Cultural notes for chapters 18 -20

Hurdy-gurdy - (The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy, also known as a wheel fiddle) is a stringed musical instrument in which the strings are sounded by means of a rosined wheel which the strings of the instrument pass over. This wheel, turned with a crank, functions much like a violin bow, making the instrument essentially a mechanical violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses tangents (small wedges, usually made of wood) against one or more of these strings to change their pitch. Like most other acoustic string instruments, it has a soundboard to make the vibration of the strings audible.

Model T auto­mobile - (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and Flivver) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that "put America on wheels"; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting, as well as the concept of paying the workers a wage proportionate to the cost of the car, so that they would provide a ready made market. he standard 4-seat open tourer of 1909 cost $850 (equivalent to $20,091 today), when competing cars often cost $2,000-$3,000 (equivalent to $47,274-$70,911 today); in 1913, the price dropped to $550 (equivalent to $11,819 today), and $440 in 1915 (equivalent to $9,237 today). In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.

Henry Ford - (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. Henry Ford's intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents.

"The Birth-Mark" - is a romantic short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March, 1843 edition of The Pioneer. It later appeared in Mosses from an Old Manse, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1846..

Aix-les-Bainsn - is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It lies near the Lac du Bourget, 9 km (5.6 mi) by rail north of Chambéry.

Aix derives from Latin Aquae (literally, "waters"; cf Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) or Aix-en-Provence), and Aix was a bath during the Roman Empire, even before it was renamed Aquae Gratianae to commemorate the Emperor Gratian, who was assassinated not far away, in Lyon, in 383. Numerous Roman remains survive.

Canopic jar - canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their own for the afterlife.

Vis­cera - In anatomy, a viscus (pronounced /ˈvɪskəs/) (plural: viscera /ˈvɪsərə/) is an internal organ of an animal (including humans), in particular an internal organ of the thorax or abdomen. The viscera, when removed from a butchered animal, are known collectively as offal. Internal organs are also known as "innards", or less formally, "guts" (which may also refer to the gastrointestinal tract).

Seti I - Menmaatre Seti I (also called Sethos I after the Greeks) was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt), the son of Ramesses I and Queen Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.

The Theban Necropolis - is an area of the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes in Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of Pharaonic times, especially in the New Kingdom of Egypt.

The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: "Gates of the King") is a valley in Luxor, Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt). The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis.

Mor­gan Library - The Morgan Library & Museum (formerly The Pierpont Morgan Library) is a museum and research library in New York City, USA. It was founded to house the private library of J. P. Morgan in 1906, which included, besides the manuscripts and printed books, some of them in rare bindings, his collection of prints and drawings.

Rosicrucian texts - the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity is a Rosicrucian text, written by Max Heindel. According to it in the beginning of a Day of Manifestation a certain collective Great Being, God, limits Himself to a certain portion of space, in which He elects to create a Solar System for the evolution of added self-consciousness.

The Invisi­ble College - The Invisible College was a precursor to the Royal Society of United Kingdom. It consisted of a group of natural philosophers (scientists).

Hermetica - Hermetica is a category of literature dating from Late Antiquity that purports to contain secret wisdom, generally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes".

The Great Pyramid - The Great Pyramid of Giza (also called the Pyramid of Khufu and Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now Cairo, Egypt, and is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that survives substantially intact.

Read chapters from 21 to 22 and answer the following questions:

The beginning of the century witnessed a fad for Egyptian culture. The family was no exception, describe the way every member viewed it.

Who was the colored man who had suddenly arrived to the Family’s house and changed their lives forever? How did he gain the admittance to the family?

In this chapter we finally see the broader mentioning of Ragtime, the music which gave its title to this book. And though we cannot hear it we can feel every vibration of a listener’s heart. How does the author create the vivid effect of Rag music played? Try to translate the part where the music is described.

Explain the phrase “It occurred to Father one day that Coalhouse Walker Jr. didn't know he was a Negro”. What parts of the text prove that he was not a regular colored?

The tangle of Coalhouse and Sarah’s relations makes every member of the family involved; speak of every member’s attitude to their new aspect of life.

How come Mother’s Younger Brother returned to New York and met Emma Goldman, speak of his days before he heard the call of the suicide rag?

Look up the dictionary for the following words and phrases:

Canvas (n)

Knee (n)

Papyri (n)

Cub reporter (n)

Immune to (adj)

Sloe-eyed (adj)

Vulture (n)

Entomb (v)

Fruition (n)

papier-mache (n)

Ibis (n)

Throt­tle (n)

Reside (v)

Resolute (adj)

Stocky (adj)

Affec­tation (n)

Hound’s-tooth (adj)

Goggle (n)

Slam the door (v)

Nuisance (n)

Courtship (n)

Penitence (n)

Intransigence (n)

Propriety (n)

Deferential (adj)

Fervent (adj)

Syncopating (adj)

Chord (n)

Cakewalking (adj)

Coon songs (n)

Relent (v)

Impassable (adj)

Perseverance (n)

Flurry (n)

Sub­jection to (n)

Afflict (v)

Ordnance (n)

Oddity (n)

Devour (v)

Cadaverous (adj)

Vigil (n)

Peon (n)

Stave (n)

Complicity (n)

Subjuga­tion (n)

Bandoleer (n)

Swarthy (adj)

Rally (n)

Tarred and feathered

Ladle (n)

Well-served (adj)

Sal­low (adj)

Unaccountably (adv)

Bourgeois (n)

Unappeased (adj)

Cultural Notes:

Louis Quatorze - Style of French Baroque and Classical architecture of the reign of King Louis XIV (1643–1715), beginning in the 1660s. Its great monuments are the Churches of the Sorbonne and the Val-de-Grâce, the Institut de France, and the east front of the Louvre, all in Paris, and, of course, the Château of Versailles.

Wild West Weekly - A weekly magazine containing stories and sketches of Western life. Features the adventures of 'Young Wild West,' a courageous and dashing hero born and raised on the frontier, who rescues his sweetheart, Arietta Murdock, from countless dangers and perils. Stories focus on the violent clashes between cowboys and Indians and on life in the mining camps at the turn of the century.

Booker T. Washington - (April 5, 1856, – November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator, orator and author. He was the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Representing the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, and speaking for those blacks who had remained in the New South in an uneasy modus vivendi with the white southerners, Washington was able throughout the final 25 years of his life to maintain his standing as the black leader because of the sponsorship of powerful whites, substantial support within the black community, his ability to raise educational funds from both groups, and his skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation.

Nubian princess - The Nubians are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, now inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa, such as southern Egypt.

Scott Joplin - (between July 1867 and January 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his brief career, he wrote forty-four original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and remained so for a century.

The Aeolian - The Æolian Company was a manufacturer of player organs and pianos.

The Bethesda Fountain in Central Park

The Bowery - is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

Mexican Revolution - was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.

Hell's Kitchen - also known as Clinton and Midtown West by real estate brokers, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that covers roughly the area between 34th Street and 57th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River.

Emiliano Zapata Salazar (August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution.

The term "Bohemian" as related to Bohemianism – i.e. describing the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities – emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighbourhoods. The term bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via Bohemia.Ben Reitman

William McKinley - (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office.

Pantasote - an imitation leather product.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 734