Subject
Transparent Things query (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. Below I have supply answers or partial answers to the
questions from Akiko Nakata <anna228@ic.nanzan-u.ac.jp>. Further help
would be appreciated.
Reading _Transparent Things_, I am "stumped" (as Hugh was) by the rare phrases
below. I will do appreciate any help.
1. "kew tree" in chapter 19
I vainly checked some dictionaries including the dictionaries of trees for
"kew tree." Then I thought it might be a play on words from, for example,
"yew tree." But when I found out that all the other phrases about which
Hugh wondered referred to something actual, the explanation sounded less
convincing. Peter Evans suggested in a letter to me that "kew tree" might
come from Kew Gardens. It sounds better. Still, I do not understand why
"kew tree" is "ginkgo biloba" in French translation by Donald Harper and
Jean-Bernard Blandenier. ----------------------- EDITOR: In the books at
hand, I do not find a "kew" tree, although there is a "kew weed" named
after the Kew Gardens in London. VN usually checked French translations of
his work before their publication and in some cases (Cf. the recent
"Parluggian Owl" discussion) wrote in the Latin genus & species names as
an aid to translators. The "kew" tree is undoubtedly the "gingko" ("all
the gold of a kew tree" p. 75) the leaves of which indeed turn a stunning
yellow in the fall. One variety is called "Autumn Gold." I would also note
that Julia is described on the same page as fair haired. The "gingko"
(also known as the Maidenhair Tree--a translation of the Latin capilla
Veneris--) which VN also mentions in ADA is "a living fossil" natively
surviving only in west China but common throughout much of the world as an
ornamental. I rather suspect that it may have been first named at Kew
Gardens. What VN has in mind here is not apparent to me, but given that
several of the proofreading queries that High is inserting have
"sub-(t)/(s)-exual meanings, such may well be the case here.
The term "gingko" is Japanese, although derived from the Chinese
"yin-hing" meaning "silver apricot."
----------------------------
2. "centenarian's fruit" in chapter 11
"She[Julia] noticed that the closet mirror as seen from the bed reflected
exactly the same still-life arrangement, oranges in a wooden bowl, as it had
in the garland-brief days of Jim, a voracious consumer of the centenarian's
fruit." (p.36)
"[T]he centenarian's fruit" is considered oranges, but I cannot make a
connection between them.
-------------------------
EDITOR. I too have pondered this one without result? Any ideas out there?
-------------------------------
3. "Chudo-Yudo pajama" in chapter 17
About the pajama which Armande wore (or at least intended to wear) on their
last night at Stresa, I could not find anything.
-------------------------------
EDITOR. "Chudo-Yudo" is a Russian folklore term for "monster."
----------------------
Akiko Nakata
questions from Akiko Nakata <anna228@ic.nanzan-u.ac.jp>. Further help
would be appreciated.
Reading _Transparent Things_, I am "stumped" (as Hugh was) by the rare phrases
below. I will do appreciate any help.
1. "kew tree" in chapter 19
I vainly checked some dictionaries including the dictionaries of trees for
"kew tree." Then I thought it might be a play on words from, for example,
"yew tree." But when I found out that all the other phrases about which
Hugh wondered referred to something actual, the explanation sounded less
convincing. Peter Evans suggested in a letter to me that "kew tree" might
come from Kew Gardens. It sounds better. Still, I do not understand why
"kew tree" is "ginkgo biloba" in French translation by Donald Harper and
Jean-Bernard Blandenier. ----------------------- EDITOR: In the books at
hand, I do not find a "kew" tree, although there is a "kew weed" named
after the Kew Gardens in London. VN usually checked French translations of
his work before their publication and in some cases (Cf. the recent
"Parluggian Owl" discussion) wrote in the Latin genus & species names as
an aid to translators. The "kew" tree is undoubtedly the "gingko" ("all
the gold of a kew tree" p. 75) the leaves of which indeed turn a stunning
yellow in the fall. One variety is called "Autumn Gold." I would also note
that Julia is described on the same page as fair haired. The "gingko"
(also known as the Maidenhair Tree--a translation of the Latin capilla
Veneris--) which VN also mentions in ADA is "a living fossil" natively
surviving only in west China but common throughout much of the world as an
ornamental. I rather suspect that it may have been first named at Kew
Gardens. What VN has in mind here is not apparent to me, but given that
several of the proofreading queries that High is inserting have
"sub-(t)/(s)-exual meanings, such may well be the case here.
The term "gingko" is Japanese, although derived from the Chinese
"yin-hing" meaning "silver apricot."
----------------------------
2. "centenarian's fruit" in chapter 11
"She[Julia] noticed that the closet mirror as seen from the bed reflected
exactly the same still-life arrangement, oranges in a wooden bowl, as it had
in the garland-brief days of Jim, a voracious consumer of the centenarian's
fruit." (p.36)
"[T]he centenarian's fruit" is considered oranges, but I cannot make a
connection between them.
-------------------------
EDITOR. I too have pondered this one without result? Any ideas out there?
-------------------------------
3. "Chudo-Yudo pajama" in chapter 17
About the pajama which Armande wore (or at least intended to wear) on their
last night at Stresa, I could not find anything.
-------------------------------
EDITOR. "Chudo-Yudo" is a Russian folklore term for "monster."
----------------------
Akiko Nakata