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Very interesting, Matt! Zuleika's ostentatious casket reminds
me of Kinbote's description of the wood duck with a list of
gemstones--a parody of a cheap way of expressing admiration,
and if it's not poshlost', I don't know what is. (Of course,
I might not know, even though I wrote most of
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poshlost'>--which, by the way,
could probably benefit from the attention of any reader of
this list.)
If one could still search /Pale Fire/ at Amazon, I'd know
for sure whether it contains malachite. Isn't there some
in the church where the priest has an epiphany? I'll check
when I get home.
Thanks to all for the discussion of "inenubilable". Despite
the conflict with "blue", I think Kinbote may be using it
correctly. He wants a romantic haze for Zembla (starting
with its location), in addition to the precision he gives some
of its details. And blue sky is clear, but blue land is distant
and unclear.
Also, Zembla here as elsewhere may be a parody of the otherworld,
which as Shade and Nabokov tell us is essentially mysterious,
decloudable. (If somebody asks what "elsewhere" I mean, I'm
sure I'll be able to think of something.)
Jerry Friedman