Fran Assa: I forgot one of
the best, VN-ish parts of "The Moth": The very reliable narrator of the
story actually footnotes three of the written volleys between the warring
entomologists! FA former footnote: "New Genus, by heavens! And
in England!" said Hapley, staring. Then he suddenly thought of Pawkins.
Nothing would have maddened Pawkins more...And Pawkins was
dead!]
JM: Your excerpts from HGW's
"The Moth" reminded me of a poem by VN in which he describes
a heavenly discovery ( an angel, was it?) and finds there is no
one else in his Paradise with whom he could share this
extraordinary find.
Victor Fet wrote a fascinating article about the
"Zoological Label as Literary Form" (The Nabokovian 60, Spring 2008) and,
here, the lamentation serves to indicate the social side
to labeling, the phantasmatic relationship with known and unknown
fellows, similar to a writer's and his readers.