Subject
Pale Fire's IPH & Ada's Institute of Fritillaries (and emerald
cases)
cases)
From
Date
Body
The opening of Shade's Canto III of Pale Fire introduces the "Institute
of Preparation for the Hereafter (I.P.H.)":
L'if, lifeless tree! Your great Maybe, Rabelais:
The grand potato.
I.P.H., a lay
Institute (I) of Preparation (P)
For the Hereafter (H), or If, as we
Called it--big if!--engaged me [. . . .]
IPH
Was a larvorium and a violet:
PF's "larvOrium" is apparently a Nabokovian neologism, while ADA's
"larvArium" is a recognized term.
The PF passage foreshadows that in ADA I, 13 in which Ada introduces Van
to her "larvArium" where she breeds butterfly larvae. Her collection of
specimens is intended to become the basis for a "special Institute of
Fritillary larva" and the special violets they breed on. NB how neatly
the Institute of Fritillaries lends itself to becoming PF's big IF.
PF with its parallel of butterfly metamorphosis and the "big if" is one
of the sources of the word-play in PF in naming the Institute of
Preparation for the Hereafter (I.P.H) -- along with the French "L'if,"
the yew tree, which is a stock symbol of death and immortality.
-----------------------------------------------
Also, I am pondering the "emerald case" in the earlier line 236:
Espied on a pine's bark,
As we were walking home the day she died,
An empty emerald case, squat and frog-eyed,
Hugging the trunk
This evokes the same metamorphosis theme as the above. Having inspected
a number of empty cicada cases (and having contacted a cicada
specialist) , I am puzzled about the "green" coloring. Neither he nor
I have ever seen a green case. Could it been the powers of alliteration
("empty emerald"), plus VN's frequent association of "green" with death
that led him to retint nature? If so--a rare case for VN. My speculation
gains force from the presence of the villainous Gerald Emerald,
Kinbote's arch-detractor in the English Department and the alleged
transporter of Gradus to the Shade/Kinbote residences.
D. Barton Johnson
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of Preparation for the Hereafter (I.P.H.)":
L'if, lifeless tree! Your great Maybe, Rabelais:
The grand potato.
I.P.H., a lay
Institute (I) of Preparation (P)
For the Hereafter (H), or If, as we
Called it--big if!--engaged me [. . . .]
IPH
Was a larvorium and a violet:
PF's "larvOrium" is apparently a Nabokovian neologism, while ADA's
"larvArium" is a recognized term.
The PF passage foreshadows that in ADA I, 13 in which Ada introduces Van
to her "larvArium" where she breeds butterfly larvae. Her collection of
specimens is intended to become the basis for a "special Institute of
Fritillary larva" and the special violets they breed on. NB how neatly
the Institute of Fritillaries lends itself to becoming PF's big IF.
PF with its parallel of butterfly metamorphosis and the "big if" is one
of the sources of the word-play in PF in naming the Institute of
Preparation for the Hereafter (I.P.H) -- along with the French "L'if,"
the yew tree, which is a stock symbol of death and immortality.
-----------------------------------------------
Also, I am pondering the "emerald case" in the earlier line 236:
Espied on a pine's bark,
As we were walking home the day she died,
An empty emerald case, squat and frog-eyed,
Hugging the trunk
This evokes the same metamorphosis theme as the above. Having inspected
a number of empty cicada cases (and having contacted a cicada
specialist) , I am puzzled about the "green" coloring. Neither he nor
I have ever seen a green case. Could it been the powers of alliteration
("empty emerald"), plus VN's frequent association of "green" with death
that led him to retint nature? If so--a rare case for VN. My speculation
gains force from the presence of the villainous Gerald Emerald,
Kinbote's arch-detractor in the English Department and the alleged
transporter of Gradus to the Shade/Kinbote residences.
D. Barton Johnson
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm