Subject
Fw: A liitle more Wingstroke" Some background on furry-winged
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Scheper" <glenn_scheper@earthlink.net>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approvademonsl (156
lines) ------------------
> Yesterday at work I read Dane Gill's questions:
> > Did anyone else find it odd that the angel had
> > wings of fur instead of feathers?
> > ... did anyone else find this story REALLY creepy?
>
> I savored all day catching VN in too obvious a trope:
> to demonstrate he knows well this occult taboo realm
> where furry wings are not merely possible, but exact.
>
> Guessing Wingstroke was a short story, I pulled _The
> Stories of Vladimir Nabokov_ from two feet of books,
> skimmed it on the spot in the store. At the opening
> line I divided excitedly: are crossed ski tips the
> first allusion into our domain? More words poured.
>
> I recall the same with _Despair_. I started excitedly
> spoting correspondences. The next day, I re-read the
> same pages and depaired of proving a thing. Despair's
> character admitted outright, he lies -- my consolation.
>
> I remembered Nabokov's job is not a tidy structural
> exposition of our domain, wherein I feel singularly
> alone, hard to be believed; rather his the weaving
> of literature, cooking a dish where one does not say,
> I can notice this particular spice.
>
> To guarantee a contrast, I surfed: The Web shows little
> else of furry wings, albeit 3 of 4 are about butterflies:
> http://www.mic-d.com/gallery/butterfly/fourbarswallowtailb1.html
> http://www.mic-d.com/gallery/butterfly/lemonyellowgiantorangetipd3.html
> http://www.olympusmicro.com/micd/galleries/butterfly/cruiserb3.html
> http://www.gavinrymill.com/dinosaurs/feathers/dinos.html
>
> So into a lacking simulacrum, I will now posit the referent.
>
> There are two relevant descriptions of six-winged creatures:
> one of seraphs, and another of non-seraphim beasts in the KJV
> (but Ezekiel 1 is not related, where wing is merely extremity).
> These are both human females: Count 'em: Six labia: Six wings.
>
> The monadic tantric Seraphim covers her face with two wings,
> covers her feet (an obvious euphemism for genitalia on the
> well-known model of the ancient idiom, hand) with two wings;
> And just recently, I was reading a web harvest wherein I saw
> zebub, as in Baalzebub, means not only fly, but flit, a word
> that also appears in Wingstroke. One of my favorite resources
> from the web is a free MPEG movie of one such seraphim using
> her tongue to avidly flit the remaining two of her six wings.
>
> Both sources continue about the difficulty relating the idea,
> and one source has sea of glass, where Nabokov wrote mirrors:
>
>
> Isaiah:
>
> 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting
> upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
> temple.
>
> 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
> twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
> and with twain he did fly.
>
> 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the
> LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
>
> 6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that
> cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
>
> 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
> unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
> lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
>
> 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
> his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the
> altar:
>
> 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched
> thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
> purged.
>
> 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send,
> and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
>
> 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
> understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
>
>
> Revelation:
>
> 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto
> crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the
> throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
>
> 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like
> a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the
> fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
>
> 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and
> they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and
> night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was,
> and is, and is to come.
>
> 4:9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him
> that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
>
> 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on
> the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and
> cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
>
> 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
> power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
> they are and were created.
>
> 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a
> book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven
> seals.
>
> 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is
> worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
>
> 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth,
> was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
>
> 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and
> to read the book, neither to look thereon.
>
>
> To pick up some other loose ends, the four beasts of Revelation,
> (which adds the eye/opthamos/hole fact) were whores, not angels.
> A cherubim ('sword') is the male angel, having only two wings.
>
> Anyway, Isabel is the angel herself. The mirrored wardrobe and
> the pistol represents Kern's two acts with her: oral & phallic.
> That he is a novice, and melanchoic, suggests Kern is a cherub,
> alo suggested by the pistol in the grip, like a small wardrobe,
> and at the end willing to demonstrate the act for the preacher.
>
> The spookiness would arise because such beings are ontically
> different from the rest of humans, an alienation like death.
> This is our crucifixion, a term also mentioned in Wingstroke.
>
> The crushed ribcase is a human form problem, alluded to by
> both Millay and Dickenson (my favorite female death expert).
>
> If somebody else would pick away at these tropes, we'd soon
> have all the referents, and a modern ontology to distinguish
> cherubs, Christ from Satan, and usher in the next millenium.
> It's important. As Kafka said, one's very being is at stake.
