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Re: Fw: [NABOKV-L] Nekti/Samovar/ Hippopotamians
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First message, in answer to: The word anadem is to be found in the OED: "(poet.) a wreath for the head, usually of flowers; a chaplet, a garland." Believe me, the OCE is no help when reading ADA, even Webster's 3rd, as opposed to his 2nd, does not cite all the words, and that fact prompted me -if I am allowed this personal reminiscence- to purchase the OED in 1988.VN chose that particular word, as always, for its precision. A diadem and tiara are something else. A. Bouazza.
One of the reasons I had been wondering about the "anadem of marguerites" was because it sounded so foreign. The picnic scene usually brought to my mind the opening paragraphs of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and Alice's daisy-chain : "what is the use of a book, ' thought Alice without pictures or conversation?' So she was considering in her own mind (...) whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her."
I supposed that Nabokov had wanted to dispel this Carrollian image and therefore he avoided both daisies and garlands .More common words ( instead of tiara,diadema) could be, as Penny suggested, "posy", but I agree with A. Bouazza's observation for VN's choosing "anadem for the sake of precision".
Bouazza's help has been invaluable when I recently tried to locate two items: "undinism" and "nonons".
In Appel's note on "undinism or fountainism" - and isn't there a scene in ADA with Mlle "La Rivière" generating non-potable water during one of the birthday picnics ?- the commentator quoted Nabokov who noted that not only Havelock Ellis, but also Leopold Bloom were stimulated by urinating females.
Fact and fiction ( Ellis and Bloom) are like the cheat of a " half-opened rose's cool life that kissed Van's fingers with pouting lips" coming through the texture of a flower. This "texture" shall soon become sexualized: " 'Now what's this? The cap of the Red Bolete is not half as plushy. In fact' (positively chattering), 'I'm reminded of geranium or rather pelargonium bloom.' (...) 'Oh, I like this texture, Van, I like it! Really I do!' " The red-capped Steinmann, in "Pale Fire", because it is like a "red-riding hood" that covers a monument, might also fit these allusions, only I fear only Kinbote would know it for sure.
Second message: Anamorphosis
There was a posting that I couldn't send in time with information about the book on Anamorphoses. Here it is:
Jurgis Baltruisaitis, "Anamorphoses ou Thaumaturgus Opticus ( Les Perspectives Depravées) Ed. Flammarion.
The inside cover informs us that:
Anamorphosis consists of the process by which an image is deformed to the point of its being annuled ( anéantissement), when it is brought back and "ressucitated" after we look at it from a determined point of view. Every kind of "depraved perspective" demands a particular application of its own laws. It began to be employed at the beginning of the XVIth century by Leonardo da Vinci and Dürer. New techniques have been constantly added to the initial work with three-dimensional recreation and were succeeded by anamorphosis using mirrors. In this case the mirror serves to reconstitute the image instead of the an oblique view that had to be attempted to understand the image. Anamorphosis employs cone or cylinder-shaped mirrors. During different periods of time it was employed for religious purposes and for creating magical tricks....
Jansy
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