Thursday, December 10, 2009
Final Thoughts
Lolita is about it, this class was about it, and I'll never forget the people, places, and images that I have been introduced to by all of you this semester. Thanks for all the fish! (even if they were transparent)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Stremmelman
A Stremmelman by C. Clark
It was the day I saw a man,
A'comin' down the street.
He seemed to me the kind of man
That I would like to meet.
With big white teeth that blazed the trail,
It seemed to me he was the gale,
That lifted me up off my feet.
For swiftly by me he did blow,
On his double bike a'he did go!
It wasn't just the Stremmelman!
It was also Sam, who's not a man!
It seemed to me, by way of pedal,
That nothing in their life could meddle,
With the glee that they both surely share.
Both smiling in a way so simple,
Creating four big, charming dimple,
While streaming 'round them went their hair.
So I asked myself, in the ways we do,
what paths lay ahead of these happy two?
Will adventures abound, both happy and sad?
Will beasts be fought, or wolves be had?
Will slippers be lost, then found and refit?
Will wives be killed or wrists be slit?
Will their bike fly away to the moon with a creature?
Will they walk down gold paths in a motion feature?
For as they road past me with their smiles,
I had to sit and dream of miles,
And miles and miles and miles and miles,
They would continue to go with their shiny smiles.
Whatever road they chose to take,
Whatever story they chose to make,
The one important thing to know,
Is that they were the ones who chose where to go.
For it can be said you repeat the past,
But always remember that your word is last.
You choose the story in which you will live,
The words will be written that you wish to give.
So a new page was added to their book on that day,
In a great, displaced, sorta kooky way.
And I continued my walk while dreaming some more,
Of the places that we all will someday explore.
It was the day I saw a man,
A'comin' down the street.
He seemed to me the kind of man
That I would like to meet.
With big white teeth that blazed the trail,
It seemed to me he was the gale,
That lifted me up off my feet.
The Link of the Bobolink

Emily Dickinson - "1620" (or perhaps "1591")
The Bobolink is gone — The Rowdy of the Meadow —
And no one swaggers now but me —
The Presbyterian Birds can now resume the Meeting
He gaily interrupted that overflowing Day
When opening the Sabbath in their afflictive Way
He bowed to Heaven instead of Earth
And shouted Let us pray —
John Shade - "Pale Fire"
But all at once it dawned on me that this
Was the real point, the contrapuntal theme;
Just this: not text, but texture; not the dream
But topsy-turvical coincidence,
Not flimsy nonsense, but a web of sense.
Yes! It sufficed that I in life could find
Some kind of link-and-bobolink, some kind
Of correlated pattern in the game,
Plexed artistry, and something of the same
Pleasure in it as they who played it found.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Dmitri Nabokov's Transparent Things

I think that ghosts and the memories of loved ones (amongst many other things) obviously have an affect on Dmitri Nabokov. Being raised by one of the greatest literary geniuses would probably affect anyone, but I couldn't help but hear Pale Fire and Transparent Things screaming in my little head as I read the intro to The Original of Laura by this man who has, probably, not been able to escape the ghosts of his mother and father since their separate demises. Here's the lines from the intro that made me come to this conclusion: "For my part, when the task passed to me, I did a great deal of thinking. [About publishing this book] I have said more than once that, to me, my parents, in a sense, had never died but lived on, looking over my shoulder in a kind of virtual limbo, available to offer a thought or councel to assist me with a vital decision, whether a crucial mot juste or a more mundane concern. I did not need to borrow my "ton bon" (thus deliberately garbeled) from the titles of fashionable morons but had it from the source. If it pleases an adventurous commentator to liken the case to mystical phenomina, so be it. I decided at this juncture that, in putative retrospect, Nabokov would not have wanted me to become his Person from Porlock or allow little Juanita Dark - for that was the name of an early Lolita, destined for cremation - to burn like a latter-day Jeanne d'Arc."
There's also a line in the intro that talks about how he fights the memory of the color of the beach that his father speaks of in "Speak, Memory", saying that he remembers the sand being a fine yellow, while Vladmir speaks of it in the novel as being white. I have a sinking notion that even Vladimir might have remembered it as yellow, but because he could created it as he thought it should, could, would be best for his readers. Perhaps...
In this one paragraph of his intro, Dmitri talks about some of the main works we read this semester, and I can only speculate, because these works haunt me and my every day life (they probably will until my last breath) that they must haunt him to unimaginable lengths, maybe even "running his life" to a certain Degre. ;)
<
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
QUIZ 2
2.Who does Kinbote say is the main characters? K, S, and G
3.What does the Zemblan royal family and the daughters of Goldsworth have in common? All in Alphabetical
4.According to Nabokov, Beauty + ______ = Art. Pity
5.What type of butterfly lands on Shade just before he is shot? Vanessa Atalanta
6.According to Kinbote, what gives John Shade's poem reality? My commentary
7.At least two Shakespearean plays that give rise to the title “pale fire”? Hamlet and Timon of Athens
8.In Zemblan, the name Kinbote means? King Killer
9.What is the password? Pity
10.How does Jana think Shade predicts his own death in the last refrain of the poem? The Gardener
The Blind date thing (Hazel, Lake, Dead! OH NO!)
11.When in the poem does Hazel commit suicide? The exact middle
12.Who gives Gradus a lift to the murder of Shade? Gerald Emerald
13.Ultima Thule means? The ultimate land
14.What was Kinbote's title for John Shade's poem? Solis Rex
15.Who translated Timon of Athens into Zemblan? Uncle Conmal
16.According to the index, What is Zembla? “A distant northern land”
17.What word game does Shade have a fondness for? Word golf....a six degrees of separation
18.Who is the toilest? T.S. Eliot
19. What is the misprint on which he had based life everlasting? Mountain for fountain or fountain for mountain
20.What does Kinbote think the last line of the poem is? Repetition of the first line of the poem
21.Kinbote says he can forgive everything except for one thing? Treason
22.Just this, not text but _____? Texture (he'll word it differently for sure)
23.The two books, one at beginning of alphabet, one at the end, that Kinbote read at the Judge's house? Forever Amber and The Prisoner of Zenda
24.In certain respects, Kinbote does resemble _______? Hazel
25.How? Powder = red wop , spider = redips
26.What does “Bretwit” mean? Chess intelligence
27.IPH = Institution for the Preparation of the Hereafter
28.How many days does it take for each canto? 3, 7, 7, 3
29.Kinbote's supposed wife full name and title? Paradisa the Duchess of Pain & Moan
30.& = What is it when dropped always makes this ampersand? Rubber Band
Can one of hollywood's biggest failures have something to offer?

Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is a talented artist who dreams of fame beyond his job, which is the uncreative task of painting larger versions of album covers for record-store window advertisements. As the film opens, Sonny is broke and on the verge of giving up his dream. Having quit his day job to try to make a living as a freelance artist, but having failed to make any money at it, Sonny returns to his old job at AirFlo Records. After some humorous run-ins with his imperious boss and nemesis, Simpson, he resumes painting record covers.
At work, Sonny is told to paint an album cover for a group called The Nine Sisters. The cover features a beautiful woman passing in front of an art deco auditorium (the Pan-Pacific Auditorium). This same woman collided with him earlier that day, kissed him, then roller-skated away, and Malone becomes obsessed with finding her. He finds her at the same (but now abandoned) auditorium. She identifies herself as Kira (Olivia Newton-John), but she will tell him nothing else about herself. Unbeknownst to Sonny, Kira is one of nine mysterious and beautiful women who literally sprang to life from a local mural in town near the beach.
Sonny befriends a has-been big band orchestra leader-turned-construction mogul named Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly). Danny lost his muse in the 1940s; Sonny has not yet found his muse. Kira encourages the two men to form a partnership and open a nightclub at the old auditorium from the album cover. She falls in love with Sonny, and this presents a problem because she is actually an Olympian Muse (she is Terpsichore, the muse of dance). The other eight women from the beginning of the movie are her sisters and fellow goddesses, the Muses, and the mural is actually a portal of sorts and their point of entry to Earth.
The Muses visit Earth often to help inspire others to pursue their dreams and desires. But in Kira's case, she has broken the rules, as she was only supposed to inspire Sonny but has ended up falling in love with him as well. Her parents (presumably the Greek gods Zeus and Mnemosyne) recall her to the timeless realm of the gods. Sonny follows her through the mural and professes his love for her.
A short debate between Sonny and Zeus occurs with Mnemosyne interceding on Kira and Sonny's behalf. Kira then enters the discussion, saying the emotions she has toward Sonny are new to her--if only they could have one more night together, Sonny's dream of success for the nightclub Xanadu could come true. But Zeus ultimately sends Sonny back to Earth. After Kira expresses her feelings for Sonny in the song "Suspended In Time," Zeus and Mnemosyne decide to let Kira go to him for a "moment, or maybe forever" (mortal time confuses them), and the audience is left to wonder her fate.
In the finale of the movie, Kira and the Muses perform for a packed house at Xanadu's grand opening, and after Kira's final song they return to the realm of the gods in spectacular fashion. With their departure, Sonny is understandably depressed, but that quickly changes when Danny has one of the waitresses bring Sonny a drink. The waitress is an exact look-alike of Kira. Sonny approaches this enigmatic doppelgänger and says he would just like to talk to her. The film ends with the two of them talking, in silhouette, as the credits begin to roll.
I chanced upon this on HBO last night.... thought to myself there might be something here. Really not a good movie, but some funny and ridiculous connections to doppelgangers, muses, gods, and art..... interesting if not flawed.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I am pleased to introduce.... Mr. John Shade, beloved husband, father, poet.
Cheeks & chin from these guys:

Eyebrows & Forehead from this guy:

A little nose from this gal:

A little hair from this gal:

A little influence into the nose, mouth, hair, and eyes from this guy:

And some sad eyes, we (my fiance and I) were able to make a composite sketch of what John Shade may have looked like. I am pleased to introduce to you, ladies and gentleman, Mr. John Shade, beloved husband, father, poet. (Feel free to also click on each picture to get a big version, full of plenty of detail...especially on the two pictures below.)

We also decided to take this shape we had developed here and make it into a caricature (just for a little fun).... realizing that there are a lot of details in the caricature that were passed up in the composite. Notice the devil horned butterfly putting a "be quiet" finger to his mouth in the top corner, or the tired, sad eyes.... maybe you'll notice his vicuna collar, the red bandana out his right rear pocket, grass stains on his khaki pants, or his little loafers. Check it out:

I also scanned it in Black and White, which gives a whole other feeling to the caricature.

Let me know what you think! :)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Is Pale Fire a lesser work?
Can someone answer me this question? Why do the artists and writers who judge such things think that Lolita is such a better book than Pale Fire? Is it because, essentially, the story of love, road trips, and tragedy within Lolita has a much higher value of some sort than the story of ghosts, love, and "reality" within Pale Fire?
I can't figure it out.... I like Pale Fire more....
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ulalume by Edgar Allan Poe

You must see the eerily familiar connections between this poem and Pale Fire.
The mention of "sybilic" splendour, blinking flickering lights giving warnings, the loss of a loved female, maybe even two lost loved females (although I have a sinking feeling that the Psyche he speaks of, walks with, and mistrusts the stars is only his own soul)..... and especially the lake of Auber.
Also, the name of the title may be only a beautiful sounding flow of letters, or it may be the sound of a sad, crying man..... but it could also allude to the Latin lumen, a light symbolizing sorrow. See where I'm going with this?
We know that Nabokov was a huge fan of Poe, and we also know that there are huge ties between Lolita and Annabel Lee. I say Ulalume is to Pale Fire as Annabel Lee is to Lolita. What do you think?
To add to this interesting connection, we have the Catocala Ulalume, a species of butterfly discovered in 1878 by a man named Strecker:

