-------- Original Message --------
MR's answers to questions lately raised.
R.S. Gwynn (the fine poet and anthologist, I presume?) questioned
Vivian
Badlook as an anagram of VN. The answer: "Mr. Vivian Badlook". (see SO
110)
I believe this solves the problem.
Jansy questioned why Kinbote would give Gradus a Vanessa tie. Since we
know
that the Gradus material was created after Shade's death, this is
simply
Kinbote's way of linking Gradus to Shade's fate. He knows that the
admirable was part of Shade's death scene, so he wants Gradus to
likewise
seem a harbinger of death.
Jansy also had questions about VN's use of the noun "stang." No, it is
not
a common word in English, at least not in American English. The
reference
in PF clearly relates to what Webster's 2nd calls "a pole, rail, or
beam."
In this case it was probably a pole in the bus, though it could also
be "the bar of a door." We should also note, however, that a more
obsolete
meaning of stang (typical of Scotland and N. England) is "sting, throb,
ache." In a figurative sense, then, Hazel is "gripping," or holding
onto,
the ache of her rejection, even as she stares at the "ghostly trees" of
Lochanhead. The reference in KQK seems more likely to denote railway
rails, since (according to W2) "to ride the stang" is another way of
saying "to ride the rails."
Matt Roth