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Re: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
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Sorry, Jansy, if there was any confusion, but I did not mean to make any
connection between 'meniscus' and the 'lunette' with the cherub. These
are separate issues.
Brian
On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:43:20 -0800, "Donald B. Johnson"
<chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu> said:
> Encouraged by B. Howell´s poetic "meniscus with cherub" in a 17th Century
> Vanitas I´ll bring more lunatic references in TT while considering,
> again,
> that
> the word "meniscus" can be applied to the small crescent that is
> observed
> on a transparent film of water when surface tension is sustained with no
> spilling of liquid and, that soccer-players and other athletes often
> have
> to undergo surgery of their "meniscus" ( a fluid or the kneecap itself).
> Other loonies:
> 1. Madame Chamar has " purple arches of her pastel eyebrows" ;
> 2. Armande in skiing apparel looks "like the first girl on the moon". Her
> boots had the tradename "Mondstein Sexy".
> Jansy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 1:16 AM
> Subject: Re: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
>
>
> I'm not in on this reading, but I couldn't help noticing the discussion
> about 'lunette'. As someone said elsewhere, one meaning could be
> 'telescope'; I believe 'microscope' is possible, too. At least,
> Constantijn Huygens uses this word in his letters to refer to one or
> other of these meanings. Also, there is a still life painting that I am
> currently researching in the Yale University Art Gallery by Jacques De
> Gheyn II; it's a vanitas from 1614 and above various objects there is a
> glowing moon (-like hole/painting?) with a cherub floating in it. In one
> description it's referred to as a 'lunette'. I don't know if this is a
> standard art term. I hope it has some resonance with TT.
>
> Also, the excellent Irish writer John Banville is rather keen on
> 'meniscus'. I think I've noticed it more than once! Banville's fiction
> (for me) has a very knowing, sardonic (dare I say Nabokovian?)
> undertaste.
>
> Brian Howell
>
>
> On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:59:15 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> > To: don barton johnson
> > Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:11 PM
> > Subject: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
> > ..................................................................
> > John and List,
> >
> > Following the "lunette" and its various meanings referring to:
> > the crescent cut for holding the neck at the guillotine;
> > crescent moon; meniscus; little moon;
> > arcade with an opening for ventilation and light;
> > architectural projection;
> > "lunotto", the rear window of a car or carriage, which may have a
> > moonlike shape or serve for admiring the moon;
> > etc...
> >
> > we find, after the initial chapter in TT where " the future is but a
> > figure of speech, a specter ot thought" ( even at an imminent beheading
> > secured by a lunette ), a slow and discreet emergence of the crescent
> > moon in various "figures of speech" culminating with our Baron R´s "
> > tralatitions".
> >
> > A subtle variation of "lunette" appears on Ch.5: " He strolled aimlessly,
> > keeping in the shelter of various ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTIONS ( one of the
> > meanings of "lunette") for it was in vain the the daily paper of that
> > rainy town kept clamoring for ARCADES to be built in its shopping
> > district "
> > ( on Ch 4, Hugh was sharing a room with his father in a "halfhearted
> > alcove, separated by an ARCHWAY and a clothes tree" which, more or less,
> > also suggests the crescent shape but not as clearly as what follows
> > later ) .
> >
> > At the closing of Ch 6 we find a frightened Hugh close to the dead body
> > of his father when he opens "wide both casements; they gave on a parking
> > place four floors below; the thin MENISCUS overhead was too wan to
> > illumine the roofs of the houses descending towar the invisible lake".
> >
> >
> > Then, of ch.9 Hugh meets pretty Armande who has " two dimples of the
> > CRESCENTIC type" and that "came down her tanned cheeks on the sides of
> > her mournful mouth".
> >
> > The "lunette" is now firmly connected to Armande herself! and I stopped
> > at Ch.9. I wonder what lies in the next chapters!
> >
> > ( the hunting goddess Diana is also depicted with a crescent as a crest
> > on her head)
> >
> ............................................................................
> .......................
> > There is also the affair of ch9, with the play with "opposite" images
> > from "crescent moon" to "setting sun".
> > It starts with "Would he mind pulling that dark blind down a little? THE
> > LOW SUN´S FUNERAL"
> > and proceeds to " Ask me what I can do, not what I do, lovely girl,
> > lovely WAKE OF THE SUN" ( ...)
> > And, after that:
> > " I can commit to memory a whole page...I have never published one scrap
> > of verse except some juvenile nonsense at college" ..
> > And what was the juvenile nonsense? It appears at the begining of Ch8: "
> > Blest are suspension dots...THE SUN WAS SETTING A HEAVENLY EXAMPLE TO THE
> > LAKE' .
> >
> > ( wonderful: Funeral - Wake - Sunset and set an example - ( Lake )
> >
> ............................................................................
> ...............
> >
> > Has it been brought up at the list that the hotel "FANTASTIC in Blur"
> > that is actually the "MAJESTIC in Chur", soon gains expression in Hugh´s
> > appearance: " had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his
> > FANTASTIC MAJESTY' ?
> >
> ............................................................................
> ...................
