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Fw: Odd muses and versipel
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"may I ask you to tell me why you think this provincial American poet has for his muse a versipel, who I believe he says, is always with him. What can he possibly mean by it?" ( Carolyn Kunin)
Versipel might suggest werewolves with their inverted skin, as in Fred Vargas' "L´homme à l'envers", Hiawatha's gloves and, more prosaically, hats and coats made of animal skin worn with the furry side in.
But we must keep in mind that it refers to "that odd muse of mine, / My versipel, is with me everywhere,/ In carrel and in car, and in my chair." Then it might lead us to imagine a special metamorphosis, like the one Carolyn Kunin suggests ( Shade/ Kinbote; Kinbote/Botkin ), or some other transformation: a green jewel-case discarded by a cicada, butterfly wings, a corporeal being turned into shadow, a pile of verse carried in his pocket?
Who knows...
Jansy
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Versipel might suggest werewolves with their inverted skin, as in Fred Vargas' "L´homme à l'envers", Hiawatha's gloves and, more prosaically, hats and coats made of animal skin worn with the furry side in.
But we must keep in mind that it refers to "that odd muse of mine, / My versipel, is with me everywhere,/ In carrel and in car, and in my chair." Then it might lead us to imagine a special metamorphosis, like the one Carolyn Kunin suggests ( Shade/ Kinbote; Kinbote/Botkin ), or some other transformation: a green jewel-case discarded by a cicada, butterfly wings, a corporeal being turned into shadow, a pile of verse carried in his pocket?
Who knows...
Jansy
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