Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010648, Thu, 25 Nov 2004 11:14:58 -0800

Subject
Fw: ADA Rimbaud
Date
Body


----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 15:48:40 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>


Hello, Brian

Thank you for the very instigating answer. After your clue about Rimbaud, I
found a French site ( with a section named "De couleur en couleur") which
opened up not only Rimbaud´s "Mémoire", but a reference to his synesthaesia...
It was a cleverly arranged program which carried all the various entries into
the same poetic theme or even for a single word by Rimbaud ( a little too
thorough, almost a spoil-sport ).

We have a common word in Portuguese for the crescent-shape that forms at the
edge of any jar filled with liquid and which is connected to the surface
tension that creates a drop and establishes a holding limit for the exploration
of Transparent Things.
I don´t remember having found it in VN´s various immersions around the "water"
theme. I refer to "meniscus". It suddenly occurred to me that specially useful
words ( meniscus has "moon" in its origin, here as a crescent moon, and not on
the "vane" ) left relatively unexplored by VN could yield information about
his style, too.
Just as his insistent probings to describe the colour of grey-green eyes, such
as Lolita´s and, perhaps, Ada´s ( miniver/vair/vert/never/hiver ) which he
didn´t appear to find satisfactorily rendered whenever he referred to them...
Jansy

Jouet de cet oeil d'eau morne, je n'y puis prendre,
ô canot immobile ! oh! bras trop courts ! ni l'une
ni l'autre fleur : ni la jaune qui m'importune,
là ; ni la bleue, amie à l'eau couleur de cendre.

Arthur Rimbaud, Mémoire
un I rouge
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles,... (Voyelles)
des Poèmes rouges
Blancs, verts, et rouges dioptriques,... (Ce qu'on dit au poète à propos de
fleurs)

----- End forwarded message -----
Attachment