Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008306, Sun, 3 Aug 2003 11:55:36 -0700

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Fw: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3461 pale fire
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----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
> Date: 01 Aug 2003 13:33:24 -0400
> From: Paul Mackin <paul.mackin@verizon.net>
> Subject: NPPF Canto Two--Contrasting butterfly species
>
> I don't remember if the two butterfly species referred to in Canto Two
> have been contrasted with each other.
>
> Taking advantage of Boyd's research,"the Toothwort White happens to be
> 'dusky white with smoky gray-brown scaling,' and like the Mustard White
> with which it was long confused, 'quite shy.'"
>
> A Toothwort White appears in close proximity to accounts of Hazel's
> ungainliness. This seems to build on the mention of "white butterflies"
> in Canto One.
>
>
>
>
> A Vanessa atalanta does not itself appear in Canto Two (I don't think)
> but Sybil is called a dark Vanessa.
>
> On the Vanessa atalanta Boyd quotes a lepidopterist:
>
> "Unmistakable and unforgettable . . . [It} will alight on a person's
> shoulder day after day in a garden . . . . In midsummer it is not
> unusual to see them chasing each other."
> ..
> P.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 14:52:12 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Canto Two--Contrasting butterfly species
>
> Don't forget the Echo Azure mentioned in ADA and pointing back to the
> reflected azure in the windowpane:
> http://home.sprintmail.com/~awiner/butterflies/EchoAzure.html
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 15:19:37 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF -- Doubts on the incest business
>
> I'm just beginning my exploration of the first 20 pages of the commentary
> and INCEST has laready imbedded itself twice, once in Kinbote's name and
> again in his abbreviated mention of the poem's first line.
>
> [C]harl[es] k[in]bo[t]e
>
> [s]la[in], [etc]
>
> One more tidbit, then I'll hush until it's my turn.
>
> This Zembla 'burning' in Kinbote's brain, 'bursting' with rhymes ready to
> 'spurt' at the brush of an eyelash (p. 80), may have something to do with:
>
> mblaze
>
> TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: em╥blazed, em╥blaz╥ing, em╥blaz╥es
> 1. To set on fire. 2. To cause to glow; light up.
>
> blaze
>
> PRONUNCIATION: blz
> NOUN: 1a. A brilliant burst of fire; a flame. b. A destructive fire. 2. A
> bright or steady light or glare: the blaze of the desert sun. 3. A
> brilliant, striking display: flowers that were a blaze of color. 4. A
sudden
> outburst, as of emotion: a blaze of anger. 5. blazes Used as an intensive:
> Where in blazes are my keys?
> VERB: Inflected forms: blazed, blaz╥ing, blaz╥es
>
> INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To burn with a bright flame. 2. To shine brightly.
3.
> To be resplendent: a garden blazing with flowers. 4. To flare up suddenly:
> My neighbor's temper blazed. 5. To shoot rapidly and continuously: Machine
> guns blazed.
> TRANSITIVE VERB: To shine or be resplendent with: eyes that blazed hatred.
> ETYMOLOGY: Middle English blase, from Old English blФse. See bhel-1 in
> Appendix I.
>
> bhel-1
> DEFINITION: To shine, flash, burn; shining white and various bright
colors.
>
> Derivatives include blue, bleach, blind, blond, blanket, black, flagrant,
> and flame.
> I. Suffixed full-grade form *bhel-o-. 1a. beluga, from Russian bely,
> white; b. Beltane, from Scottish Gaelic bealltainn, from Old Irish
beltaine,
> "fire of Bel" (ten, tene, fire; see tep-), from Bel, name of a pagan Irish
> deity akin to the Gaulish divine name Belenos, from Celtic *bel-o-. 2.
> phalarope, from Greek phalaros, having a white spot.
> II. Extended root *bhle1-, contracted to *bhl-. 1. Suffixed form
> *bhl-wo-. blue, from Old French bleu, blue, from Germanic *blwaz, blue. 2.
> Suffixed zero-grade form *bh-wo-. flavescent, flavo-; flavin, flavone,
> flavoprotein, from Latin flvus, golden or reddish yellow.
> III. Various extended Germanic forms. 1. bleach, from Old English
blcan,
> to bleach, from Germanic *blaikjan, to make white. 2. bleak1, from Old
Norse
> bleikr, shining, white, from Germanic *blaikaz, shining, white. 3.
> blitzkrieg, from Old High German blКcchazzen, to flash, lighten, from
> Germanic *blikkatjan. 4a. blaze1, from Old English blФse, torch, bright
> fire; b. blesbok, from Middle Dutch bles, white spot; c. blemish, from Old
> French
>
> ble(s)mir, to make pale.
>
> a-c all from Germanic *blas-, shining, white. 5a. blind; blindfold,
> purblind, from Old English blind, blind; b. blende, from Old High German
> blentan, to blind, deceive; c. blend, from Old Norse blanda, to mix; d.
> blond, from Old French blond, blond. a-d all from Germanic *blendaz,
> clouded, and *bland-, *bland-ja-, to mix, mingle (< "make cloudy"). 6a.
