In the Nab-Map from a suburban map in Despair (ch 3), quoted by
Hafid Bouazza,"the city of Berlin, which is outside the
picture, maybe imagined somewhere in the vicinity of my left
elbow.[...]" which I playfully referred to a
prophetic "Bend Sinister," before I went on to quote another pathological
anatomical charting, now from Pale Fire's lines 148/156, ending with
"And
all tomorrows in my funnybone." I hadn't realized that the
funnybone is related to the elbow, nor that it isn't a bone at all -
but a "funny" sensation of hurt. Granted that Nabokov used to say that the
future doesn't exist ("Ada", "TT", etc), but Shade was prone to
daydream about ghostly tomorrows. However the metaphor that inspires these lines
elludes me, but they certainly tickled my funnybone. *
Any inspiring thoughts?
...............
*wiki: "In human anatomy, the ulnar nerve is a nerve
which runs near the ulna bone. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is
in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest unprotected nerve in
the human body (meaning, unprotected by muscle or bone), so injury is common.
This nerve is directly connected to the little finger, and the adjacent half of
the ring finger, supplying the palmar side of these fingers, including both
front and back of the tips, perhaps as far back as the fingernail beds.One
method of injuring the nerve is to strike the medial epicondyle of the humerus
from posteriorly, or inferiorly with the elbow flexed. The ulnar nerve is
trapped between the bone and the overlying skin at this point. This is commonly
referred to as bumping one's "funny bone." This name is thought to be a pun,
based on the sound resemblance between the name of the bone of the upper arm,
the "humerus" and the word "humorous". Alternatively, according to the OED it
may refer to "the peculiar sensation experienced when it is
struck"