Donald Barthelme

by Donald Barthelme

  677.25–26 Remember ye not . . . things?] 2 Thessalonians 2:5.

  678.6 gardes-bébés] French: babysitters.

  678.33 Rupert’s Land] Prince Rupert’s Land, historical designation of the area comprising the Hudson Bay drainage basin in Canada.

  680.17 “Genevieve, Oh Genevieve.”] “Sweet Genevieve” (1869), song with lyrics by George Cooper (1840–1927), music by Henry L. Tucker (1826–1882).

  681.12–13 the great Peripatetic] Aristotle.

  684.8 Man Mountain Dean] Pseudonym of Georgia-born wrestler and entertainer Frank S. Leavitt (1890–1953).

  684.16–17 the salt losing its savor . . . air.] See Matthew 5:13 (“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?”) and Matthew 6:26–28 (“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them”).

  685.37 long tall Sally] Hit record (1955) for Little Richard (pseud. Richard Penniman, 1932–2020).

  686.5 Malraux] The French novelist and cultural critic André Malraux (1901–1976).

  689.20 Oui, je sais.] French: Yes, I know.

  692.10 the famous one] Sybil Leek (1917–1982), English occultist, astrologer, columnist, and author who settled in the United States in the 1960s and became widely known for her Diary of a Witch (1968) and other writings on supernatural phenomena.

  707.15 it was a dark and stormy night] From the opening line of English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Paul Clifford (1830), often parodied.

  710.15 Ghost Dance] Reference to a late nineteenth-century pan-Indian religious movement originating among the Northern Paiutes of Nevada, which promised the renewal of the world and a reunification of the living and the dead. Its most important ritual was a ceremonial round dance repeated on successive nights.

  722.28 mot juste.] French: the precise word.

  725.1 The Emperor] In a 1981 interview Barthelme noted that this story was inspired by “the so-called First Emperor, Ch’in Shih Huang Ti” (Pinyin: Qín Shǐ Huáng; 260–210 B.C.E.), the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first ruler of a unified China.

  725.27 assassin Ching K’o] Jing Ke (d. 225 B.C.E.) died in a failed assassination attempt on the future Emperor Qín.

  728.16–17 Gilda. . . . sizzling blouse.] Rita Hayworth (1918–1987) played the title character of the 1946 film Gilda.

  731.3 OD] Olive drab.

  734.12–14 glass . . . darkly.] Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12.

  737.13–14 “You shall not . . . Bryan.] From the “cross of gold” speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, July 9, 1896.

  738.15–16 according to Alfred Frankenstein.] In his entry on the American artist John Frederick Peto (1854–1907) in the exhibition catalog The Reality of Appearance: The Trompe l’œil Tradition in American Painting (1970) by the American art historian, music critic, and musician Alfred Frankenstein (1906–1981). Frankenstein also wrote a monograph on the American painter William Michael Harnett (1848–1892), mentioned just below, in After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters, 1870–1900 (1953).

  741.2 as Colonel Thursday] In Fort Apache (1948), Western directed by John Ford (1894–1973).

  741.10 Robert Young says: “Sanka] The film and television actor Robert Young (1907–1998) was a television spokesman for Sanka instant decaffeinated coffee.

  742.13 Poulenc to Bob Wills] The French avant-garde composer Francis Poulenc (1899–1963); the Western swing bandleader, fiddle player, singer, and songwriter Bob Wills (1905–1975).

  742.15–16 Jim Dine . . . Richard Hamilton.] The American pop artist Jim Dine (b. 1935); the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978); the German surrealist artist Hans Bellmer (1902–1975), active in France; the English Pop artist Richard Hamilton (1922–2011).

  743.34 “I’m an Old Cowhand.”] “I’m an Old Cowhand (on the Rio Grande)” (1936), song by Johnny Mercer (1909–1976), written for the film Rhythm on the Range, in which it was sung by Bing Crosby.

  748.37 blood on the saddle] Title of an anonymous cowboy ballad.

