Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007735, Fri, 11 Apr 2003 10:20:24 -0700

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Fw: Parenthetical Images & feline hindsight
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----- Original Message -----
From: David Haan
Parenthetical musing: (x,y) as grammatical form coordinates nicely with the mathematical interpretation of abscissa and ordinate. When one considers the root etymology of each (abscissa from abscind, i.e. cut off, tear away, ordinate from ordained, i.e. destined, appointed), as well as of parenthesis itself (to put in beside), it seems a grammar appropriate to exile, as well as to the condition of finding oneself beside oneself. After all, per Pope's Dunciad, none but himself can be his parallel.

But given Nabokov's invention of the emoticon ("I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile"), "(,)" may denote a posterior view of a cat at rest.









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