AtDDtA(15): Fragments of Window-Glass Sparkled in the Dim Light

[Dave Monroe]

"Fragments of window-glass sparkled in the dim light..." (AtD, Pt. II, p. 414)


"Fragments of window-glass"

Cf. ...

"He's afraid of the way the glass will fall—soon—it will be a
spectacle: the fall of a crystal palace. But coming down in total
blackout, without one glint...."  (GR, Pt. I, p. 3)

"Underfoot crunches the oldest of city dirt, last crystallizations of
all the city had denied, threatened, lied to its children...." (GR,
Pt. I, p.4)

http://amb.cult.bg/american/6/pynchon/rainbow1.htm

http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path21-1.html

As well as ...

"'Whose front window are you doin' it to this year?'
   "'"Nobody's.  I'm givin' that all up, window jumping's in my past
..." (VL, Ch. 1, pp. 4-5)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/96759/Pynchon-Thomas-Vineland-v1-0


"feeder lines to the interurban"

An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a
streetcar line running between urban areas or from urban to rural
areas. The term was mostly used in North America. The lines were
mainly electrified in an era when steam railroads had not yet adopted
electricity to any large degree.

[...]

The first interurbans were constructed in the 1880s, but most were
constructed between 1900 and 1908, with few being constructed after
that point. From approximately the end of the First World War the
industry was in decline, accelerated by the growth of the private
automobile; the Great Depression of the 1930s drove most into closure.
Only a couple survived beyond the 1960s.

To minimize cost of construction, an interurban typically ran along
public right-of-way, either next to a public highway in rural areas,
or within city streets in urban areas. It was somewhat less common for
interurbans to have lengthy stretches of private right-of-way.
Occasionally interurbans were operated along mainline steam railroads.
Fares were cheaper than steam railroads and service was more frequent
but typically slower. Due to the characteristics of the electric
motor, interurbans could operate on steeper grades, going where steam
engines could not....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interurban#North_America

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


"the humid penumbrae of the streetlamps"

Main Entry:  pen·um·bra
Pronunciation: \pə-ˈnəm-brə\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural pen·um·brae Listen to the pronunciation of
penumbrae \-(ˌ)brē, -ˌbrī\ or pen·um·bras
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin paene almost + umbra shadow — more at umbrage
Date: 1666

1 a: a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the
perfect shadow on all sides and the full light b: a shaded region
surrounding the dark central portion of a sunspot
2: a surrounding or adjoining region in which something exists in a
lesser degree : fringe
3: a body of rights held to be guaranteed by implication in a civil constitution
4: something that covers, surrounds, or obscures : shroud <a penumbra
of secrecy> <a penumbra of somber dignity has descended over his
reputation — James Atlas>

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penumbra

Schivelbusch, Wolfgang.  Disenchanted Night:
   The Industrialization of Light in the Nineteenth Century.
   Trans. Angela Davies.  Berkeley: U of Cal P, 1988.

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/2328.html

http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9780520203549