Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Reading for ninth meeting.

Continuing from the end of the eighth week's reading, up to the paragraph break ending with 'Then this too began to seem familiar.' The last endnote is n366.
 
If you have a print edition, last page is 911. 
 
Questions, comments, requests, and other love, to: davidfosterwallace.to@gmail.com.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Meaning of 'q.v.'

q.v. int. [ < the initial letters of post-classical Latin quod vide which see (4th or 5th cent. in Augustine) < classical Latin quod what (see what pron., adj.1, adv., int., conj., and n.) + vide , 2nd singular present imperative of vidēre to see (see vision n.)] ‘which see’.

1684 G. S. Anglorum Speculum ii. 62 Sir Jo. Cokeyn Knight..imparted his Surname to Cokeyn-Hatley in this County, tho he was born in Derbyshire. q. v.
 

1775 J. Moir Scholar's Vade Mecum, Antesto, to stand before, excel, surpass. Potius Antisto. q. v.
 

a1862 H. D. Thoreau Cape Cod (1865) ix. 988 Somebody of Gloucester was to read a paper on this matter before a genealogical society..according to the Boston Journal, q.v.
 

1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman I. xix. 508 The Slow-Worm (Anguis fragilis) is a limbless lizard... It is sometimes miscalled blindworm (q.v.), but the eyes are well developed.
 

1993 Eng. Today Jan. 35/2 (Gloss.), Inboek, to register a child, adult or manumitted slave as an indentured servant apprenticed (q.v.) in the name of a particular master.

Reading for eighth meeting.

Continuing from the end of the seventh week's reading, up to the section break marked by a little sphere/tennis ball/full moon. The last line of text is '...a wobbly neck and looking up and past Hal, his face unspeakable.' The last endnote is n336.
If you have a print edition, last page is 808. 
 
Note this chunk of reading includes n304, which we read way back in the first week's reading. (History of the AFN, etc) Re-reading is optional.

Questions, comments, corrections, and other love, to: davidfosterwallace.to@gmail.com

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Irony (per the OED)

1. (a)

A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used; usually taking the form of sarcasm or ridicule in which laudatory expressions are used to imply condemnation or contempt.

 

1. (b)

with an and pl. An instance of this; an ironical utterance or expression.

 

2. 

fig. A condition of affairs or events of a character opposite to what was, or might naturally be, expected; a contradictory outcome of events as if in mockery of the promise and fitness of things. 

 

3.

In etymological sense: Dissimulation, pretence; esp. in reference to the dissimulation of ignorance practised by Socrates as a means of confuting an adversary ( Socratic irony).

 

4. (draft addition, 1993)

spec. in Theatr. (freq. as dramatic or tragic irony ), the incongruity created when the (tragic) significance of a character's speech or actions is revealed to the audience but unknown to the character concerned; the literary device so used, orig. in Greek tragedy.

 

Reading for seventh meeting.

Continuing from the end of the sixth week's reading, up to but not including the section headed '14 November Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment'. The last line of text is '...both seeming to be shrieking for help.' The last endnote is n299.

If you have a print edition, last page is 716. 

Questions, comments, corrections, and other love, to: davidfosterwallace.to@gmail.com