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Leonardo's "Ashen Glow"
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Dear List,
Nabokov's indications about "Pale Fire" & its relation to the moon are clear enough. While I was permanently getting lost during my inquiries over the adoption of the Gregorian calendar ( in Russia it took place only in 1918), I read through various other kinds of time-measurements and I was intrigued by the "lunar calendar" and a reference to its use by a "fine crescent" ( resulting from Earthshine). Leonardo da Vinci's words for it were also curious ("ashen glow", "the Old moon in the New moon's arms").
In the novel, is it really Kinbote who "steals his opalescent light" from John Shade and the latter, Kinbote's fiery orb, a sun?
According to a NASA site, it was Leonardo Da Vinci who solved the astronomical riddle of the Earthshine, something one can see whenever there's a crescent Moon on the horizon, at sunset, by looking between the horns of the crescent after a ghostly image of the full Moon.
In his Codex Leicester (circa 1510) we see Leonardo's sketch of a crescent moon with Earthshine.
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Nabokov's indications about "Pale Fire" & its relation to the moon are clear enough. While I was permanently getting lost during my inquiries over the adoption of the Gregorian calendar ( in Russia it took place only in 1918), I read through various other kinds of time-measurements and I was intrigued by the "lunar calendar" and a reference to its use by a "fine crescent" ( resulting from Earthshine). Leonardo da Vinci's words for it were also curious ("ashen glow", "the Old moon in the New moon's arms").
In the novel, is it really Kinbote who "steals his opalescent light" from John Shade and the latter, Kinbote's fiery orb, a sun?
According to a NASA site, it was Leonardo Da Vinci who solved the astronomical riddle of the Earthshine, something one can see whenever there's a crescent Moon on the horizon, at sunset, by looking between the horns of the crescent after a ghostly image of the full Moon.
In his Codex Leicester (circa 1510) we see Leonardo's sketch of a crescent moon with Earthshine.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
