Although in Sandy's posting the theme is butterflies (A
rt
and Modernity - http://weimarart.blogspot.com/ ) one of the images reminded me
of a scene in
Ada connected to "
circling on
libellula wings" (whose first appearance, related to umbrellas, comes in
Pale Fire *).
I tried to check the dreamlike creation related to a meeting with Ada
in Van's wing à terre, only to be puzzled by something entirely
distinct. The first reference to libellula flights appears in connection to
Aqua!
We know that it is Van who is writing about his adopted mother Aqua
and, therefore, he must have been the originator of such an image
about how to reach Terra the Fair. However the overall intention
of this connection escapes me, or its hypermnemic recurrence in a
letter by Ada. Does anyone have a theory about it?
Cf. (a) Aqua’s bivouacs...her real destination was
Terra the Fair and thither she trusted she would fly on libellula long wings
when she died...;
(b) He had prepared one of
those phrases that sound right in dreams but lame in lucid life: ‘I saw you
circling above me on libellula wings’; he broke down on ‘...ula,’ and fell at
her feet...;
(c) Dasha, my sister-in-law...once
upon a time, once upon libellula wings, not long before my marriage, she
attended...one of your public lectures on dreams...
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