John Steinbeck - The Winter of Our Discontent

first emergency immigration law:In 1921 the Emergency Quota Act restricted U.S. immigration by setting the number to be admitted from any country at 3 percent of those from that country who lived in the United States in 1910; this act established a nationality quota system.

Masons:Freemasonry is the oldest and largest worldwide fraternity “dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of a Supreme Being.” Steinbeck’s father was a lifelong Mason.

Iver Johnson:“Suicide Special” pocket pistol produced between 1880 and the early twentieth century.

Ars est celare artem: Latin for “It is art to conceal art.” Ovid, Ars Amatoria ( The Art of Love, A.D. 8).

Hic erat demonstrandum: Latin for “The thing that has to be demonstrated.”

Io lo credo: Latin for “I believe it.”

Prime Minister Macmillan:Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) was prime minister of England from 1957 to 1963.

Leda… swan:In Greek mythology, Leda, wife of the king of Sparta, is seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan.

Witch of the East… Ozma:In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), the Wicked Witch of the West, ruler of the Munchkins, is killed when Dorothy’s house falls on her. Princess Ozma, daughter of the king of Oz, appears in every other Oz book.

Cambellites:Church founded in 1830 by a Scotch-Irish clergyman and his son; the Cambellites stressed the importance of the New Testament, individual spiritual renewal, education, and the unification of all Christians in Christ.

all’s right with the world:Robert Browning (1812-89), Pippa Passes (1841), part 1.

sad story of the death of kings:Shakespeare, Richard II, III.ii.156. The original line reads “sad stories.”

Nosy Parker:A busybody or meddler. Also a popular British comic strip, spelled “Nosey Parker,” by Allan Morley, appearing in the Sunday Post Fun Section.

Old Satchel Paige:(1906-82) “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” Pitcher in the Negro Baseball Leagues and the American League.

speeches of Henry Clay:(1777-1852) American statesman and persuasive orator whose speeches were often more fervent than carefully documented.

Pancho Villa:(1878-1923) Mexican revolutionary leader and folk hero who advocated agrarian reform.

Ora pro me: Latin for “Pray for me.”

Manners maketh man… Wickham:William of Wykeham (1324-1404), bishop of Winchester, chancellor of England, and founder of New College, Oxford (1379), and Winchester College (1394).

Deborah the Judge of Israel:Judges 4-5. Deborah, a prophetess, the only woman judge mentioned in the Bible. With her guidance and aid, the Israelite general Barak conquered Sisera, captain of the Canaanite army, and delivered Israel from Canaanite rule.

James G. Blaine:(1830-93) Prominent American politician who served as congressman, senator, and secretary of state. Famous for maneuvering behind the scenes. In his later life, he wrote Twenty Years of Congress (1884-86).

high-colored Miss Rheingold: Rheingold beer, popular in New York, held the venerable Miss Rheingold contest each year starting in 1939, with beer drinkers voting for their favorite of several young women; in 1959 total votes for Miss Rheingold exceeded 22 million.

Golgotha:Hill on which Jesus was crucified.

The fifty-star:With the admission of Hawaii as the fiftieth state in 1959, the fifty-star flag became the official U.S. flag on July 4, 1960.

Montauk Point… dude ranch:Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk, eastern Long Island.

Ye wouldna be sae worrit:“My dear, you wouldn’t worry so much about what people think if you realized how little they care.” According to Jackson Benson, Steinbeck heard this line on a 1956 train trip from Sag Harbor to New York City.

Appian Way:An important Roman road linking Rome to southern Italy.

Lupercal on the Palatine:Lupercalia, the “Wolf Festival” honoring Romulus and Remus, mythical founders of Rome, took place near the cave of Lupercal, the legendary grotto where Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. The Palatine is one of Rome’s seven hills.

Me beswac… hire ladteow:Eve’s reply to God in the Garden of Eden (the serpent deceived me through fair words)—from the Old English poem Genesis. Following is a phrase from an Old English proverb about a lioness (the chained lion, if she tastes blood, bites first her master)—from Old English translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. (See Hassell A. Simpson in the Suggestions for Further Reading.)

O Nile serpent: Antony and Cleopatra, I.v.25. The actual line refers to “my serpent of old Nile.”

Beaux rêves: French for “pleasant dreams.”

Weltschmerz: German for “world-weariness.”

Dick Clark… Chessman… Dillinger:Clark (1929- ) hosted American Bandstand from 1957 to 1987. Although initially targeted in the payola scandal, he was never charged. Caryl Chessman (1921-60), convicted in 1948 on seventeen counts of robbery, kidnapping, and rape, was executed at San Quentin Prison on May 2, 1960. John Dillinger (1903-34) was an American bank robber, named the country’s first “public enemy number one,” and hunted by law officers doggedly until FBI agents killed him outside a Chicago movie theater in 1934. “Crime doesn’t pay” was the moral J. Edgar Hoover drew from Dillinger’s story.

Aunt Harriet—“up in heben she be”:“Rockin’ Chair” (1929), written by Hoagy Carmichael and performed with Louis Armstrong: “My dear old aunt Harriet, in Heaven she be.”

Presidential nominations:The Democratic National Convention met at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, July 11-15, 1960, and nominated John F. Kennedy for president and Lyndon B. Johnson for vice president. The Republican National Convention met at Chicago’s International Amphitheater, July 25-28, 1960, and nominated Richard M. Nixon for president and Henry Cabot Lodge for vice president.