Katherine Anne Porter (153 page)

28.15–16
“
This torment of love. . 
. why.’”] These and other lines attributed to Carlos throughout the story parody the diction and rhythms of Salomón de la Selva (1893–1959), Nicaraguan poet and onetime lover of Porter whose poems in English are collected in
Tropical Town
(1918) and
A Soldier Sings
(1919).

29.23
St. Anthony] Antony of Padua (1195–1231), associated with the lily, a symbol of chastity.

29.29
Tacubaya] Ancient village within Mexico City.

30.39
paseo
] Both a tree-lined boulevard and the leisurely, recreational drive or stroll one takes there.

30.39–31.1
Chapultepec Park] Sixteen-hundred-acre park on the outskirts of Mexico City.

31.24
membrillo
] Quince paste.

32.11
¡Ay de mi!
] Woe is me!

42.39
The Little Monkeys”] Los Monotes, Mexico City café that in the 1920s was frequented by the muralist Diego Rivera, his wife, Frida Kahlo, and the caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias.

45.33
sou marqué] Coin of the French colonies, worth less than a penny.

47.2
Basin Street] Street bordering Storyville, famed red-light district of New Orleans.

65.8
the Elevated] One of three elevated train lines that ran north and south through Manhattan from the 1850s through the 1950s.

68.16
Ricci’s] Seymour de Ricci (1881–1942), British expert in rare books and manuscripts, tapestries, rugs, and fine furniture, long associated with Anderson Galleries, New York.

68.18
Marie Dressler] Comic actress of vaudeville, stage, and screen (1868–1934).

74.26–27
since. . . Independence] Since 1821, when Mexico won its sovereignty from Spain.

74.31
Hotel Regis] Expensive hotel on the Avenida Juárez, favored by American tourists and expatriates.

76.7
the North] The north of Mexico, where revolutionary forces were under the direction of General Doroteo Arango Arámbula (1877–1923), better known as Pancho Villa.

76.8
in the old days] Between July 1914, when forces led by revolutionary general Álvaro Obregón (1880–1928) overthrew the dictatorship of Victoriano Huerta, and May 1917, when Venustiano Carranza (1859–1920) was inaugurated as the first president of Mexico under its present constitution.

81.11–12
heaven tree]
Ailanthus altissima
, also known as Tree-of-Heaven or stinkbloom.

84.10
Dinty Moore’s or the Black Cat] Mexico City cafés popular with American expatriates.

94.12
St. Michael] The archangel Michael, commander of God’s army; see Daniel 10 and Revelation 12.

96.25–26
Sixteenth of September Street] Calle Diez y Seis de Septiembre, named to commemorate the day in 1810 when the War of Independence from Spain began.

97.6–7
gringa. Gringita!
] “Gringa” and its diminutive, “gringrita,” are disparaging Latin American words for a foreign-born woman, especially a light-skinned English-speaker from the United States.

98.24–26
He has. . . lonely as a wave.] Cf. “A la Orilla de un Palmar” (“At the edge of a Palm-grove”), folk song popularized by Manuel Maria Ponce (1882–1942).

99.1
Jockey Club] Men’s cologne by the U.S. perfumery Caswell-Massey.

100.22
Alameda] Historic park in the center of Mexico City.

101.12–13
Zapata’s army] The Liberation Army of the South, formed in 1910 by revolutionist Emiliano Zapata (1879–1919).

101.22
full charro dress] Colorful folkloric costume
(traje de charro)
typical of a cowboy from the Mexican state of Jalisco.

102.5–6
Judas tree] Redbud tree
(Cercis silliquastum
); in Christian folklore it is said that Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ, hanged himself from such a tree, and since then its flowers, originally white, have bloomed blood red.

102.15
corridos] Mexican popular ballads, cheaply printed as illustrated broadsides.

102.15
Merced market] La Merced, the largest open-air market in Mexico City.

102.21
Zócalo] Central square in Mexico City; also called the Plaza de la Constitución.

102.22
Francisco I. Madero Avenue] Street named for the pro-democracy Mexican politician (1873–1913) who was a candidate for president in 1910, a year marked by widespread fraud at the polls by the incumbent administration of President Porfirio Díaz. Following the popular revolt against Díaz, Madero was installed as president (1911–13). He was executed after the 1913 coup d’etat by Victoriano Huerta.

