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Fw: Fw: Fw: IPH solution? (Pale Pire) (cont.)
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Stringer-Hye, Suellen" <suellen.stringer-hye@vanderbilt.edu>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (96
lines) ------------------
> I have often thought that IPH might be (amongst other things) a
> humorous critique of Theosophy founded by the Russian aristocrat
> Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891)and popular in Russia during
> Nabokov's childhood.
>
>
> --On Friday, July 18, 2003 9:53 AM -0700 "D. Barton Johnson"
> <chtodel@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > EDNOTE. Yeh, the "pale pire" in the subject line was my typo.
> > For a series of ingenious transformations of the title PALE FIRE,
> > see Tom Bolt's long poem DARK ICE on ZEMBLA. And Yes, my terminal
> > EDNOTE was whimsy.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mary Krimmel" <mary@krimmel.net>
> >>
> >> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (58
> > lines) ------------------
> >> A couple of points:
> >>
> >> Is that Subject line in the heading a misprint for Pale Fire or
> >> for a pun Pale Pyre?
> >>
> >> Although Phi with Beta Kappa is "fie", as is phi in the
> >> American Heritage Dictionary, mathematicians just about
> >> universally say "fee", as I believe that Greeks do.
> >>
> >> Or is the EDNOTE "fie" intended only as another pun?
> >>
> >> The number as given in the book is 1.618, but I believe any
> >> mathematician and many others cringe at seeing this rational
> >> expression used instead of the more clearly irrational
> >> expression 1.618... The book (or the
> > characters
> >> in the book) give much other misinformation about the number
> >> Phi, and
> > quite
> >> possibly about other esoterica.
> >>
> >> Although a distinction is sometimes made between Phi and phi, to
> >> represent Phi and its inverse, I believe that the all-upper case
> >> PHI is not
> > generally
> >> used. Some character in the book, however, does point out the
> > pronunciation
> >> "fee".
> >>
> >> Mary Krimmel
> >>
> >> At 05:47 PM 7/17/03 -0700, you wrote:
> >> > ----- Original Message -----
> >> > From: "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
> >> > To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
> >> > Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:36 AM
> >> > Subject: IPH solution?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > >
> >> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (15
> >> > lines) ------------------
> >> > > To the List,
> >> > >
> >> > > I am reading a dreadful novel currently being pushed even on
> >> > > NPR
> > called
> >> > "The
> >> > > Da Vinci Code." The usual shlock-thriller with an intriguing
> >> > > twist for Nabokovians -- lots of information on de-coding (I
> >> > > did not know, for example, that anagrams were ever
> >> > > considered sacred, which the author claims).
> >> > >
> >> > > There is quite a bit about the golden mean and the Fibonacci
> >> > > numbers,
> > and
> >> > by
> >> > > chance, instead of writing the ratio 1.0821 (or whatever it
> >> > > is) as the
> >> > Greek
> >> > > letter Phi (as in Phi Beta Kappa), it is written PHI.
> >> > >
> >> > > I wonder iph ...
> >> > >
> >> > > Carolyn
> >> > ------------------------------
> >> > EDNOTE. "PHI" (Fie) is not a bad response to Shade's "IPH"
> >> > (Institute of Preparation for the Hereafter."
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Stringer-Hye, Suellen
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu
From: "Stringer-Hye, Suellen" <suellen.stringer-hye@vanderbilt.edu>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (96
lines) ------------------
> I have often thought that IPH might be (amongst other things) a
> humorous critique of Theosophy founded by the Russian aristocrat
> Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891)and popular in Russia during
> Nabokov's childhood.
>
>
> --On Friday, July 18, 2003 9:53 AM -0700 "D. Barton Johnson"
> <chtodel@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > EDNOTE. Yeh, the "pale pire" in the subject line was my typo.
> > For a series of ingenious transformations of the title PALE FIRE,
> > see Tom Bolt's long poem DARK ICE on ZEMBLA. And Yes, my terminal
> > EDNOTE was whimsy.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mary Krimmel" <mary@krimmel.net>
> >>
> >> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (58
> > lines) ------------------
> >> A couple of points:
> >>
> >> Is that Subject line in the heading a misprint for Pale Fire or
> >> for a pun Pale Pyre?
> >>
> >> Although Phi with Beta Kappa is "fie", as is phi in the
> >> American Heritage Dictionary, mathematicians just about
> >> universally say "fee", as I believe that Greeks do.
> >>
> >> Or is the EDNOTE "fie" intended only as another pun?
> >>
> >> The number as given in the book is 1.618, but I believe any
> >> mathematician and many others cringe at seeing this rational
> >> expression used instead of the more clearly irrational
> >> expression 1.618... The book (or the
> > characters
> >> in the book) give much other misinformation about the number
> >> Phi, and
> > quite
> >> possibly about other esoterica.
> >>
> >> Although a distinction is sometimes made between Phi and phi, to
> >> represent Phi and its inverse, I believe that the all-upper case
> >> PHI is not
> > generally
> >> used. Some character in the book, however, does point out the
> > pronunciation
> >> "fee".
> >>
> >> Mary Krimmel
> >>
> >> At 05:47 PM 7/17/03 -0700, you wrote:
> >> > ----- Original Message -----
> >> > From: "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
> >> > To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
> >> > Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:36 AM
> >> > Subject: IPH solution?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > >
> >> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (15
> >> > lines) ------------------
> >> > > To the List,
> >> > >
> >> > > I am reading a dreadful novel currently being pushed even on
> >> > > NPR
> > called
> >> > "The
> >> > > Da Vinci Code." The usual shlock-thriller with an intriguing
> >> > > twist for Nabokovians -- lots of information on de-coding (I
> >> > > did not know, for example, that anagrams were ever
> >> > > considered sacred, which the author claims).
> >> > >
> >> > > There is quite a bit about the golden mean and the Fibonacci
> >> > > numbers,
> > and
> >> > by
> >> > > chance, instead of writing the ratio 1.0821 (or whatever it
> >> > > is) as the
> >> > Greek
> >> > > letter Phi (as in Phi Beta Kappa), it is written PHI.
> >> > >
> >> > > I wonder iph ...
> >> > >
> >> > > Carolyn
> >> > ------------------------------
> >> > EDNOTE. "PHI" (Fie) is not a bad response to Shade's "IPH"
> >> > (Institute of Preparation for the Hereafter."
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Stringer-Hye, Suellen
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu