Thanks, Hanna.  "Transparent thingum" certainly does seem to intimate ghost/Shade/spirit - it fits the theme. I don't think John Shade needs to be presumed dead at this point, though.  I appreciate the links.  V&V are speaking French.  Mary

On Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 8:32 AM, Hen Hanna <henhanna@gmail.com> wrote:
           (But this transparent thingum does require
            Some moondrop title. Help me, Will!    Pale Fire.)
________________________

    I  think  there's a pun here.   --- moondrop = [dew]
    --------   This poem (or book) does require a [due] title.


  Why is it called "transparent"  ?      and why  "thingum"  ?

  Let me try to answer.    ...

 In the book [Transparent Things],   transparent things
    refer to (recently ?)  dead  souls  (ghosts)  that
        still look upon the living.

                         (One of them is speaking to his son.)

  John Shade is (recently ?)  dead, so  he is a  transparent thing.
   His poem would be a    " transparent thingum ".


Who is saying this?
>>       (But this transparent thingum does require
>>         Some moondrop title. Help me, Will!    Pale Fire.)

     I'd say...  these two lines are more by VN  (than by Shade).

  How did I do?    HH

______________________

   It was 12+ years ago:
    I found a 20 sec. audio clip of  VN ( Nabokov ) .
     I was so excited, i listened to it maybe 20 times.

    Now,  there's lots of VN   video and audio material :

  Nabokov   6 min   TV program in 1996 (?)
         http://videolike.org/view/yt=1c6JGudkNaN

      Mr & Mrs  (VN and Vera) playing chess
      ----   before VN says    "Come on, darling."
                 are they speaking in Russian ?


   I just discovered this  57 min.  audio recording :
http://92yondemand.org/75-at-75-brian-boyd-on-vladimir-nabokov

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