Nabokov most certainly knew of this species while creating his work. There's no way he couldn't have, right? Yes....right.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Atlanta - Atalanta - Atlantis
Atlanta (also called Atalanta):
Atlanta was a renowned huntress that had the skills of a wild animal. Her skills were so great that she joined the group of hunters on the Calydonian Boar hunt at the request of Meleager. She made the first strike and was awarded the tusks and hide. King Iasus later recognized her as his daughter, and insisted that she marry. Atlanta agreed only on the condition that the suitor be able to beat her in a foot race, if not, she was allowed to behead him. Only Melanion was able to beat her, and only with the help of Aphrodite.
Birth: Atlanta's father Iasus was so disapointed that he had a daughter that he placed her on Mount Parthenon and left her in the open to die. A band of hunters later found the baby and reared as their own.
Golden Apple's: Melanion was only going to be able to be Atlanta in a foot race with the help of the mighty Aphrodite. Aphrodite presented him with three golden apple's, and told him that he was to run the race carrying these apple's. As the race progressed he fell behind and then threw a golden apple at Atlanta's feet. These apple's were so irresistable to her that she stopped each time to pick them up. This eventually caused her to lag far enough behind that she lost the race. Atlanta married Melanion but upon the night of their consumation a sacred vow to Aphrodite was broken. As punishment for this both he and Atlanta were turned into lions.
Father: Iasus
Mother: Clymene
Consort: Melanion
Children: Parthenonpaeus
(from gods-heros-myths.com)
Atlanta: The Greek name Atlanta means, a form of Atalanta. The Greek name Atalanta means - mighty huntress. Mythology: an athletic young woman who refuses to marry any man who could not outrun her in a footrace.
Atlantis - A legendary island that may have never existed. n Plato's account, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune".
See anything here? Maybe...
Kyle's Solution Works
Sunday, October 25, 2009
To Better Explain My Minton Discovery....
While in class last Thursday, I sat wanting to ask Dr. Minton if the ghost words, "pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told" (from pg. 188 in Pale Fire) had anything to do with Timon of Athens. And I think it does, even though I'm not sure if she had ever thought of it in this way.....
On page 189, Kinbote pulls a few words from this ghostly statement, "war, talant, her, arrant". Arrant being the key word. In Timon of Athens, the words "arrant thief" come up in the line just before the infamous "pale fire" words.
I think this can be looked at from two sides.
On one, it can be seen as proof that the title of the book really did come from the Timon of Athens passage. Since Kinbote had never read the true English translation of the play (his Zemblan copy says nothing about an "arrant thief"), it can be a hint from Nabokov that this is the direction he wants the reader to look towards. It can't just be coincidence that Nabokov had Kinbote pull this word from the ghost line, being an important word in a different translation of his favorite play, a translation he had never read. No, I don't believe in coincidences.
However, there is another way to look at it. We can look at it as a way to misguide the reader. Nabokov gives this word to Kinbote to pull us away from thinking that the Hamlet quote, " The glow-worm shows the matin to be near and 'gins to pale its uneffectual fire." (Line 89-90, Act One, Scene Five) was where the title of this novel comes from. I think this is also a plausible argument, as the lines about a bug showing the morning coming, and so begins to turn off its light could play a big part in the story, if one was to look at it this way. This line could in fact explain the very events in the barn, where a ghost is telling the characters of a sad "morning" to come, but because no one understands it, the "pale light" it exudes is "uneffectual". Let me explain further.
On pg. 289, within Kinbote's commentary on line 991: horseshoes, he says, ".... and for a moment I found myslef enriched with an indescribable amazement as if informed that fire-flies were making decodable signals on behalf of stranded spirits....". This line relates directly to the glow-worm that it is signaling the end of the night for the ghost in Hamlet. It also ties us back into page 188, where a "roundlet of pale light, the size of a small doily; flitted across the dark walls....". This light, like the light of a ghost, like the light of a glow worm, is pale (it's also small and flitting). It quite possibly could be that fire-flies, ghosts, and Hamlet have a lot more to do in this novel than most people think.
