible to try and locate Recluse (TF1.639). In TF4.601 they use smart phone footage and video editing to make a video that appears as if they can now see up to 1 month before present. This is done to try and lure Recluse out as he will try and take this technology from them.
In addition to the Year One Window, there is also:
-theoretical talk of Future Windows (TF2.820,TF3.195; seeing the future through the orb),
-The Zero Window (TF3.481; seeing things happen in real time)
-And of course Orbless Revelation (TF2.820,TF3.195)
151 “same way years ago” so it sounds like DARK sent Cas info to access VEM (C4.167) And the HOLY sent the cat (TF4.AO)
-the time 11:11:11 is also in the chronomosaic of OR.S.72. this is almost perfectly mirrored by having the date April 15th, 1958 fall on OR.S.283. The symmetry is pages off, but aligns with the reel marks. However the use in OR refers to when the Armistice of WW1 takes place (November 11th at 11AM). This may be way Cas makes up this time as it ties in with the idea of 11-11 by a synchronicity throughout time (i.e. appearing more than it should)
152 “asters of late” note the shared root with Astair as well as entre'acte 2 titled, Asters (TF1.292)
153 the pink ellipsis causes this page to have no page number or crumbs as it is fully signiconic.
155 "green...predatory light", compare with the green light that accompanies the cat (see note for pg. 108 above)
156 censored name is Alvin Alex Anderson
157 "ontology of thought" this seems to be from classical metaphysics. But it's just vague enough (not to mention deep in the weeds of ontological philosophy) that I'm not confident in this one. See Maspero's Life as Relation article for a succinct background on these ideas (the Classical Metaphysics section). See also Epistemology and Cosmology in Neoplatonism: Is Cognition a Mind-Body-Problem? by Blum. My take is that the orbs can access VEM (TF1.629, 569), which is where thoughts actually live (or are stored) so the actual reality of a thought resides as a pattern within VEM and this can be accessed through an entity thinking, or a narcon calling from (but only in the present). The past can be accessed through the orbs (up to 1 year before present). However I also have a suspicion that both Phinneas and Hopi had access to orbless revelation (Hopi's text messages also appear as Hebrew sayings in the entre'acte 2 (TF1.288), and Phinneas has read HoL TF4.528).
157 Nunc Dimittis This is from the Canticle of Simeon, but I am almost certain this is also alluding to The Book of Merlyn pg 29 this section includes many shared thematic elements. And also in The Once and Future King - after a discussion of using Might for Right (which is Cas and Recluse's main contention) - Merlin recites the Nunc Dimittis). These connections are very thematic and not direct, however Deakin using the name Merlin as well as the code word Mordred (TF1.646), the traitor who fought against Arthur, makes me pretty certain that this phrase is alluding to these works. I'm still not positive on exactly how it is being used here. The phrase did take on the meaning of "now i can go/die" as in "now I've seen it all" but that usage doesn't make complete sense here. The meaning of the phrase in context of the canticle is of a believer who has seen evidence of the coming salvation, or rather has seen the first glance of something that was long ago prophesied. As far as I can tell this seems to be the specific meaning of the phrase used here.
157 "epistemology of living incarnates Judgement" This is also taken from some pretty difficult philosophy, specifically Kant's theory of Judgement. The idea is that the central role of cognition and consciousness (living) is in making Judgements about the world (i.e validating incoming sensory and abstract information, thus turning it into knowledge about the world). Put in simpler terms "our ability to judge is equivalent to our ability to think". It also has the idea of transcendental idealism which refers to thought as not being strict sensory and chemical process, but rather an accessing of noumena or things-in-themselves. I'm sure I am not succinctly capturing the specifics of Kant's rigorously thought-out system and to get specifics go here https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-judgment/
So my reading of this line is: Judgement is the incarnation of living beings processing and evaluating the validity of information or knowledge. This is relevant in the context of the orb which is the contact point between the noumena (VEM) and the sensory (Cas). Thus just as a human can have sensory experience of the world and thus have knowledge about, and judgements on, the world - so can Cas and her orb access the thing-in-itself of noumena in the past. That's why the orb can see things no one else could ever even know (Audra's drowning, which had no witnesses) as it is pulling from a sort of noumenal record of the world, and not a sensory one (sounds like a simulation, right?). This shows VEM as a universal record of things-in-themselves - the universe as it is before it has been mediated through human cognition. (Compare with Narcon knowledge limitations - they can only know that which is within the sphere or umwelt of their narrated character - thus all Narcons are a part of and are beholden to, and engaging with, VEM to extract and incarnate judgement into their character, thus emerging thought.)
