GR translation: her glassy wastes

[Paul Mackin]

On 10/28/2011 11:48 PM, Mike Jing wrote:
> Oh, Shakespeare.  I knew he was in there somewhere.
>
> On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 6:23 AM, Mark Kohut<markekohut at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>> Man, proud man! Drest in a little brief authority, -. Most ignorant of what he's most
>> assur'd,. His glassy essence, - like an angry ape,.
>>       His glassy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high
>> heaven. As to make the angels weep. – William Shakespeare. ...
>>
>> 1. Characteristic of or resembling glass. 2. Lifeless; expressionless: "the face
>> changing to a demon's face with a fixed glassy grin" (Katherine Anne Porter). ...
>>
>> From: Mike Jing<gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>> To: Pynchon Mailing List<pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 4:37 AM
>> Subject: GR translation: her glassy wastes
>>
>> P153.16-18 ...: he has to admire it, even if he can't accept her
>> glassy wastes, her appeals to a day not of wrath but of final
>> indifference...
>>
>> What exactly are "her glassy wastes"?
>>
>>
So perhaps "glassy" means not amounting to much, fragile, breakable--or, 
might it be a substitute for glossy, implying a cheap attractiveness?  
In either case, of illusory value. (Cherrycoke is not fooled)

"Wastes" probably refers to areas of desolation and damnation. 
(wastelands)  Or maybe it just means emanations.

Would Pynchon himself be able to parse these passages of the book in any 
straight forward way?

P