MAD3PAD 91-93

[David Payne]

I realize that I am about 6 months late, Toby, but you expressed some doubt about the definition of "fescue."
 
>From the on-line OED, def. 2: "a small stick, pin, etc. used for pointing out the letters to children learning to read; a pointer."
 
I have found "fescue" on 3 pages. This definition works well in the context of page 336 ("Picking up a Fescue, she [Tenebrae] leans toward the Map upon the Wall … ‘King Charles begins … here’ ") and page 92 (" ‘Now then,’ Mason rapping upon the table’s Edge with a sinister looking Fescue of Ebony, whose List of Uses simple Indication does not quite exhaust, whilst the Girls squirm pleasingly").
 
But I am puzzled by Pynchon’s (Wick’s?) usage on page 93: 
 
"…jaunty little Chins and slender Necks, posing and reposing, blond girls laughing together, growing sticky and malapert. The Girls are taken on a short but dizzying journey, straight up, into the Æther, until there beside them in the grayish Starlight is the ancient, gravid Earth, the Fescue become a widthless Wand of Light, striking upon it brilliantly white-hot Arcs. 
 
‘Parallax.’ "
 
Surely more than just poetic license to create a “climax” for the chapter? Perhaps the light reflects oddly on the “Fescue of Ebony,” which shines white, forming white Arcs as it is moved about, pointing to Venus? Have I started to clear the waters, only to re-muddy them?
_________________________________________________________________
Messenger Café — open for fun 24/7. Hot games, cool activities served daily. Visit now.
http://cafemessenger.com?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_AugWLtagline
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20070815/96a4e402/attachment.html>