> blench1, from Old English blencan, to deceive; b. blanch, blank, blanket;
> blancmange, from Old French blanc, white. Both a and b from Germanic
> *blenk-, *blank-, to shine, dazzle, blind. 7. blush, from Old English
> blyscan, to glow red, from Germanic *blisk-, to shine, burn.
> IV. Extended root *bhleg-, to shine, flash, burn. 1. O-grade form
bhlog-.
> black, from Old English blФc, black, from Germanic *blakaz, burned. 2.
> Zero-grade form *bhg-. a. fulgent, fulgurate; effulgent, foudroyant,
> refulgent, from Latin fulgre, to flash, shine, and fulgur, lightning; b.
> fulminate, from Latin fulmen (< *fulg-men), lightning, thunderbolt. 3a.
> flagrant; conflagrant, conflagration, deflagrate, from Latin flagrre, to
> blaze; b. chamise, flambИ, flambeau, flamboyant, flame, flamingo,
flammable;
> inflame, from Latin flamma (< *flag-ma), a flame. 4. phlegm, phlegmatic,
> Phlegethon, from Greek phlegein, to burn. 5. O-grade form *bhlog-.
> phlogiston, phlox; phlogopite, from Greek phlox, a flame, also a
wallflower.
> (Pokorny 1. bhel- 118, bheleg- 124, bhleu-(k)- 159.)
>
> ZEMBLA <=> PALE (WHITE) FIRE
> _______________________________
>
> Nabokov says a good reader must have:
>
> (1) imagination
> (2) memory
> (3) artistic sense
> (4) a dictionary
>
> I suspect he recommends a dictionary, not because one does not know the
> meanings of words, but because he makes use of less common definitions,
and
> pays close attention to etymologies.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2003 10:18:10 +1000
> From: jbor <jbor@bigpond.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF--TV then and later
>
> on 2/8/03 1:57 AM, Paul Mackin wrote:
>
> >
> > Someone who's reading or rereading both Vineland and Pale Fire might
> > want to compare the TV John and Sybil watch in the 50s (golden age) and
> > what the Vineland people view thity years later.
> >
> > Is there much difference.
>
> TV's huge paperclip now shines instead
> Of the stiff vane so often visited
> By the naive, the gauzy mockingbird
> Retelling all the programs she had heard;
> Switching from *chippo-chippo* to a clear
> *Too-wee*, *too-wee*; then rasping out: *come here* ...
> (61-66)
>
> Cf. _Vineland_:
>
> Up and down that street, she remembered, television screens had
> flickered silent blue in the darkness. Strange loud birds, not of
> the neighbourhood, were attracted, some content to perch in the
> palm trees, keeping silence and an eye out for the rats who lived
> in the fronds, others flying by close to windows, seeking an angle
> to sit and view the picture from. When the commercials came on, the
> birds, with voices otherworldly pure, would sing back at them,
> sometimes even when none were on. (82.17; see also 285.15)
>
> best
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 17:57:20 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF-- The Grim Pen Of The Artistically Caged
>
> Main Entry: PALE
> Pronunciation: 'pA(&)l
> Function: noun
> Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French pal stake, from Latin
palus --
> more at POLE
> Date: 12th century
> 3 a : a space or field having bounds : ENCLOSURE
>
> Main Entry: FIRE
> Pronunciation: 'fIr
> Function: noun
> Usage: often attributive
> Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fyr; akin to Old High German
> fiur fire, Greek pyr
> Date: before 12th century
> 1 b (1) : burning passion : ARDOR
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2003 21:06:16 -0400
> From: joeallonby <vze422fs@verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: Luciferous Logolepsy
>
> At the risk of solipsistic vaniloquence, COL49 is my vade mecum.
>
>
> on 8/1/03 2:07 PM, Dave Monroe at monrovius@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > Welcome to Luciferous Logolepsy, a collection of over
> > 9,000 obscure english words. Though the definition of
> > an "english" word might seem to be straightforward, it
> > is not. There exist so many adopted, derivative,
> > archaic or abandoned words in what we loosely define
> > as the "English Language", that a clear-cut definition
> > seems impossible. For the purposes of this project
> > though, words are included that may stretch any basic
> > definitions. Particular attention has been paid to
> > archaic words, as they tend to be more evocative - as
> > if their very age lends additional meaning or
> > overtones. Current personal favorites include "skirr",
> > "epicaricacy" and "schizothemia".
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > The name of this project is also its description:
> > Luciferous [adj. - illuminating, literally and
> > figuratively] Logolepsy [n. - an obsession with
> > words], in other words: 'an illuminating obsession
> > with words'....
> >
> > http://www.kokogiak.com/logolepsy/

>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 19:30:14 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: VLVL2 (2) Vocabulary
>
> ENTRY: kreu-
> DEFINITION: Raw flesh. Oldest form *kreu2-. 1. Suffixed o-grade form
> *krow-o-. raw, from Old English hraw, raw, from Germanic *hrawaz. 2.
> Suffixed form *krew-s-. creatine, creodont, creosote, pancreas, from Greek
> kreas, flesh. 3. Suffixed zero-grade form *kr-do- (< *kru-do-). a. crude;
> ecru, recrudesce, from Latin crdus, bloody, raw; b. cruel, from Latin
> crdlis, cruel. (Pokorny 1. A. kreu- 621.)
>
>
> End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3461
> ********************************
>