102.22–23
Paseo de la Reforma] Grand boulevard that cuts diagonally across Mexico City; it commemorates the liberal reforms of Benito Juárez (1806–1872), five-term president of Mexico (1858–72).

102.23–24
Philosopher Footpath] Avenida de los Poetas, in Chapultepec Park (see
note 30.39–31.1
).

103.31–32
O girl with the dark eyes] Cf. “Aquellos Ojos Verdes,” Mexican popular song of the 1920s by Aldolfo Ultera and Nilo Menéndez.

104.13
Delgadito] Skinny little one.

104.34
Paseo] Traditional parade of automobiles and carriages in the Paseo de la Reforma (see
note 30.39
).

105.8
net]
Neto
; entirely; complete and unadulterated.

105.32–33
May-day. . . Morelia] On May 13, 1921, a riot erupted between revolutionists and Catholics at Morelia, Michoacán. More than 50 persons were killed, many by police.

106.27
General Ortiz] Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1877–1963), president of Mexico in 1930–32.

112.27
County Sligo hall] The meeting hall of the County Sligo Men’s Social and Benevolent Association, founded in 1887 in New York City.

112.32
outland Irish] Irish emigrants and their descendants, especially those settled in Great Britain.

113.37
Black Protestants] Evangelical Protestants of Northern Ireland.

114.1
mizzle-witted] Mindless, stupid.

123.11
Sons of Temperance] Fraternal order for Protestant men, founded in New York City in 1842. One of the largest temperance organizations, it had chapters throughout the English-speaking world and thrived for half a century.

123.19–21
At midnight. . . hour—”] From “Marco Bozzaris,” by the American poet Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790–1867).

128.38
Azurea] Line of fragrance products (perfume, face powder, etc.) by L. T. Piver, Paris.

142.17
any. . . north.] See
note 76.7
.

144.36
valley of the pyramids] In Teotihuacan, 30 miles north of Mexico City.

147.18
Oaxaca earthquake] The major earthquake in Oaxaca on January 14, 1931, measured 7.8 on the Richter scale and left 70 percent of the city uninhabitable.

152.17
Porfirio Díaz] Díaz (1830–1915), president of Mexico in 1876–80 and 1884–1911, was forced from office by the popular revolution of 1910–11. He died in exile in Paris.

153.2
present régime] Administration of Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1877–1963), president of Mexico in 1930–32.

158.8
Ay, Sandunga. . . por Diós!”] From “La Sandunga” by Máx-imo Ramón Ortiz (1816–1855), popular song in the voice of a Zapotec woman grieving over the body of her dead mother.
Sandunga
means “elegance,” “charm,” “grace,” words that describe the dead woman.

163.30
repartition of land] Seizure and redistribution of privately owned land by the government began almost immediately after the Mexican revolution of 1910. It was accelerated with Article 27 of the Constitution, ratified in 1917, which declares that all land within Mexico is the property of the state, which has the right to transfer ownership as it sees fit: “Hence, private property is a privilege created by the Nation.”

163.36
aguacate] Avocado.

164.35
Puss Moth] Three-seat single-wing airplane, built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1929–33.

167.26
corrido
] See
note 102.15
.

170.14
Agrarians] Peasants and others sympathetic to the repartition of land and hostile to the wealthy
hacendados
or land-owning class.

172.16
charro] See
note 101.22
.

175.35
hacendados] See
note 170.14
.

176.32
like Rivera’s] In the style of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886–1957).

182.22–23
And the greatest . . . charity.] 1 Corinthians 13:13.

184.16–17
Ruin hath taught . . . away.] See Shakespeare’s Sonnet 64 (“When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced. . .”).

186.26
Vita Nuova]
La Vita Nuova
(“The New Life,” 1295) by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), collection of poems with prose commentary centered on Beatrice Portinari, the idealized object of Dante’s unrequited love.

186.27
Wedding Song of Spenser] “Epithalamion” (1595) by Edmund Spenser (1552–1599).

186.28–29
Her tantalized spirit. . . roses. . .”] Cf. “For Annie” (1849) by Edgar Allan Poe.

