Subject
QUERY: Iridule
From
Date
Body
Jerry Friedman replies to Jansy Mello:
On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:14 PM, jansymello <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
In the present dry season, in Brasilia, rain is only expected in
October. Nevertheless, inspite of the incipient draught and future
spotless blue skies, yesterday there were a few thinning strands of
clouds on which I discerned a small squarish patch of rainbow, encased
in the barest outline of a disrupted arc.
If rain there was, for the needed refraction of the light creating an
iridescence, it must be falling high up in the strata and never reach
the earth.
This is called virga, but I have to be careful about saying that here
in New Mexico (where virga is common), because the word is on the verge,
Van, of an obscene Spanish word.
But you may have seen one of the many colorful phenomena caused by ice
crystals high in the atmosphere rather than a rainbow.
The rainbow is a "virtual" object and the iridule is a mirage
(fatamorgana), a phenomenon that actualizes the rainbow in our eyes and
"cages" our imagination.
Mirages, including what's called the Fata Morgana, are something else
again.
Like Tchekov's "Black Monk"? Iridules, according to Shade, are a rare
phenomenon. I don't think I ever saw one, I wonder if they exist except
for Shade. Has anyone ever found an iridule?
Nabokov, apparently. Brian Boyd says that in the summer of 1951, in
Telluride, Colorado, the Nabokovs saw a rainbow every evening and often
saw what VN would call an iridule in /Pale Fire/ (VNAY, pp. 201-202).
Unfortunately for us fans of atmospheric optical phenomena, Brian
doesn't describe what the Nabokovs said, tell us whether Nabokov said at
the time that the "iridule" was a reflection of the rainbow, or give his
own thoughts or expert comments about any interpretation Nabokov may
have made. His source may be a letter from Véra to Igor Trofimov.
As I've said here before, I don't think Shade's description can be
correct, because I don't believe a cloud can reflect an image,
especially of something distant and no brighter than its surroundings.
Kinbote's comments add to the confusion. An iridescent cloud is one
thing, a parhelion is another, and a mother-of-pearl cloud is yet
another.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_iridescence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-of-pearl_cloud
I still suspect that Nabokov saw a parhelion and a rainbow at the same
time and thought, or let Shade think, that the former was a reflection
of the latter. In that case Kinbote, of all people, would be right.
I have no idea how the alder fits in. Something to do with alderflies,
aquatic insects of the family Sialidae? But in pictures on the Web, they
don't seem to be iridescent.
Jerry Friedman
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On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:14 PM, jansymello <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
In the present dry season, in Brasilia, rain is only expected in
October. Nevertheless, inspite of the incipient draught and future
spotless blue skies, yesterday there were a few thinning strands of
clouds on which I discerned a small squarish patch of rainbow, encased
in the barest outline of a disrupted arc.
If rain there was, for the needed refraction of the light creating an
iridescence, it must be falling high up in the strata and never reach
the earth.
This is called virga, but I have to be careful about saying that here
in New Mexico (where virga is common), because the word is on the verge,
Van, of an obscene Spanish word.
But you may have seen one of the many colorful phenomena caused by ice
crystals high in the atmosphere rather than a rainbow.
The rainbow is a "virtual" object and the iridule is a mirage
(fatamorgana), a phenomenon that actualizes the rainbow in our eyes and
"cages" our imagination.
Mirages, including what's called the Fata Morgana, are something else
again.
Like Tchekov's "Black Monk"? Iridules, according to Shade, are a rare
phenomenon. I don't think I ever saw one, I wonder if they exist except
for Shade. Has anyone ever found an iridule?
Nabokov, apparently. Brian Boyd says that in the summer of 1951, in
Telluride, Colorado, the Nabokovs saw a rainbow every evening and often
saw what VN would call an iridule in /Pale Fire/ (VNAY, pp. 201-202).
Unfortunately for us fans of atmospheric optical phenomena, Brian
doesn't describe what the Nabokovs said, tell us whether Nabokov said at
the time that the "iridule" was a reflection of the rainbow, or give his
own thoughts or expert comments about any interpretation Nabokov may
have made. His source may be a letter from Véra to Igor Trofimov.
As I've said here before, I don't think Shade's description can be
correct, because I don't believe a cloud can reflect an image,
especially of something distant and no brighter than its surroundings.
Kinbote's comments add to the confusion. An iridescent cloud is one
thing, a parhelion is another, and a mother-of-pearl cloud is yet
another.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_iridescence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-of-pearl_cloud
I still suspect that Nabokov saw a parhelion and a rainbow at the same
time and thought, or let Shade think, that the former was a reflection
of the latter. In that case Kinbote, of all people, would be right.
I have no idea how the alder fits in. Something to do with alderflies,
aquatic insects of the family Sialidae? But in pictures on the Web, they
don't seem to be iridescent.
Jerry Friedman
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/