Subject
RES: [NABOKV-L] Season's greetings: an Easter egg or a
cornucopia of plums?
cornucopia of plums?
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Re: Nabokov left an Easter Egg for re-readers. Did you find it? Or Plums
JM: I was wondering if the expression about hidden plums used by V.Nabokov
is an idiom in everyday English. "Pale Fire is full of plums that I keep
hoping somebody will find.
I could find no example of its use in any of the places I checked.
Cakes with little bits of candied plums are childhood favorites, together
with the finger game rhymes in German describing a plum-tree being shaken
for its fruits: Das ist der Daumen, der schüttelt die Pflaumen (=
Zeigefinger), der sammelt sie alle auf (= Mittelfinger), der trägt sie nach
Haus' (= Ringfinger) und der kleine, der isst sie alle auf (= kleiner
Finger).*
Years later, plums also filled one of my favorite short-stories by Katherine
Mansfield (but I forgot the title: an old spinster attends a concert,
overhears a young couples mocking comments and the ladys Sunday outing,
cum prized plum, is spoiled). I must have brought this issue up once upon a
time but its still haunting me.
Is there a plum idiom in English - in the sense favored V.Nabokov?
In Russian? I hope a sympathetic Nabler will help me to draw an image of
these appetizing purple images. VN quotes that mention the flavor or the
color of a plum are also welcome.
..
*- Loosely associated to John Shades lines about his blunt fingers and
hidden plum rhymes (in thumb and glum): certain flinching
likenesses: the thumb,/Our grocers son; the index, lean and glum/ College
astronomer Starover Blue;/ The middle fellow, a tall priest I knew; / The
feminine fourth finger, an old flirt;/ And little pinky clinging to her
skirt.
These lines, by Shade, are very strange because they seem as guileless as
some verses for children. However, they inform us that Shades old flirt
has grown into motherhood. The lean priest must belong to his childhood but
where in time does the recurrent Starover Blue fit in?
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JM: I was wondering if the expression about hidden plums used by V.Nabokov
is an idiom in everyday English. "Pale Fire is full of plums that I keep
hoping somebody will find.
I could find no example of its use in any of the places I checked.
Cakes with little bits of candied plums are childhood favorites, together
with the finger game rhymes in German describing a plum-tree being shaken
for its fruits: Das ist der Daumen, der schüttelt die Pflaumen (=
Zeigefinger), der sammelt sie alle auf (= Mittelfinger), der trägt sie nach
Haus' (= Ringfinger) und der kleine, der isst sie alle auf (= kleiner
Finger).*
Years later, plums also filled one of my favorite short-stories by Katherine
Mansfield (but I forgot the title: an old spinster attends a concert,
overhears a young couples mocking comments and the ladys Sunday outing,
cum prized plum, is spoiled). I must have brought this issue up once upon a
time but its still haunting me.
Is there a plum idiom in English - in the sense favored V.Nabokov?
In Russian? I hope a sympathetic Nabler will help me to draw an image of
these appetizing purple images. VN quotes that mention the flavor or the
color of a plum are also welcome.
..
*- Loosely associated to John Shades lines about his blunt fingers and
hidden plum rhymes (in thumb and glum): certain flinching
likenesses: the thumb,/Our grocers son; the index, lean and glum/ College
astronomer Starover Blue;/ The middle fellow, a tall priest I knew; / The
feminine fourth finger, an old flirt;/ And little pinky clinging to her
skirt.
These lines, by Shade, are very strange because they seem as guileless as
some verses for children. However, they inform us that Shades old flirt
has grown into motherhood. The lean priest must belong to his childhood but
where in time does the recurrent Starover Blue fit in?
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/