But do I know for sure.... noooo way. No one can, but it's always fun to find more clues that brings that bring you closer to some sort of "reality".
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Pada ata lane - A Message Lost in Translation
pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told
pada at a lane pad not to go old wart alan ther tale for atalanta told
pada, to a lane pad not to gold wart, atalanta for atalanta hold
padre, to a lane step not to goldwart, alas there tale for far atalanta hold
father, to a lane step not to Goldwort, alas there your tale so far atalanta hold
translated to:
father, do not go to Goldworths lane, alas there the tale so far the atalanta will hold
or
pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told
pader, atalanta ped not to go oldwart all after tale fire for atalanta told
father, atalanta foot (ped is foot, as in pedestrian or pedal) not to goldsworth all after your tale fire for atalanta told
father, atalanta walk not to goldsworth all after your tale of fire for the atalanta told
father, walk not to the atalanta at goldsworth all after your tale of fire for the atalanta told me
transcribed:
father should not walk to the atalanta at Goldworth's lane at all after his tale of fire, for the atalanta told me
or
(this one I did right after class on Tuesday, before I finished the final pages of the novel, I don't believe it to be as accurate as the others, but the meaning behind it is eerily close to something that may be related to multiple characters in the novel.... but trying to pull words that sounded like the words on the page (like Sexson's favorite Ladle Rat Rotten Hut) lead me to this interpretation)
pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told
peda ta lean ped not go old wirt al anther til far farran lant tel told
pita to lean pud not go old with all answer til far foreign lantern told
pita to lean but not go old with all answer til far foreign lantern told
pida to lean but not go old with all answers till far foreign land turn told
pita to learn but not go old with all answers till far foreign land turns told
pity to learn but not go old with all answers till a far foreign land turns cold
translated:
pity to learn but not get old with all answers till a far foreign land turns cold
As you can see, I can't help but pull father out of pada (in the first two), cause it just sounds like the Spanish word for father (padre), but also Latin and many other languages use p at the beginning of their words for father. Also, the mention of an atalanta can not be overlooked, as well as Goldsworth's lane. Everything else I believe can be left to ones own imagination and interpretations. Please let me know of anything else I might have missed here. ;)
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut by Howard L. Chace
WANTS PAWN TERM DARE WORSTED LADLE GULL HOE LIFT wetter murder inner ladle cordage honor itch offer lodge, dock, florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry Putty ladle rat cluck wetter ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
Wan moaning Ladle Rat Rotten Hut's murder colder inset.
"Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groin-murder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! Dun stopper peck floors! Dun daily-doily inner florist, an yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainersi"
"Hoe-cake, murder," resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft.
Honor wrote tutor cordage offer groin-murder, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut mitten anomalous woof.
"Wail, wail, wailI" set disk wicket woof, "Evanescent Ladle Rat Rotten Hutf Wares are putty ladle gull goring wizard ladle basking?"
"Armor goring tumor groin-murder's," reprisal ladle gull. "Grammar's seeking bet. Armor ticking arson burden barter an shirker cockles."
"0 hoe! Heifer gnats woke," setter wicket woof, butter taught tomb shelf, "Oil tickle shirt court tutor cordage offer groin-murder. Oil ketchup wetter letter, an den-- O bore!"
Soda wicket woof tucker shirt court, an whinny retched a cordage offer groin-murder, picked inner windrow, an sore debtor pore oil worming worse lion inner bet. Inner flesh, disk abdominal woof lipped honor bet, paunched honor pore oil worming, an garbled erupt. Den disk ratchet ammonol pot honor groin-murder's nut cup an gnat-gun, any curdled ope inner bet.
