HISTORY: Tantalus [ Edited ]

[bentley]

Page 50 - mentioned as reputed founder of Smyrna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalus

The Tantalus Myth: Barnes and Noble url:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&bnit=H&bnrefer=TOP&EAN=9781903900437...

Message Edited by bentley on 06-13-2007 10:30 PM

[bentley]

One of the alleged founders of Smyrna (mentioned on page 50)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons

[bentley]

"His head on a throw pillow, his shoes off, Madama Butterfly softly playing on my parents' stereo, Uncle Pete explained that, under the microscope, sperm carrying male chromosomes had been observed to swim faster than those carrying female chromosomes."

page 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Butterfly

Barnes and Noble url:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&bnit=H&bnrefer=TOP&EAN=094636772028&itm=34

[bentley]

Eugenides mentions that Onassis had been born in Smyrna (page 50)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle_Onassis

[bentley]

"The Turks and their leader, Mustafa Kemal, had retreated to Angora in the east." - page 21

http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ataturk.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Ataturk

[bentley]

The Assumption Greek Orthodox Church has enjoyed a rich history throughout the years. At the turn of the century, Greek immigrants came to many cities and towns in America. In Detroit, they established a thriving community in what became Greektown on several streets surrounding the "mother" church, Annunciation, which was located on Macomb between St. Antoine and what is now the service drive of the I-75 freeway. By the early 1920s, the Greek community grew and its families moved away from downtown to new residential areas to the east and west.

Eastside Orthodox Christians soon saw a need for a new church, and the parish, which included about 35 families and their beloved priest, began holding church services in 1928 at a building at Hillger and Kercheval in Detroit.

The Assumption parish continued to grow and with the help of many fundraising efforts, moved to other locations on the eastside of Detroit including Hart St.

(1931); Beniteau St. (1934) where the parish had its first new church constructed; and eventually to Charlevoix Rd. (1953) where the church still exists and is now a Protestant Church.

Eventually the Assumption Church moved to its present location on Marter Road where 10 acres were purchased in the communities of St. Clair Shores and Grosse Pointe Woods.


http://www.advfn.com/news_75th-celebration-chronicles-history-of-greek-orthodox-faithful-in-metro-de...

"In 1959, Assumption Greek Orthodox Church was locatd in Charlevoix. It was there that I would be baptized less than a year later and would be brought up in the Orthodox faith." - page 12

[Paul_Hochman]

Again, these post really add to the overall reading of the novel. Great work, Bentley!

[bentley]

---

PaulH wrote:
Again, these post really add to the overall reading of the novel. Great work, Bentley!

---

Thank you Paul. They are helping me sort out the history and the references that I need to research as well; so I thought why not post them to help anyone else interested.

Bentley

Here is one on Sputnik.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik

Cal states:
"Of course, a narrator in my position (prefetal at the time) can't be entirely sure about any of this. I can only explain the scientific mania that overtook my father during that spring of '59 as a symptom of the belief in progress that was infecting everyone back then, Remember, Sputnik had been launched only two years earlier." - page 9

Barnes and Noble url: (Sputnik, the Shock of the Century)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&;bnit=H&bnrefer=TOP&EAN=9780802713650&itm=5

[bentley]

Cal states: "Polio, which had kept my parents quarantined indoors during the summers of their childhood, had been conquered by the Salk vaccine. People had no idea that viruses were cleverer than human beings, and the thought they'd soon be a thing of the past. In that optimistic, postwar America, which I caught the tail end of, everybody was the master of his own destiny, so it only followed that my father would try to be the master of his." - page 10

Regarding Polio and the Salk vaccine:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm52sa.html

Barnes and Noble url: (Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&;bnit=H&bnrefer=TOP&EAN=9780641820601&itm=1

[bentley]

I am beginning to believe that the names of the characters themselves have additional significance.

Desdemona (tragic figure)as in Othello

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona_%28Othello%29

[bentley]

Milton (Calliope's/Cal's) father was named after Miltiades, the Athenian general

http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/history/ancient/miltiades.htm

There is also the possibility that his nickname Milton was used to connote John Milton (Paradise Lost). There is a Barnes and Noble bookclub devoted to Milton's work.

Message Edited by bentley on 06-15-2007 12:48 AM

[bentley]

The Greek muse of epic poetry was who Calliope was named after:

http://fayette.k12.in.us/~cbeard/calliope/muse.html

[bentley]

I could not be sure who Eleutherios was named for:

It could be this stateman:

http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/venizelos.htm

In Greek mythology, the gods Dionysus and Eros were referred or called Eleutherios
(I see some reasons why this might fit; but will let the reader decide.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleutherios

[bentley]

Penelope Evangelatos in 1750 was the beginning of the recessive gene for the Stephanides family.

She was Desdemona's and Lefty's great grandmother - ninth power.

She was most likely named after Penelope (daughter of Icarius, cousin of Helen of Troy, wife of Odysseus)

http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/penelope.html

[bentley]

Theodora Stephanides (maiden name Zisimopoulos) was most likely named after Theodora the Byzantine Empress.

http://www.edwardsly.com/theodor.htm

[Paul_Hochman]

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm10.html

[bentley]

Desdemona's and Lefty's mother was named Euphrosyne. Euprhrosyne and her husband, whose name I have not come across yet, were both killed in the Greek and Turkish War.

It would appear that she was named for "one of the Charites, known in English also as the "Three Graces". Her best remembered representation in English is in Milton's poem of the active, joyful life, "L'Allegro". She is also the Goddess of Joy. A daughter of Zeus and Eurynome. Incarnation of grace and beauty."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrosyne_%28mythology%29

[bentley]

---

PaulH wrote:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm10.html

---

Paul, that is a great picture and that op marked the end of Dukakis's bid for the presidency.

[bentley]

Ford Motor Company Sociological Department:

Referred to on page 100: They made a visit to Desdemona's and Lefty's home.

http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/Sociological_Depart.htm

[bentley]

In Middlesex, we are introduced to this department.

This url discusses this venture more.

http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/2004/01/ford-sociological-department.php

More on Ford and the welfare program:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

More:

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~ppennock/L-FiveDollarDay.htm

PHOTOS FROM FORD ARCHIVE:

http://www.thehenryford.org/research/photo/jit/still/catalog/jit159.html

Message Edited by bentley on 06-16-2007 08:37 AM