Subject
Fw: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3545 Pale Fire Commentary 3
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3545
>
> pynchon-l-digest Thursday, September 11 2003 Volume 02 : Number
3545
>
>
>
> NPPF: Commentary to lines 47-48
> Re: VLVL(5) Vocabulary
> re: VLVL2 (5): "blue painted blue"
> Re: VLVL(5) At the Movies and on the Tube
> Re: Dark Ocean Hotel
> Re: VLVL/Blood & m.o., short-form
> Re: VLVL(5) Vocabulary
> Re: VLVL "the electrician" 3 of 15
> NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (5)
> NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Rainy Day Incest #18 & 000
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF: playlist addition
> Pynchon mentioned in new Jameson article
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: Re: neil young
> Re: Re: neil young
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 00:06:20 -0700
> From: "Glenn Scheper" <glenn_scheper@earthlink.net>
> Subject: NPPF: Commentary to lines 47-48
>
> Part 6 of ?
>
> > I had
> > learned exactly when and were to find
> > the best points from which to follow
> > the contours of his inspiration. My
> > binoculars would seek him out and focus
> > upon him from afar in his various
> > places of labor: at night, in the
> > violet glow of his upstairs study where
> > a kindly mirror
>
> Kindly: Kinbote sees Shade as of his kind.
> The N list recently mentioned Paul's "in a
> glass, darkly" ends in a cognate of enigma,
> which I take as like mystery, hidden truth,
> which can only be riddled out reflexively.
>
> > reflected for me his
> > hunched-up shoulders
>
> Typical of AF; Physiognomy makes me also
> list hypertrophied lip elevator muscles.
>
> > and the pencil
> > with which he kept picking his ear
> > (inspecting now and then the lead, and
> > even tasting it);
>
> If Shade is The Word, then Sybil is an ear.
>
> > in the forenoon,
> > lurking in the ruptured shadows of his
> > first-floor study where a bright goblet
> > of liquor quietly traveled from filing
> > cabinet to lectern, and from lectern to
> > bookshelf, there to hide if need be
> > behind Dante's bust;
>
> Bright marks male, day interrupts night.
> Dante was a fellow; The Raven on Pallas'
> bust was a fellow. In the mouth is also
> behind the face. A lectern holds a book,
> is probably his hand, Sybil the cabinet.
>
> > on a hot day,
> > among the vines of a small arborlike
> > portico, through the garlands of which
> > I could glimpse a stretch of oilcloth,
> > his elbow upon it, and the plump
> > cherubic fist propping and crimpling
> > his temple.
>
> Cherubim marks the sword-ly (male) angel.
> Not that temple, but the genital temple
> where one worships, praises, viz. sucks.
>
> > Incidents of perspective
> > and lighting, interference by framework
> > or leaves, usually deprived me of a
> > clear view of his face; and perhaps
> > nature arranged it that way so as to
> > conceal from a possible predator the
> > mysteries of generation;
>
> No view of face might be a reflexive clue:
> Kinbote as an earlier/later transformation
> or another state or a multiple personality
> (MPD) of Shade?
>
> > but sometimes
> > when the poet paced back and forth
> > across his lawn, or sat down for a
> > moment on the bench at the end of it,
> > or paused under his favorite hickory
> > tree, I could distinguish the
>
> Distinguish: A verb not implying seeing.
>
> > expression of passionate interest,
> > rapture and reverence, with which he
> > followed the images wording themselves
> > in his mind,
>
> He may as well have used "bodying forth".
>
> > and I knew that whatever
> > my agnostic friend might say in denial,
> > at that moment Our Lord was with him.
>
> Kinbote the totalizer may trump Shade, but
> begs the question, who totalizes Kinbote?
> Does there exist an outermost totalizer?
>
> Yours truly,
> Glenn Scheper
> http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
> glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
> Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:46:56 -0400
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename@verizon.net>
> Subject: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (5)
>
> p. 122
> "under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing
> lansquenet."
>
> As Charles awaits execution he sees these two soldiers playing cards near
a
> poplar. In some Christian lore, it's the poplar (or aspen, a species of
> poplar) that was used in the construction of Christ's crucifix. Some
Roman
> soldiers later gambled for Christ's possessions (John 19:23-24).
>
> Also, ancient Irish coffin makers used a rod made of aspen as a measuring
> device.
>
> Oh and aspen is a good choice to carve your stake from if you're looking
to
> kill vampires (working on my Kinbote as vampire theory).
>
> The Poplar
> The populus genus inludes cottonwoods, poplars, and aspens. Associated by
> the Celts with earthly and material aspects of life, the poplar is the
> shield maker's tree, thought to be able to protect from death and injury,
> also commonly used for writing. It is the tree of the Autumnal Equinox
and
> of the commencement of old age.
>
> Heracles/Hercules wore a crown of poplar leaves when he returned from
Hades
> with Cerberus during his twelfth labor. The leaves are black on the outer
> side, signifying the Underworld (forecasting Charles' descent into his
own),
> and the tree was thereafter sacred to Heracles, the symbol of his having
> labored in the lands of the dead. Sunlight damaged Cerberus' eyes when
> Heracles brought him out (Gradus again?).
>
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen
> http://www.tarahill.com/treelore/trees.html
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A650008
>
>
> p. 122
> "two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet."
>
> "A gambling card-game of German origin" (OED), but also: "a member of a
> class of mercenary soldiers in the German and other Continental armies in
> the 16th and 17th cents" (OED), so these soldiers may also have been
playing
> soldier.
>
> Jasper Fidget
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:49:00 -0400
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename@verizon.net>
> Subject: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> p. 132
> "eighteen invisible steps"
>
> Charles must descend "eighteen invisible steps" to transition from the
> lumber room to the tunnel, once more the same concrete pattern 18 (coming
to
> indicate any important transition I'm starting to think).
>
> p. 132
> "The dim light he discharged at last was now his dearest companion, Oleg's
> ghost, the phantom of freedom"
>
> By "discharged" Kinbote means "(Allow to) escape or flow out; pour forth,
> emit; (of a river) empty (itself), flow into" (OED), which also has some
> parallel sexual connotations given the vessel of the tunnel into which his
> light is discharged ("He experienced a blend of anguish and exultation, a
> kind of amorous joy" (p. 132)); but also "Send away; let go" (OED), an
> exorcism of Oleg's spirit into the tunnel through which it will guide the
> king toward freedom. But "the phantom of freedom" implies an illusion, a
> figment of the imagination, an unreality (OED), while also suggesting the
> will o' the wisp connected to Gradus in the form of Jack (-o'-lantern,
> /ignis fatuus/, the "false fire" that will lead one astray).
>
> "Phantom" also recalls Shade's first reference to Hazel: "The phantom of
my
> little daughter's swing" (ln 57), and the light recalls Hazel's
description
> of "a roundlet of pale light" (p. 188) in the barn.
>
> p. 133
> "the pretty page"
>
> Charles associates the memory of Oleg with the day of his coronation and
the
> hair oil aroma of his "pretty page" (Baron Mandevil -- see p. 147). The
> page had bent over in order to "brush a rose petal off the footstool," and
> that rose petal has now become Charles himself, who discovers he is
> "hideously garbed in bright red" (p. 133).
>
> p. 133
> "The secret passage seemed to have grown more squalid"
>
> It's run down now, the "intrusion of its surroundings was even more
> evident." The perfect fantasy of his youth, the discovery and mystery
that
> this tunnel led him through with Oleg, and the new experience of sex no
> longer has the same power to enthrall him the way it once did: it's only a
> part of his past now, "a remembered spread of colored sand [that] bore the
> thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"; its relationship with
the
> world is more obvious, its exterior connections more noticeable to his
adult
> mind "at the spot where the passage went through the foundations of a
> museum" (133).
>
> p. 133
> "The pool of opalescent ditch water had grown in length; along its edge
> walked a sick bat like a cripple with a broken umbrella."
>
> Gradus making a cameo in the tunnel. See Gradus' "urgent and blind
flight"
> (p. 135), and his poor eyesight (p. 232). Right now he's in a holding
> pattern like that monoplane Kinbote sees flying in circles at WU, but soon
> his vicious circle, like Charles' own, will break loose and fly outward.
> That the pool has "grown in length" may imply Yeats' spiraling circle in
> "The Second Coming" -- this would be Charles' second coming through this
> tunnel.
>
> Gradus must have landed here after being knocked down on p. 123: "Around
the
> lantern that stood on the bench a batlike moth blindly flapped -- until
the
> punter knocked it down with his cap" (122-123).
>
> p. 133
> "thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"
>
> 30 is visually half 80 -- Charles is at the halfway point in the tunnel
and
> Oleg's ghost is still guiding him toward his destination at the Royal
> Theater.
>
> p. 133
> "there had somehow wandered down, to exile and disposal, a headless statue
> of Mercury, conductor of souls to the Lower World"
>
> Believed to be derived from the Latin "merx" or "mercator" meaning
> "merchant," Mercury is also the god of trade, profit, and commerce, here
> cast into subterranean exile by the Zemblan revolution. Luckily for
> Charles, Mercury is also the protector of travelers, as well as the
creator
> of all art. Associated with the Greek Hermes and the Celtic Lugus (Rome
as
> the nexus of cultures once again -- Caesar noted of the Celts, "of all the
> gods they most worship Mercury").
>
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury/God
> http://www.mabinogion.info/Lugus.htm
>
> p. 133
> "a cracked krater with two black figures shown dicing under a black palm"
>
> A brief reprise of the mirrored cage dualism in the two black figures
> dicing, but the image is cracked now and historical, a remnant of the past
> (like all symbols?).
>
> A krater is a Greek bowl with two handles and a foot, often decorated with
> scenes of people relaxing, and often used for mixing wine and water at
> symposia. May suggest Keat's urn, "foster-child of Silence and slow
Time."
>
> http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/kl/krater.html
> http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html
>
> p. 133
> "contained an accumulation of loose boards"
>
> The secret passage begins in the "lumber room" and ends with an
"accumlation
> of loose boards," a clear origin and destination. The green room at the
> back of the theater is Charles' synthesis, his means of escape *into*
> theater (which will take the instance of _Henry IV_ with all those
> counterfeit kings running around -- see p. 143), into literature and
> imagination, into art -- into Iris Acht's dressing room.
>
> p. 133
> "a heavy black drapery"
>
> Immediately beyond the green door is a "heavy black drapery," the wall of
> the unknown. While grappling to pass through it his flashlight ("torch")
> "rolled its hopeless eye and went out," and when Charles drops it "it fell
> into muffled nothingness" (133). Oleg's spirit in the form of the light
> cannot follow Charles beyond the tunnel -- there is nothing left for it to
> cast itself into, space has run out and only time remains; the king is
> released and Oleg must remain in the past. Is the "phantom of freedom"
also
> dispelled?
>
> p. 134
> "the Sunday attire of Gutnish fishermen, and his fist still clenched the
> cardboard knife with which he had just dispatched his sweetheart."
>
> A strange folding of time at the Royal Theater -- what are the odds that
> Odon and his troupe of actors should be performing the very same play that
> Charles and Oleg overheard in rehearsal thirty years ago?! (See p. 127.)
> As Odon says, in parallel to his predecessor: "Good God."
>
> p. 134
> "Plucking a couple of cloaks from a heap of fantastic raiments"
>
> It is fitting that Charles should don a "fantastic cloak" for his journey
> into fairy tales about to commence.
>
> p. 135
> "a puddle reflected his scarlet silhouette"
>
> A return of the mirror. Charles has escaped his physical cage but his
> spiritual captivity persists.
>
> Jasper Fidget
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:30:24 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Michael Joseph <mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> light images also touch lightly on the (Cupid) Psyche imagery of the poem.
> Psyche as human spirit, wed to a monster/death, harrower of hell, and
> ultimately immortalized by Jupiter at Cupid's request, is conventionally
> represented (e.g. Gerard, David, Canova) as a butterfly, of which Shade's
> poem includes abundant examples. The Greek word Psyche specifically refers
> to a kind of night moth. Hazel's suicide (following her disastrous efforts
> on behalf of love) occurs at night, and could, conceivably, be thought of
> as a wedding to death (just as Psyche's marriage, arranged by the oracle,
> is portrayed as an execution). The ambiguous nature of revelation is
> nicely figured in Psyche's lamplight discovery of Cupid's reposing body--a
> discovery that simultaneously makes her fall deeply in love with him and
> precipitates his flight that leaves her bereft: the deadly ambiguity of
> the moth beating her wings against the flame.
