Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight

320 Pages·2011·1.29 MB·English

by  James Attlee

Nocturne
By the same author
Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey
Gordon Matta-Clark: The Space Between
(with Lisa Le Feuvre)
Nocturne
A Journey in Search of Moonlight
James attlee
the university of chicago press
james attlee is the marketing director of Tate
Publishing. His books include Gordon Matta-Clark:
The Space Between (Nazraeli Press, 2003; cowritten with
Lisa Le Feuvre) and Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey
(University of Chicago Press, 2007).
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
© 2011 by James Attlee
All rights reserved. Published 2011.
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-03096-8 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-03096-2 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Attlee, James.
Nocturne : a journey in search of moonlight /
James Attlee.
p. cm.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-03096-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-03096-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Moon. 2. Moon—In art. 3. Moonlight in art.
4. Moon—In literature. I. Title.
n8225.m59a85 2011
523.3—dc22 2010049355
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso
z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
For Rosemary and David

Contents
mooNRIse
Sky Maps and Ghost Ships 3
PaRt oNe: sYzIgY
A Three-Dog Night by the River 9
A Barefoot Galileo 14
Absorbed by Its Shadows 22
Earthshine 26
Eostre and a Paschal Moon 28
A White Horse and Mammoth Bones 30
Fear of the Dark 36
Darkness and the Desert: An Islamic Moon 41
Mussolini, the Madonna and Moonlight 46
Extollagers in the Valley of Vision: Memory,
Moonlight and Samuel Palmer 56
Dark Adaption and the Eye of the Beholder 67
The Path of Totality 80
Adrift on the Iapetus Ocean 84
August Beach Moon, Normandy 88
Immaculate Conceptions and Transparent Moons 91
viii Contents
Let’s Murder the Moonlight! Futurists and the Moon 95
The Agency of the Night 100
PaRt tWo: tsukImI
Beyond the Gateless Gate: September Kyoto Moon 111
Cats’ Eyes and a McDonald’s Moon 132
PaRt thRee: vesuvIo
The Alarming Mountain: Naples, Vesuvius
and the Moon 153
PaRt fouR: luNada
From Vegas to Vega: American Moon 187
The Moon and the Standing People 225
PaRt fIve: moNdsCheIN
Raking the Shadows: A Romantic Moon 237
PaRt sIx: thamesIs
Through Midnight Streets: The Thames
and a London Moon 265
mooNset
Blue Moon on Stonewall Hill 303
Acknowledgements 310
Permissions 311
Moonrise