Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014245, Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:15:53 -0200

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Fw: Cedrus libani ( sorry,
Beth for these three messages in a row!)
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a.. Cedrus libani var. libani (cedro-do-líbano propriamente dito): Líbano, Síria ocidental e Turquia centro-meridional.
b.. Cedrus libani var. stenocoma (Cedro-da-turquia): sudoeste da Turquia;
c.. Cedrus libani var. brevifolia (Cedro-do-chipre): Chipre
d.. Cedrus libani var. atlantica (Cedro-do-atlas: Cedrus atlantica): Montes Atlas.
The "Ceddrus libani" is quoted often in mythology and religion. It plays a significant part in the Gilgamesh epic and in various other texts it is shown as "expressing the strength of a World Empire" ( as also mentioned in Ezekiel 31. 1-18).
When cut down and destroyed it represents the end of the World Empire and the end of history.

Perhaps this is one of the meanings conveyed in ADA since in the lines quoted by DB Johnson we find "propped up here and there by crutches made of its own flesh like this book... Van, sprawling supine, sick with memories...the Lebanese blue of the sky between the fascicles of the foliage."
Van and Ada "die into the book"... is it not so? ( from the last chapter to the book with pressed flowers found in the attic in the very begining).
Jansy

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