mensch

(n.) One who does good deeds: He is a real mensch, the kind of guy you can always count on.
www.factmonster.com/spot/yiddish1.html

From:
Google has offered to host Wikipedia -- what a bunch of mensches those googloids are!

quiddity

dictionary.com:
n. pl. quid·di·ties

1. The real nature of a thing; the essence.
2. A hairsplitting distinction; a quibble


From: The Epicure's Lament, Kate Christensen, p 2

"There it lies, and has lain all my life, always changing, always there, in all its mercurial quiddity.

The lascivious pleasure I derive from phrases such as 'mercurial quiddity' might be all that prevents me from flinging myself downstairs to beat my brother..."

My commentary:
This was the point in reading this book, yes at page 2, where I decided I was realy going to need a plan to mark these words for later review.

lacuna, miasma

lacuna
dictionary.com:
n. pl. la·cu·nae (-n) or la·cu·nas

1. An empty space or a missing part; a gap: “self-centered in opinion, with curious lacunae of astounding ignorance” (Frank Norris).
2. Anatomy. A cavity, space, or depression, especially in a bone, containing cartilage or bone cells.

miasma
dictionary.com:
n. pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t)

1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere... like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).
2.
1. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
2. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.



From: The Epicure's Lament, Kate Christensen, p 8

"I stopped writing once again after that last sentence, and stared off into space for... a lacuna, a miasma, a hiatus, an unwieldy string of vowel's worth of time"

coruscating

dictionary.com:
cor·us·cate
intr.v. cor·us·cat·ed, cor·us·cat·ing, cor·us·cates

1. To give forth flashes of light; sparkle and glitter: diamonds coruscating in the candlelight.
2. To exhibit sparkling virtuosity: a flutist whose music coruscated throughout the concert hall.



From: The Epicur's Lament, Kate Christensen, p 29

"Octobe 14- I awoke just now, shattered from a pain-spiked dream, to a windy, leaf-blown, coruscating autumn day, sunlight embelishing charcoal clouds and glinting off the cold steel-dark river..."

faux-bois, trompe l'oeil

faux-bois
Literal french translation: fake wood
My paraphrase: A traditional french painting style for painting false wood grain onto walls or furniture. [link]

trompe l'oeils
dictionary.com:
n. pl. trompe l'oeils (loi)
1. A style of painting that gives an illusion of photographic reality.
2. A painting or effect created in this style.


From: The Epicure's Lament, Kate Christensen, p41
On my tower's first floor is the octagonal library, whose upper walls and ceiling glow with intricate trope-l'oeil faux-bois plaster, underneath which are walnut shelves that rise from floor to crown molding and hold crammed-together rows of priceless leather-bound boks..."

a conflagration of pretentious words

I can't decide how much I like The Epicure's Lament, by Kate Christensen, the book I'm currently reading. It's a slow, careful read full of subtle emotions, lewd desires, and chock a block with twenty five cent words.

From my posts to come, see if you agree that this could be described as a conflagration of pretentious words.