----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2003 6:46 AM
Subject: Omar Khayyám
Don ( and List ),
While reading another chapter of
your book on Worlds in Infinite Regression I found a small note in
which you commented on an old metaphor that has been in use for
centuries and which was employed by VN in "The
Luzhin Defense".
This old metaphor may have arisen
in twelfth century Persia, or at least, gained poetic
expression by one of that country´s leading astronomer and mathematician:
Omar Khayáam.
In a dear old High-School anthology I
discovered Edward Fitzgerald´s translation of Khayyám which was widely read
in England ( and widely quoted by other poets...Even Peanut´s author Charles
Schulz sometimes had Linus recite Khayáam! ):
WE ARE NO OTHER THAN A MOVING ROW
OF MAGIC SHADOW-SHAPES THAT COME AND
GO
ROUND WITH THE SUN-ILLUMINED LANTERN
HELD
IN MIDNIGHT BY THE MASTER OF THE SHOW;
But helpless Pieces of the Game He
plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and
Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and
slays,
And one by one back in the Closet
lays.
The Ball no question makes of Ayes and
Noes,
But Here or There as strikes the Player
goes;
And He that tossed you down into the
Field,
He knows about it all - he knows- HE
knows!
The Moving Finger writes; and having
writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a
Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of
it.
Not only those lines seem to gain a special light
when set in comparison with The Luzhin Defense, but they may also refract it on
to ADA or Pale Fire...
I had read Khayámm in Portuguese as a young girl
and for the benefit ot those on the list that read Portuguese here it is ( there
are at least three different translations for it and they all sound different
!):
Somos peões de uma partida de xadrês jogada por
Deus
Que nos desloca para trás ou nos põe mais
adiante
E enfim nos recolhe, um a um, à caixa do
Nada.
Jansy