A blinding opaqueness conveys the idea of these globular lamps.  Later on, Hoban likens other street lamps to ‘luminous fruits bursting with knowledge’.

‘The globes of the lamps were like great blind eyes.’

Source: Russell Hoban, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz (London: Picador, 1979), p. 110

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