Subject
Re: NEWS: Dr. John Rae's Arctic Explorations
Date
Body
SUBJECT: Arctic Exploration
Since both the subject of Arctic Exploration and Melville have come up
recently on the list, I can't help but mention that I discuss the
connection between Melville, Nabokov, Arctic Exploration and the pursuit
of "truth" in my article "The Weed Exiles the Flower, Melville and
Nabokov". Melville too was interested in the theme of Arctic
Exploration. Lest I rewrite the whole paper here, I'll just cite a
relevant paragraph.
In Lolita, Humbert Humbert joins an arctic expedition which Humbert
guesses may be to the North Magnetic Pole. A group from this expedition
break away to establish a weather station on Pierre Point in Melville
Sound. The delightful coincidence-there actually is a Pierre Point in
Melville Sound- is happily recorded. Further investigation suggests,
however, a deeper connection. The history of the exploration to the
North Pole is peopled with Melvilles; not only Melville Sound, but
Melville Island and Melville Peninsula are named after early explorers
to the region. Another Viscount Melville, first Lord of the British
Admiralty helped discover the Northwest Passage in the early 1800s. Rear
Admiral George W. Melville was a survivor of three arctic expeditions,
the most famous being the failed voyage of the Jeannette. Although not
related to these Melvilles genealogically, Herman Melville did have an
uncle whose stories of adventure in the Polar Regions helped to launch
his literary imaginings. Nabokov too had family ties to arctic
exploration and in an early play entitled "The Pole" he depicts the
heroic Captain Scott and the expedition of explorers to Antarctica who
perished in 1919. Humbert's expedition to the north magnetic pole was
doomed from the start; the magnetic pole is not stable and its constant
shifting makes it a nearly impossible final destination. In both Nabokov
and Melville the theme of polar exploration and its associations with
the exploration in literature for inner truth is portrayed as a noble
quest. For both authors this quest is doomed to fail. [1]
---Suellen
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
Behalf Of jansymello
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:16 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] NEWS: Dr. John Rae's Arctic Explorations
A. Pitzer:There has been a good deal of talk in the past about the
various inspirations for the name of Dr. John Ray, Jr. The well-known
naturalist seems a good candidate, though others on the list in 2004
mentioned the explorer Dr. John Rae, Jr. What may be new to the Rae/Ray
connection is a letter to the editor catalogued variously as "Arctic
Explorations" or "Dr. John Rae's Arctic Explorations" from the Bulletin
of the American Geographical Society of New York. What interests me
particularly is that the "Arctic Explorations" title is the same as one
of the journals in which Humbert says his research appears (p. 34).[...]
If there are any intentional connections (if it is not too embarrassing
to consider the idea of intention) between Rae and Ray, it's interesting
to peruse the overt "madeness" signaled by VN, since Humbert's account
predates details of the foreword that would be written after his
death[...]
JM: An interesting array of observations, matching circumstances and
historical registers. Doesn't it deserve to be turned into a published
note, like those in the "The Nabokovian"?
Nabokov mentioned the Pole Star as the center of his novel (or something
in its "compass", but I have not his afterword to quote it now).I wonder
if this reference is in anyway related to Humbert's "artic" experiences,
or if it adds a new twist to John Ray's "manuscript".
[QUERY]
England's King Charles II's minister's initials formed the word "CABAL"
(Clifford,Arlington, Buckingham,Ashley, Lauderdale).
They were a small group withing the Privy Council, a precursor to the
modern Cabinet. Macaulay ("History of England") commented: "These
ministers where emphatically called the Cabal, and they soon made the
appellation so infamous that it has never since... been used except as a
term of reproach" (Penguin book of Exotic Wrods, J.Whitcut,p.17)
In Pale Fire we find Jugde Goldsworth's "alphabetical family". Besides,
VN stressed the initials of S,K and G., reversed Odon and Nodo, among
other examples that I cannot recall at present.
Would VN have been cognizant with Charles II's "Cabal" cabinet and, if
so, could we encounter any wordplay indicating this in PF?
..................................................
[off-List exchanges]
Theme: what is an insect's "true face" from options pupa/nymph,
caterpillar, butterfly? Victor Fet: In holometabolous insects (with true
metamorphosis), juvenile stages...are 'philosophically' understood as an
embryonic stage coming out of an egg for a while to feed, and going back
to dormant stage to metamorphose into the adult.An adult in biology is
defined as one capable for reproduction[...] Still, the quasi-embryos of
holometabolous insects have an important identity on their own --
including adaptive features since they feed, move, fight their enemies,
and often live much longer than adults.
Theme: Do biologists take "kinetic art" into consideration? VF: "All
life exists in three dimensions...; wing beating by insects is adaptive
(much of it is mating song); aquatic creatures live in 3-D patterns and
so do birds in the air, communicating in their flocks much better than
our airplanes... At molecular level, all our life IS kinetic art...For
all I know, C.P. Snow's "two cultures" division is simplistic and
artificial, and never really existed."
