[EDNOTE. Mary Efremov sends these responses. I suggest that we end this thread. -- SES]
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Sent: Tue, May 7, 2013 9:42 pm
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Responses from Mary re: cat and muscat
Jansy Mello: Interesting! I thought it referred to the yellow-pink kind of muscat grapes, not the smell. I was focusing on color and forgetting that Nabokov was extremely aware of details and precision and the comparison, by color, ignores the green, violet and dark muscat grapes. Nabokov's synesthetic abilities invite readers to "see" the world by sound, smell, touch, motion instead of only shapes and color!
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the gingko fruit or nut, resembles a muscat grape in shape and color, it is shed,(the hue is mauvish yellow and gently powdered as well) when the leaves turn yellow, and the leaves flutter down along with the yellowish mauve nuts....quite a sight in the fall as the gingko keeps its yellowed leaves the longest of all in NY except from certain oaks...which keep the leaves until the following spring.There are a lot in NY on columbus avenue and 100 street to 104 streets.
Mary, as I read the poem, Shade is describing the color—the particular golden hue—to which ginkgo leaves turn in fall, and this color is akin to the color of ripe muscat grapes. Here’s a bunch:
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cluster-ripe-muscat-grapes-11739032.jpg. If one just removes the phrase “when shed” the line becomes more intelligible. As to the overall meaning, I would paraphrase it this way: The ginkgo leaf, whose leaves in fall are similar in color to ripe muscat grapes, has a shape that reminds one of poorly spread butterflies in obsolete illustrations. By itself, this stanza, as poetry, doesn’t seem to mean much, but we must remember that it is but one stanza from a larger poem that we do not have before us. And of course the relationship to the Goethe poem and the idea of double consciousness is likely important indeed.
Matt Roth
the gingko fruit has a nauseating odor, and must be carefully prepared to be edible.Again, it is oval, mauvish yellow, aren't there any new yorkers on the list or better yet, google the gingko fruit. The reference is the fruiting trees that grow in NYC, They are there every year in gleeful abundance and gathered by hundreds of asians who relish this product.