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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Moonshining in Bend Sinister and TRLSK
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Offered as a trivial stocking-filler, wishing Dmitri and all Nabokovians a
Cool Yool.
What matters in allusionology, Jansy, is deciding which of the many pointers
lurking behind every word can be linked to plausibly intended targets.
E.g., ³Brazil Nut² as a reference to the soccer player Ronaldo is tempting
but inappropriate to SLSK. In the SLSK context of finding hidden objects,
one immediately thinks of the ³Brazil Nut Effect² which Wiki explains thus:
³The Brazil nut effect is the name given to a phenomenon in which the
largest particles end up on the surface when a granular material containing
a mixture of objects of different sizes is shaken.²
The name comes from the fact that in a mixed bag of peanuts and Brazil nuts,
the larger nuts end up on top. VN may have had some literary analogues in
mind?
Supporting your playful link via selenium to the moon, VN might well have
read any number of 1950/60s faddish books on ³Supplementary Minerals.²
Typically:
³Selenium is found in organ meats, seafood, lean meat, dairy products, and
chicken. Whole grains, such as oatmeal and brown rice, Brazil nuts, brewer¹s
yeast, broccoli, garlic, kelp, molasses, onions, and various herbs are good
plant sources of selenium, but only if they are grown in selenium-rich
soil.² [The RDA is 50 micrograms per day, which you can get with a normal
diet. Expensive supplements are rarely needed.]
BUT, would a mention of any of the 15+ sources of selenium ALSO provide a
reasonable pointer to that element, and then on to its literary lunar
associations? If so, perhaps VN might have compounded our puzzlement by
writing PALE BROCCOLI. It¹s hard to quantify, but I feel that Nabokov ³plays
fair.² Cryptic crosswords vary in their fiendishness, but regular solvers
develop an instinct for the tricks of word-mangling employed by each puzzle
setter. I rate VN at about the London TIMES level, i.e., harder than the
Telegraph, but no Torquemada. Of course, with crosswords (and chess
problems) you usually know when you¹ve solved them, while literary puzzles
such as PALE MOLASSES may not have a single, universally satisfying climax.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 19/12/2008 03:14, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> The label of a jar containing peeled Brazil-nuts for my Xmas baking showed a
> lunatic bee holding a sign: "rich in selenium".
> //schnip
> Did he [VN] ever learn that it was rich in "selenium" and...does it matter?
>
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Cool Yool.
What matters in allusionology, Jansy, is deciding which of the many pointers
lurking behind every word can be linked to plausibly intended targets.
E.g., ³Brazil Nut² as a reference to the soccer player Ronaldo is tempting
but inappropriate to SLSK. In the SLSK context of finding hidden objects,
one immediately thinks of the ³Brazil Nut Effect² which Wiki explains thus:
³The Brazil nut effect is the name given to a phenomenon in which the
largest particles end up on the surface when a granular material containing
a mixture of objects of different sizes is shaken.²
The name comes from the fact that in a mixed bag of peanuts and Brazil nuts,
the larger nuts end up on top. VN may have had some literary analogues in
mind?
Supporting your playful link via selenium to the moon, VN might well have
read any number of 1950/60s faddish books on ³Supplementary Minerals.²
Typically:
³Selenium is found in organ meats, seafood, lean meat, dairy products, and
chicken. Whole grains, such as oatmeal and brown rice, Brazil nuts, brewer¹s
yeast, broccoli, garlic, kelp, molasses, onions, and various herbs are good
plant sources of selenium, but only if they are grown in selenium-rich
soil.² [The RDA is 50 micrograms per day, which you can get with a normal
diet. Expensive supplements are rarely needed.]
BUT, would a mention of any of the 15+ sources of selenium ALSO provide a
reasonable pointer to that element, and then on to its literary lunar
associations? If so, perhaps VN might have compounded our puzzlement by
writing PALE BROCCOLI. It¹s hard to quantify, but I feel that Nabokov ³plays
fair.² Cryptic crosswords vary in their fiendishness, but regular solvers
develop an instinct for the tricks of word-mangling employed by each puzzle
setter. I rate VN at about the London TIMES level, i.e., harder than the
Telegraph, but no Torquemada. Of course, with crosswords (and chess
problems) you usually know when you¹ve solved them, while literary puzzles
such as PALE MOLASSES may not have a single, universally satisfying climax.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 19/12/2008 03:14, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> The label of a jar containing peeled Brazil-nuts for my Xmas baking showed a
> lunatic bee holding a sign: "rich in selenium".
> //schnip
> Did he [VN] ever learn that it was rich in "selenium" and...does it matter?
>
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/