186.35–36
Mother of God. . . Child;]
Madonna and Child on a Grassy Bench
(1505–7), woodcut by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528).

186.36–37
Death. . . knight;]
The Knight, Death, and the Devil
(1513), engraving by Dürer.

186.38–39
Sir Thomas More’s household,] Painting (1593) by Rowland Lockey (1565–1616) in the style of Hans Holbein the Younger.

187.3
play with Mary. . . in it]
Maria Stuart
(1800) by Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805).

188.5
Sic semper tyrannis,”] Latin: “Thus always to tyrants,” motto of the state of Virginia.

194.37–38
melancholy farewell. . . Granada] “La Golondrina” (“The Swallow”), Mexican song of farewell by Narciso Serradel Sevilla (1843–1910).

200.31
Proteus Ball] The Krewe of Proteus, a New Orleans social club that parades during Mardi Gras, sponsors an annual masquerade ball.

205.15
Tod Sloan] American jockey (1874–1933) who, in the 1890s, revolutionized riding technique by leaning forward in his stirrups, out of his saddle, and onto the neck of the horse. His “forward mount,” or “monkey crouch,” is used by all jockeys today.

206.10
Over the River”] “(Let Us Cross) Over the River” (1876), song by Septimus Winner (1827–1902).

206.19
serpent’s teeth] See Shakespeare,
King Lear
, I.iv.287–88: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!”

207.15–16
Whoa, you heifer
] Song (1904) by New Orleans ragtime musician Al Verger (1879–1924).

210.21
Elysian Fields] Street in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gentilly, in the northeastern quadrant of the city.

211.18
St. Charles] Grand hotel on Canal Street, New Orleans, a center of the city’s social and political life from 1837 to 1974.

221.20
Calcasieu Parish] Parish (county) in southwestern Louisiana, on the Texas border; its seat is Lake Charles.

241.32
stranger. . . land] See Exodus 2:21–22.

243.38
roup and wryneck] In poultry, roup is a respiratory illness, wryneck a congenital deformity in which the bird’s neck is twisted at an angle to the body.

246.6
meeching] Cowardly, retiring.

259.7
hand-runnin’] In unbroken succession.

267.26
Halifax] A creek in Hays County, Texas.

274.39
gallus] Suspender.

281.1
Pale Horse, Pale Rider
] See Revelation 6:8: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”

283.14
Liberty Bond] Bond issued by the U.S. Treasury during World War I to help finance the war effort.

283.26
Lusk Committeeman] Member of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities (1919–20), headed by State Senator Clayton R. Lusk (1877–1959). For a year the so-called Lusk Committee, working with police and private investigators, raided the headquarters of suspected radical organizations in search of evidence that they advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government.

285.7–8
Belleau Wood] The four-week Battle of Belleau Wood, near Chateau-Thierry, France (June 1–26, 1918), was the first in which chiefly American forces suffered heavy casualties.

285.9
Boche] Derisive French slang term for the German Army.

295.25
sapping party] Group of combat engineers that advances with the front-line infantry and prepares the field of battle by digging trenches, building bridges, clearing mines, etc.

297.17
The Angel of Mons] According to a legend fabricated by the Welsh writer Arthur Machen in his tale “The Bowmen” (1914), St. George and an angelic army assisted the British Expeditionary Force at Mons, France, during its first engagement with the German Army (August 22–23, 1914).

298.29
Hut Service] One of many civilian support groups that provided comfort and entertainment to servicemen during World War I, establishing the model for the modern USO.

303.4–5
explosive. . . pits] Peach pits are a rich natural source of hydrogen cyanide, the gas of which, when mixed with air at concentrations over 5.6%, is a powerful explosive.

303.28–29
Stella Mayhew] American singer and comic actress (1875–1934) often paired, in blackface, with Al Jolson.

303.30–31
O the blues. . . disease] First line of “Ev’rybody’s Crazy ’bout the Doggone Blues” (1918), popular song by Turner Layton, words by Henry Creamer.

305.33
Over There] The European front in World War I, a usage made popular by George M. Cohan’s song “Over There” (1917).

305.33–34
Big Berthas] Series of six powerful howitzers manufactured by Krupp arms works and used by the German Army at the outset of the war. Each fired a 420-mm. shell and had a range of about eight miles.