I read the overt meaning of the poplar's "rabbit's foot" is the
shape of some poplar tops, as in the photo Carolyn sent. Of
course I'm not denying the connections with trembling, but I
think the shape is definitely in there.

[N. 119, on Drs. Sutcliff and Clifton] "One had a daughter,
president of Sybil's club--and this is the Dr. Sutton I
visualize in my notes to lines 181 and 1000."

[Now we go to n. 181] "Oh, I saw them all. I saw ancient Dr.
Sutton, a snowy-headed, perfectly oval little gentleman arrive
in a tottering Ford with his tall daughter, Mrs. Starr, a war
widow."

If Kinbote saw Dr. Sutton, why does he say he visualized him?
Is Kinbote telling us that he didn't really see Dr. Sutton, or
the other guests at Shade's party? Or what?

> It so happens that a lemniscus can mean either the infinity
> sign or a fiber connecting the brain to the central nervous system.
> Probably just a coincidence, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

The recent remarks on "lemniscus" did not lead me look up the
etymology of "lemniscate" yesterday--I did that for other
reasons. I found that it's from the Greek for "ribbon", which
is why it can mean both a ribbon-like shape and a fiber in
the CNS. It must also be the shape of the bow (of a ribbon)
around the cat's neck in n. 62--and "lemniscate" contains
"cat". Has anyone mentioned this bobolink before? Also,
according to the NSOED, "lemnisc" was formerly used in English
to mean "ribbon", so the lemniscate could be a lemnisc-8, with
that shape again. Even though that's not the pronunciation.

(Fain would I report that the cat had a gift card attached to
its ribbon, since "Oscar Nattochdag" has the anagram "a ghost
card on cat". Alas, it is not so. A cat--no ghost card.
Then again, ghost can't do a car, and we know VN didn't drive.
On this subject, Carolyn, I got nowhere with anagramming
Edsel Ford, unless the solder-fed Dr. Self-Ode folds deer.
Worth a try, anyway.)

> 2. "Just half a shade": I don't think this quote from Dr. A can be
> so easily dismissed. I believe this is the moment where Shade's
> identity splits. I also don't believe that the Dr. really said this,
> as it doesn't really make much sense as a Dr's response to Shade.
> I am not alone in either of these assertions. Kinbote himself, in
> C.727-728, says "The doctor is made to suggest that not only did
> Shade retain in his trance half of his identity but that he was
> also half a ghost. Knowing the [doctor] I venture to add that he
> is far too stodgy to have displayed any such wit."

Kinbote's explanation seems perfectly valid to me (though he
misses "half a shade" meaning "a slight tinge"), as does
his suggestion that Shade took the opportunity to make a pun
himself and ascribe it to Dr. Ahlert.

> 3. Most of the correspondences between Shade's poem (and life)
> and Kinbote's commentary have been laid out by Boyd in support
> of his Hazel Shade ghost theory. I don't find Boyd very convincing
> on the Hazel part of the theory, but the correspondences must be
> accounted for somehow. The MPD theory, for me, is a much simpler
> way of making those connections. (In a conversation with Tiffany,
> she pointed out to me the odd symmetry between the clockwork
> toy--a black boy pushing a wheelbarrow--that Shade was playing
> with when he had his first attack and Kinbote's black gardener,
> who was pushing a wheelbarrow when Shade met his end.)
...

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.