One other item of note regarding this interpretation is the photo of the artifact from TF3.34 that is attributed to VEM in the attributions (TF3.846). This is the photo of the Lenggong Valley Spear. However, I have been unable to find any actual evidence that a spear like this has been found or photographed. The other artifacts in the series are all real archaeological finds with photos and papers written about them; however any information about Lenggong Valley from around 75,000 years ago does not mention a spear of this sort being found. It is however mentioned that spears were definitely used by humans 75,000 years ago and that humans in this region most likely also used them (as they had hand axes and such). That said - since to my knowledge no spears have been found in the Lenggong Valley - the only way to get a photo of a Lenggong Valley Spear is to pull it from VEM, the noumenal record of all space and time. (Note also the violet hue that only exist on the picture of the spear but in none of the other artifacts. This is the only technology of violence that has appeared as an artifact. Compare this to the violet hue seen as Cas' accesses Clip 1 from VEM through her orb. Audra also has a violet hue (TF1.653) which is associated with violence and death in the realm of VEM (or really all of MZD's works) so it makes sense that a technology that accelerated the death of other animals would emerge from VEM with a violet hue.
157 "where the origin of eschatological limits finds every consequential thread" This seems to be saying that the early events that lead to the end of the universe that are conveyed in the Astral Omega sections are what the orbs are allowing Cas to see (or that a group on the other end (DARK) is enabling Cas to see). Note Cas wondering, when viewing Recluse's crib scene, "if here already was awakening the awful future of this awful
present" (TF2.281). We also have a thematic connection to the Greek fates. Cas names her orb after one of the three sisters, Lachesis (TF2.283). The three fates are: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The myth is that the three sisters were responsible for weaving the fate of humanity with each individual fate being a thread. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis dispensed or allotted it, and Atropos cut the thread signaling the end of a life (as well as deciding the manner of death). Note Cas herself saying "she would willingly play Clotho and maybe even Lachesis. But never Atropos" (TF4.791) not wanting to be responsible for the fate of human lives. See also "Cas might unweave and reweave the algorithms" (TF2.278), "weaving tirelessly" (TF1.653) and "threads of light" (TF1.628) for explicit ties to threads/weaving. In addition, see Clip4.167 for discussion of links (i.e. threads) being broken and the concern this causes Zeke Rilvergaile. Cas also states that links can deteriorate (TF2.815). Clip 4 (the story) seems to suggest that there is an entity on the other end (DARK?) who is connecting these threads/links, however they only gave them the clips and now have left (C4.167) so now they have "source material without source". See also TF3.190 for description of time as a fabric that untwines into the future.
Bonus Notes:
the pink ellipsis don't show up as punctuation in the text in TF1 in fact the only place they show up as punctuation in all of TF1 is on the inside flap in the description of the novel and on the Coming Soon page (before the animal section) Before the cat is found, these pink ellipsis only show up as a signiconic image (note their are no crumbs or pg. numbers on these pages) representing the call of the cat when calling to a character (i.e. TF1.153) but not within the text itself as punctuation. Thus after the cat is found it's “call” becomes much more integrated with the text as a punctuation mark. The first appearance is TF2.69
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