JM: Thank you, Victor. In a way these apparently tangential issues are
important to understand Nabokov's metaphors and some of his puzzles. You
showed how we may often attribute to the insect world aspects of our own
(ie: when we distinguish embryos, nymphs and adults; what is "identity",
when we proceed towards a classification of plants and animals...)
Nabokov, as an artist, rendered the "overall picture" of life, change,
deceit and "reality", 3D motions in time, etc., by his writing - and he
often considered, even his fiction, as having achieved a particular
degree of "scientific" precision and enchanting "mimetism." When I asked
about "kinetic art" I had planned to inquire into this Nabokovian blend
bt. art and natural-science, but I didn't formulate my question
correctly and, even now, I don't know how to express it.
Thanks for the observation on C.P.Snow's "simplistic and artificial
division". Working both as an artist and as a scientist you are among
those lucky few who can speak from experience.
Search the archive
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All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
both co-editors.
________________________________
[1]. For information about Lord Melville see M.J.Ross Polar Pioneers,
Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, (1994) and Laurie
Robertson-Lorant, Melville a Biography, New York: Clarkson Potter
(1996), p. 40. Melville's aunt Mary was the wife of John D'Wolf, an old
sea captain who had crossed Siberia by dogsled with Georg H. von
Langsdorff, the naturalist who accompanied the Russian Admiral J.
Krusenstern on his arctic expedition.
In Herman Melville, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Evanston: Northwestern
University Press, ([1852], 1971), Melville as the narrator posits, "In
those Hyperborian Regions, to which enthusiastic Truth and Earnestness,
and Independence, will invariably lead a mind fitted by nature for
profound and fearless thought, all objects are seen in a dubious,
uncertain, and refracting light. Viewed through the rarified atmosphere
the most immemorially admitted maxims of men begin to slide and
fluctuate...But the example of many minds forever lost, like
undiscoverable Arctic explorers, amid those treacherous regions, warns
us entirely away from them; and we learn that it is not for man to
follow the trail of truth too far, since by doing so he entirely loses
the directing compass of his mind..." (p.165).
Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years, Princeton, N.J. :
Princeton University Press, (1991), p.17. Boyd relates that Nabokov's
cousin told him that their great-grandfather had apparently participated
in a cartographic expedition to Russia's arctic islands of Nova Zembla
and that a river there bore the Nabokov family name. Although later
proven untrue, Nabokov vested this information with an "...almost
mystical significance", even though the timing of the receipt of this
information postdates the publication of Lolita.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
Since both the subject of Arctic Exploration and Melville have come up
recently on the list, I can't help but mention that I discuss the
connection between Melville, Nabokov, Arctic Exploration and the pursuit
of "truth" in my article "The Weed Exiles the Flower, Melville and
Nabokov". Melville too was interested in the theme of Arctic
Exploration. Lest I rewrite the whole paper here, I'll just cite a
relevant paragraph.
In Lolita, Humbert Humbert joins an arctic expedition which Humbert
guesses may be to the North Magnetic Pole. A group from this expedition
break away to establish a weather station on Pierre Point in Melville
Sound. The delightful coincidence-there actually is a Pierre Point in
Melville Sound- is happily recorded. Further investigation suggests,
however, a deeper connection. The history of the exploration to the
North Pole is peopled with Melvilles; not only Melville Sound, but
Melville Island and Melville Peninsula are named after early explorers
to the region. Another Viscount Melville, first Lord of the British
Admiralty helped discover the Northwest Passage in the early 1800s. Rear
Admiral George W. Melville was a survivor of three arctic expeditions,
the most famous being the failed voyage of the Jeannette. Although not
related to these Melvilles genealogically, Herman Melville did have an
uncle whose stories of adventure in the Polar Regions helped to launch
his literary imaginings. Nabokov too had family ties to arctic
exploration and in an early play entitled "The Pole" he depicts the
heroic Captain Scott and the expedition of explorers to Antarctica who
perished in 1919. Humbert's expedition to the north magnetic pole was
doomed from the start; the magnetic pole is not stable and its constant
shifting makes it a nearly impossible final destination. In both Nabokov
and Melville the theme of polar exploration and its associations with
the exploration in literature for inner truth is portrayed as a noble
quest. For both authors this quest is doomed to fail. [1]
---Suellen
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
Behalf Of jansymello
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:16 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] NEWS: Dr. John Rae's Arctic Explorations
A. Pitzer:There has been a good deal of talk in the past about the
various inspirations for the name of Dr. John Ray, Jr. The well-known
naturalist seems a good candidate, though others on the list in 2004
mentioned the explorer Dr. John Rae, Jr. What may be new to the Rae/Ray
connection is a letter to the editor catalogued variously as "Arctic
Explorations" or "Dr. John Rae's Arctic Explorations" from the Bulletin
of the American Geographical Society of New York. What interests me
particularly is that the "Arctic Explorations" title is the same as one
of the journals in which Humbert says his research appears (p. 34).[...]
If there are any intentional connections (if it is not too embarrassing
to consider the idea of intention) between Rae and Ray, it's interesting
to peruse the overt "madeness" signaled by VN, since Humbert's account
predates details of the foreword that would be written after his
death[...]
JM: An interesting array of observations, matching circumstances and
historical registers. Doesn't it deserve to be turned into a published
note, like those in the "The Nabokovian"?
Nabokov mentioned the Pole Star as the center of his novel (or something
in its "compass", but I have not his afterword to quote it now).I wonder
if this reference is in anyway related to Humbert's "artic" experiences,
or if it adds a new twist to John Ray's "manuscript".
[QUERY]
England's King Charles II's minister's initials formed the word "CABAL"
(Clifford,Arlington, Buckingham,Ashley, Lauderdale).
They were a small group withing the Privy Council, a precursor to the
modern Cabinet. Macaulay ("History of England") commented: "These
ministers where emphatically called the Cabal, and they soon made the
appellation so infamous that it has never since... been used except as a
term of reproach" (Penguin book of Exotic Wrods, J.Whitcut,p.17)
In Pale Fire we find Jugde Goldsworth's "alphabetical family". Besides,
VN stressed the initials of S,K and G., reversed Odon and Nodo, among
other examples that I cannot recall at present.
Would VN have been cognizant with Charles II's "Cabal" cabinet and, if
so, could we encounter any wordplay indicating this in PF?
..................................................
[off-List exchanges]
Theme: what is an insect's "true face" from options pupa/nymph,
caterpillar, butterfly? Victor Fet: In holometabolous insects (with true
metamorphosis), juvenile stages...are 'philosophically' understood as an
embryonic stage coming out of an egg for a while to feed, and going back
to dormant stage to metamorphose into the adult.An adult in biology is
defined as one capable for reproduction[...] Still, the quasi-embryos of
holometabolous insects have an important identity on their own --
including adaptive features since they feed, move, fight their enemies,
and often live much longer than adults.
Theme: Do biologists take "kinetic art" into consideration? VF: "All
life exists in three dimensions...; wing beating by insects is adaptive
(much of it is mating song); aquatic creatures live in 3-D patterns and
so do birds in the air, communicating in their flocks much better than
our airplanes... At molecular level, all our life IS kinetic art...For
all I know, C.P. Snow's "two cultures" division is simplistic and
artificial, and never really existed."
JM: Thank you, Victor. In a way these apparently tangential issues are
important to understand Nabokov's metaphors and some of his puzzles. You
showed how we may often attribute to the insect world aspects of our own
(ie: when we distinguish embryos, nymphs and adults; what is "identity",
when we proceed towards a classification of plants and animals...)
Nabokov, as an artist, rendered the "overall picture" of life, change,
deceit and "reality", 3D motions in time, etc., by his writing - and he
often considered, even his fiction, as having achieved a particular
degree of "scientific" precision and enchanting "mimetism." When I asked
about "kinetic art" I had planned to inquire into this Nabokovian blend
bt. art and natural-science, but I didn't formulate my question
correctly and, even now, I don't know how to express it.
Thanks for the observation on C.P.Snow's "simplistic and artificial
division". Working both as an artist and as a scientist you are among
those lucky few who can speak from experience.
Search the archive
<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en%0d
%0a>
Contact the Editors <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com>
Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>
View Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>
Manage subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
both co-editors.
________________________________
[1]. For information about Lord Melville see M.J.Ross Polar Pioneers,
Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, (1994) and Laurie
Robertson-Lorant, Melville a Biography, New York: Clarkson Potter
(1996), p. 40. Melville's aunt Mary was the wife of John D'Wolf, an old
sea captain who had crossed Siberia by dogsled with Georg H. von
Langsdorff, the naturalist who accompanied the Russian Admiral J.
Krusenstern on his arctic expedition.
In Herman Melville, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Evanston: Northwestern
University Press, ([1852], 1971), Melville as the narrator posits, "In
those Hyperborian Regions, to which enthusiastic Truth and Earnestness,
and Independence, will invariably lead a mind fitted by nature for
profound and fearless thought, all objects are seen in a dubious,
uncertain, and refracting light. Viewed through the rarified atmosphere
the most immemorially admitted maxims of men begin to slide and
fluctuate...But the example of many minds forever lost, like
undiscoverable Arctic explorers, amid those treacherous regions, warns
us entirely away from them; and we learn that it is not for man to
follow the trail of truth too far, since by doing so he entirely loses
the directing compass of his mind..." (p.165).
Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years, Princeton, N.J. :
Princeton University Press, (1991), p.17. Boyd relates that Nabokov's
cousin told him that their great-grandfather had apparently participated
in a cartographic expedition to Russia's arctic islands of Nova Zembla
and that a river there bore the Nabokov family name. Although later
proven untrue, Nabokov vested this information with an "...almost
mystical significance", even though the timing of the receipt of this
information postdates the publication of Lolita.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/