Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0021501, Tue, 5 Apr 2011 07:54:38 -0300

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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?


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*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"

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