two very different kinds of gray

“[C]olor itself is capable of two very different kinds of relations: relations of value, based on the contrast of black and white, in which a tone is defined as either dark or light, saturated or rarefied; and relations of tonality, based on spectrum, on the opposition of yellow and blue, or green and red, in which this or that pure tone is defined as warm or cool. . . .
     Are there not two very different kinds of gray, the optical gray of black-white and the haptic gray of green-red?”

—Gilles Deleuze, Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, 1981; trans. by Daniel W. Smith, 2004.

a secret agent

the gloaming

“Now he allowed himself to look around, to take in the vermilion glow surrounding them just as it faded. ‘Wow,’ he said.
     ‘My grandmother called this the gloaming.’
     ‘Sometimes it just knocks you out.’
     ‘In five minutes the skeeters will be swarming and we’ll be eaten alive.’
     ‘The gloaming. Sounds Gaelic.’
     ‘There it goes. It was almost like liquid.’ ”

—Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke, 2007.

the Aces Tavern

“ ‘Here’s a question for you: Is this the Aces Tavern as in, Man, I got four Aces? Or is this Aces Tavern as in, This tavern belongs to a cat named Ace?’ ”

—Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke, 2007.

THE NEW TYPOGRAPHY

the one an ugly bone-color, the other a puke-pale green

“ ‘Hello!’ The ladies’ voices were bright and hopeful and you could see they were nervous. Town ladies, wearing hats and boxy shapeless knit suits—the one an ugly bone-color, the other a puke-pale green—that must have been expensive because there was no other reason to wear such clothes.”

—Joyce Carol Oates, A Garden of Earthly Delights, 1967.

Alabaster

“Used to describe the most beautiful parts of a woman’s body.”

—Gustave Flaubert, The Dictionary of Received Ideas, 1881; trans.
by A.J.
Krailsheimer, 1976.

Black

“Always followed by ‘as ebony’ or preceded by ‘jet’.”

—Gustave Flaubert, The Dictionary of Received Ideas, 1881; trans. by A.J.
Krailsheimer, 1976.

Crimson

“Nobler word than red.”

—Gustave Flaubert, The Dictionary of Received Ideas, 1881; trans.
by A.J.
Krailsheimer, 1976.

silver dishes

“. . . the sight of a table covered with victuals on silver dishes, with glasses ranged in front of each plate, hors d’oeuvre here and there, and a salmon in the middle, made every face beam.”

—Gustave Flaubert, Bouvard and Pécuchet, 1881; trans. by A.J. Krailsheimer, 1976.