Subject
VN:minor allusions (fwd)
Date
Body
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 14:19:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Stephen Blackwell <sblackwe@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU>
>
>I have two items of possible interest or amusements for Nabokovians, and
one query:
>
>1: Of interest to "readers of Godunov-Cherdyntsev" might be a recent review
from *The Economist* (November 11, volume 337, p. 88) of a book by Frances
Wood entitled "Did Marco Polo Go to China?" According to the review, in
this book, which I have not seen, the author argues convincingly that Marco
Polo did not make the famous journey described in "Description of the
World", that in fact he never strayed far beyond Constantinople, but based
his account on others' reports. The review concludes by quoting Polo's
dying words, also cited in *The Gift*: "I have not told half of what I saw."
If the book's conclusions are trustworthy, then indeed Fyodor has more in
common with Polo than his more widely travelled father did, offering an
amusing and ironic coda to the reality-imagination explorations within the
novel.
>
>2. The most recent *PC Magazine*, which I almost never read but happened to
glance at on my way to the check-out counter the other day, includes on its
last page (534, Dec 5, 1995) a one-frame cartoon (a la "Far Side") by
Richard Tennant exploring the history of the "Butterfly keyboard." It
depicts three computer designers staring at possible keyboard designs on a
blackboard, variously labeled "The spider keyboard", "The praying mantis
keyboard", "the caterpillar keyboard," "the larva keyboard," and,
momentously, "the dung beetle keyboard." The text reads, "Where's that
flake Templeman? He's supposed to be helping us with this." Meanwhile,
Templeman can be seen through the window, where he, with net, is in hot
pursuit of a butterfly. The conjunction of "butterfly hunting" and "dung
beetle" seemed too bizzare to be a fluke. Does anyone know Richard Tennant?
>
>3. This incident reminded me of the superbowl in January 1993 or 94, which
I barely watched but happened to catch sight of a snazzy new Pepsi
commercial (the commercials are always so eye-catching during the
superbowl!). For perhaps 1.5 seconds, a bald professorial type in at a desk
in front of a black board indicated to an image on the board, uttering
deliberately, "This is a Dung Beetle", before the scene switched to
something "exciting" (because Pepsi is exciting, and Dung Beetles are dull).
I could not believe my ears and eyes at the time, intended to call Pepsi,
but never got around to it. Did anyone else see this spot, or check up on it?
>
>Stephen Blackwell
>
Stephen Blackwell
Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN 37996
423/974-4536
sblackwe@utk.edu
From: Stephen Blackwell <sblackwe@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU>
>
>I have two items of possible interest or amusements for Nabokovians, and
one query:
>
>1: Of interest to "readers of Godunov-Cherdyntsev" might be a recent review
from *The Economist* (November 11, volume 337, p. 88) of a book by Frances
Wood entitled "Did Marco Polo Go to China?" According to the review, in
this book, which I have not seen, the author argues convincingly that Marco
Polo did not make the famous journey described in "Description of the
World", that in fact he never strayed far beyond Constantinople, but based
his account on others' reports. The review concludes by quoting Polo's
dying words, also cited in *The Gift*: "I have not told half of what I saw."
If the book's conclusions are trustworthy, then indeed Fyodor has more in
common with Polo than his more widely travelled father did, offering an
amusing and ironic coda to the reality-imagination explorations within the
novel.
>
>2. The most recent *PC Magazine*, which I almost never read but happened to
glance at on my way to the check-out counter the other day, includes on its
last page (534, Dec 5, 1995) a one-frame cartoon (a la "Far Side") by
Richard Tennant exploring the history of the "Butterfly keyboard." It
depicts three computer designers staring at possible keyboard designs on a
blackboard, variously labeled "The spider keyboard", "The praying mantis
keyboard", "the caterpillar keyboard," "the larva keyboard," and,
momentously, "the dung beetle keyboard." The text reads, "Where's that
flake Templeman? He's supposed to be helping us with this." Meanwhile,
Templeman can be seen through the window, where he, with net, is in hot
pursuit of a butterfly. The conjunction of "butterfly hunting" and "dung
beetle" seemed too bizzare to be a fluke. Does anyone know Richard Tennant?
>
>3. This incident reminded me of the superbowl in January 1993 or 94, which
I barely watched but happened to catch sight of a snazzy new Pepsi
commercial (the commercials are always so eye-catching during the
superbowl!). For perhaps 1.5 seconds, a bald professorial type in at a desk
in front of a black board indicated to an image on the board, uttering
deliberately, "This is a Dung Beetle", before the scene switched to
something "exciting" (because Pepsi is exciting, and Dung Beetles are dull).
I could not believe my ears and eyes at the time, intended to call Pepsi,
but never got around to it. Did anyone else see this spot, or check up on it?
>
>Stephen Blackwell
>
Stephen Blackwell
Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN 37996
423/974-4536
sblackwe@utk.edu