A.S to JM: There is also a
logogriph in Jules Verne's "Voyage to the Center of the
World."
JM: Thank you. Now I'm doubly curious about
Verne.
(btw: why place John Milton in relation to the assassinated
A.Lincoln? Could it be explained thru the Pushkin connection?)
JA to BB: [Why bring the Vane Sisters in
here? When VN wants to allude to them in later work, he does so in no uncertain
terms.]J.A. Is in complete agreement here, that stiff vane thing is
a pretty iffy connection.
JM: Interesting word,
"iffy" to qualify "stiff" on efforts to eff VN's not-so-hidden
ineffable ifs...
I agree with BB's Some
weathervanes wear down their shafts and become loose, veering with every breeze.
Some rust solid. Others not so far gone move occasionally but stiffly.
Also with B.Karp's poetic image. C. Kunin's information that "stiff
vane" is used in archery is intriguing. I was mistaken when I
supposedthe adjective "stiff" had been employed to create a
variation for "TV antenna" from which the bird flew away and
next, returned.
Like it happens with "cartesian devils",
"clocks with no hands", "barometers" and such, VN often refers to instruments
that measure speed, time, pressure, weather.
The purpose of
this message, though, is to emphasize VN's frequent use of the negative in
relation to Hazel.
1. a white-scarfed beau/ Would never come for her; she’d
never go,/A dream of gauze and jasmine, to that dance.
2.no phantom would/ Rise gracefully to welcome you and
me
I wonder to what purpose! It could be construed as indicating the
opposite*, but for me it represents mainly a figure of "loss" and
"unfulfillment".
other instances (two related to the "beau"
scene):
1.Alas, the dingy cygnet never
turned/Into a wood
duck.
2. No lips
would share the lipstick of her smoke;/The telephone ...For
her would never
ring
There are many
scattered references to different sorts of birds, often linked to deceit or
misapprehension ( duck/cignet; Dot, arrow
pointing back... A pheasant’s feet!;a proud and happy linguist: je
nourris/ Les pauvres cigales — meaning that
he/ Fed
the poor sea gulls!)
....................................................................................................................................................................
*
as in the irony of finding Shade's:
I’m reasonably sure that we survive/ And
that my darling somewhere is alive,/As I am reasonably sure that I/980 Shall wake at six tomorrow, on
July/ The twenty-second, nineteen
fifty-nine...