  OVERNIGHT TO MANY DISTANT CITIES

  752.1 Marion] Barthelme’s wife Marion Knox Barthelme (1944–2011).

  753.14 Wiwi Lönn] Wivi Lönn (1872–1966), Finnish architect.

  753.20–21 Chandigarh, Brasilia, Taliesin.] Planned city in India designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965); planned city designed as Brazil’s new capital and inaugurated in 1960, designed by the Brazilian architects Lúcio Costa (1902–1998) and Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012); the estate of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) near Spring Green, Wisconsin, parts of which were rebuilt twice after two separate fires.

  754.6 FASTIGIUM.] An architectural term for a pediment or end gable as well as a word used to describe the height of a fever.

  762.4–5 Bareass On the Grass] Sardonic reference to Édouard Manet’s painting Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863).

  763.18 VDT] Video display terminals.

  763.29 Guild] The Newspaper Guild of New York.

  767.33 Junior League?] Charitable aid organization of upper-class young women founded in 1901 by a railroad magnate’s daughter, Mary Harriman (1881–1934).

  767.34 a Fauve?] Member of Les Fauves (French for “Wild Beasts,” as they were dismissively described by a critic in 1905), an early twentieth-century European art movement whose central figures included the French artists Henri Matisse (1869–1954), André Derain (1880–1954), and Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958).

  770.17 “Verklärte Nacht”] Title of composition (“Transfigured Night,” 1899) for string sextet, op. 4, by the Austrian-born composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951).

  771.26–27 Charles the Good, Charles the Bold, and Charles the Fair.] Charles I, Count of Flanders (1083–1127); Charles, the final duke of Burgundy (1433–1477); Charles IV of France (1294–1328).

  772.27 Seven Sisters] Term coined by Italian government official Enrico Mattei (1906–1962) to describe the seven oil companies Standard Oil of New Jersey, Royal Dutch Shell, Anglo Persian Oil Company, Standard Oil of New York, Standard Oil of California, Gulf Oil, and Texaco.

  776.32–33 Without music, Nietzsche said, the world would be a mistake.] In Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols, 1888), “Maxims and Arrows,” 33.

  777.31 Protocols of Zion] Protocols of the Elders of Zion, fraudulent document forged by Russian police officials exposing a purported plot of Jews and Freemasons to subvert Christian civilization and create a world state; published in Russia in 1902, it was translated into German, English, French, Polish, and other languages in the 1920s.

  779.4 the Cars] Pop-rock band with numerous hit singles, starting with “Just What I Needed” in 1978.

  779.10 Rod Stewart and the B-52s.] Rod Stewart (b. 1945), English rock star who was lead singer of The Faces and has enjoyed a successful solo career; the B-52s, New Wave band whose earliest popular success was “Rock Lobster” (1979).

  782.1 Captain Blood] Hero of the adventure novel Captain Blood (1922) by the Italian-born English novelist Rafael Sabatini (1875–1950) and its many sequels.

  787.6 Benvenuto Cellini] Italian painter, goldsmith, sculptor, and writer (1500–1571).

  787.25–26 Yves Klein.] French artist (1928–1962) whose use of nude female models as a means of applying paint to the canvases of his “Anthropometry” paintings is described here.

  788.11 Georges de La Tour] French artist (1593–1652) whose paintings often feature striking images illuminated by candlelight and set against dark backgrounds.

  789.14 Vladimir Tatlin] Russian
constructivist artist (1885–1953), best known for his unrealized architectural design Monument to the Third International (1919–20).

  790.1 Conversations with Goethe] See note 567.36.

  790.26 Humboldt] The German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859).

  792.12 Lessing.] The German philosopher, playwright, and scholar Gott­hold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781).

  796.32–33 Langley . . . Marchionni] The English architect and landscape gardener Batty Langley (1696–1751), also the author of numerous books on building and architectural design; the German architect Joseph Effner (1687–1745), who served as court architect of Bavaria; the influential Scottish neoclassical architect and designer Robert Adam (1728–1792); the Italian architect Carl Marchionni (1702–1786), who among his other projects contributed designs to the Villa Alboni in Rome.

  797.36 Beatissime Pater] Latin: Holy Father.

  797.37–38 ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae humillime provolutus] Latin: humbly kneeling at the feet of Your Holiness.

