AtDtDA(28): The Mala Vita

[Dave Monroe]

   "Somewhere in the unsketched regions of Ca' Spongiatosta, 'You are
a step,' the Princess warned, 'the turn of an eye, the whisper of a
skirt, from the mala vita.'" (AtD, Pt. IV, p. 798)


"the mala vita"

THE "MALA VITA" SOCIETY.; A COUNTERPART OF THE MAFIA IN SOUTHERN ITALY.
>From the Milan Illustrazione Italiana.
June 12, 1891, Wednesday
Page 5, 1230 words

The Camorra of Naples and the Mafia of Sicily exist in Apulia
(Adriatic provinces of Southern Italy) under the name of Mala Vita,
(Evil Life.) It is an organized association, with iron rules. Its
object is theft, robberies, and assassinations....

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E00E7DB173AE533A25751C1A9609C94609ED7CF

Italian: evil life. With more specific reference to Mafia style
criminal organizations like the Malavita del Brenta of Venice. There
is also a genre of songs glorifying Mafia life called canto di
Malavita.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_792-820#Page_798


"as if the price of inattention"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master-slave_dialectic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master-slave_morality


brides picotées

Main Entry: pic·o·tee
Pronunciation: \ˌpi-kə-ˈtē\
Function: noun
Etymology: French picoté pointed, from picoter to mark with points, from picot
Date: 1727
: a flower (as some carnations or tulips) having one basic color with
a margin of another color

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

Picotee is a variety of flower whose edge is a different colour than
the flower's base colour.  The word originates from the French picoté,
meaning 'marked with points'.

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

Bars ornamented with picots (bobbin lace)

http://www.laceresources.com.au/reference/glossary.html

A Venetian lace with a hexagonal pattern. French: tickle straps

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_792-820#Page_798


"like a reverse glittering across her flesh"

Cf. ...

"reflected water-glare flickered across the ceiling" (p. 798)

"an uninformed observer could not have said which, if either, was in
command" (ibid.)