A Frolic of His Own
pp. 351--400
Annotations by Steven Moore except as [noted].

Page references are to the current Scribner softcover edition. References in parentheses are to first US edition (Posedion Press) and to U.K. editions.

A Frolic of His Own
index
annotations for
softcover (hardcover & UK)
 pages
         1-50 (1-54) §
51-100 (56-112) §
101--150 (119--164) §
151-200 (174-224) §
201-250 (228-281) §
251-300 (285-341) §
301-350 (344-394) §
  351--400 (402-449) §
401--450 (465-516) §
  451--end (517-end) §

352.13 (402.29) Plato on justice [...] Book II at 359): see 176.8--that is, the reference should be to 361, not 358.

352.26 (403.3) the last days of Socrates [...] the Crito: see 229.22.

359.8 (410.4) Joycean literary pedigree, ‘making a man of him’: in a letter
to his brother, Joyce recalled his wife Nora "making a man of him" on 16
June 1904, the day he commemorated in Ulysses. The anecdote is noted in
Ellmann's biography (156), Brenda Maddox's Nora (27), and in volume 2 of
Joyce's Letters. {Kevin Gilroy}

359.18 (410.14) Nutt […] alteration’:

359.26 (410.22) Chappell […] themselves’:

360.1 (410.38) ‘by setting […] 610:

360.13 (411.12) Fleischer […] raiment’:

360.19 (411.18) pro tanto: Lat.: "to that extent, so far."

360.22 (411.21) Chicago Record-Herald […] little one’:

360.26 (411.25) de minimis: from the Latin legal maxim "De minimis non curat lex"—"The law does not concern itself with trifles"—the punch-line to a limerick in R (523.1).

360.35 (411.33) ‘Incident springs [...] E M Forster [...] cause surprise’: from Aspects of the Novel (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1927), 136-37—in a discussion of George Meredith’s plots.

361.1 (412.3) Judge Hand […] dialogue’:

361.4 (412.6) Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn: see 35.12.

361.20 (412.20) Pratt […] concerned’:

362.6 (413.10) Western North Carolina Sketches: (see 414.6)

362.8 (413.12) Murray […] proposal’:

363.28 (414.33) Fred Fisher […] others’:

364.2 (415.12) Washington […] 465:

365.5 (416.17) Hamlet [...] the play’s the thing to catch the conscience of the king: Hamlet 2.2.641.

366.13 (417.34) Karamazovs: from Dostoevski’s novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80).

372.20 (425.7) Minjekahwun [...] the mighty Mudjekeewis: see 324.24; “the fatal black rock Wawbeek” is from canto 4: Hiawatha uses his magic mittens to tear the rock apart and fling it at his father Mudjekeewis.

373.9 (426.7) October 25, 1985: a puzzling date: internal references in CG place its action in October-November 1983, and the novel itself was published in July 1985.

376.3 (429.6) ‘The law,’ wrote Justice Holmes [...] sufficient reason’: from Lecture III of The Common Law (86); also quoted by Prosser (152), who describes it as "a much quoted passage. "376.33 (429.34) the words of a later English jurist, ‘going on a frolic of his own’:

376.26 (429.28) throughout the world and elswhere: a phrase from a contract Gaddis once negotiated, which he found particularly amusing and mentioned in a few interviews. Also cf. CG, 78. [JS/SM]

377.9 (430.13) an earlier case before a district court in Pennsylvania, in which the plaintiff accused Satan of ruining his prospects:  see the memorandum order issued by Judge Weber in United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. Satan and His Staff, United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, 1971, 54 F.R.D. 282 (W.D. Pa. 1971). It can be found at http://www.duke.edu/~nas3/Satan.htm. and in other collections of legal humor. [MR]

378.2 (431.9) Babbitt: the protagonist of Sinclair Lewis’s novel of the same name (1922).

378.27 (431.34) those in the Lords’ service who are currently in jail: probably a reference to Jim Bakker.

378.29 (431.36) the elder John D Rockefeller: ? (1874-1960)

379.13 (432.24) Laying up treasures in heaven! [...] right out of my prologue: see 76.17.

379.23 (432.34) master and man: see 366.3.

384.31 (438.35) ride off in all directions: from Stephen Leacock’s Nonsense Novels (1911): "Lord Ronald [...] flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions" (ODQ).

388.10 (442.37) the hesitating retinue of finer shades: see 376.24.

389.6 (443.39) echoing Justice Holmes [...] how he got there was his own affair:

392.8 (447.23) O’Neill [...] Mourning Becomes Electra: see 87.4 (96.23).

394.6 (449.33) droit morale: