Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014591, Mon, 8 Jan 2007 11:49:48 -0200

Subject
Re: Details: cardinals and waxwings, "wind rose",
cardinals and waxwings, from JF
From
Date
Body
SB: "It is probably due to these that JF's earlier message did not come
through..."
JM: Isn't there a copy of it anywhere to be posted again?
......
JF: A few minor points, two of which I posted in a note that
got lost with the editor switch or in some other way...
JM: Dear Jerry, I gather one of the points we lost was about the cardinal/waxwing distinction. The other note is more recent, no?( "Rosa dos ventos" in English is a "wind rose". Since the young Nabokov admired Housman, I feel obliged to mention that some old ones had 12 rays instead of 16: "From far, from eve and morning,/ And yon twelve-winded sky..." )
In Brazil Maria Bethania recorded a CD with her show, Rosa dos Ventos (1971), in which she sang various popular songs and read poems by Fernando Pessoa ( Portuguese poet associated with the "wind rose" always pictured in old navigation maps, where I should have searched for the "wind rose" in the first place...). My particular curiosity is still not assuaged because I've been looking in vain for a quote in which VN describes a room criss-crossed by winds ( I'm carrying "The Enchanter" to Rio to re-read while vacationing in Ipanema beach) with a description suggestive of a wind rose.
In "Pale Fire" we found Kinbote's description of the priest in contact with God at the center of a rose mosaic. It is in "Ada", though, that navigational information is even more necessary ( because of Mascodagama/Vasco da Gama, plus Lisiansky islands, where Demon's plane - unlike King Alfin's - crashed).
Thank you for the quote about the rose with 12 rays in Housman's poem.
Unfortunately I lent my copy of Dava Sobel's "Longitude" ( she knew how to tell good stories!) so I couldn't check other tidbits in it and leave the math aside to the experts!


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