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Re: ginkgo and butterfly
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Stephen Blackwell: "I have a forthcoming piece on some trees in various works, including this ginkgo in PF...I have been trying to figure out what an "old-fashioned butterfly" might be. One thought I had was that it could be an old-fashioned representation of a butterfly--
Jansy Mello: If we suppose there's a connection btw John Shade's poem about the Gingko and Goethe's own (the "one in two" image of his poem wasn't intended to refer to split personalities, of course, but it's closer to the "beating of two hearts in unisson"), and we try to endow him with prescience, then the "old-fashioned butterfly, ill-spread,In shape" might refer to his poem Pale Fire, since it has the shape of a butterfly ill-spread (because there's line 1000 missing? Because, golden and dry, is has shrivelled?) and old-fashioned because it's written in heroic couplets.
Thanks, Don, for the beautiful image of velvety fresh gingko leaves.
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Jansy Mello: If we suppose there's a connection btw John Shade's poem about the Gingko and Goethe's own (the "one in two" image of his poem wasn't intended to refer to split personalities, of course, but it's closer to the "beating of two hearts in unisson"), and we try to endow him with prescience, then the "old-fashioned butterfly, ill-spread,In shape" might refer to his poem Pale Fire, since it has the shape of a butterfly ill-spread (because there's line 1000 missing? Because, golden and dry, is has shrivelled?) and old-fashioned because it's written in heroic couplets.
Thanks, Don, for the beautiful image of velvety fresh gingko leaves.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/