In a message dated 11/27/2007 10:59:17 AM Central Standard Time, NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:

I enjoyed the connection among "lamp, an apple", /Ampelis/,
and /sampel/. However, I don't see the "pl" repetitions as
pyrotechnic. "Gradual and dual" is spectacular, but in
my experience of writing poetry, the sound repetitions
happen by themselves (English has only 35 or 40 phonemes)
and you can learn to hear them and add to them without
much trouble.

In regard to Sergei's question, Shade says "/my/ apple on
a plate". This can't be an apple in a decorative fruit
bowl such as you've observed; it has to be one that he has
or (in my opinion) has been given as a child, for the
purpose of eating. I agree with others that the adult Shade's
difficulty in starting an apple seems to be relevant here.
When, as a child, I was given an apple on a saucer, it
didn't last long enough for me to look at its reflection in
a window.

It should be obvious that Shade was here predicting the soon-to-be existence of that other Nabokov creation, "Alfred Appel." Alfred once told me that his son was in a class in which the professor stated, in a manner that would discourage any argument on the subject, that "Alfred Appel" was a fictional character invented by VN to "explain" Lolita. Apparently the son had to produce his birth certificate as evidence that A. A. was, in fact, a real person with a genuine gene-pool! VN cast very long shadows, as it were.

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