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Re: THOUGHTS: Shade's Mockingbird
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Yes, "stiff vane" is Archery-speak. A bad thing, apparently, meaning that
"they will not conform to the contour of the shaft as easily as softer
vanes." Much scope there for ribald sniggery? _Pace_ both Boyd and VN, if
readers are reminded of those _arch_ Vane sisters (including a Sybil!), let
it be. Associations, unlike lunches, are free! Throw in veins, vanities,
Ve-en, and my Welsh uncle Evan. Unintended allusions are part of the
Nabokovian illusion.
This fletchers' use of "vane" is clearly derived from the ornithological
meaning (familiar, therefore, to the Shade family): "the flat part of a
bird's feather, consisting of two rows of barbs on either side of the
shaft."
My ongoing working hypothesis when meeting an unusual turn of phrase in VN's
corpus delectable: these words have been chosen with an almost inhuman
devotion, precision and purpose. I'm seldom proved wrong. To imagine "stiff
vane" as an ugly tautology, casually making up the syllable-count, is the
result of a semantic misconception, viz. that all vanes are innately stiff!
(Recall a similar fracas some years ago when "false azure" was rated as an
oxymoron?)
Even in the context of weather vanes, the predication "stiff" is meaningful.
Weather vanes indicate the wind direction, but should not be over-sensitive
to tiny transient gusts. As in all instrumentation, you need a balance
between stiffness (serving to average the measurements) and looseness
(over-reaction to small changes). The Shades' vane has been replaced with a
TV antenna, which, one can argue, retains the instrumentation metaphor by
recording news "currents" over the airwaves.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 10/07/2008 14:03, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
> Subject:
> Re: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS: Shade's Mockingbird
> From:
> joseph Aisenberg <vanveen13@sbcglobal.net> <mailto:vanveen13@sbcglobal.net>
> Date:
> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:18:14 -0700 (PDT)
> To:
> Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
> b.boyd@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ wrote:
> .
> Why bring the Vane Sisters in here? When VN wants to allude to them in later
> work, he does so in no uncertain terms.
> J.A. Is in complete agreement here, that stiff vane thing is a pretty iffy
> connection.
>
> Northern mockingbirds do have a gauzy sheen to the plumage on their backs.
> J.A. I had always wondered about that guazy description, because where I live
> in the southwest they don't look gauzy, but sort of dullish black topped with
> pale grayish undersides; their most striking quality here is the flickering
> strip of white running across their wings when they fly.
>
> "Sybil as "tender mockingbird" calls out to Shade, between the ad and the
> preview of Marilyn Monroe), to come down to the TV...(is it accidental that
> the first phrase brings Monroe to my mind?) adds to the contrast with the
> awkward, taciturn Hazel these lines already evoke.
> J.A.: That "tender mockingbird" is funny too, since I guess they're not known
> for their tenderness so much as their terror. I think I'd save that Marylin
> Monroe upward tail for later as well.
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"they will not conform to the contour of the shaft as easily as softer
vanes." Much scope there for ribald sniggery? _Pace_ both Boyd and VN, if
readers are reminded of those _arch_ Vane sisters (including a Sybil!), let
it be. Associations, unlike lunches, are free! Throw in veins, vanities,
Ve-en, and my Welsh uncle Evan. Unintended allusions are part of the
Nabokovian illusion.
This fletchers' use of "vane" is clearly derived from the ornithological
meaning (familiar, therefore, to the Shade family): "the flat part of a
bird's feather, consisting of two rows of barbs on either side of the
shaft."
My ongoing working hypothesis when meeting an unusual turn of phrase in VN's
corpus delectable: these words have been chosen with an almost inhuman
devotion, precision and purpose. I'm seldom proved wrong. To imagine "stiff
vane" as an ugly tautology, casually making up the syllable-count, is the
result of a semantic misconception, viz. that all vanes are innately stiff!
(Recall a similar fracas some years ago when "false azure" was rated as an
oxymoron?)
Even in the context of weather vanes, the predication "stiff" is meaningful.
Weather vanes indicate the wind direction, but should not be over-sensitive
to tiny transient gusts. As in all instrumentation, you need a balance
between stiffness (serving to average the measurements) and looseness
(over-reaction to small changes). The Shades' vane has been replaced with a
TV antenna, which, one can argue, retains the instrumentation metaphor by
recording news "currents" over the airwaves.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 10/07/2008 14:03, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
> Subject:
> Re: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS: Shade's Mockingbird
> From:
> joseph Aisenberg <vanveen13@sbcglobal.net> <mailto:vanveen13@sbcglobal.net>
> Date:
> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:18:14 -0700 (PDT)
> To:
> Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
> b.boyd@AUCKLAND.AC.NZ wrote:
> .
> Why bring the Vane Sisters in here? When VN wants to allude to them in later
> work, he does so in no uncertain terms.
> J.A. Is in complete agreement here, that stiff vane thing is a pretty iffy
> connection.
>
> Northern mockingbirds do have a gauzy sheen to the plumage on their backs.
> J.A. I had always wondered about that guazy description, because where I live
> in the southwest they don't look gauzy, but sort of dullish black topped with
> pale grayish undersides; their most striking quality here is the flickering
> strip of white running across their wings when they fly.
>
> "Sybil as "tender mockingbird" calls out to Shade, between the ad and the
> preview of Marilyn Monroe), to come down to the TV...(is it accidental that
> the first phrase brings Monroe to my mind?) adds to the contrast with the
> awkward, taciturn Hazel these lines already evoke.
> J.A.: That "tender mockingbird" is funny too, since I guess they're not known
> for their tenderness so much as their terror. I think I'd save that Marylin
> Monroe upward tail for later as well.
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Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/