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Re: IPH and a poetic parnassus
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Alexey Sklyarenko [to JM: (according to Field) in the Russian Parnassus "Pushkin is a rainbow over all the land"] It is the opening line of a poem by VN (the second one in the two-poem cycle "On the Death of A. Blok," 1921):Parnassus is not mentioned in this (or the preceding) poem.
JM: I expressed myself badly. It was Andrew Field who used the expression "Russian Parnassus." According to him Nabokov, in "his own English verse, and especially in the long poem Pale Fire, analogy to the whole canon of English poetry - Pope,Wordsworth,Shakespeare - is not only natural, but essential (p.67) - but Shade's iridule still makes me wonder about the godly Author's horizon *...
The verse on Pushkin was quoted in a previous message referring to Field, p.72: "A long poem written on the occasion of the death of Aleksandr Blok in August 1921 has two parts..."
Vladimir Nabokov later described his word that "arch like an aerial bridge" and, himself ("a sorcerer with a bird's head") blocking the passage "across that bridge by his interpreters and readers" (AF,p.92/93). btw: the verb "arch" indicates "arc" (as in French, where the rainbow is "l'arc en ciel")
Another recurrent theme brought up by Field is related to ineffables (a) "I'll grant that the night is well codified,/but I have deciphered the stars/ and in myself have descried how to rise above myself,/ and I cannot say it more precisely than that."; (b) "I know more than I can express in words, and the little I can express would not have been expressed, had I not known more;" (c)"I saw, as in a mirror, the world and myself, and more, and more, and more." (for proper context, cf. directly A.Field's Ch.Four).
Their cosmic dimension is more subdued in Pale Fire,* bound by the literary domain, as in the constant references to heavenly bodies, stars and astronomers, plus the biblical epistle (1 Corinthians 13)** attributed to prof.Hurley by Kinbote.
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* - "Pale Fire...is not as imposing a work as An Evening of Russian Poetry, but it is an important poem by Vladimir Nabokov (a very obvious point, but it is one which has been generally overlooked in treating the poem in the larger context of the novel) which deserves consideration by itself." (AF p.106)
** - "Another pronouncement publicly made by Prof. Hurley and his clique refers to a structural matter. I quote from the same interview: "None can say how long John Shade planned his poem to be, but it is not improbable that what he left represents only a small fraction of the composition he saw in a glass, darkly." Nonsense again! " (underlined by me)
Wikipedia: 1 Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι (blepomen gar arti di esoptrou en ainigmati), which is rendered in the KJV as "For now we see through a glass, darkly." This passage has inspired the titles of many works.
The word εσοπτρου ("esoptrou", from εσοπτροv, "esoptron") here translated glass is ambiguous, possibly referring to a mirror or a lens. Influenced by Strong's Concordance, many modern translations conclude that this word refers specifically to a mirror.[4] Example English language translations include:
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror (New International Version)
What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror (Good News Bible)
Paul's usage is in keeping with rabbinic use of the term אספקלריה (aspaklaria), a borrowing from the Latin specularia. This has the same ambiguous meaning, although Adam Clarkeconcluded that it was a reference to specularibus lapidibus, clear polished stones used as lenses or windows.[5] One way to preserve this ambiguity is to use the English cognate,speculum.[6] Rabbi Judah ben Ilai (2nd century) was quoted as saying "All the prophets had a vision of God as He appeared through nine specula" while "Moses saw God through one speculum."[7] The Babylonian Talmud states similarly "All the prophets gazed through a speculum that does not shine, while Moses our teacher gazed through a speculum that shines."[8].
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JM: I expressed myself badly. It was Andrew Field who used the expression "Russian Parnassus." According to him Nabokov, in "his own English verse, and especially in the long poem Pale Fire, analogy to the whole canon of English poetry - Pope,Wordsworth,Shakespeare - is not only natural, but essential (p.67) - but Shade's iridule still makes me wonder about the godly Author's horizon *...
The verse on Pushkin was quoted in a previous message referring to Field, p.72: "A long poem written on the occasion of the death of Aleksandr Blok in August 1921 has two parts..."
Vladimir Nabokov later described his word that "arch like an aerial bridge" and, himself ("a sorcerer with a bird's head") blocking the passage "across that bridge by his interpreters and readers" (AF,p.92/93). btw: the verb "arch" indicates "arc" (as in French, where the rainbow is "l'arc en ciel")
Another recurrent theme brought up by Field is related to ineffables (a) "I'll grant that the night is well codified,/but I have deciphered the stars/ and in myself have descried how to rise above myself,/ and I cannot say it more precisely than that."; (b) "I know more than I can express in words, and the little I can express would not have been expressed, had I not known more;" (c)"I saw, as in a mirror, the world and myself, and more, and more, and more." (for proper context, cf. directly A.Field's Ch.Four).
Their cosmic dimension is more subdued in Pale Fire,* bound by the literary domain, as in the constant references to heavenly bodies, stars and astronomers, plus the biblical epistle (1 Corinthians 13)** attributed to prof.Hurley by Kinbote.
......................................................................................................................................
* - "Pale Fire...is not as imposing a work as An Evening of Russian Poetry, but it is an important poem by Vladimir Nabokov (a very obvious point, but it is one which has been generally overlooked in treating the poem in the larger context of the novel) which deserves consideration by itself." (AF p.106)
** - "Another pronouncement publicly made by Prof. Hurley and his clique refers to a structural matter. I quote from the same interview: "None can say how long John Shade planned his poem to be, but it is not improbable that what he left represents only a small fraction of the composition he saw in a glass, darkly." Nonsense again! " (underlined by me)
Wikipedia: 1 Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι (blepomen gar arti di esoptrou en ainigmati), which is rendered in the KJV as "For now we see through a glass, darkly." This passage has inspired the titles of many works.
The word εσοπτρου ("esoptrou", from εσοπτροv, "esoptron") here translated glass is ambiguous, possibly referring to a mirror or a lens. Influenced by Strong's Concordance, many modern translations conclude that this word refers specifically to a mirror.[4] Example English language translations include:
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror (New International Version)
What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror (Good News Bible)
Paul's usage is in keeping with rabbinic use of the term אספקלריה (aspaklaria), a borrowing from the Latin specularia. This has the same ambiguous meaning, although Adam Clarkeconcluded that it was a reference to specularibus lapidibus, clear polished stones used as lenses or windows.[5] One way to preserve this ambiguity is to use the English cognate,speculum.[6] Rabbi Judah ben Ilai (2nd century) was quoted as saying "All the prophets had a vision of God as He appeared through nine specula" while "Moses saw God through one speculum."[7] The Babylonian Talmud states similarly "All the prophets gazed through a speculum that does not shine, while Moses our teacher gazed through a speculum that shines."[8].
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/