Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008392, Tue, 12 Aug 2003 13:22:44 -0700

Subject
Fw: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3483 PALE FIRE Canto 3-4
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 8:25 AM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3483


>
> pynchon-l-digest Tuesday, August 12 2003 Volume 02 : Number
3483
>

> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 11:36:30 +0200
> From: "Otto" <ottosell@yahoo.de>
> Subject: Re: [NPPF] Canto Three: The English stuff.. hueshade
>
> >
> > " Hue is the term for the pure spectrum colors commonly referred to by
the
> > "color names" - red, orange, yellow, blue, green violet - which appear
in
> the
> > hue circle or rainbow. Theoretically all hues can be mixed from three
> basic
> > hues, known as primaries. "
> >
> >
>
> These are red, green and blue (RGB).
>
> On my "Downloads"-website
> http://www.ottosell.de/download.htm
>
> there's a free software called "Colors" written by a friend of mine.
> It makes it very simple to colour websites.
> It's very small (zipped just 6k) and very convenient if you just want to
> take a look how the mix is.
>
> Otto
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 06:44:58 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes
>
> - --- The Great Quail <quail@libyrinth.com> wrote:
> >
> > 894: "and like Marat bleed." -- Jean-Paul Marat, 1743-1793. Writer and
> doctor, associated with the French Revolution. He was murdered in his
bathtub
> by Charlotte Corday.
>
> From the N-list:
>
>
> EDNOTE. I suppose that "Cora Day" refers to Charlotte Corday who stabbed
the
> French revolutionary Marat to death in his bath (1793). It is the subject
of a
> famous painting.
> VN refers to Corday elsewhere. ADA? Someone should look into the contexts
and
> find out why.
>
> Carolyn Kunin:
> Yes, I just came across Cora Day (again) in Ada -- next to Tolstoy's Hadji
> Murat. And she was in Pale Fire, perhaps not by name, but by inference
when
> Shade, in his bath, "like Marat bled." I think she may be in Lolita too
(along
> with Agnes Day and Gloria Mundy?) -- or was that Pnin? I suspect she may
turn
> up in every novel, if one looks for her.
>
> It may just be a sort of recurring joke. It reminds me of a technique in
silent
> films -- Jacques Tati used it in M. Hulot (for example the taffy left
hanging
> on a hook in the sun). If there is a "punchline" it may be in something
written
> after Ada.
>
>
> >
>
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 07:42:07 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes
>
> - --- The Great Quail <quail@libyrinth.com> wrote:
> >
> > 948: "versipel" -- Shade is comparing his muse to a lycanthrope, a
> shapeshifter -- "versipel: a creature that is supposed to change from one
form
> to another, as the werewolf." From:
> >
> > http://members.aol.com/rstark1957/Words.html
> >
> > Keith seems to find this more evidence of something weird going on.
Maybe
> Maud digs wolves?
>
> Yeah, things just get weirder and weirder, don't they. But where does
this
> word "versipel" come from (besides the URL above)? I can't find it in any
> dictionary.
>
> Vers
> (n. sing. & pl.) A verse or verses. See Verse.
>
> David Morris
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 08:05:07 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF - Canto 4 Summary
>
> - --- The Great Quail <quail@libyrinth.com> wrote:
> > Lines 835-839 open the canto with Shade boasting that he will spy on
beauty
> and do what no one has yet done. This establishes a sort of mock-heroic
tone,
> for Shade is about to discuss himself.
> [...]
> >He then reflects on the titles of his previous works, finally beseeching
Will
> (Shakespeare) for a title: "Pale Fire." (line 962.)
>
> Another take on his calling on "Will" would mean his own will, echoing the
"I
> will" declaratives of his failed intentions in the verses above. After
each
> grand "I will" declaration he rambles on about the most mundane subject in
the
> world, his shaving routine. This fits well with his subject matter: the
> process of artistic creation. Whether it be deliberate with pen and paper
or
> obsessive preoccupation in between sessions with pen and paper, what he
seeks
> most is inspiration, some illumination from outside his own will.
>
> David Morris
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 08:24:47 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes
>
> - --- David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > But where does this word "versipel" come from (besides the URL above)?
I
> can't find it in any dictionary.
>
> OK, I found it (latin):
>
> versipellis, N M uncommon
> shape-changer, who can metamorphose to different shape; double-dealer
>
> __________________________________