AtDtDA(28): "Nocturnal Light"

[Dave Monroe]

   "But that night it would not get dark, there would be light in the
sky all night.  Hunter walked out into quite a different sort of
'nocturnal light' ..." (AtD, Pt, IV, p. 798)


"nocturnal light"

A violent explosion that took place over the valley of the Stony
Tunguska river, in central Siberia, at 7.17 a.m. local time (0h 17m
11s UT), on Jun. 30, 1908 ....  Over the next few weeks, night skies
over Europe and western Russia glowed brightly enough for people to
read by....

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/T/Tunguska.html


campielli

Cf. p. 574 ...

Small squares. A campo is literally a field and by extension a large
square in a town. A campiello is a small square. I believe Venice has
only one Piazza (San Marco) and the other squares are campi and
campielli.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_557-587#Page_574


"out on the Riva"

Cf. p. 575 ...

Probably Riva del Vin by the Grand Canal; a great tourist attraction
from where one can view the historical Rialto Bridge. (The word riva
itself means river bank).

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_557-587#Page_575


"over the Lido"

Venice's Lido is an 11-mile (18 km) long sandbar, home to about 20,000
residents, greatly augmented by the (mainly Italian) tourists who move
in every summer....

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

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0705&msg=118561

Thanks, Jasper ...


"acquire"

Main Entry: ac·quire
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈkwī(-ə)r\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): ac·quired; ac·quir·ing
Etymology: Middle English aqueren, from Anglo-French acquerre, from
Latin acquirere, from ad- + quaerere to seek, obtain
Date: 15th century
1: to get as one's own: a: to come into possession or control of often
by unspecified means b: to come to have as a new or added
characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort or natural
selection) <acquire fluency in French> <bacteria that acquire
tolerance to antibiotics>
2: to locate and hold (a desired object) in a detector <acquire a
target by radar>

http://www.merriam-webster.com/


Krakatoa

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

Cf. ...

"Chums of Chance at Krakatoa" (p. 6)

Also, p. 506 ...

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_489-524#Page_506


"the deep announcement of a change in the Creation"

E.g., ...

"lay peacefull next to cats"

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down
with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together; And a little boy will lead them....

http://bible.cc/isaiah/11-6.htm

Although the phrase of "the lion shall lie down with the lamb" is one
of the more popular quotes from the Bible, it's really misquoted. In
the King James version, it's the wolf that dwells with the lamb, and
it's a leopard that lies down with a kid, and "the calf and the young
lion and the fatling together." (Isaiah 11:6)

http://www.naturescornermagazine.com/lion_lamb.html


vaporetti

Main Entry: va·po·ret·to
Pronunciation: \ˌvä-pə-ˈre-(ˌ)tō\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural va·po·ret·ti  \-ˈre-tē\ also va·po·ret·tos
Etymology: Italian, diminutive of vapore steamboat, from French
vapeur, from bateau à vapeur steamboat
Date: 1926
: a motorboat serving as a canal bus in Venice, Italy

http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/vaporetto

The public boats called vaporetti and motoscafi run almost constantly,
and you'll seldom have to wait more than a few minutes for one to come
along....

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice_transportation.htm
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/vaporetto_sights_and_sounds.htm
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/vaporetto_routes.htm
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-vaporetto-fares.htm