AtDDtA(16): The Subarenaceous World

[Dave Monroe]

   "On the futuristic frigate glided, through the subarenaceous world
..." (AtD, Pt. III, p. 435f.)


"On the futuristic frigate glided"

Cf. ...

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into
the past."

--F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=505494

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0708&msg=120831


"the subarenaceous world"

Main Entry: ar·e·na·ceous
Pronunciation: "a-r&-'nA-sh&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin arenaceus, from arena
1 : resembling, made of, or containing sand or sandy particles
2 : growing in sandy places

http://m-w.com/dictionary/arenaceous


"exotically-shaped steering blades"

"Exotically-shaped" how?

Recall ...

"steering-vanes smoothly came into play, increasing the angle of
penetration" (p. 434)


"Such to the dead might appear the world of the living--charged with
information, with meaning, yet somehow always, just, terribly, beyond
that fateful limen where any lamp of comprehension might beam forth"

Uh ...

Cf. ...

http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/biblio/index.html

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_biblio.html

Main Entry: li·men
Pronunciation: \ˈlī-mən\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin limin-, limen transverse beam in a door frame,
threshold; probably akin to Latin limus transverse
Date: 1895

: threshold 3a

Main Entry: thresh·old
Pronunciation: \ˈthresh-ˌhōld, ˈthre-ˌshōld\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English thresshold, from Old English threscwald;
akin to Old Norse threskjǫldr threshold, Old English threscan to
thresh
Date: before 12th century

[...]

3 a: the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins
to be produced <has a high threshold for pain> b: a level, point, or
value above which something is true or will take place and below which
it is not or will not

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


"transmundane melody"

SYLLABICATION: trans·mun·dane
PRONUNCIATION: trnsmn-dn, trnz-, trns-mndn, trnz-
ADJECTIVE: Existing or extending beyond the physical world.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/22/T0322200.html

Sir, I run Hullabalooza's pageant of the transmundane --the freak
show, and I've been looking for a big fatso to shoot with a cannon.
I'd like very much for you to be that fatso.

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F21.html


"ancient horns fashioned from the thigh-bones of long departed priests"

Ganlin horn

Horn (musical instrument) made from human thigh bones and used by head
monks to call and exorcise evil spirits....

http://mongoluls.net/glossary.shtml#GlossG

For centuries, Ganlin horns had been used by head monks throughout
Mongolia to call, and exorcise, evil spirits (lkham). The horns, which
are about 18cm long and had to be kept hidden because of their powers,
are no longer used, but they continue to create controversy.

Mongolian Buddhists claim that in Tibet, the horn had to be made from
the left thigh bone of a sacrificed 18-year-old unmarried female
virgin, because the lkham (which is female) wouldn't respond to a call
using a bone from a male. However, in Mongolia, the bone was
apparently made from the thigh bone of (male) Buddhist monks who were
already dead.

http://danielroy.tripod.com/cgi-bin/alternate/mongolia/religion.html

The grizzled old Buddhist Wizard of Kalimpong specializes in freeing
the struggling spirits of the dying. This he accomplishes by sticking
a hollow tube down the dying man's throat to provide a spiritual exit;
at the same time the Wizard toots a horn made of a human thigh
bone....

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,813965,00.html


"isn't that a ... watchtower of some sort?"

Cf., e.g., ...

"If the tower is everywhere and the knight of deliverance no proof
against its magic, what else?" (Lot 49, Ch. 1, p. 14)

"It shows a bolt of lightning striking a tall phallic structure, and
two figures, one wearing a crown, falling from it." (GR, Pt. IV, p.
747)


And recall, e.g., ...

"the Campanile in the piazza" (AtD, Pt. I, p. 256

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0705&msg=118670

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0705&msg=118747

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0705&msg=118962

"the Old Stearinery Bell Tower" (AtD, Pt. II, pp. 412-3)

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0708&msg=120773

And so see as welll...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0705&msg=118674


"'Torriform inclusion'"

More likely from turris (Latin), torre (Spanish) or similar [...]
meaning "tower."

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_429-459#Page_436

E.g., ...

Funerary customs adopted some innovations, most notably torriform
mausoleums (profusely decorated monoliths or columns), that
proliferated across southern Iberia.

http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=ancient_iberia


"The whole trick down here's distinguishing man-made from God-Made"

Cf. ...

"Behind the hieroglyphic streets there would either be a transcendent
meaning, or only the earth....  Another mode of meaning behind the
obvious, or none." (Lot 49, p. 181)

http://www.innternet.de/~peter.patti/thomaspynchon-thecryingoflot49.htm


"a head for the extra dimension"

Cf. The Chums of Chance, F.I.C.O.T.T., the Trespassers ...


"Foundations, for example, become more like entryways"

Cf.. ...

"The glove is the female equivalent of the Hand of Glory, which
second-story men use to light their way into your home: a candle in a
dead man's hand ..." (GR, Pt. IV, p. 750)