Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008651, Fri, 26 Sep 2003 18:52:44 -0700

Subject
Fw: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3568
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 8:20 PM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3568



>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:10:19 -0700
> From: "sZ" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: NPPF Postmodern Techniques Of Ecstasy
>
> "There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he
> may b considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. a
> major writer combines these three -- storyteller, teacher, enchanter --
but
> it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes for a major
writer."
> (VN)
>
> Main Entry: en╥chant╥er
> Function: noun
> Date: 13th century
> : one that enchants; especially : SORCERER
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:25:38 -0700
> From: "sZ" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: NPPF Dr. Colt: Growing Pains
>
> The dominant aspect of the mythology of the horse is not infernal but
> funerary; the horse carries the deceased into the beyond; it produces the
> "break-through in plane," the passage from this world to other worlds. And
> this is why it also plays a role of the first importance in certain types
of
> masculine initiation. --Eliade
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:59:29 -0700
> From: "sZ" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: NPPF The Godfather Of Soul-Shade
>
> Among the different Tungustic groups of northern Manchuria, copper mirrors
> play an important role.Their origin is clearly Sino-Manchurian, but their
> magical meaning varies from tribe to tribe; The mirror is said to help the
> shaman to see the world, or to "place the spirits", or to reflect the
needs
> of mankind,and so on. Dioszegi has shown that the Manchu-Tungustic term
> designating the mirror, panaptu, is derived from pana, soul or spirit,
more
> precisely, the soul-shade. Hence,the mirror is a receptacle for the
> soul-shade. Looking into the mirror, the shaman is able to see the dead
> person's soul." --Eliade
>
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:51:37 -0400
> From: "Jasper Fidget" <fakename@verizon.net>
> Subject: RE: NPPF 1888
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-pynchon-l@waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l@waste.org] On
> > Behalf Of sZ
> > Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 4:29 PM
> > To: The Neo-Nabokov List
> > Subject: NPPF 1888
> >
> > http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888
>
> 1777 - Carl Gauss is born
> 1666 - The Great Fire of London
> 1555 - Edward Kelley is born
> 1444 - Charles VII of France invades Switzerland
> 1333 - The Wars for Scottish Independence end badly for the Scotts
> 1222 - I've got nothing
> 1111 - Henry IV crowned Holy Roman Emperor
> 999 - Nothing
> 888 - Charles II of France (Charles the Fat) dies
> 777 - Charlemagne beats the Saxons, Widukind fleeing to Denmark
>
> JF
>

>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:46:03 -0700
> From: Mary Krimmel <mary@krimmel.net>
> Subject: Fwd: Re: lemniscate and bicycling
>
> Orion gave this fine response to a question I asked on a geometry list.
The
> question was inspired by some of the discussion about line 137 of Shade's
> poem. Orion is clearly a man of many talents.
>
> Mary Krimmel
>
> >Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003
> >From: orion <orion@elenzil.com>
> >To: Mary Krimmel <mary@krimmel.net>
> >Subject: Re: lemniscate and bicycling
> >
> >Hi Mary.
> >
> >i am something of a bicyclist, and
> >my short and brutal answer is that i imagine
> >the poet was just discounting or romanticising
> >the dual tracks which would be left by
> >an ordinary person bicycling a figure-8.
> >
> >altho i think impressionistically speaking,
> >this is totally valid: you look, and
> >you see a figure 8.
> >
> >for a Precisish lemniscate,
> >from a regular bicyclist,
> >i agree the figure would
> >have to be failry large.
> >Say 25 feet along the major axis.
> >Even then, since it's in sand,
> >you'd need to be extremely deft
> >to do it nonchalantly.
> >
> >A unicyclist would have trouble
> >making a smooth lemniscate because
> >much of the nature of unicycling
> >involves turning slightly left & right
> >with each cycle of the wheel.
> >Especially i think when turning,
> >and doubly-especially in a medium
> >as difficult as sand.
> >
> >I'd think it more possible in fact
> >that the rider was skilled with a
> >2-wheel bicycle, and was performing
> >a large wheelie all the way around.
> >
> >In my experience it would be impossible
> >to carve a figure-8 without having one
> >wheel follow in the tracks of the other.
> >
> >I'll try to do some experiments tomorrow.
> >
> >Is Pale Fire good ?
> >I just recently read Lolita and found it
> >to be one of the best-written books i've
> >ever read, hands-down.
> >But then i read Invitation to a Beheading
> >and found it, uh, tending towards simplistic.
> >
> >okay.
>
>> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 21:34:31 -0400
> From: "Scott Badger" <lupine@ncia.net>
> Subject: RE: Re: lemniscate and bicycling
>
> Orion via Mary:
> > >i am something of a bicyclist, and
> > >my short and brutal answer is that i imagine
> > >the poet was just discounting or romanticising
> > >the dual tracks which would be left by
> > >an ordinary person bicycling a figure-8.
>
> Is it even necessary for the bicyclist to ride in a figure-8? Even while
> riding straight, the rear wheel of a bicycle never follows directly in the
> track set by the front wheel - it cuts a "straight" line through the
> constantly wavering path of the front wheel. Wouldn't this be a repeating,
> if irregular, lemniscate-like pattern? The less "deft" the rider, the more
> pronounced the pattern. And not unlike the pattern created by Kinbote's
> commentary as it weaves back and forth across the path of Shade's poem,
> except here it's a bicycle in reverse, the commentary following the
> poem...right?
>
> OED deft -- 1. Gentle, meek, humble; = daft 1. Obs. rare.
>
> Scott Badger
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 22:54:04 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Michael Joseph <mjoseph@rci.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: Re: NPPF Swoon
>
> Lol!
>
> On Thu, 25 Sep 2003, sZ wrote:
>
> > >>>My browser takes me to a discussion of the swoon theory and the
> > resurrection at http://www.tln.com/program/timeline/tl2025.html, no
> > mention of _Pale Fire._ <<<
> >
> > So when I invite you to row your hermetic driftbote gently down the
stream
> > you opt to row it ashore, eh, Michael?
> >
> > I was snooping around for swoon info and came across that swoon theory
> > reference, and the list of theories about the resurrection reminded me
of
> > the list of theories about Pale Fire, which reminded me of the
universality
> > of the problem of interpretation and how our ways of approaching text
are
> > mirrors of our ways of approaching everything. That one of the
interviewees
> > is named Habermas adds to the fun.
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------