AtD translation: the umbra of brushed hair and skull-heft

[Joseph Tracy]

> On Feb 9, 2018, at 11:33 PM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> P127.11-17   When required she could pose with the noblest here against the luminous iceblink, as if leaning anxiously out of some portrait-frame, eyes asking not for help but understanding, cords of her neck edged in titanium white, a three-quarters view from behind, showing the face only just crescent, the umbra of brushed hair and skull-heft, the brass shadow amiably turned toward an open shelf of books with no glass cover there arranged to throw back images of a face, only this dorsal finality.
> 
> What is "skull-heft" exactly?
> 
> Also, does the "umbra" and "brass shadow" suggest a lunar eclipse? 
> 
It is comparing the slice of face seen  from behind to a crescent moon and the back of the head, where the bulk of the weight of the skull is, to the umbra or inner shadow of the crescent moon.  Not sure on brass shadow, can’t picture direction of light.-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l