Subject
Re: shadow of a bird image
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On 28/12/06 14:17, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> I suggest we include the glass house as part of our collection of images ( do
> you also have a proverb in English about "people who inhabit glass houses
> should never throw stones at their neighbors" ? ), an extensive metaphorical
> "solarium".
>
Indeed, JM: a local nudge-nudge-wink-wink version of the proverb simply says
³People who live in glass houses shouldn¹t!² -- leaving open the various
activities that might prove embarrassing.
Are we in danger of over-reading¹ the opening images of Pale Fire, the
POEM, when we seek the precise sizes, shapes, and dispositions of the
house¹s reflective and refractive surfaces? Some listers seem to want the
poem to make sense¹ as if it were a real-estate brochure or architect¹s
plan. One is reminded of Hamlet critics wondering how-on-earth you can take
arms against a sea of troubles?¹
Somewhere in my scattered ratbag pretending to be a library there¹s an
anthology of scientifically-dubious lines compiled by Martin Gardner*
including ³Under stars chilled by the winter; under an August moon burning
above; you¹ld be so nice, you¹ld be paradise, to come home to and love!¹
(Cole Porter scores zero in Astrophysics?) YES, VN loves obsessively
accurate detail (see his sketch of Master Bovary¹s cap and maps of Bloom¹s
itineraries) yet I¹m sure he would giggle over attempts to pinpoint the
exact solar angles at the time of the waxwing¹s demise ³somewhere on the
border of Upstate New York and Montario**²
* Dmitri: you may be pleased to hear that an unscientific poll reveals Pale
Fire as the favourite VN novel among my fellow mathematicians. Sadly, Ada
comes last but I¹m evangelizing. Await news of Ada, the MOVIE!! I¹m in the
throes of obtaining the Tony Richardson film of Laughter In the Dark, in a
UK DVD-format. I¹m keeping an open mind but gather that Edward Bond¹s
transfer of VN¹s sombre masterpiece in black¹n¹white cinematic 1930s Berlin
to a technicolour 1960s London is far from convincing! My tag for similarly
re-located genres is ³Carmen On Ice.²
** Letter to Jason Epstein March 24, 1957 outlining VN¹s early ideas on Pale
Fire plotting. Later letter from Vera to the Bishops (Nov 4, 1961) indicates
that PF is almost completed and ³is not like anything either he or anyone
else has ever written before.²
Stan Kelly-Bootle
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
> I suggest we include the glass house as part of our collection of images ( do
> you also have a proverb in English about "people who inhabit glass houses
> should never throw stones at their neighbors" ? ), an extensive metaphorical
> "solarium".
>
Indeed, JM: a local nudge-nudge-wink-wink version of the proverb simply says
³People who live in glass houses shouldn¹t!² -- leaving open the various
activities that might prove embarrassing.
Are we in danger of over-reading¹ the opening images of Pale Fire, the
POEM, when we seek the precise sizes, shapes, and dispositions of the
house¹s reflective and refractive surfaces? Some listers seem to want the
poem to make sense¹ as if it were a real-estate brochure or architect¹s
plan. One is reminded of Hamlet critics wondering how-on-earth you can take
arms against a sea of troubles?¹
Somewhere in my scattered ratbag pretending to be a library there¹s an
anthology of scientifically-dubious lines compiled by Martin Gardner*
including ³Under stars chilled by the winter; under an August moon burning
above; you¹ld be so nice, you¹ld be paradise, to come home to and love!¹
(Cole Porter scores zero in Astrophysics?) YES, VN loves obsessively
accurate detail (see his sketch of Master Bovary¹s cap and maps of Bloom¹s
itineraries) yet I¹m sure he would giggle over attempts to pinpoint the
exact solar angles at the time of the waxwing¹s demise ³somewhere on the
border of Upstate New York and Montario**²
* Dmitri: you may be pleased to hear that an unscientific poll reveals Pale
Fire as the favourite VN novel among my fellow mathematicians. Sadly, Ada
comes last but I¹m evangelizing. Await news of Ada, the MOVIE!! I¹m in the
throes of obtaining the Tony Richardson film of Laughter In the Dark, in a
UK DVD-format. I¹m keeping an open mind but gather that Edward Bond¹s
transfer of VN¹s sombre masterpiece in black¹n¹white cinematic 1930s Berlin
to a technicolour 1960s London is far from convincing! My tag for similarly
re-located genres is ³Carmen On Ice.²
** Letter to Jason Epstein March 24, 1957 outlining VN¹s early ideas on Pale
Fire plotting. Later letter from Vera to the Bishops (Nov 4, 1961) indicates
that PF is almost completed and ³is not like anything either he or anyone
else has ever written before.²
Stan Kelly-Bootle
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