Astronomer story

[Mark Boyd]

It sounds to me a bit like that old quote "so busy watching the stars, he
[/she} failed to see the flowers at his feet.

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> From: Mark Smith <masmith at nmc.edu>
> To: Pynchon Listserv <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Astronomer story
> Date: Saturday, 27 September 1997 8:07
> 
> Some days ago we broached the subject of "glaur" from p229: "..a fool
> with his eyes in the glaur."  This is the landlord of the Cudgel and
> Throck reprimanding himself for not heeding the advice of the horoscope
> provided by Emereson.  He says, in other words, that he is a
> shortsighted fellow, paying more attention to the "glaur" (mud, ground)
> than the stars.
> 
> Yesterday I read something, somewhere (a little fuzzy here) about the
> "well known" story of the astronomer who wandered around gazing at the
> stars, not noticing the pit he fell into in front of him. Can anyone
> supply the source of the original story, or is it just a generic sort of
> ancedote?
> --