Cultural Allusions in Halo Jones
Toy Molto: The name alludes to the toy company Molto.
I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name: The episode in which the glyph tells her/his story on the Clara Pandy gets its title from the 1967 movie of the same name starring Oliver Reed and Orson Welles.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). Philosopher. Halo buys Brinna a sitdram called "Wittgenstein has risen from his grave."
Jazz Firpo: A reporter who interviews Luiz Cannibal for Swifty Frisko at the close of Book One. Roberto Firpo was a pioneer in the early part of the 20th century with Tango rhythms.
Terhune: A planet where the army recruiting officer mentions that soldiers can relax at an officers bar. Max 'Lullaby' 'Alibi' Terhune (real name: Robert Max Terhune Sr) 1891-1973 was the star of westerns or "sagebrush adventures".
Myrmidon: Sergeant Myrmidon trains Halo in the art of warfare before dying on Moab. In Greek mythology, the myrmidons were a warlike Thessalian people who were ruled by Achilles and followed him on the expedition against Troy. Another meaning for the word myrmidon is "a faithful follower who carries out orders without question".
Moab: The name Moab is a Biblical name for a land just short of the Promised Land. Moses having fallen from God's grace could glimpse the Promised Land from Moab but could not enter it.
Different Drummers: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away". (Henry David Thoreau, 1817–1862)
Perelandra: In the prologue to Book 2, Mr Sotgore taunts Dr Brunhauer that he wants to earn enough money from his historical work on Halo Jones to retire to Perelandra. This was the name of the paradisiacal planet Venus in the science fiction trilogy of C. S. Lewis.
A Soldier's Things: The title of Part 6 of Book 3 is a possible reference to the Tom Waits song Soldier's Things, from his 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.
Breakfast in the Ruins: The title of Part 14 of Book 3 is a reference to the Michael Moorcock book Breakfast in the Ruins.
In book one the Hoop has to open to allow a wave to pass through, the wave is by the Japanese woodcut artist Hokusai.
Read more about this topic: The Ballad Of Halo Jones
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“By Modernism I mean the positive rejection of the past and the blind belief in the process of change, in novelty for its own sake, in the idea that progress through time equates with cultural progress; in the cult of individuality, originality and self-expression.”
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“Most books belong to the house and street only, and in the fields their leaves feel very thin. They are bare and obvious, and have no halo nor haze about them. Nature lies far and fair behind them all. But this, as it proceeds from, so it addresses, what is deepest and most abiding in man. It belongs to the noontide of the day, the midsummer of the year, and after the snows have melted, and the waters evaporated in the spring, still its truth speaks freshly to our experience.”
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“Romance, like the rabbit at the dog track, is the elusive, fake, and never attained reward which, for the benefit and amusement of our masters, keeps us running and thinking in safe circles.”
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