Subject
ADA's mulberry and burnberry
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Date
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I think VN must be smiling on Terra at the thought of Don, with his rich
knowledge of natural history, imagining that burnberry is a real plant. It is a
plant only in the other sense, "something deliberately placed so that its
discovery may deceive or mislead" (W3). But I am hardly surprised that it seems
familiar to him: there are few who know ADA better.
VN provides a plausible etymology, from "burn" in the sense of brook, but it is
invented as part of the berry motif, which itself pays homage to the drupes and
berries and other fruit in the central panel of Bosch's Garden of Earthly
Delights; but "burnberry" in particular also glances toward the the hellish
right panel, with its lurid fires.
As for "bury or burn" at 9.09-10: it is quite pointedly an advance transmutation
of the "burnberry" motif; the fact that it LOOKS different (two words, different
parts of speech, different spelling) emphasizes the ingenuity of Nabokovian
motif-making and strengthens rather than weakens the link. To my judgment at
least "burn or bury" is much less pointedly part of the more diffuse "burn"
motif, associated especially with the Burning Barn, but also more generally
with the idea of the flames of desire. In that sense, perhaps it is close
enough to list under "burn" as well. Could you please add, Jeff (burn under
MOTIF and 9.09-10, and links both ways)? I would also add to the
Acknowledgments the name of the person who started this thread if s/he were
willing to discard anonymity.
And thanks for reading with such attention to detail, and curiosity. The best
reward for the effort involved.
Brian Boyd
________________________________
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Wed 2/23/2005 8:12 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fwd: mulberry and burnberry
EDNOTE. I too skimmed through my fairly extensive botanical library without
finding "burnberry." Odd, it certainly seems familiar. I wonder if there is a
similarly named Russian plant?
-------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 13:07:38 -0000
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Following Boyd´s fascinating text on the "Inseparable Fates" chapter of his "
Nabokov´s Ada" I came across once more a very complete and complex analysis
about the mulberry-soap reference.
Soon later I found " Lucete hides among the burnberry bushes" and has her shorts
"stained with burnberry purple".
I remember Boyd explaining that a brook is a "burn" ( page 141) .
I have not been able to locate any "burnberry" amidst the botanical references I
could acess. Are there indeed " burnberries" and "burnberry bushes" as real
plants?
If not, would those plants be an indirect way of introducing the "here we go
round the mulberry bush" theme?
If it happens to be so ( burnberry as another way of writing about mulberry ) we
would once again find those curious exchanges bt word sounds in Nabokov...
Could any botanist in the list help ?
Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
knowledge of natural history, imagining that burnberry is a real plant. It is a
plant only in the other sense, "something deliberately placed so that its
discovery may deceive or mislead" (W3). But I am hardly surprised that it seems
familiar to him: there are few who know ADA better.
VN provides a plausible etymology, from "burn" in the sense of brook, but it is
invented as part of the berry motif, which itself pays homage to the drupes and
berries and other fruit in the central panel of Bosch's Garden of Earthly
Delights; but "burnberry" in particular also glances toward the the hellish
right panel, with its lurid fires.
As for "bury or burn" at 9.09-10: it is quite pointedly an advance transmutation
of the "burnberry" motif; the fact that it LOOKS different (two words, different
parts of speech, different spelling) emphasizes the ingenuity of Nabokovian
motif-making and strengthens rather than weakens the link. To my judgment at
least "burn or bury" is much less pointedly part of the more diffuse "burn"
motif, associated especially with the Burning Barn, but also more generally
with the idea of the flames of desire. In that sense, perhaps it is close
enough to list under "burn" as well. Could you please add, Jeff (burn under
MOTIF and 9.09-10, and links both ways)? I would also add to the
Acknowledgments the name of the person who started this thread if s/he were
willing to discard anonymity.
And thanks for reading with such attention to detail, and curiosity. The best
reward for the effort involved.
Brian Boyd
________________________________
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Wed 2/23/2005 8:12 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fwd: mulberry and burnberry
EDNOTE. I too skimmed through my fairly extensive botanical library without
finding "burnberry." Odd, it certainly seems familiar. I wonder if there is a
similarly named Russian plant?
-------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 13:07:38 -0000
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Following Boyd´s fascinating text on the "Inseparable Fates" chapter of his "
Nabokov´s Ada" I came across once more a very complete and complex analysis
about the mulberry-soap reference.
Soon later I found " Lucete hides among the burnberry bushes" and has her shorts
"stained with burnberry purple".
I remember Boyd explaining that a brook is a "burn" ( page 141) .
I have not been able to locate any "burnberry" amidst the botanical references I
could acess. Are there indeed " burnberries" and "burnberry bushes" as real
plants?
If not, would those plants be an indirect way of introducing the "here we go
round the mulberry bush" theme?
If it happens to be so ( burnberry as another way of writing about mulberry ) we
would once again find those curious exchanges bt word sounds in Nabokov...
Could any botanist in the list help ?
Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----