>
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Jasper Fidget wrote:
>
> > p. 132
> > "The dim light he discharged at last was now his dearest companion,
Oleg's
> > ghost, the phantom of freedom"
> >
> > By "discharged" Kinbote means "(Allow to) escape or flow out; pour
forth,
> > emit; (of a river) empty (itself), flow into" (OED), which also has some
> > parallel sexual connotations given the vessel of the tunnel into which
his
> > light is discharged ("He experienced a blend of anguish and exultation,
a
> > kind of amorous joy" (p. 132)); but also "Send away; let go" (OED), an
> > exorcism of Oleg's spirit into the tunnel through which it will guide
the
> > king toward freedom. But "the phantom of freedom" implies an illusion,
a
> > figment of the imagination, an unreality (OED), while also suggesting
the
> > will o' the wisp connected to Gradus in the form of Jack (-o'-lantern,
> > /ignis fatuus/, the "false fire" that will lead one astray).
> >
> > "Phantom" also recalls Shade's first reference to Hazel: "The phantom of
my
> > little daughter's swing" (ln 57), and the light recalls Hazel's
description
> > of "a roundlet of pale light" (p. 188) in the barn.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "the pretty page"
> >
> > Charles associates the memory of Oleg with the day of his coronation and
the
> > hair oil aroma of his "pretty page" (Baron Mandevil -- see p. 147). The
> > page had bent over in order to "brush a rose petal off the footstool,"
and
> > that rose petal has now become Charles himself, who discovers he is
> > "hideously garbed in bright red" (p. 133).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "The secret passage seemed to have grown more squalid"
> >
> > It's run down now, the "intrusion of its surroundings was even more
> > evident." The perfect fantasy of his youth, the discovery and mystery
that
> > this tunnel led him through with Oleg, and the new experience of sex no
> > longer has the same power to enthrall him the way it once did: it's only
a
> > part of his past now, "a remembered spread of colored sand [that] bore
the
> > thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"; its relationship with
the
> > world is more obvious, its exterior connections more noticeable to his
adult
> > mind "at the spot where the passage went through the foundations of a
> > museum" (133).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "The pool of opalescent ditch water had grown in length; along its edge
> > walked a sick bat like a cripple with a broken umbrella."
> >
> > Gradus making a cameo in the tunnel. See Gradus' "urgent and blind
flight"
> > (p. 135), and his poor eyesight (p. 232). Right now he's in a holding
> > pattern like that monoplane Kinbote sees flying in circles at WU, but
soon
> > his vicious circle, like Charles' own, will break loose and fly outward.
> > That the pool has "grown in length" may imply Yeats' spiraling circle in
> > "The Second Coming" -- this would be Charles' second coming through this
> > tunnel.
> >
> > Gradus must have landed here after being knocked down on p. 123: "Around
the
> > lantern that stood on the bench a batlike moth blindly flapped -- until
the
> > punter knocked it down with his cap" (122-123).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"
> >
> > 30 is visually half 80 -- Charles is at the halfway point in the tunnel
and
> > Oleg's ghost is still guiding him toward his destination at the Royal
> > Theater.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "there had somehow wandered down, to exile and disposal, a headless
statue
> > of Mercury, conductor of souls to the Lower World"
> >
> > Believed to be derived from the Latin "merx" or "mercator" meaning
> > "merchant," Mercury is also the god of trade, profit, and commerce, here
> > cast into subterranean exile by the Zemblan revolution. Luckily for
> > Charles, Mercury is also the protector of travelers, as well as the
creator
> > of all art. Associated with the Greek Hermes and the Celtic Lugus (Rome
as
> > the nexus of cultures once again -- Caesar noted of the Celts, "of all
the
> > gods they most worship Mercury").
> >
> > http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury/God
> > http://www.mabinogion.info/Lugus.htm
> >
> > p. 133
> > "a cracked krater with two black figures shown dicing under a black
palm"
> >
> > A brief reprise of the mirrored cage dualism in the two black figures
> > dicing, but the image is cracked now and historical, a remnant of the
past
> > (like all symbols?).
> >
> > A krater is a Greek bowl with two handles and a foot, often decorated
with
> > scenes of people relaxing, and often used for mixing wine and water at
> > symposia. May suggest Keat's urn, "foster-child of Silence and slow
Time."
> >
> > http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/kl/krater.html
> > http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html
> >
> > p. 133
> > "contained an accumulation of loose boards"
> >
> > The secret passage begins in the "lumber room" and ends with an
"accumlation
> > of loose boards," a clear origin and destination. The green room at the
> > back of the theater is Charles' synthesis, his means of escape *into*
> > theater (which will take the instance of _Henry IV_ with all those
> > counterfeit kings running around -- see p. 143), into literature and
> > imagination, into art -- into Iris Acht's dressing room.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "a heavy black drapery"
> >
> > Immediately beyond the green door is a "heavy black drapery," the wall
of
> > the unknown. While grappling to pass through it his flashlight
("torch")
> > "rolled its hopeless eye and went out," and when Charles drops it "it
fell
> > into muffled nothingness" (133). Oleg's spirit in the form of the light
> > cannot follow Charles beyond the tunnel -- there is nothing left for it
to
> > cast itself into, space has run out and only time remains; the king is
> > released and Oleg must remain in the past. Is the "phantom of freedom"
also
> > dispelled?
> >
> > p. 134
> > "the Sunday attire of Gutnish fishermen, and his fist still clenched the
> > cardboard knife with which he had just dispatched his sweetheart."
> >
> > A strange folding of time at the Royal Theater -- what are the odds that
> > Odon and his troupe of actors should be performing the very same play
that
> > Charles and Oleg overheard in rehearsal thirty years ago?! (See p.
127.)
> > As Odon says, in parallel to his predecessor: "Good God."
> >
> > p. 134
> > "Plucking a couple of cloaks from a heap of fantastic raiments"
> >
> > It is fitting that Charles should don a "fantastic cloak" for his
journey
> > into fairy tales about to commence.
> >
> > p. 135
> > "a puddle reflected his scarlet silhouette"
> >
> > A return of the mirror. Charles has escaped his physical cage but his
> > spiritual captivity persists.
> >
> > Jasper Fidget
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:38:31 -0700
> From: "sZ" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Rainy Day Incest #18 & 000
>
> >>>"Mt. Kron"
> German for "crown." Also implies time, but maybe more significant is that
> Kronenberg Castle in Copenhagen was once known as Elsinore (the setting
for
> some famous soliloquies).<<<
>
> KRONOS
> A son of Uranos, and father to Zeus, Kronos was 'the ripener', 'the
> harvester god'. Deposing his father from the throne of Olympus, Kronos
> married his own sister, Rhea, thus siring not only Zeus, but Poseidon,
> Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hear. Fearing that the prophecy that warned him
> that his youngest born would dethrone him, Kronos swallowed his first five
> children, but when it came to Zeus' turn, Rhea gave her husband a stone
> shaped like an infant, and secretly conveyed the baby away to Mount Ida,
in
> Crete. There he was looked after by the nymphs Ida and Adrastea, with
Rhea's
> servants, the Kuretes, being appointed to carry on a continual noise by
> dancing and clashing their swords and shields, lest the infant's cries be
> heard by his father.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:45:24 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> Very nice Michael. I'll have to look at this myth again. I didn't know
Psyche
> was represented as a butterfly/moth. Was it so in ancient times? Can you
pass
> along some URL's or references?
>
> - --- Michael Joseph <mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> >
> > light images also touch lightly on the (Cupid) Psyche imagery of the
poem.
> > Psyche as human spirit, wed to a monster/death, harrower of hell, and
> > ultimately immortalized by Jupiter at Cupid's request, is conventionally
> > represented (e.g. Gerard, David, Canova) as a butterfly, of which
Shade's
> > poem includes abundant examples. The Greek word Psyche specifically
refers
> > to a kind of night moth. Hazel's suicide (following her disastrous
efforts
> > on behalf of love) occurs at night, and could, conceivably, be thought
of
> > as a wedding to death (just as Psyche's marriage, arranged by the
oracle,
> > is portrayed as an execution). The ambiguous nature of revelation is
> > nicely figured in Psyche's lamplight discovery of Cupid's reposing
body--a
> > discovery that simultaneously makes her fall deeply in love with him and
> > precipitates his flight that leaves her bereft: the deadly ambiguity of
> > the moth beating her wings against the flame.
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
> http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:57:25 -0500
> From: <vze422fs@verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF: playlist addition
>
> >
> > From: "Don Corathers" <gumbo@fuse.net>
> > Date: 2003/08/24 Sun PM 09:41:21 CDT
> > To: <pynchon-l@waste.org>
> > Subject: NPPF: playlist addition
> >
> > "Sometimes it feels like my shadow's castin' me."
> >
> > Warren Zevon
> >
>
> RIP Warren.
>
> Joe
> >
> >
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 13:49:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Dave Monroe <monrovius@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> "Butterfly" in other languages
>
> psyche
> ancient Greek
> Also meant "soul", and "breath" (now "mind", of
> course).
> Note that the human Psyche was lovers with the god
> Eros (at least until she did the forbidden, gazing on
> his sleeping form, invisible save by the oil lamp she
> lit); compare the sexual butterfly images in Nabokov's
> _Ada_.
>
> There may also be a connection, based on shape, of
> butterflies with the Minoan labrys, or double axe of
> the Labyrinth.
>
> http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html
>
> "The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> and the same word means the soul. There is no
> illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.
> Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> the enjoyment of true and pure happiness." Bullfinch's
> Mythology
>
> http://www.bullworks.net/ffg/psyche/psyche.html
>
> The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> and the same word means the soul. There is no
> illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.*
> Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> the enjoyment of true and pure happiness.
> * [see Aristotle's History of Animals 551a.1]
>
> In works of art Psyche is represented as a maiden with
> the wings of a butterfly, along with Cupid, in the
> different situations described in the allegory.
>
> http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/bull11.html
>
> In antiquity, the image of a butterfly emerging from
> its chrysalis stood for the soul leaving the body at
> death. This emergence can be paralleled to the
> artistic means by which Psyche seems as though she is
> emerging beyond the butterfly wings behind her.
> Finally, the ever-present white light in the
> background lends an aura of resurrection and new life.
> It was also interesting that Cupid is portrayed here
> without his bow and arrow, his trademark. Perhaps, he
> no longer needs his bow and arrow, because he has
> finally kindled the love of his life - Psyche.
>
> http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/2001/Cupid_and_Psyche/cupidpsyche1.asp
>
> Psyche: Element of Spirit
> Though the name and story of Psyche comes to us from a
> Greek legend, the origin of Psyche both as an
> archetype and as a primordial goddess can be traced
> all the way to Neolithic worship of Butterfly and Bee
> Goddesses. Such creatures who undergo a physical
> metamorphosis became symbols for the death of the body
> and rebirth of the spirit in a different form.
>
> The butterfly as a living metaphor for reincarnation
> was one of humanity's earliest spiritual teachings,
> recorded in carvings, and painted pottery. Her largest
> following was in Minoan Crete where She had shrines
> and celebrations connected to the pollination of the
> crops. Indeed, one of the most famous symbols of
> Minoan culture, the Labrys, was a double-bladed ax
> whose shape mimicked the form of the Butterfly. The
> Labrys represented Death, which releases the Soul
> whose symbol was a butterfly. The Labrys was a many
> layered symbol of Death and Rebirth in a single ritual
> object. It later became stylized into the form of the
> Greek letter Psi, symbol of the mind itself.
>
> http://www.mythicimages.com/printpsyche.htm
>
> Soul
>
> Butterflies are souls of the dead
> waiting to Pass through Purgatory.
>
> The butterfly symbolizing the occurs in numerous
> cultures over many centuries. Perhaps the most
> prominent association of the butterfly with the soul
> is with Psyche.
>
> The myth of Psyche originated in the Orient. A Myth
> said the Rhetors (mere talkers) is "an untrue
> narrative representing truth." This myth is a good
> example of approaching "profound realities of Nature
> by poetic intuition." "Its secret sense shows through
> thanks to the symbolism of the butterfly."
>
> http://www.insects.org/ced4/symbol_list3.html
>
> And see as well, e.g., ...
>
> http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/psyche.htm
>
> Not so easily excerpted. But do check out that
> artrenewal.org article for the images as well ...
>
> - --- David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > Very nice Michael. I'll have to look at this myth
> > again. I didn't know Psyche was represented as a
> > butterfly/moth. Was it so in ancient times? Can
> > you pass along some URL's or references?
>
> DM
>
> - --- Dave Monroe <monrovius@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > "Butterfly" in other languages
> >
> > psyche
> > ancient Greek
> >
> > "The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> > allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> > and the same word means the soul. There is no
> > illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> > striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> > brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> > after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> > flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> > fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.
> > Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> > sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> > the enjoyment of true and pure happiness." Bullfinch's
> > Mythology
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3545
> ********************************
>
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3545
>
> pynchon-l-digest Thursday, September 11 2003 Volume 02 : Number
3545
>
>
>
> NPPF: Commentary to lines 47-48
> Re: VLVL(5) Vocabulary
> re: VLVL2 (5): "blue painted blue"
> Re: VLVL(5) At the Movies and on the Tube
> Re: Dark Ocean Hotel
> Re: VLVL/Blood & m.o., short-form
> Re: VLVL(5) Vocabulary
> Re: VLVL "the electrician" 3 of 15
> NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (5)
> NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Rainy Day Incest #18 & 000
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: NPPF: playlist addition
> Pynchon mentioned in new Jameson article
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
> Re: Re: neil young
> Re: Re: neil young
> Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 00:06:20 -0700
> From: "Glenn Scheper" <glenn_scheper@earthlink.net>
> Subject: NPPF: Commentary to lines 47-48
>
> Part 6 of ?
>
> > I had
> > learned exactly when and were to find
> > the best points from which to follow
> > the contours of his inspiration. My
> > binoculars would seek him out and focus
> > upon him from afar in his various
> > places of labor: at night, in the
> > violet glow of his upstairs study where
> > a kindly mirror
>
> Kindly: Kinbote sees Shade as of his kind.
> The N list recently mentioned Paul's "in a
> glass, darkly" ends in a cognate of enigma,
> which I take as like mystery, hidden truth,
> which can only be riddled out reflexively.
>
> > reflected for me his
> > hunched-up shoulders
>
> Typical of AF; Physiognomy makes me also
> list hypertrophied lip elevator muscles.
>
> > and the pencil
> > with which he kept picking his ear
> > (inspecting now and then the lead, and
> > even tasting it);
>
> If Shade is The Word, then Sybil is an ear.
>
> > in the forenoon,
> > lurking in the ruptured shadows of his
> > first-floor study where a bright goblet
> > of liquor quietly traveled from filing
> > cabinet to lectern, and from lectern to
> > bookshelf, there to hide if need be
> > behind Dante's bust;
>
> Bright marks male, day interrupts night.
> Dante was a fellow; The Raven on Pallas'
> bust was a fellow. In the mouth is also
> behind the face. A lectern holds a book,
> is probably his hand, Sybil the cabinet.
>
> > on a hot day,
> > among the vines of a small arborlike
> > portico, through the garlands of which
> > I could glimpse a stretch of oilcloth,
> > his elbow upon it, and the plump
> > cherubic fist propping and crimpling
> > his temple.
>
> Cherubim marks the sword-ly (male) angel.
> Not that temple, but the genital temple
> where one worships, praises, viz. sucks.
>
> > Incidents of perspective
> > and lighting, interference by framework
> > or leaves, usually deprived me of a
> > clear view of his face; and perhaps
> > nature arranged it that way so as to
> > conceal from a possible predator the
> > mysteries of generation;
>
> No view of face might be a reflexive clue:
> Kinbote as an earlier/later transformation
> or another state or a multiple personality
> (MPD) of Shade?
>
> > but sometimes
> > when the poet paced back and forth
> > across his lawn, or sat down for a
> > moment on the bench at the end of it,
> > or paused under his favorite hickory
> > tree, I could distinguish the
>
> Distinguish: A verb not implying seeing.
>
> > expression of passionate interest,
> > rapture and reverence, with which he
> > followed the images wording themselves
> > in his mind,
>
> He may as well have used "bodying forth".
>
> > and I knew that whatever
> > my agnostic friend might say in denial,
> > at that moment Our Lord was with him.
>
> Kinbote the totalizer may trump Shade, but
> begs the question, who totalizes Kinbote?
> Does there exist an outermost totalizer?
>
> Yours truly,
> Glenn Scheper
> http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
> glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
> Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:46:56 -0400
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename@verizon.net>
> Subject: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (5)
>
> p. 122
> "under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing
> lansquenet."
>
> As Charles awaits execution he sees these two soldiers playing cards near
a
> poplar. In some Christian lore, it's the poplar (or aspen, a species of
> poplar) that was used in the construction of Christ's crucifix. Some
Roman
> soldiers later gambled for Christ's possessions (John 19:23-24).
>
> Also, ancient Irish coffin makers used a rod made of aspen as a measuring
> device.
>
> Oh and aspen is a good choice to carve your stake from if you're looking
to
> kill vampires (working on my Kinbote as vampire theory).
>
> The Poplar
> The populus genus inludes cottonwoods, poplars, and aspens. Associated by
> the Celts with earthly and material aspects of life, the poplar is the
> shield maker's tree, thought to be able to protect from death and injury,
> also commonly used for writing. It is the tree of the Autumnal Equinox
and
> of the commencement of old age.
>
> Heracles/Hercules wore a crown of poplar leaves when he returned from
Hades
> with Cerberus during his twelfth labor. The leaves are black on the outer
> side, signifying the Underworld (forecasting Charles' descent into his
own),
> and the tree was thereafter sacred to Heracles, the symbol of his having
> labored in the lands of the dead. Sunlight damaged Cerberus' eyes when
> Heracles brought him out (Gradus again?).
>
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen
> http://www.tarahill.com/treelore/trees.html
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A650008
>
>
> p. 122
> "two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet."
>
> "A gambling card-game of German origin" (OED), but also: "a member of a
> class of mercenary soldiers in the German and other Continental armies in
> the 16th and 17th cents" (OED), so these soldiers may also have been
playing
> soldier.
>
> Jasper Fidget
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:49:00 -0400
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename@verizon.net>
> Subject: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> p. 132
> "eighteen invisible steps"
>
> Charles must descend "eighteen invisible steps" to transition from the
> lumber room to the tunnel, once more the same concrete pattern 18 (coming
to
> indicate any important transition I'm starting to think).
>
> p. 132
> "The dim light he discharged at last was now his dearest companion, Oleg's
> ghost, the phantom of freedom"
>
> By "discharged" Kinbote means "(Allow to) escape or flow out; pour forth,
> emit; (of a river) empty (itself), flow into" (OED), which also has some
> parallel sexual connotations given the vessel of the tunnel into which his
> light is discharged ("He experienced a blend of anguish and exultation, a
> kind of amorous joy" (p. 132)); but also "Send away; let go" (OED), an
> exorcism of Oleg's spirit into the tunnel through which it will guide the
> king toward freedom. But "the phantom of freedom" implies an illusion, a
> figment of the imagination, an unreality (OED), while also suggesting the
> will o' the wisp connected to Gradus in the form of Jack (-o'-lantern,
> /ignis fatuus/, the "false fire" that will lead one astray).
>
> "Phantom" also recalls Shade's first reference to Hazel: "The phantom of
my
> little daughter's swing" (ln 57), and the light recalls Hazel's
description
> of "a roundlet of pale light" (p. 188) in the barn.
>
> p. 133
> "the pretty page"
>
> Charles associates the memory of Oleg with the day of his coronation and
the
> hair oil aroma of his "pretty page" (Baron Mandevil -- see p. 147). The
> page had bent over in order to "brush a rose petal off the footstool," and
> that rose petal has now become Charles himself, who discovers he is
> "hideously garbed in bright red" (p. 133).
>
> p. 133
> "The secret passage seemed to have grown more squalid"
>
> It's run down now, the "intrusion of its surroundings was even more
> evident." The perfect fantasy of his youth, the discovery and mystery
that
> this tunnel led him through with Oleg, and the new experience of sex no
> longer has the same power to enthrall him the way it once did: it's only a
> part of his past now, "a remembered spread of colored sand [that] bore the
> thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"; its relationship with
the
> world is more obvious, its exterior connections more noticeable to his
adult
> mind "at the spot where the passage went through the foundations of a
> museum" (133).
>
> p. 133
> "The pool of opalescent ditch water had grown in length; along its edge
> walked a sick bat like a cripple with a broken umbrella."
>
> Gradus making a cameo in the tunnel. See Gradus' "urgent and blind
flight"
> (p. 135), and his poor eyesight (p. 232). Right now he's in a holding
> pattern like that monoplane Kinbote sees flying in circles at WU, but soon
> his vicious circle, like Charles' own, will break loose and fly outward.
> That the pool has "grown in length" may imply Yeats' spiraling circle in
> "The Second Coming" -- this would be Charles' second coming through this
> tunnel.
>
> Gradus must have landed here after being knocked down on p. 123: "Around
the
> lantern that stood on the bench a batlike moth blindly flapped -- until
the
> punter knocked it down with his cap" (122-123).
>
> p. 133
> "thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"
>
> 30 is visually half 80 -- Charles is at the halfway point in the tunnel
and
> Oleg's ghost is still guiding him toward his destination at the Royal
> Theater.
>
> p. 133
> "there had somehow wandered down, to exile and disposal, a headless statue
> of Mercury, conductor of souls to the Lower World"
>
> Believed to be derived from the Latin "merx" or "mercator" meaning
> "merchant," Mercury is also the god of trade, profit, and commerce, here
> cast into subterranean exile by the Zemblan revolution. Luckily for
> Charles, Mercury is also the protector of travelers, as well as the
creator
> of all art. Associated with the Greek Hermes and the Celtic Lugus (Rome
as
> the nexus of cultures once again -- Caesar noted of the Celts, "of all the
> gods they most worship Mercury").
>
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury/God
> http://www.mabinogion.info/Lugus.htm
>
> p. 133
> "a cracked krater with two black figures shown dicing under a black palm"
>
> A brief reprise of the mirrored cage dualism in the two black figures
> dicing, but the image is cracked now and historical, a remnant of the past
> (like all symbols?).
>
> A krater is a Greek bowl with two handles and a foot, often decorated with
> scenes of people relaxing, and often used for mixing wine and water at
> symposia. May suggest Keat's urn, "foster-child of Silence and slow
Time."
>
> http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/kl/krater.html
> http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html
>
> p. 133
> "contained an accumulation of loose boards"
>
> The secret passage begins in the "lumber room" and ends with an
"accumlation
> of loose boards," a clear origin and destination. The green room at the
> back of the theater is Charles' synthesis, his means of escape *into*
> theater (which will take the instance of _Henry IV_ with all those
> counterfeit kings running around -- see p. 143), into literature and
> imagination, into art -- into Iris Acht's dressing room.
>
> p. 133
> "a heavy black drapery"
>
> Immediately beyond the green door is a "heavy black drapery," the wall of
> the unknown. While grappling to pass through it his flashlight ("torch")
> "rolled its hopeless eye and went out," and when Charles drops it "it fell
> into muffled nothingness" (133). Oleg's spirit in the form of the light
> cannot follow Charles beyond the tunnel -- there is nothing left for it to
> cast itself into, space has run out and only time remains; the king is
> released and Oleg must remain in the past. Is the "phantom of freedom"
also
> dispelled?
>
> p. 134
> "the Sunday attire of Gutnish fishermen, and his fist still clenched the
> cardboard knife with which he had just dispatched his sweetheart."
>
> A strange folding of time at the Royal Theater -- what are the odds that
> Odon and his troupe of actors should be performing the very same play that
> Charles and Oleg overheard in rehearsal thirty years ago?! (See p. 127.)
> As Odon says, in parallel to his predecessor: "Good God."
>
> p. 134
> "Plucking a couple of cloaks from a heap of fantastic raiments"
>
> It is fitting that Charles should don a "fantastic cloak" for his journey
> into fairy tales about to commence.
>
> p. 135
> "a puddle reflected his scarlet silhouette"
>
> A return of the mirror. Charles has escaped his physical cage but his
> spiritual captivity persists.
>
> Jasper Fidget
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:30:24 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Michael Joseph <mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> light images also touch lightly on the (Cupid) Psyche imagery of the poem.
> Psyche as human spirit, wed to a monster/death, harrower of hell, and
> ultimately immortalized by Jupiter at Cupid's request, is conventionally
> represented (e.g. Gerard, David, Canova) as a butterfly, of which Shade's
> poem includes abundant examples. The Greek word Psyche specifically refers
> to a kind of night moth. Hazel's suicide (following her disastrous efforts
> on behalf of love) occurs at night, and could, conceivably, be thought of
> as a wedding to death (just as Psyche's marriage, arranged by the oracle,
> is portrayed as an execution). The ambiguous nature of revelation is
> nicely figured in Psyche's lamplight discovery of Cupid's reposing body--a
> discovery that simultaneously makes her fall deeply in love with him and
> precipitates his flight that leaves her bereft: the deadly ambiguity of
> the moth beating her wings against the flame.
>
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Jasper Fidget wrote:
>
> > p. 132
> > "The dim light he discharged at last was now his dearest companion,
Oleg's
> > ghost, the phantom of freedom"
> >
> > By "discharged" Kinbote means "(Allow to) escape or flow out; pour
forth,
> > emit; (of a river) empty (itself), flow into" (OED), which also has some
> > parallel sexual connotations given the vessel of the tunnel into which
his
> > light is discharged ("He experienced a blend of anguish and exultation,
a
> > kind of amorous joy" (p. 132)); but also "Send away; let go" (OED), an
> > exorcism of Oleg's spirit into the tunnel through which it will guide
the
> > king toward freedom. But "the phantom of freedom" implies an illusion,
a
> > figment of the imagination, an unreality (OED), while also suggesting
the
> > will o' the wisp connected to Gradus in the form of Jack (-o'-lantern,
> > /ignis fatuus/, the "false fire" that will lead one astray).
> >
> > "Phantom" also recalls Shade's first reference to Hazel: "The phantom of
my
> > little daughter's swing" (ln 57), and the light recalls Hazel's
description
> > of "a roundlet of pale light" (p. 188) in the barn.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "the pretty page"
> >
> > Charles associates the memory of Oleg with the day of his coronation and
the
> > hair oil aroma of his "pretty page" (Baron Mandevil -- see p. 147). The
> > page had bent over in order to "brush a rose petal off the footstool,"
and
> > that rose petal has now become Charles himself, who discovers he is
> > "hideously garbed in bright red" (p. 133).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "The secret passage seemed to have grown more squalid"
> >
> > It's run down now, the "intrusion of its surroundings was even more
> > evident." The perfect fantasy of his youth, the discovery and mystery
that
> > this tunnel led him through with Oleg, and the new experience of sex no
> > longer has the same power to enthrall him the way it once did: it's only
a
> > part of his past now, "a remembered spread of colored sand [that] bore
the
> > thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"; its relationship with
the
> > world is more obvious, its exterior connections more noticeable to his
adult
> > mind "at the spot where the passage went through the foundations of a
> > museum" (133).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "The pool of opalescent ditch water had grown in length; along its edge
> > walked a sick bat like a cripple with a broken umbrella."
> >
> > Gradus making a cameo in the tunnel. See Gradus' "urgent and blind
flight"
> > (p. 135), and his poor eyesight (p. 232). Right now he's in a holding
> > pattern like that monoplane Kinbote sees flying in circles at WU, but
soon
> > his vicious circle, like Charles' own, will break loose and fly outward.
> > That the pool has "grown in length" may imply Yeats' spiraling circle in
> > "The Second Coming" -- this would be Charles' second coming through this
> > tunnel.
> >
> > Gradus must have landed here after being knocked down on p. 123: "Around
the
> > lantern that stood on the bench a batlike moth blindly flapped -- until
the
> > punter knocked it down with his cap" (122-123).
> >
> > p. 133
> > "thirty-year-old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe"
> >
> > 30 is visually half 80 -- Charles is at the halfway point in the tunnel
and
> > Oleg's ghost is still guiding him toward his destination at the Royal
> > Theater.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "there had somehow wandered down, to exile and disposal, a headless
statue
> > of Mercury, conductor of souls to the Lower World"
> >
> > Believed to be derived from the Latin "merx" or "mercator" meaning
> > "merchant," Mercury is also the god of trade, profit, and commerce, here
> > cast into subterranean exile by the Zemblan revolution. Luckily for
> > Charles, Mercury is also the protector of travelers, as well as the
creator
> > of all art. Associated with the Greek Hermes and the Celtic Lugus (Rome
as
> > the nexus of cultures once again -- Caesar noted of the Celts, "of all
the
> > gods they most worship Mercury").
> >
> > http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury/God
> > http://www.mabinogion.info/Lugus.htm
> >
> > p. 133
> > "a cracked krater with two black figures shown dicing under a black
palm"
> >
> > A brief reprise of the mirrored cage dualism in the two black figures
> > dicing, but the image is cracked now and historical, a remnant of the
past
> > (like all symbols?).
> >
> > A krater is a Greek bowl with two handles and a foot, often decorated
with
> > scenes of people relaxing, and often used for mixing wine and water at
> > symposia. May suggest Keat's urn, "foster-child of Silence and slow
Time."
> >
> > http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/kl/krater.html
> > http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html
> >
> > p. 133
> > "contained an accumulation of loose boards"
> >
> > The secret passage begins in the "lumber room" and ends with an
"accumlation
> > of loose boards," a clear origin and destination. The green room at the
> > back of the theater is Charles' synthesis, his means of escape *into*
> > theater (which will take the instance of _Henry IV_ with all those
> > counterfeit kings running around -- see p. 143), into literature and
> > imagination, into art -- into Iris Acht's dressing room.
> >
> > p. 133
> > "a heavy black drapery"
> >
> > Immediately beyond the green door is a "heavy black drapery," the wall
of
> > the unknown. While grappling to pass through it his flashlight
("torch")
> > "rolled its hopeless eye and went out," and when Charles drops it "it
fell
> > into muffled nothingness" (133). Oleg's spirit in the form of the light
> > cannot follow Charles beyond the tunnel -- there is nothing left for it
to
> > cast itself into, space has run out and only time remains; the king is
> > released and Oleg must remain in the past. Is the "phantom of freedom"
also
> > dispelled?
> >
> > p. 134
> > "the Sunday attire of Gutnish fishermen, and his fist still clenched the
> > cardboard knife with which he had just dispatched his sweetheart."
> >
> > A strange folding of time at the Royal Theater -- what are the odds that
> > Odon and his troupe of actors should be performing the very same play
that
> > Charles and Oleg overheard in rehearsal thirty years ago?! (See p.
127.)
> > As Odon says, in parallel to his predecessor: "Good God."
> >
> > p. 134
> > "Plucking a couple of cloaks from a heap of fantastic raiments"
> >
> > It is fitting that Charles should don a "fantastic cloak" for his
journey
> > into fairy tales about to commence.
> >
> > p. 135
> > "a puddle reflected his scarlet silhouette"
> >
> > A return of the mirror. Charles has escaped his physical cage but his
> > spiritual captivity persists.
> >
> > Jasper Fidget
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:38:31 -0700
> From: "sZ" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Rainy Day Incest #18 & 000
>
> >>>"Mt. Kron"
> German for "crown." Also implies time, but maybe more significant is that
> Kronenberg Castle in Copenhagen was once known as Elsinore (the setting
for
> some famous soliloquies).<<<
>
> KRONOS
> A son of Uranos, and father to Zeus, Kronos was 'the ripener', 'the
> harvester god'. Deposing his father from the throne of Olympus, Kronos
> married his own sister, Rhea, thus siring not only Zeus, but Poseidon,
> Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hear. Fearing that the prophecy that warned him
> that his youngest born would dethrone him, Kronos swallowed his first five
> children, but when it came to Zeus' turn, Rhea gave her husband a stone
> shaped like an infant, and secretly conveyed the baby away to Mount Ida,
in
> Crete. There he was looked after by the nymphs Ida and Adrastea, with
Rhea's
> servants, the Kuretes, being appointed to carry on a continual noise by
> dancing and clashing their swords and shields, lest the infant's cries be
> heard by his father.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:45:24 -0700 (PDT)
> From: David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> Very nice Michael. I'll have to look at this myth again. I didn't know
Psyche
> was represented as a butterfly/moth. Was it so in ancient times? Can you
pass
> along some URL's or references?