>
> Yours truly,
> Glenn Scheper
> http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
> glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
> Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
>
From: "Glenn Scheper" <glenn_scheper@earthlink.net>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approvademonsl (156
lines) ------------------
> Yesterday at work I read Dane Gill's questions:
> > Did anyone else find it odd that the angel had
> > wings of fur instead of feathers?
> > ... did anyone else find this story REALLY creepy?
>
> I savored all day catching VN in too obvious a trope:
> to demonstrate he knows well this occult taboo realm
> where furry wings are not merely possible, but exact.
>
> Guessing Wingstroke was a short story, I pulled _The
> Stories of Vladimir Nabokov_ from two feet of books,
> skimmed it on the spot in the store. At the opening
> line I divided excitedly: are crossed ski tips the
> first allusion into our domain? More words poured.
>
> I recall the same with _Despair_. I started excitedly
> spoting correspondences. The next day, I re-read the
> same pages and depaired of proving a thing. Despair's
> character admitted outright, he lies -- my consolation.
>
> I remembered Nabokov's job is not a tidy structural
> exposition of our domain, wherein I feel singularly
> alone, hard to be believed; rather his the weaving
> of literature, cooking a dish where one does not say,
> I can notice this particular spice.
>
> To guarantee a contrast, I surfed: The Web shows little
> else of furry wings, albeit 3 of 4 are about butterflies:
> http://www.mic-d.com/gallery/butterfly/fourbarswallowtailb1.html
> http://www.mic-d.com/gallery/butterfly/lemonyellowgiantorangetipd3.html
> http://www.olympusmicro.com/micd/galleries/butterfly/cruiserb3.html
> http://www.gavinrymill.com/dinosaurs/feathers/dinos.html
>
> So into a lacking simulacrum, I will now posit the referent.
>
> There are two relevant descriptions of six-winged creatures:
> one of seraphs, and another of non-seraphim beasts in the KJV
> (but Ezekiel 1 is not related, where wing is merely extremity).
> These are both human females: Count 'em: Six labia: Six wings.
>
> The monadic tantric Seraphim covers her face with two wings,
> covers her feet (an obvious euphemism for genitalia on the
> well-known model of the ancient idiom, hand) with two wings;
> And just recently, I was reading a web harvest wherein I saw
> zebub, as in Baalzebub, means not only fly, but flit, a word
> that also appears in Wingstroke. One of my favorite resources
> from the web is a free MPEG movie of one such seraphim using
> her tongue to avidly flit the remaining two of her six wings.
>
> Both sources continue about the difficulty relating the idea,
> and one source has sea of glass, where Nabokov wrote mirrors:
>
>
> Isaiah:
>
> 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting
> upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
> temple.
>
> 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
> twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
> and with twain he did fly.
>
> 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the
> LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
>
> 6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that
> cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
>
> 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
> unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
> lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
>
> 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
> his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the
> altar:
>
> 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched
> thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
> purged.
>
> 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send,
> and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
>
> 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
> understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
>
>
> Revelation:
>
> 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto
> crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the
> throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
>
> 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like
> a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the
> fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
>
> 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and
> they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and
> night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was,
> and is, and is to come.
>
> 4:9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him
> that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
>
> 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on
> the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and
> cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
>
> 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
> power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
> they are and were created.
>
> 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a
> book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven
> seals.
>
> 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is
> worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
>
> 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth,
> was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
>
> 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and
> to read the book, neither to look thereon.
>
>
> To pick up some other loose ends, the four beasts of Revelation,
> (which adds the eye/opthamos/hole fact) were whores, not angels.
> A cherubim ('sword') is the male angel, having only two wings.
>
> Anyway, Isabel is the angel herself. The mirrored wardrobe and
> the pistol represents Kern's two acts with her: oral & phallic.
> That he is a novice, and melanchoic, suggests Kern is a cherub,
> alo suggested by the pistol in the grip, like a small wardrobe,
> and at the end willing to demonstrate the act for the preacher.
>
> The spookiness would arise because such beings are ontically
> different from the rest of humans, an alienation like death.
> This is our crucifixion, a term also mentioned in Wingstroke.
>
> The crushed ribcase is a human form problem, alluded to by
> both Millay and Dickenson (my favorite female death expert).
>
> If somebody else would pick away at these tropes, we'd soon
> have all the referents, and a modern ontology to distinguish
> cherubs, Christ from Satan, and usher in the next millenium.
> It's important. As Kafka said, one's very being is at stake.
>
> Yours truly,
> Glenn Scheper
> http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
> glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
> Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
>