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Re: Shadow Hunters & Sundials
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Dear Jansy,
My epigraph for the following explicatory note is:
"I do not know who "Baron Corvo"and (Professor?) Firbank are..." Strong
Opinions, p.213.
I must confess to a Rolfian penchant for borrowing Old Greek words, and
although I would not go so far as to use, for instance, rhypokondylose, I
have not been berated for another one which I sneaked into my posting of
December 15th.
Sciothery is skiothereia meaning "shadow-hunting" and skiotheron, literally
shadow-hunter or catcher, is a sundial, a gnomon.
Remember skiagraph in Pnin. By the way, both umbra and skiá have the meaning
of "an uninvited guest."
The Latin sciolus is unrelated as it is derived from scire, to know.
I don't know the English, French, Dutch, Latin and Old Greek equivalents of
the charming Portuguese siar, but Classical Arabic is rich in such animal as
well as human motions, gestures, gaits, postures etc etc.; it even has a
word for Gradus' "chaimpanzee slouch of his broad body and short hindlegs,"
Pale Fire, p. 277. However, I am reminded of an observation in The Gift
that when a bird (a crow?) alights it adjusts one wing.
A. Bouazza.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]On Behalf
Of jansymello
Sent: 05 January 2007 03:06
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Shadow Hunters & Sundials
A. Bouazza wrote about "the recent sciothery or hunt for the waxwing's
shadow or, more exactly...", before recreating the shades of Luzhin's nose
creating a kind of sundial - as precise as if it'd been inspired by Aqua's
moustachioed clock.
He also mentions Proffer's study that creates a "a sciotherical list of
what he called "sun and shade images" as they occur in Lolita (and
elsewhere), Keys to Lolita, pp. 105-107 (and 121-124)", and indicated pages
105-106 of this book, for the light they shed on [the] enumeration of VN's
tessellate and reticular imagery. "
There is a wonderful verb in Portuguese for wings, more specifically, for
a bird's movement when closing the wings before taking a plunge: "siar"
and,at first, I entertained great hopes that, at last, I would find its
translation in English. And yet, although I could not find "sciothery", I
still got to "sciolist" ( a superficial pretender to knowledge, from
"sciolous" as in Pope's "dangerous thing"). Ouch? But thanks for the
indication of Proffer's book, for surface tactile effects in VN are always
fascinating.
(Does anyone know if there is a verb in English for that motion of
folding wings, like fluttering eyelids just closing to hide a shameful
thought, as we have in "siar"?)
I enjoyed Andrew Brown's message about "Lolita" ( he wrote: "I think it
was Beckett who said something to the effect that nothing is funnier than
pain...The kids are okay. Only the technology and the clothes change; most
of us become human beings eventually. All thats needed are a fair share of
the undeserved beatings that life is so eager to mete out to everyone, good,
bad, or indifferent."), but I wish I could entertain similar hopes that "the
kids are okay". Fortunately some of them might be caught by Lolita's
tesselated words and images and return to the book when they grow wiser.
Jansy
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My epigraph for the following explicatory note is:
"I do not know who "Baron Corvo"and (Professor?) Firbank are..." Strong
Opinions, p.213.
I must confess to a Rolfian penchant for borrowing Old Greek words, and
although I would not go so far as to use, for instance, rhypokondylose, I
have not been berated for another one which I sneaked into my posting of
December 15th.
Sciothery is skiothereia meaning "shadow-hunting" and skiotheron, literally
shadow-hunter or catcher, is a sundial, a gnomon.
Remember skiagraph in Pnin. By the way, both umbra and skiá have the meaning
of "an uninvited guest."
The Latin sciolus is unrelated as it is derived from scire, to know.
I don't know the English, French, Dutch, Latin and Old Greek equivalents of
the charming Portuguese siar, but Classical Arabic is rich in such animal as
well as human motions, gestures, gaits, postures etc etc.; it even has a
word for Gradus' "chaimpanzee slouch of his broad body and short hindlegs,"
Pale Fire, p. 277. However, I am reminded of an observation in The Gift
that when a bird (a crow?) alights it adjusts one wing.
A. Bouazza.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]On Behalf
Of jansymello
Sent: 05 January 2007 03:06
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Shadow Hunters & Sundials
A. Bouazza wrote about "the recent sciothery or hunt for the waxwing's
shadow or, more exactly...", before recreating the shades of Luzhin's nose
creating a kind of sundial - as precise as if it'd been inspired by Aqua's
moustachioed clock.
He also mentions Proffer's study that creates a "a sciotherical list of
what he called "sun and shade images" as they occur in Lolita (and
elsewhere), Keys to Lolita, pp. 105-107 (and 121-124)", and indicated pages
105-106 of this book, for the light they shed on [the] enumeration of VN's
tessellate and reticular imagery. "
There is a wonderful verb in Portuguese for wings, more specifically, for
a bird's movement when closing the wings before taking a plunge: "siar"
and,at first, I entertained great hopes that, at last, I would find its
translation in English. And yet, although I could not find "sciothery", I
still got to "sciolist" ( a superficial pretender to knowledge, from
"sciolous" as in Pope's "dangerous thing"). Ouch? But thanks for the
indication of Proffer's book, for surface tactile effects in VN are always
fascinating.
(Does anyone know if there is a verb in English for that motion of
folding wings, like fluttering eyelids just closing to hide a shameful
thought, as we have in "siar"?)
I enjoyed Andrew Brown's message about "Lolita" ( he wrote: "I think it
was Beckett who said something to the effect that nothing is funnier than
pain...The kids are okay. Only the technology and the clothes change; most
of us become human beings eventually. All thats needed are a fair share of
the undeserved beatings that life is so eager to mete out to everyone, good,
bad, or indifferent."), but I wish I could entertain similar hopes that "the
kids are okay". Fortunately some of them might be caught by Lolita's
tesselated words and images and return to the book when they grow wiser.
Jansy
Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
Contact the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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