>
> - --- Michael Joseph <mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> >
> > light images also touch lightly on the (Cupid) Psyche imagery of the
poem.
> > Psyche as human spirit, wed to a monster/death, harrower of hell, and
> > ultimately immortalized by Jupiter at Cupid's request, is conventionally
> > represented (e.g. Gerard, David, Canova) as a butterfly, of which
Shade's
> > poem includes abundant examples. The Greek word Psyche specifically
refers
> > to a kind of night moth. Hazel's suicide (following her disastrous
efforts
> > on behalf of love) occurs at night, and could, conceivably, be thought
of
> > as a wedding to death (just as Psyche's marriage, arranged by the
oracle,
> > is portrayed as an execution). The ambiguous nature of revelation is
> > nicely figured in Psyche's lamplight discovery of Cupid's reposing
body--a
> > discovery that simultaneously makes her fall deeply in love with him and
> > precipitates his flight that leaves her bereft: the deadly ambiguity of
> > the moth beating her wings against the flame.
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
> http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:57:25 -0500
> From: <vze422fs@verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: NPPF: playlist addition
>
> >
> > From: "Don Corathers" <gumbo@fuse.net>
> > Date: 2003/08/24 Sun PM 09:41:21 CDT
> > To: <pynchon-l@waste.org>
> > Subject: NPPF: playlist addition
> >
> > "Sometimes it feels like my shadow's castin' me."
> >
> > Warren Zevon
> >
>
> RIP Warren.
>
> Joe
> >
> >
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 13:49:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Dave Monroe <monrovius@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Comm3: Misc notes (6)
>
> "Butterfly" in other languages
>
> psyche
> ancient Greek
> Also meant "soul", and "breath" (now "mind", of
> course).
> Note that the human Psyche was lovers with the god
> Eros (at least until she did the forbidden, gazing on
> his sleeping form, invisible save by the oil lamp she
> lit); compare the sexual butterfly images in Nabokov's
> _Ada_.
>
> There may also be a connection, based on shape, of
> butterflies with the Minoan labrys, or double axe of
> the Labyrinth.
>
> http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html
>
> "The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> and the same word means the soul. There is no
> illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.
> Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> the enjoyment of true and pure happiness." Bullfinch's
> Mythology
>
> http://www.bullworks.net/ffg/psyche/psyche.html
>
> The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> and the same word means the soul. There is no
> illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.*
> Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> the enjoyment of true and pure happiness.
> * [see Aristotle's History of Animals 551a.1]
>
> In works of art Psyche is represented as a maiden with
> the wings of a butterfly, along with Cupid, in the
> different situations described in the allegory.
>
> http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/bull11.html
>
> In antiquity, the image of a butterfly emerging from
> its chrysalis stood for the soul leaving the body at
> death. This emergence can be paralleled to the
> artistic means by which Psyche seems as though she is
> emerging beyond the butterfly wings behind her.
> Finally, the ever-present white light in the
> background lends an aura of resurrection and new life.
> It was also interesting that Cupid is portrayed here
> without his bow and arrow, his trademark. Perhaps, he
> no longer needs his bow and arrow, because he has
> finally kindled the love of his life - Psyche.
>
> http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/2001/Cupid_and_Psyche/cupidpsyche1.asp
>
> Psyche: Element of Spirit
> Though the name and story of Psyche comes to us from a
> Greek legend, the origin of Psyche both as an
> archetype and as a primordial goddess can be traced
> all the way to Neolithic worship of Butterfly and Bee
> Goddesses. Such creatures who undergo a physical
> metamorphosis became symbols for the death of the body
> and rebirth of the spirit in a different form.
>
> The butterfly as a living metaphor for reincarnation
> was one of humanity's earliest spiritual teachings,
> recorded in carvings, and painted pottery. Her largest
> following was in Minoan Crete where She had shrines
> and celebrations connected to the pollination of the
> crops. Indeed, one of the most famous symbols of
> Minoan culture, the Labrys, was a double-bladed ax
> whose shape mimicked the form of the Butterfly. The
> Labrys represented Death, which releases the Soul
> whose symbol was a butterfly. The Labrys was a many
> layered symbol of Death and Rebirth in a single ritual
> object. It later became stylized into the form of the
> Greek letter Psi, symbol of the mind itself.
>
> http://www.mythicimages.com/printpsyche.htm
>
> Soul
>
> Butterflies are souls of the dead
> waiting to Pass through Purgatory.
>
> The butterfly symbolizing the occurs in numerous
> cultures over many centuries. Perhaps the most
> prominent association of the butterfly with the soul
> is with Psyche.
>
> The myth of Psyche originated in the Orient. A Myth
> said the Rhetors (mere talkers) is "an untrue
> narrative representing truth." This myth is a good
> example of approaching "profound realities of Nature
> by poetic intuition." "Its secret sense shows through
> thanks to the symbolism of the butterfly."
>
> http://www.insects.org/ced4/symbol_list3.html
>
> And see as well, e.g., ...
>
> http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/psyche.htm
>
> Not so easily excerpted. But do check out that
> artrenewal.org article for the images as well ...
>
> - --- David Morris <fqmorris@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > Very nice Michael. I'll have to look at this myth
> > again. I didn't know Psyche was represented as a
> > butterfly/moth. Was it so in ancient times? Can
> > you pass along some URL's or references?
>
> DM
>
> - --- Dave Monroe <monrovius@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > "Butterfly" in other languages
> >
> > psyche
> > ancient Greek
> >
> > "The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered
> > allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche,
> > and the same word means the soul. There is no
> > illustration of the immortality of the soul so
> > striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on
> > brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain,
> > after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to
> > flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most
> > fragrant and delicate productions of the spring.
> > Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by
> > sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for
> > the enjoyment of true and pure happiness." Bullfinch's
> > Mythology
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3545
> ********************************
>