Subject
Re: QUERY: Pale Fire Line 992
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Date
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I always took it to mean the horseshoe from the game of horseshoes Shade
describes hearing. The point of the game is to get the horseshoe around a
post in the ground, but points are also given if it touches the post, so
leaning against it would make sense in that context.
- Michael Lavey
On Friday, March 15, 2013, Nabokv-L wrote:
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Pale Fire Line 992 Date: Fri,
> 15 Mar 2013 03:44:41 -0700 From: Barrie Akin <ba@TAXBAR.COM><javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'ba@TAXBAR.COM');> To:
> <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU');> CC: Barrie Akin <ba@TAXBAR.COM><javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'ba@TAXBAR.COM');>
>
> Can anyone shed some light on this line for me? "(Leaning against its
> lampost like a drunk.)" Apart from the fact that my Penguin Modern Classics
> edition of PF uses the above spelling - "lampost" - which I take to be a
> typographical error for "lamppost", the oddity of this line for me is that
> I can't see the referent for "its". The full stop at the end of the line
> seems to rule out the dark vanessa of the next line - and anyway it would
> make no sense in the context if "its" referred to a butterfly in flight.
> And I can't see anything in the preceeding lines that could be doing the
> drunken leaning. This has irritated me for a long time - a seemingly
> superfluous line in the middle of (for me at least) some sublime verse. Can
> somebody put me out of my misery here - what am I missing?
>
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describes hearing. The point of the game is to get the horseshoe around a
post in the ground, but points are also given if it touches the post, so
leaning against it would make sense in that context.
- Michael Lavey
On Friday, March 15, 2013, Nabokv-L wrote:
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Pale Fire Line 992 Date: Fri,
> 15 Mar 2013 03:44:41 -0700 From: Barrie Akin <ba@TAXBAR.COM><javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'ba@TAXBAR.COM');> To:
> <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU');> CC: Barrie Akin <ba@TAXBAR.COM><javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'ba@TAXBAR.COM');>
>
> Can anyone shed some light on this line for me? "(Leaning against its
> lampost like a drunk.)" Apart from the fact that my Penguin Modern Classics
> edition of PF uses the above spelling - "lampost" - which I take to be a
> typographical error for "lamppost", the oddity of this line for me is that
> I can't see the referent for "its". The full stop at the end of the line
> seems to rule out the dark vanessa of the next line - and anyway it would
> make no sense in the context if "its" referred to a butterfly in flight.
> And I can't see anything in the preceeding lines that could be doing the
> drunken leaning. This has irritated me for a long time - a seemingly
> superfluous line in the middle of (for me at least) some sublime verse. Can
> somebody put me out of my misery here - what am I missing?
>
> Google Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu');> Visit "Nabokov Online
> Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> Visit AdaOnline<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> View
> NSJ Ada Annotations <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> Temporary
> L-Soft Search the archive<https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L&X=58B9943B29972AFF64&Y=nabokv-l%40utk.edu>
>
> ****All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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/