Inner ladle wile, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut a raft attar cordage, an ranker dough ball. "Comb ink, sweat hard," setter wicket woof, disgracing is verse.
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut entity bet rum, an stud buyer groin-murder's bet.
"O Grammarl" crater ladle gull historically, "Water bag icer gut! A nervous sausage bag icel"
"Battered lucky chew whiff, sweat hard," setter bloat-Thursday woof, wetter wicket small honors phase.
O, Grammar, water bag noisel A nervous sore suture anomalous prognosis!"
"Battered small your whiff, doling," whiskered dole woof, ants mouse worse waddling.
"0 Grammar, water bag mouser gutY A nervous sore suture bag mouse!"
Daze worry on-forger-nut ladle gull's lest warts. Oil offer sodden, caking offer carvers an sprinkling otter bet, disk hoard-hoarded woof lipped own pore Ladle Rat Rotten Hut an garbled erupt.
MURAL: Yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Zemblanity?
-From Tractatus
My favorite word is Zemblanity. I use it as often as I am able in order to get it to catch on and enter the English language. You don't know what it means? Well, that is because it was coined not long ago by William Boyd in his book Armadillo. I found out about the word by reading William Safire's column On Language.
The word is the natural opposite of the word Serendipity. If you recall, the Princes of Serendip came across good things by chance, hence Serendipity, the accidental discovery of good things. Zemblanity, the opposite, refers to the inexorable discovery of bad things. It comes from the arctic island Zembla, where Russia performed extensive nuclear testing. The inexorable discovery of what no one wants to know.
What I love about this word is its darkness, the forlorn lack of hope. By using this word, you subscribe to a world of darkness and suffering, but in doing so have chosen a play on words. A lightness. A sunny pastel. Its very discovery is the chance that the word denies its victim.
I like that the word, in the negation of Serendipity negates the idea wholly. While you could accidentally discover bad things, or inexorably discover good things, those do not oppose the idea, rather they lie somewhere between the two extremes. It is reminiscent to me of the concept of a non-boolean algebra, where negation becomes a much more complex animal.
So, because I like the word, and because like Humpty-Dumpty I am the master, I choose to use the word, and hope you do as well.
The Power of the Butterfly
The Mandarin Chinese word for butterfly is "hu-tieh". "Tieh" means "70 years", therefore butterflies have become a symbol for a long life. In this culture butterflies have also become representative of young men in love.
In the Japanese culture butterflies are thought to be representative of young maidens and marital bliss. Many Japanese families use the butterfly in the family crest design.
Germany has a very unique belief about butterflies. As butterflies can often be found hovering about milk pails or butter churns, they have become associated with witches trying to steal the cream. The German word for butterfly is "Schmetterling", which is actually derived for the Czech word "Smetana" which means "cream".
There are many links with butterflies in mythology from all over the world, many of which, in particular Greek mythology, link butterflies to the human soul. The Ancient Greeks also considered butterflies as the souls of those who had passed away.
In ancient Greek the word for butterfly is "Psyche", which translated means "soul". This was also the name for Eros' human lover and when the two figures are depicted they are often surrounded by butterflies.
In one of the Russian dialects, butterflies are referred to as "dushuchka" which is a derivative of the word "dusha" also meaning soul.
There is also an Irish saying that refers to the symbolic meaning of butterflies. This saying is: "Butterflies are souls of the dead waiting to pass through purgatory".
There is a small town in Mexico that also associate butterflies with souls. It is to this town that Monarch Butterflies migrate every year, around the holiday known as the Day of the Dead. The people of this town see these butterflies as the returning souls of the deceased.
The metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly also carries important spiritual meaning for many people, especially born again Christians.


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