one of today's M & D discussion topics?--until Becky posts her great stuff

[Mark Kohut]

That last selection of yours, besides being 'about' what you write,
and about Light from the Genesis wayback bag and as intellectual
metaphor for illumination, may also be a Moby Dick allusion--see that
Sperm-Taper--to a DRUMMOND LIGHT, which Melville alludes to......for
him it is about intense seeing.

"The 'Drummond lamp' also called 'Drummond Light' or 'Limelight' was
the most intense light source used for most of the nineteenth century,
after the heliostat and before the widespread use of the electrical
arc with which it competed during several decades. It is a kind of
blowtorch, fed, first with oxygen, and secondly, either with town gas,
hydrogen, alcohol or ether. The flame is directed onto a piece of
quicklime that, becoming white hot, emits extremely intense light,
almost blinding (see Fig. 1).

The history of the Drummond light is closely related to the society of
the nineteenth century: scientific experiments, technology,
topography-geodesy, lighthouses, politics, theatres lighting and
spot-lighting, projection lanterns and emerging cinematograph, safety
laws in entertainment places."

On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 11:01 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com> wrote:
> That 1851 Crystal Palace and its panoramic, uh, glazing are also among the
> inspirations for the dream milieu of the Evacuation that opens GR, for what
> Maxine first sees of DeepArcher in BE, maybe even for Rebekah & Dixon's
> wedding venue on 187:
>
> "Down near the East India Docks. 'Clive Chapel,' as they styl'd it then, a
> Nabob's Day-Dream, made to seem a Treasure-Cave of the East, with Walls of
> Crystal, Chandeliers of Lenses Prismatick, that could make the light of but
> a single Candle brighter than a Beacon..."
>
> Or even Lepton Castle (412):
>
> "To their alarm, Light shines ev'rywhere,-- Chandelier Light, silver Sconce
> and Sperm-Taper Light,-- striking them both to an all-but-
>
> sympathetick Squint. "
>
> The Crystal Palace, relocated with some redesign to Sydenham Hill, was
> destroyed by fire in 1936. Two water towers survived: "The north tower was
> demolished with explosives in 1941.[55][56] No reason was given for its
> removal, although it was rumoured that it was to remove a landmark for WWII
> German aircraft, but Luftwaffe bombers actually navigated their way to
> Central London by tracking the River Thames. The Crystal Palace grounds were
> also used as a manufacturing base for aircraft radar screens and other
> hi-tech equipment of the time. This remained secret until well after the
> war."
>
> On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 8:30 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "Another novelty of the 19th century was the world exhibition, the most
>> salient
>> combination of panoramic gaze with encyclopedic documentation. It all
>> started
>> with the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All
>> Nations...whose spectacular
>> crystal palace...has remained in the collective memory."----IBID.
>>
>> For discussion: Has TRP tried to put down a "panoramic gaze' to take in
>> this kind of panoramic gaze....maybe "a panoramic gaze about the end of
>> such panoramic gazes?"
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l