AtDtDA(28): The Goal of this Long Pilgrimage

[Dave Monroe]

   "'Whatever goes on in there, whatever unspeakable compact with
death, it is what I am destined for--the goal of this long pilgrimage,
whose penance is my life.'" (AtD, Pt. IV, p. 790)


"what I am destined for--the goal of this long pilgrimage"

?


"a remittance man"

A man living on remittances, i.e. family funds from home, a trust
fund, etc. It is also time to note that a Fleetwood is a model of
Cadillac.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_768-791#Page_790


"Rand shares"

French Rand Gold Mining Stock 1909

http://www.scripophily.net/frenrangolmi.html

The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the
Witwatersrand (White-waters-ridge in English) ...

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

A Krugerrand is a South African gold coin, first minted in 1967 in
order to help market South African gold. The coins have legal tender
status in South Africa but are not actually intended to be used as
currency, which is a reason it is regarded as being one of the world's
medal-coins.

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

Randgold's principal activity is exploration in Africa. The Group also
explores for minerals such as diamonds, platinum, base and ferrous
metals.

http://www.randgold.co.za/

Gold Districts of California
RAND

Location. The Rand or Randsburg district lies athwart the Kern-San
Bernardino County line in the vicinity of the town of Randsburg, about
40 miles northeast of Mojave and 30 miles north of Kramer. The western
part of the district, in Kern County, has been chiefly a source of
gold, while the eastern part, in San Bernardino County, has been
largely a source of silver. The Atolia tungsten district is just to
the southeast (fig. 30).

History. ... The district was named for the Rand district in South Africa....

http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/dist-rand.html

The Rand-Share operating system manual for the IBM 7090 computer

By: G. E. Bryan

A manual of programmers' aids developed at Rand in cooperation with
SHARE, an organization of computer users formed to facilitate the
exchange of computer programs, for use on the IBM 7090. The manual
assumes that the reader is familiar with the SHARE SOS Manual, and
with the published descriptions of the other processors, ans is
concerned with the changes and additions that have ben made in the
various components of the operating system. The study has application
in military and civilian establishments where data processing
machinery is used.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3327/


"destined for golf courses"

http://www.retirementcommunity.com/

Vs., say, ...

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/weissmann.html
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Weissmann's_Tarot


"unpleasant dreams"

?


"the fallen star of 30 June"

Cf. ...

"But it was not a star, it was falling, a bright angel of death." (GR,
Pt. IV, p. 760)


"pallid nightlessness"

The first reports of a strange glow in the sky came from across
Europe. Shortly after midnight on 1 July 1908, Londoners were
intrigued to see a pink phosphorescent night sky over the capital.
People who had retired awoke confused as the strange pink glow shone
into their bedrooms. The same ruddy luminescence was reported over
Belgium. The skies over Germany were curiously said to be bright
green, while the heavens over Scotland were of an incredible intense
whiteness which tricked the wildlife into believing it was dawn.
Birdsong started and cocks crowed - at two o'clock in the morning. The
skies over Moscow were so bright, photographs were taken of the
streets without using a magnesium flash. A captain on a ship on the
River Volga said he could see vessels on the river two miles away by
the uncanny astral light. One golf game in England almost went on
until four in the morning under the nocturnal glow, and in the
following week The Times of London was inundated with letters from
readers from all over the United Kingdom to report the curious 'false
dawn'. A woman in Huntingdon wrote that she had been able to read a
book in her bedroom solely by the peculiar rosy light. There were
hundreds of letters from people reporting identical lighting
conditions that went on for weeks after the Tunguska explosion.
Scientists and meteorologists also wrote to the newspaper giving their
opinions about the cause of the strange sky-glare which ranged from
the Northern Lights to dust in the upper atmosphere reflecting the
rays of the sun below the horizon. No one connected the phenomenon
with the strange object which had come down in Siberia ...

http://www.qsl.net/w5www/tunguska.html


"the Vormance people"

Vormance, Dr. Alden
114; commander of the schooner Étienne-Louis Malus, engaged on an
expedition to the Arctic; "on sabbatical from Candlebrow University,
where he ordinarily headed the Department of Mineralogy" 130; "The
scientists of the Vormance Expedition had continued to believe it was
a meteorite they were bringing back, like Peary and other recent
heroes of science" 149; "Word was about that Alden Vormance was
getting up a party to go north and recover a meteorite" 170;

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=V


"as if taken by the wind"

Included in refrain/hook from popular Fleetwood Mac song "Rhiannon."
Perhaps an alternative to the Fleetwood/Cadillac reference.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_768-791#Page_790

Cf., however, e.g., ...

"the same forces which dictate the bomb's trajectory, the deaths of
stars, the wind and the waterspout" (V., p. 345)

And see as well, esp., ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0012&msg=51378

Whither goest thou, O Terrance?  Thanks, as always, at any rate, and
Happy Easter ...