Subject
Royal Weeds; CK's first encounter with goldenrod
From
Date
Body
Matt Roth responding to JF.
Jerry Friedman said:
>I now see from Wikipedia that purple loosestrife looks a lot
>like fireweed (or rosebay willow-herb, as the British call
>it). Both, to answer your question in a later post, are very
>pretty. But purple loosestrife lives in wetlands, which wouldn't
>include "the top of the hill" that's a good site for a barn. On
>the other hand, fireweed is a perfect colonizer for such a
>spot.
MR: When I previously wrote about which plant (loosestrife or
willow-herb) is more attractive, I accidently omitted the phrase
"to butterflies." That said, your point about the location is a
good one. Purple loosestrife only thrives where there is standing
water. This is also the case for great hairy willow-herb (which
reminds me of CK's hirsute arms) which, along with rosebay willow-
herb, is used in Russia to make something called Kaporie Tea. Then
again, we must consider that Kinbote is not a reliable source for
botanical information. Or he may have reassembled the scene this
way for other reasons.
JF: >Anyway, thank you for your calm response to what may have
>seemed an overly critical post--though I didn't mean it that
>way, and should have said that I think you're right about
>the milkweed as the host for monarch butterflies.
MR: I was not offended in the least by your post. Rather, I was
grateful for it.
JF: >But are you suggesting that Kinbote might have identified
>some other yellow-flowered plant as goldenrod?
MR: No, I simply meant that the goldenrod there was certainly not
in flower yet. It occurs to me now that Kinbote had, once before,
seen goldenrod in bloom! In C.691, he says that he parachuted into
"a field of hay-feverish, rank-flowering weeds" which caused
"congestion in my nose" and a fit of sneezing. This was in mid-
October. Given goldenrod's (unfair) reputation for causing hay-
fever attacks, this must be the weed in question. This scene is
further tied to the hilltop scene by Kinbote's note in the index,
which refers to CK's "walk with S to the weedy spot where the
haunted barn once stood." Clearly, we are to notice those weeds!
Matt Roth
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Jerry Friedman said:
>I now see from Wikipedia that purple loosestrife looks a lot
>like fireweed (or rosebay willow-herb, as the British call
>it). Both, to answer your question in a later post, are very
>pretty. But purple loosestrife lives in wetlands, which wouldn't
>include "the top of the hill" that's a good site for a barn. On
>the other hand, fireweed is a perfect colonizer for such a
>spot.
MR: When I previously wrote about which plant (loosestrife or
willow-herb) is more attractive, I accidently omitted the phrase
"to butterflies." That said, your point about the location is a
good one. Purple loosestrife only thrives where there is standing
water. This is also the case for great hairy willow-herb (which
reminds me of CK's hirsute arms) which, along with rosebay willow-
herb, is used in Russia to make something called Kaporie Tea. Then
again, we must consider that Kinbote is not a reliable source for
botanical information. Or he may have reassembled the scene this
way for other reasons.
JF: >Anyway, thank you for your calm response to what may have
>seemed an overly critical post--though I didn't mean it that
>way, and should have said that I think you're right about
>the milkweed as the host for monarch butterflies.
MR: I was not offended in the least by your post. Rather, I was
grateful for it.
JF: >But are you suggesting that Kinbote might have identified
>some other yellow-flowered plant as goldenrod?
MR: No, I simply meant that the goldenrod there was certainly not
in flower yet. It occurs to me now that Kinbote had, once before,
seen goldenrod in bloom! In C.691, he says that he parachuted into
"a field of hay-feverish, rank-flowering weeds" which caused
"congestion in my nose" and a fit of sneezing. This was in mid-
October. Given goldenrod's (unfair) reputation for causing hay-
fever attacks, this must be the weed in question. This scene is
further tied to the hilltop scene by Kinbote's note in the index,
which refers to CK's "walk with S to the weedy spot where the
haunted barn once stood." Clearly, we are to notice those weeds!
Matt Roth
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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