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I should like to take advantage of this opportunity and express my sincere
gratitude to Mrr. Kurt Johnson and Dieter Zimmer for their responses to my
question about the Attacus moth. Mr. Zimmer's understanding of my
bibliographical circumstances is greatly appreciated. The butterfly does
indeed look stunning - little wonder that Sletpsov's train of thoughts gets
diverted so abruptly by its sudden emergence from the cocoon (and VN's
description of it is dead precise). The moth's habitat makes one think;
however, we are not allowed to liken butterflies to souls, are we.

As to the second question (sui-mate, or self mate in "Christmas"), I'm still
mystified by the problem's denouement: am I right in understanding that one
is supposed to force his adversary into mating him (the double entendre, I
fear, should be attributed to my poor command of English solely). I am
quoting from
 M.Malikova's notes to the latest collection of VN's early works
in Russian (SPb: Symposium, 2000, v. 1):

"V shakhmatnoi zadache sui mate belye dolzhny vynudit' chernykh postavit'
koroliu belykh mat za opredelennoe kolichetsvo khodov" (ibid., 764).

In her usual perceptive manner M.Malikova points to the foreword for The
Defense, where VN describes the protagonists end in the same terms ("...the
first appearance of the frosted-window theme (associated with Luzhin's
suicide, or rather sui-mate)..." - Vintage International, 1990 (8)).

All right, so Whites are asking for troubles intentionally, and in their own
defeat lies their triumph? Is that correct?

Thanks very much everyone, my only hope is that I am not the only
semi-literate chess player on the list. Too bad if I am...

Best,

Stan. Milkowsky

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