  800.1–2 Klee said: One bone alone achieves nothing.] In the Swiss artist Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook (1925). The remark by the German-born art historian and architectural critic Sybil Moholy-Nagy (1903–1971) at lines 800.30–31 is taken from her introduction to her English translation of Klee’s book, published in 1953.

  810.5 Buxtehude] Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707), German-Danish organist and composer.

  812.10 “Malagueña”] Popular song by the Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona (1896–1963), originally part of his Suite Andalucía (1933).

  812.30 “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,”] Popular song (1912), lyrics by Chauncey Olcott (1858–1932) and George Graff, Jr. (1886–1973), music by Ernest R. Ball (1878–1927).

  813.7 “Cherokee,”] Jazz song (1937) by the English bandleader and composer Ray Noble (1903–1978).

  813.21 “Vienna”] “Wien, du Stadt meiner Traüme” (Vienna, City of My Dreams, 1914) by the Austrian composer Rudolf Sieczynski (1879–1952).

  814.22 Ferenczi] Sándor Ferenczi (1873–1933), Hungarian psychoanalyst who collaborated with Freud.

  814.24–25 of Victor Herbert’s] Victor Herbert (1859–1924) was an American composer of operettas, including The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), and The Red Mill (1906).

  814.29–30 that which exists . . . does not] From the ontological argument for the existence of God first put forth in the Proslogion (c. 1077–1078) of Anselm of Canterbury (1022–1109) and later developed by René Descartes, among other philosophers.

  817.17 Goodnight Moon] Young children’s book (1947), written by Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952) and illustrated by Clement Hurd (1908–1988).

  822.33 Weegee] Pseudonym of Arthur Fellig (1899–1968), American photographer known for his photographs of crime and accident scenes in New York City, among other urban subjects.

  823.14 Hot Club of France.] Hot Club de France, organization devoted to jazz.

  825.31 “Elmer’s Tune.”] Big-band song (1941) written by Sammy Gallop (1915–1971), Dick Jurgens (1910–1995), and Elmer Albrecht (1901–1959).

  825.36 H. V. Kaltenborn.] Radio commentator and journalist (1878–1965) whose broadcasts were heard in millions of American households in the 1930s and 1940s.

  827.10 R. D. Laing.] Scottish psychiatrist and author (1927–1989) whose books include The Divided Self (1960) and Knots (1970).

  835.1 The Palace at 4 A.M.] Sculpture (1932) made of wood, glass, wire, and string by Alberto Giacometti (see note 116.39).

  838.14 Larousse] French dictionary.

  846.11 Parris Island] Marine Corps training base in South Carolina.

  847.30 Schwitters] See note 518.9.

  FROM FORTY STORIES

  858.15 Charity] Drama (1874) by English playwright W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911).

  858.17 Saint Joan] Play (1950) by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950).

  866.5–8 Wassily . . . Ettore Sottsass] Modern furniture: the Wassily Chair, designed by the Hungarian-born architect and furniture designer Marcel Breuer (1902–1981); designers of the other pieces of furniture alluded to are the Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928), the American furniture and industrial designers Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988), and the Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007).

  866.13 Ah, je vois le jour, ah, Dieu] French: Ah, I see the day, ah, God.

  873.40 St. Vincent’s] Hospital in Greenwich Village, 1849–2010.

  875.1–2 Bluebeard . . . that door,”] In the folktale of Bluebeard, best known in the version by French fabulist Charles Perrault (1628–1703), Bluebeard tries to murder his wife Fatima after she opens a closet in his château against his express orders and discovers the corpses of his previous wives. He is himself killed by her brothers.

  875.9 Dreyer, the American art dealer] Martin Dreyer (1909–2001) and Margaret Webb Dreyer (1911–1976) founded and operated the Dreyer Galleries in Houston, 1959–75.

  876.4 Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor.] The English architect and playwright John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) and the English architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (c. 1661–1736), who assisted Vanbrugh on his Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace.

  876.28–29 Buen Retiro] Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro, porcelain manufacturer in Madrid.

