NPPF - Canto 4 - Notes

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 2003-08-11 at 18:04, The Great Quail wrote:

> 
> 884: "a brown shoe lay!" -- Either we accept that some sort of supernatural
> transference has occurred, or we examine two possibilities: Shade was
> sleepwalking during his "dream," or more likely, had merely left a shoe
> there previously. He has already hinted at his absentmindedness. The mocking
> tone of his opening may suggest a bit of irony to the lines 884-886, "My
> secret stamp,/The Shade impress, the mystery inborn,/Mirages, miracles,
> midsummer morn."

This seems strikingly like the Canto Three white fountain/white mountain
business. In fact, a reenactment of the former. A reinforcement of
Shade's developing understanding of how links (and bobolinks) between
the living and the dead need to be envisioned.

In Canto Three Shade had concluded that evidence of "the beyond" is not
to be had through normal verification processes (Captains Schmidt and
Smith) but through "topsy-turvical coincidence." Coincidence occurring
in the natural world. In that case the misprint in a newspaper.

Now, in Canto Four, the bizarre coincidence is his having absentmindedly
the previous day left a shoe on the lawn, which serves as his "secret
stamp" on the reality of the night's dream.

The further meaning would be that the natural world (more often than we
might expect) scans (in  iambic pentameter} in a way similar to Shade's
art. All real art

In nature lies the answer to our urgent questions.


P.

 
 
> 
> 887: "Since my biographer may be too staid" -- Some irony for us, knowing
> Kinbote will serve as his most immediate biographer. We later find out that
> Kinbote has indeed spied on Shade in the bath.
> 
> 894: "and like Marat bleed." -- Jean-Paul Marat, 1743-1793. Writer and
> doctor, associated with the French Revolution. He was murdered in his
> bathtub by Charlotte Corday. Also features in Peter Weiss' bizarre play,
> "The persecution and assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as performed
> by the inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the direction of
> the Marquis de Sade."
> 
> More on Marat from Wikipedia:
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Marat
> 
> 897: "wick" -- "A piece of material that conveys liquid by capillary
> action." (American Heritage Dictionary)
> 
> 900: "Newport Frill" -- I am assuming this is a species of Frill lizard, but
> I cannot find any direct references. Perhaps related to the Blind Albino
> Cave Hoek? Here's some lovely images of Frilled Lizards.
> 
> http://home.mira.net/~areadman/liz.htm
> 
> 911: "fussy bimanists" -- I cannot find a reference for "bimanist." Possibly
> a made-up word implying one who needs both hands to shave? ("Bi" = two and
> "mani" = hands?")
> 
> 912: "ephebe" -- "A youth between 18 and 20 years of age in ancient Greece."
> (American Heritage Dictionary) Sounds right up Kinbote's alley!
> 
> 922: "Our Cream" -- Ostensibly, a commercial brand of shaving cream that ran
> TV ads in the 50s. Kinbote later corrects Shade, remarking that "Our Cream"
> is a "bubbly foam" rather than a cream.
> 
> 932: "screaks" -- a real word, means "shriek" or "creak." (As if you
> couldn't guess that!)
> 
> 937: "Sunglassers tour Beirut" -- I assume "sunglassers" means tourists. Any
> ideas? 
> 
> 938: "Zembla's fields" -- This inelegant mention of Zembla is the poem's
> second and only mention of Zembla. Sorry, Charlie.
> 
> 940: "Unfinished poem." -- "Pale Fire" itself, maybe?
> 
> 944-945: "Or a shoehorn, which turns into the spoon/I eat my egg with" --
> Please, God, let this not be literal....
> 
> 948: "versipel" -- Shade is comparing his muse to a lycanthrope, a
> shapeshifter --  "versipel: a creature that is supposed to change
> from one form to another, as the werewolf." From:
> 
> http://members.aol.com/rstark1957/Words.html
> 
> Keith seems to find this more evidence of something weird going on. Maybe
> Maud digs wolves? 
> 
> 951: "above the syllable" -- her name *is* Sybil after all....
> 
> 967-962: Regarding Shade's books, this link might be fun:
> 
> http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/libauthor4.htm
> 
> 967: "Night Rote" -- Kinbote glosses this as "the nocturnal sound of the
> sea." Your mileage may vary.
> 
> 968: "Hebe's Cup" -- Hebe was the Greek gods' cup-bearer, from which they
> quaffed the ambrosia that made them immortal. She later marries Hercules.
> 
> Here's a lovely picture, with some rocking good music:
> 
> http://www.mythinglinks.org/autumnequinox2000.html
> 
> And more:
> 
> http://www.facethemusic.org/fantasy/myth/ggoddess3.html
> 
> 962: "Pale Fire" -- Much discussed around here, probably from "Timon of
> Athens." Also used throughout the book....
> 
> 965: "brown ament" -- Two interesting definitions: Webster's has " A species
> of inflorescence; a catkin." American Heritage has "A person with severely
> deficient intellectual capacity." I would assume Shade means the later, as a
> parody of a "brown study?" Or is "ament" the actual noun he couldn't think
> of earlier? 
> 
> 967-968: "consonne/D'appui" --  an intrusive consonant, something that Shade
> clearly does love. 
> 
> 977-978: "I'm reasonably sure that we survive/And that my darling somewhere
> is alive" -- Obviously meaning Hazel; a rather powerful admission at the end
> of the poem. 
> 
> 979-982: The irony of these lines is sharp, as Shade will be murdered this
> evening. 
> 
> 993 -- "A dark Vanessa" -- Nabokov's beloved Red Admirable butterfly.
> 
> 998: "Some neighbor's gardener, I guess" -- Kinbote's gardener, in fact. He
> plays an important role in the murder scene.
> 
> --Quail
>