Quicksilver Reading CompanionJack Shaftoe wanders through the Harz Mountains on the night of April 30, 1684, eventually stumbling into a hallucinogenic nightmare and a subterranean escape through a German mine.
“walpurgisnacht” — From the original wiki (Jeremy Bornstein): “Walpurgisnacht is a witches’ festival celebrated on the night of April 30. Apparently the location of its original celebrations is right where we are in this chapter, in Germany’s Harz mountains. Six months from Halloween, Walpurgisnacht is also a celebration to drive out evil spirits.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgisnacht http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/walpurgi.htm http://www.wildweb.de/hexen/brocken.html - More specifically we seem to be on the “Brocken” here. http://www.levity.com/alchemy/faust18.html - Referenced in Johann Wolfgang von Goethes “Faust""
“red mushrooms with white speckles” — These are Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric mushrooms. Known for their hallucinogenic properties, their ingestion explains Jack’s subsequent visions of people flying and his distorted perception of reality.
“still fighting Turks in Vienna” — A reference to the Battle of Vienna in 1683. This decisive conflict saw a coalition of European forces break the Ottoman Empire’s siege of the city, effectively halting Ottoman expansion into Central Europe.
“as Winged Hussars rode on chargers” — The Polish Winged Hussars were elite heavy cavalry famous for the wooden frames with feathers attached to their backs. Stephenson’s annotation: “The wings made a thundering or whistling sound during a charge, intended to disorient the enemy’s horses.”
“The Hexen (no point in denying it any more)” — Hexen is the German word for witches. The Harz Mountains, particularly the Brocken peak, were legendary in European folklore as the site of the Witches’ Sabbath on Walpurgis Night.
“Satan the Prince of Darkness… a jet-black figure… dancing in the boiling, smoky, cloudy sky” — Jack is witnessing a Brocken Spectre, a natural optical phenomenon. When the sun is low, a person’s shadow can be projected onto mist or clouds, appearing as a magnified, often terrifying silhouette surrounded by a rainbow-like halo.
“exploding the Doctor’s idea of how these rocks had been formed” — This refers to the 17th-century debate between Neptunism vs Plutonism. “The Doctor” (Leibniz) and his contemporaries argued whether the Earth’s crust formed from minerals crystallizing in a global ocean or through the cooling of molten rock and volcanic activity.
“a voice that could probably be heard in Leipzig” — Leipzig was a major cultural and commercial hub in Saxony. During this period, it was famous for its trade fairs and its university, where Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz studied.
“a lurking mystery with a mirror on a stick” — Jack is catching a glimpse of Enoch Root, a mysterious, recurring figure in Stephenson’s works who often observes pivotal historical moments from the shadows.
“found himself looking at a portrait of Martin Luther” — Martin Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. His portrait in a German mining building signifies the region’s staunch Lutheran identity and the integration of faith into daily labor.
“recognized the woman as St. Barbara, patron of men who dug holes in the ground” — Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners and artillerymen. Miners in the Harz region traditionally prayed to her for protection against the constant threat of explosions and sudden cave-ins.
“one of the towering black iron stoves favored by Germans” — These German cast-iron stoves (often called Kachelofen) were significantly more efficient than the open fireplaces used in England, representing a major advancement in domestic heating technology.
“grabbed a handful of kienspans” — A Kienspan is a splinter of resinous fatwood, usually pine. They were a cheap, common source of light for the poor and for miners, as they burned more brightly and reliably than expensive candles.
“passed by a hand-haspel crammed into a niche” — A Haspel is a manual windlass or winch. In 17th-century mining, these were essential for hauling buckets of ore or water out of the deep, narrow shafts.
“with a sufficiently enormous fire they could suck all of the air out of the mine” — This describes the basic principles of Mine Ventilation. By lighting a fire at the base of an “upcast” shaft, miners created a thermal draft to pull fresh air through the tunnels; here, the hunters use the same physics to attempt to suffocate Jack.
“the thread that, as with that bloke in the myth, was showing him the way out” — A reference to Theseus and the Labyrinth. In Greek mythology, Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread to mark his path so he could navigate the Labyrinth and escape after killing the Minotaur.
“He heard a bubbling, hissing sound, such as a dragon or Worm might make” — In Germanic and Nordic folklore, a Lindworm (or “Worm”) is a wingless, serpentine dragon. The sound Jack hears is actually the mechanical action of a water pump.
“the hubbly-bubblies that the Turks smoked in Leipzig” — The Hookah, or water-pipe, was introduced to Europe via trade with the Ottoman Empire. Jack uses his memory of the pipe’s bubbling to understand the physics of the mining machinery he is encountering.
“The strange green light shone from around a nearby bend” — This marks the Discovery of Phosphorus. Isolated by Hennig Brand in 1669, phosphorus was a marvel of early chemistry because it glowed in the dark without heat, a property known as chemiluminescence.
“until the moment you rose up out of the pool all covered in phosphorus” — Phosphorus was famously first extracted from human urine. Because it was a new and poorly understood substance, its eerie glow was often associated with alchemy and the supernatural.
“The latest fashions from Paris” — Under Louis XIV, 17th Century French Fashion became extremely theatrical. The “freakish” look Jack notes refers to the era’s massive periwigs, heavy lead-based makeup, and elaborate silk garments.
“l emmerdeur” — From the original wiki (Jeremy Bornstein): “Quicksilver’s page for L’Emmerdeur
More subtle digs at the French? Heh.
Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:22: anointed him with angelbalm, a thousand years old (Alan Sinder)
The French term “L’Emmerdeur,” which in the novel refers to Jack Shaftoe, is difficult to translate precisely. The literal reading is something like “The guy who covers stuff in shit,” but it’s more like a curse of admiration in this case.
There is a panopoly of French epithets based on “merde,” a somewhat vulgar term for fecal matter which by itself corresponds to the English “shit.”
“large item of machinery that was making loud booming and sucking noises as it pumped water” — These Mine Pumping Engines were the precursors to the industrial steam engine. Solving the problem of flooding in deep mines was the primary driver of mechanical engineering in the late 1600s.
“compiled into a picaresque novel entitled L’Emmerdeur” — A Picaresque Novel features a roguish hero (a “picaro”) who survives by his wits. Stephenson’s annotation: “The term Emmerdeur is a French vulgarity; literally ‘the guy who covers stuff in shit,’ but used here as a title of begrudging admiration for Jack’s filth-covered exploits.”
“burnt in Paris and bootlegged in Amsterdam” — 17th Century Book Censorship was strict in Catholic France. Amsterdam became the capital of the “underground” press, where printers published banned political and scientific works to be smuggled across Europe.
“bills of exchange” — Bills of Exchange were the lifeblood of 17th-century international commerce. They allowed merchants to transfer credit across borders without the risk of transporting physical gold or silver coins, which were prone to theft.
Original annotations by: bornstein