  878.10 Panhards] Automobile produced by the French motor vehicle company Panhard, founded in 1887.

  878.36 Bronzino] Florentine mannerist artist Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano (1502–1572).

  883.29–30 a figure . . . atop the Mormon temple] The angel Moroni, who according to the testimony of Joseph Smith (1805–1844), in 1823 revealed to him the location of golden tablets containing the scripture Smith later translated as the Book of Mormon.

  884.31–32 disciple of Schumacher . . . of Fourier] The German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher (1911–1977), author of Small Is Beautiful (1973) and a well-known advocate for global sustainability; the American social and architecture critic Lewis Mumford (1895–1990); the French economic reformer and utopian social theorist Charles Fourier (1772–1837).

  886.8–9 Wiener Werkstätte] Austrian design company that produced modern furniture, ceramics, clothing, and jewelry, founded in 1903 by Koloman Moser (1868–1918) and Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956).

  886.11 marché aux puces] French: flea market.

  893.27 Tillich] The German-born theologian Paul Tillich (1886–1965), author of The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957).

  894.32 Huysmans] Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907), pen name of the French novelist and art critic Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (1848–1907), best known for À Rebours (Against the Grain, 1884) and La-Bas (Down There, 1891).

  896.8 Harvey Cox, who speaks about “people’s religion,”] In The Seduction of the Spirit: The Use and Misuse of People’s Religion (1973) by the American theologian Harvey Cox (b. 1929).

  897.8 non serviam?] Latin: I will not serve.

  898.22 Alfred Adler] Austrian psychoanalyst (1870–1937), founder of a psychoanalytic school that he called Individual Psychology.

  898.23–24 Huizinga . . . Otto Rank.] The Dutch historian and social theorist Johan Huizinga (1872–1945), whose books include Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen (The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 1919) and Homo Ludens (1938); the Austrian zoologist and animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989), author of King Solomon’s Ring (1949) and On Aggression (1963); the Austrian Freudian psychoanalyst Otto Rank (1884–1939), author of Das Trauma der Geburt (The Trauma of Birth, 1924).

  898.23–24 Gregory Zilboorg.] Russian-born psychoanalyst (1890–1959) whose books include Mind, Medicine,
& Man (1943) and Psychoanalysis and Religion (1962).

  900.1–2 aggiornamento, to being brought up to date] This Italian word for modernization was used by Pope John XXIII and others to characterize the aims of the reformist Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, 1962–65, popularly known as Vatican II.

  UNCOLLECTED STORIES

  904.20 the stuff with Lumumba] Patrice Lumumba (1925–1961), a leader of the Congolese independence movement, was the first prime minister of the Congo, June 23–September 5, 1960. He was arrested on December 1 by troops loyal to Colonel Joseph Mobutu and shot on January 17, 1961, by Katanga secessionists led by Moise Tshombe, with possible CIA involvement in the assassination.

  914.21 Josef Albers] German-born American artist and teacher (1888–1976), an experimental formalist who was one of the key figures of the Bauhaus movement.

  914.25 Marie Laurencin] French modernist painter (1885–1956).

  915.12 Rambler . . . Princess telephone?] See note 34.33; lightweight telephone introduced in 1959 by Bell, widely marketed to teenaged girls and their families.

  915.22 Johnny Hodges] Longtime alto saxophonist (1906–1970) for the Duke Ellington Orchestra who also led his own big band from 1950 to 1955. The other members of Ellington’s band named here are the saxophonist and clarinetist Harry Carney (1910–1974); the singer Ivie Anderson (1904–1949); the trombonist “Tricky Sam” Nanton (1904–1946); the violinist, trumpet player, and singer Ray Nance (1913–1976); the double bassist Jimmie Blanton (1918–1942); and the clarinetist Barney Bigard (1906−1980). The Ellington compositions named are from 1946, 1942, and 1926, respectively.

  918.8 Stirling Moss model?] Driving gloves produced by Dents, named for the champion British Formula One race car driver Stirling Moss (1929–2020).

  923.14 Orff] The German composer Carl Orff (1895–1982), whose works include the orchestral cantata Carmina Burana (1937).

  924.9 El Lissitzky] Russian artist, architect, and designer (1890–1941).