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Fw: [NABOKV-L] TRANS-NAB: Q&A,
Blackwell-de la Durantaye: SKB replies
Blackwell-de la Durantaye: SKB replies
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S K-B addressed Blackwell and de la Durantaye: " Enjoying this exchange..." and reminded us that Nabokov never set foot in South America... so that his work represents the blend of detailed observation and imaginative reach he always called for in both science and art..."
A few days ago I came across a bill-board with a symmetrical presentation that suggested to me a coat-of-arms, but it actually represented different sized toilletries ( such as those of the TV commercials mentioned by Shade) which had been photographed partitioned by a mirror.
VN often referred to the heraldic qualities of the Red Vanessa in Pale Fire and its emblematic red bend sinister.
And yet, my first impression of a "coat-of-arms" was incorrect because, exactly, these are never really symetrical since different images are often depicted on its right and left sides. Symmetry in nature is also imperfect & un-mirrorlike.
If we should compare the typographical contours of Pale Fire's poem to a butterfly's wings, perhaps its missing last line could be a very clear hint about how different materializations are from their ideal models although, paradoxically, the poem's very irregularity could then be mimicking, exactly, a particular butterfly's wings.
I wish SB or LD could comment on how the asymmetries regularly found in nature and in art could have been alluded and brought about in other less obvious moments of VN's "Pale Fire".
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A few days ago I came across a bill-board with a symmetrical presentation that suggested to me a coat-of-arms, but it actually represented different sized toilletries ( such as those of the TV commercials mentioned by Shade) which had been photographed partitioned by a mirror.
VN often referred to the heraldic qualities of the Red Vanessa in Pale Fire and its emblematic red bend sinister.
And yet, my first impression of a "coat-of-arms" was incorrect because, exactly, these are never really symetrical since different images are often depicted on its right and left sides. Symmetry in nature is also imperfect & un-mirrorlike.
If we should compare the typographical contours of Pale Fire's poem to a butterfly's wings, perhaps its missing last line could be a very clear hint about how different materializations are from their ideal models although, paradoxically, the poem's very irregularity could then be mimicking, exactly, a particular butterfly's wings.
I wish SB or LD could comment on how the asymmetries regularly found in nature and in art could have been alluded and brought about in other less obvious moments of VN's "Pale Fire".
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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