Alexey,
Thank you for the correction. Since I often ignore if I'll find free time to check
my references, I usually prefer to mail fast and repent at leisure, so I
have to leave certain themes open for future
corrections. It was possible to find the reference to the posting you
answered, on 1888. Actually, the date was 1881 ( or, as someone on
the Pynchon List wrote: 1881 is Iris Acht in front of a
mirror...)
Here it is: Strong Opinions,170 (Vintage
International ) August,1970 interview with A.Appel Jr.
Q: ...why are you so fond of Vanessa
atalanta?
A:Its coloring is quite splendid...Great
numbers of them migrated from Africa to Northern Russia, where it was
called "The Butterfly of Doom" because it was especially abundant in 1881, the
year Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, and the markings on the underside of
its two hind wings seem to read '1881".
Please, check your second correction. I don't speak German fluently,
but I remember a line in Nietzsche's "Also Sprach Zaratustra" that begins
with " O, Mensch, gib' Acht!Was spricht die tiefe Mitternacht" where the
word "Acht" does mean "attention"...
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 4:30
PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] fountains and the
metric system
Dear Jansy,
"The butterfly of doom" has to do not with
Napoleonic wars, but with the murder of the tsar Alexander II in 1881.
According to VN, the pattern on the butterfly's wings looks like 1881.
There were unusually many Vanessa atalanta butterflies in St. Petersburg
in the spring and summer of 1881.
"acht" can mean many things in German (for
example, "exile"), but it is not "pay attention" (Achtung!), as you
affirm.
Avdey Sky de la Renko (I mean, Alexey
Sklyarenko)
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