AtDtDA(28): Having Journeyed Eastward ...

Sun Mar 23 14:20:39 CDT 2008

"Having journeyed eastward through the day, the Inconvenience had set
down beneath the bleak sunset with the menacing flank of a sandstorm
not far off.  At first glance no one appeared to live here...." (AtD,
Pt, IV, p. 792)

eastward

See, e.g., ...

Dewey, Joseph.  "The Sound of One Man Mapping:
   Wicks Cherrycoke and the Eastern (Re)solution."
   Pynchon and Mason & Dixon.  Eds. Brooke Horvath
   and Irving Malin.  Newark: U of Delaware P, 2001.

http://www2.lib.udel.edu/udpress/ptitles.htm#0-87413-720-9

"through the day"

Main Entry: through
Pronunciation: \ˈthrü\
Function: preposition
Etymology: Middle English thurh, thruh, through, from Old English
thurh; akin to Old High German durh through, Latin trans across,
beyond, Sanskrit tarati he crosses over
Date: before 12th century
1 a (1)—used as a function word to indicate movement into at one side
or point and out at another and especially the opposite side of <drove
a nail through the board> (2): by way of <left through the door>
(3)—used as a function word to indicate passage from one end or
boundary to another <a highway through the forest><a road through the
desert> (4): without stopping for : past <drove through a red light>
b—used as a function word to indicate passage into and out of a
treatment, handling, or process <the matter has already passed through
her hands>
2 —used as a function word to indicate means, agency, or intermediacy:
as a: by means of : by the agency of b: because of <failed through
ignorance> c: by common descent from or relationship with <related
through their grandfather>
3 a: over the whole surface or extent of : throughout <homes scattered
through the valley> b—used as a function word to indicate movement
within a large expanse <flew through the air> c—used as a function
word to indicate exposure to a specified set of conditions <put him
through hell>
4 —used as a function word to indicate a period of time: as a: during
the entire period of <all through her life> b: from the beginning to
the end of <the tower stood through the earthquake> c: to and
including <Monday through Friday>
5 a—used as a function word to indicate completion or exhaustion <got
through the book><went through the money in a year> b—used as a
function word to indicate acceptance or approval especially by an
official body <got the bill through the legislature>

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

Main Entry: against
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈgen(t)st, -ˈgin(t)st, -ˈgān(t)st\
Function: preposition
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of againes, from again
Date: 13th century
1 a: in opposition or hostility to <spoke against his enemies> b:
contrary to <against the law> c: in competition with <racing against
each other> d: as a basis for disapproval of <had nothing against him>
2 a: directly opposite : facing <she sat down just over against me —
Daniel Defoe> bobsolete : exposed to
3: compared or contrasted with <profits are up against last year>
4 a: in preparation or provision for <saving against an uncertain
future> b: as a defense or protection from <a shelter against the
cold>
5 a: in the direction of and into contact with <knocked against the
ropes> b: in contact with <leaning against the wall>
6: in a direction opposite to the motion or course of : counter to
<sail against the wind>
7 a: as a counterbalance to <weighing risk against profit> b: in
exchange for <a lower rate against the dollar> c: as a charge on
<charged against her account>
8: before the background of <viewed against the sky>

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

"Beneath the unpenetrated surface"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_city
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_city#Central_Asia
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~pamlogan/silkroad/index.html

"cities, unmapped, sacramental places ...'" (AtD, Pt. IV, p. 790)

http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0803&msg=125245

Hollow Earth

115; Chums of Chance's journey into, 115; H. Penhallow's journey, 155;
274; 327; hoosegow in Guanojuana, 380; 391; "hidden cave of rainwater"
393;

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

Hollow-Earthers

"A complete, largely unsens'd World, held within our own [...] waiting
for some Summons to Light" 548; Dixon, 603; "the ancient City he has
discover'd beneath the Earth" 707; Mason taken by Being with "Very
large eyes" 739

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/mason-dixon/alpha/h.html
http://masondixon.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H

"white patches"

Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused
by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae.... Contrary to popular
conception, leprosy does not cause body parts to simply fall off, and
it differs from tzaraath, the malady described in the Hebrew
scriptures and previously translated into English as leprosy.

[...]

The age-old social stigma associated with the advanced form of leprosy
lingers in many areas, and remains a major obstacle to self-reporting
and early treatment....

[...]

Paucibacillary Hansen's disease is characterized by one or more
hypopigmented skin macules and anaesthetic patches ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy#Epidemiology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy

Hypopigmentation is the loss of skin color....

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

"rista-doctors patiently removing guinea-woms"

Dracunculiasis, more commonly known as Guinea worm disease (GWD), is
an infection caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis. The
parasite is alternately known in English as "Guinea worm", "Medina
worm", and finally "fiery serpent" which reflects the Latin root word
Dracunculus meaning "little dragon"....

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

During 12th to 13th centuries the word in Arabic-speaking countries
for macaroni was rishta, but the context clearly indicates that it
means worm, or specifically, Guinea worm.

The Guinea worm is a threadlike parasitic worm that grows and matures
inside the human body growing as long as 3 feet long. After a year,
the worm emerges through a painful blister in the skin causing
long-term suffering and sometimes crippling after-effects. People get
infected when they drink standing water containing a tiny water flea
that is infected with the even tinier larvae of the Guinea worm. The
disease occurs mainly in Africa.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_792-820#Page_792

"deepening past orange," "a counterstain of aquamarine"

Cf. ...

"Around the edges of this form, a strange magenta-and-green aura had
begun to flicker, as if from a source somewhere behind him, growing
more intense as he himself faded from view, until seconds later
nothing was left but a kind of stain in the air where he had been, a
warping of the light as through ancient window-glass." (AtD, Pt. II,
p. 409-10)

http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0708&msg=120718&sort=date

Lüneburg Heath

Site of Blicero's last stand/final madness where the S-gerät 00000 is
fired; ... "The Heath grows green and magenta in all directions," 749

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/alpha/l.html
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=L

4.12.5 "The Last Green and Magenta", p. 749.

http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/rainbow.htm
http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/gr/grams.html
http://members.aol.com/russillosm/grsummary.html

The last green and magenta means it's spring, and the Horse is
sacrificed in a political act....

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

And from N. Katherine Hayles and Mary B. Eiser, "Coloring Gravity's
Rainbow,"  Pynchon Notes 16   (Spring 1985): 3-24 ...

   "Slothrop's identification with purple and green may indicate that
he is being transformed into a projected image, because these colors
habitually occur in relation to filmed or hallucinated images.... the
purple/green pairing indicates that Slothrop, like a cinematic image,
is receding from us through increasing layers of mediation." (p. 17)

http://www.ham.muohio.edu/~krafftjm/pn/pn016.pdf

Clashing-colors motif....

There's something else striking about magenta and green: In the field
of color mixing, these are complementary in the sense that magenta
results from filtering all the green out of white light and vice
versa. Green is an additive primary (red-green-blue), while magenta is
a subtractive primary (cyan-magenta-yellow)....

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_397-428#Page_409