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Re [NABOKV-L] Vanessa, an Orphic Divinity - correction
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Matt Roth: "... Kinbote's knowledge of this very obscure connection between the genus name and the divinity remains puzzling to me... I feel sure that he makes the connection between the butterfly and Swift...But he could hardly have known about this obscure etymological-entomological debate. Perhaps the more important question is why did Nabokov want us to find (as he surely did) the divinity Phanes?"
Jansy Mello: It seems that the Greek word "phaneros" has also been applied in the biological field through the taxonomic research of Linnaeus, whose classification of plants was based on morphology according to their "exposed" or their "hidden" sexual organs - namely the phanerogams and the cryptogams* My ignorance in this field makes it difficult to write coherently about Nabokov's own taxonomic explorations about butterflies according to information obtained from the dissection of their sexual organs but, it seems to me, he must have been cognizant of the terminology Linnaeus employed using "crypto" and "phaneros". How did Kinbote get acquainted with the "Orphic divinity," Phanes, or why did Nabokov "want us to find" this deity remains a mystery to me (but can we forget VN's particular kind of humor involving the ramification of words?).
btw: I was reminded of the story of Eros (Cupid) and Psyché because,. like Phanes, Eros is a luminous divinity who demands that his bride accepts his anonymity and invisibility.
From Wikipedia: "Psyche, the most beautiful woman in the world is envied by her family as well as by Venus. An oracle of Venus demands she be sent to a mountaintop and wed to a murderous beast. Sent by Venus to destroy her, Cupid falls in love and flies her away to his castle. There she is directed to never seek to see the face of her husband, who visits and makes love to her in the dark of night. Eventually, Psyche wishes to see her sisters, who jealously demand she seek to discover the identity of her husband. That night, Psyche discovers her husband is Cupid while he is sleeping, but wakes and scars him with her candle. Infuriated, he flies to heaven and leaves her banished from her castle..." Another version is more explicit: Psyché burns Cupid's genitals with the dripping candle she lights to get a glimpse of her lover.
The contrast between "invisible/hidden" and "manifest" gains a mythical form in the work "The Metamorphoses of Apuleius" (The Golden Ass).
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* - FanerĂłgama ou fanerogâmica (do grego phanerĂłs, aparente; gamos, gâmeta, atravĂ©s da forma latinizada Phanerogamae) foi o nome dado ao filo do Reino Plantae (plantas) de seres vivos que apresentam estruturas denominadas de flores, ĂłrgĂŁos reprodutores facilmente observáveis.[ ]Deve-se a Lineu a divisĂŁo das plantas em dois grupos primários: as fanerogâmicas, com ĂłrgĂŁos sexuais visĂveis, e as criptogâmicas, sem ĂłrgĂŁos sexuais facilmente discernĂveis.Por sua vez, o filo Phanerogamae foi dividido em duas classes: as gimnospermas e as angiospermas. No grupo das gimnospermas (gymnos, nu; spermae, semente) eram incluĂdas as espĂ©cies cujas sementes consideradas "nuas"; na classe das angiospermas (angios, envoltĂłrio; spermae, semente) eram incluĂdas as plantas cujas sementes se alojam no interior de frutos, isto Ă© de estruturas resultantes do desenvolvimento do ovário da flor. O taxon eram baseado essencialmente em diferenciações morfolĂłgicas.[ ] No atual contexto taxionĂłmico, em que as diferenciações de natureza morfolĂłgica estĂŁo a ser suplantadas por análises de natureza genĂ©tica e molecular, o uso de designações como fanerĂłgama ou fanerogâmica Ă© obsoleto e fortemente desencorajado. FanerĂłgama - WikipĂ©dia, a enciclopĂ©dia livre pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/FanerĂłgama?
Another site informs that "the Phanerogam ...is the name applied to the higher of the two great divisions of plant life. The group includes those plants that reproduce by seeds rather than by spores. Seeds are many-celled bodies containing the germs of the new plant, and differ from spores mainly in the fact that they must germinate before the new individual is produced. The classification of plants into phanerogams and cryptogams was made by Linnaeus in 1735 before the close connection between the two divisions was unknown hence differing names have been applied to organs that have the same function in both classes. The higher cryptogams, or spore-bearing plants, are now known to be so closely allied to the lower forms of phanerogams that the line of distinction between the two is not so definitely marked as was formerly supposed. Phanerogam - Encyclopediak www.encyclopediak.com/wiki/Phanerogam?
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