EDNOTE. See end.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 6:14 PM
Subject: Slat sign: VN & Merriam-Webster II &
III
If I remember it right, there is another instance in
ADA, when Webster's Second proves a "good" dictionary: only there did I manage
to find the definition of SLAT SIGN:
a sign having thin plates fixed perpendicularly to a flat surface; both the
flat surface and the sides of the plates are painted in such a manner as to
cause letters, pictures, or both to appear when viewed at different
angles.
In ADA it is the title of Van's favorite novel. Incidentally, one
ingenuous, but frivolous "translator" has turned it into Shyolkovyi Zhezl
(A Silken Rod)!!! But, to say the truth, I don't know either how to translate it
correctly into Russian. And another question: what really existing novel
can be meant under it. If it is not ADA itself, probably PALE
FIRE?
best regards,
Alexey
---------------------------
EDNOTE. I have pondered the real novel (if any) underlying SLAT SIGN
without success. I did note, however, that it anagrammatically yields the
anatomical "glans," which is central to the "interview" between Van and
Lucette at Kingston.