> > Best to all,
> > Jansy
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
connection between 'meniscus' and the 'lunette' with the cherub. These
are separate issues.
Brian
On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:43:20 -0800, "Donald B. Johnson"
<chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu> said:
> Encouraged by B. Howell´s poetic "meniscus with cherub" in a 17th Century
> Vanitas I´ll bring more lunatic references in TT while considering,
> again,
> that
> the word "meniscus" can be applied to the small crescent that is
> observed
> on a transparent film of water when surface tension is sustained with no
> spilling of liquid and, that soccer-players and other athletes often
> have
> to undergo surgery of their "meniscus" ( a fluid or the kneecap itself).
> Other loonies:
> 1. Madame Chamar has " purple arches of her pastel eyebrows" ;
> 2. Armande in skiing apparel looks "like the first girl on the moon". Her
> boots had the tradename "Mondstein Sexy".
> Jansy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 1:16 AM
> Subject: Re: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
>
>
> I'm not in on this reading, but I couldn't help noticing the discussion
> about 'lunette'. As someone said elsewhere, one meaning could be
> 'telescope'; I believe 'microscope' is possible, too. At least,
> Constantijn Huygens uses this word in his letters to refer to one or
> other of these meanings. Also, there is a still life painting that I am
> currently researching in the Yale University Art Gallery by Jacques De
> Gheyn II; it's a vanitas from 1614 and above various objects there is a
> glowing moon (-like hole/painting?) with a cherub floating in it. In one
> description it's referred to as a 'lunette'. I don't know if this is a
> standard art term. I hope it has some resonance with TT.
>
> Also, the excellent Irish writer John Banville is rather keen on
> 'meniscus'. I think I've noticed it more than once! Banville's fiction
> (for me) has a very knowing, sardonic (dare I say Nabokovian?)
> undertaste.
>
> Brian Howell
>
>
> On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:59:15 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> > To: don barton johnson
> > Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:11 PM
> > Subject: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
> > ..................................................................
> > John and List,
> >
> > Following the "lunette" and its various meanings referring to:
> > the crescent cut for holding the neck at the guillotine;
> > crescent moon; meniscus; little moon;
> > arcade with an opening for ventilation and light;
> > architectural projection;
> > "lunotto", the rear window of a car or carriage, which may have a
> > moonlike shape or serve for admiring the moon;
> > etc...
> >
> > we find, after the initial chapter in TT where " the future is but a
> > figure of speech, a specter ot thought" ( even at an imminent beheading
> > secured by a lunette ), a slow and discreet emergence of the crescent
> > moon in various "figures of speech" culminating with our Baron R´s "
> > tralatitions".
> >
> > A subtle variation of "lunette" appears on Ch.5: " He strolled aimlessly,
> > keeping in the shelter of various ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTIONS ( one of the
> > meanings of "lunette") for it was in vain the the daily paper of that
> > rainy town kept clamoring for ARCADES to be built in its shopping
> > district "
> > ( on Ch 4, Hugh was sharing a room with his father in a "halfhearted
> > alcove, separated by an ARCHWAY and a clothes tree" which, more or less,
> > also suggests the crescent shape but not as clearly as what follows
> > later ) .
> >
> > At the closing of Ch 6 we find a frightened Hugh close to the dead body
> > of his father when he opens "wide both casements; they gave on a parking
> > place four floors below; the thin MENISCUS overhead was too wan to
> > illumine the roofs of the houses descending towar the invisible lake".
> >
> >
> > Then, of ch.9 Hugh meets pretty Armande who has " two dimples of the
> > CRESCENTIC type" and that "came down her tanned cheeks on the sides of
> > her mournful mouth".
> >
> > The "lunette" is now firmly connected to Armande herself! and I stopped
> > at Ch.9. I wonder what lies in the next chapters!
> >
> > ( the hunting goddess Diana is also depicted with a crescent as a crest
> > on her head)
> >
> ............................................................................
> .......................
> > There is also the affair of ch9, with the play with "opposite" images
> > from "crescent moon" to "setting sun".
> > It starts with "Would he mind pulling that dark blind down a little? THE
> > LOW SUN´S FUNERAL"
> > and proceeds to " Ask me what I can do, not what I do, lovely girl,
> > lovely WAKE OF THE SUN" ( ...)
> > And, after that:
> > " I can commit to memory a whole page...I have never published one scrap
> > of verse except some juvenile nonsense at college" ..
> > And what was the juvenile nonsense? It appears at the begining of Ch8: "
> > Blest are suspension dots...THE SUN WAS SETTING A HEAVENLY EXAMPLE TO THE
> > LAKE' .
> >
> > ( wonderful: Funeral - Wake - Sunset and set an example - ( Lake )
> >
> ............................................................................
> ...............
> >
> > Has it been brought up at the list that the hotel "FANTASTIC in Blur"
> > that is actually the "MAJESTIC in Chur", soon gains expression in Hugh´s
> > appearance: " had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his
> > FANTASTIC MAJESTY' ?
> >
> ............................................................................
> ...................
> > Best to all,
> > Jansy
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----