NPPF - Preliminary - Zembla (2)

[Jasper Fidget]

Zembla is also linked to Ultima Thule / Ultimate Tully / Greenland, part of
the Viking exploration that moves through Iceland to Vin Land / Vineland /
America.

Thule, Ultima Thule 
The Farthest Land; a geographical region believed to be six days' sail north
of Britain, the most northern region of the world.  (The mercenaries holding
Charles captive in Onhava are from Thule.)

>From http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/wultima.htm

"Of what would have been Nabokov's last novel in Russian, written in Paris
in 1939-40, only the first two chapters survive, as 'Ultima Thule' and
'Solus Rex.' An emotional artist relates to his recently-deceased wife a
curious tale of Adam Falter, who has discovered the 'essence of things.' 

"The phrase Ultima Thule describes a distant territory or remote goal or
ideal. Thule was the northernmost region of the habitable world to ancient
Greek geographers, from the time of the fourth century Greek navigator
Pytheas visited a northern island he called Thule, which has variously been
identified as Iceland, Norway, or the Shetland Islands."
(from Zembla web-site)

Thule is the name of the northwestern peninsula of Greenland pointing toward
Canada, and also a town there.  It was also the site of a WWII US Navy base.

Photos of Thule: http://jackstephensimages.com/Merchant/index.html
Map: http://jackstephensimages.com/Merchant/mappages/map2.html

>From the same web-site, the origin of Thule (pronounced too-lee):

"The name, Thule, is very old and historic. In the third century BC an
exploration fleet departed the Greek colony of Massilla, the present day
Marseilles, France. They proceeded past the Straits of Gibraltar, into the
Atlantic Ocean, and headed north to what is now Northern Scotland. There,
they were told that far to the north was a land called Thule, which was the
northernmost place occupied by people.

"This news was carried back to the Mediterranean world, where the name
Ultima Thule (Thule, the Ultimate) became the name for the unknown land,
which was located at the extreme northern limit of human habitation. This
usage carried on through the Middle Ages.

"According to Richard Vaughan in his 'Northwest Greenland, A History', in
the early 1900's a Danish explorer, the artist, Harald Moltke, first applied
the name, Thule to this area, presumably because here were located the
world's northernmost native people. Later Knud Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen
used the name for their famous trading post."

*

A Nova Zembla is also a kind of Rhododendron:

http://www.hort.net/gallery/view/eri/rhonz/

>From Nabokov-L:

"EDITOR'S NOTE: Sam Schuman's posting below is in reply to Donald
Harington's horticultural query re "Nova Zembla." In his 1981 note Schuman
quotes Field's NABOKV: HIS LIFE IN PART where Field tells of VN's
Great-grandfather (1795-1873) participated in an expedition to Novaya Zemlya
where a river was named for him. VN gives the same information in Chapter
III of SPEAK, MEMORY. Boyd points out that VN was mistaken. VN's ancestor
did not participate in the expedition, although the river was named for him
by his friend, the expedition leader. VN was mulling over PALE FIRE at the
time he learned of his ancestor's connection with Nova Zembla. AS to the
Rhododendron named "Nova Zembla," my guess would be  that the  cultivar
might be descended from a species originating in Novaya Zemlya and perhaps
first described as a result of the early expedition.

"It shouldn't be too hard for a plant taxonomist to trace the history of the
name. If the 'Nova Zembla' name is relatively recent, there might be some
connection with VN's SPEAK, MEMORY. If not, my historical guess might be
right.                         DBJ

"From: SSCHUMAN at unca.edu
In the Spring, 1981 issue of the NVRN (now Nabokovian) I had a little note
called 'Another "Nova Zembla",' on just this subject (hardly the sort of
earth-shaking publication anyone remembers!).  My conclusion: A true
Kinbotian plant--one horticultural direction urges to 'give them some
shade.'"

http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9503&L=nabokv-l&P=R977

*

The Zemblan language is a combination of northern tongues including German,
Russian, Dutch, and so forth.  See Commentary note to line 615, p 235 for
Zemblan language linkages.

*

Zembla as an intrusion into the Real:

Brian Boyd relates a story in his _Magic of Artistic Discovery_ concerning
"a seed that nearly sprouted another way":

"Zembla occurs in an article published on July 30, 1939, in the Paris-based
Russian émigré daily _Poslednie novosti_, to which Nabokov contributed.  The
article recalls the first days of the League of Nations, when each nation
was entitled to five seats for its delegates: 'Those who were not members of
the delegation could occupy the peripheral seats where one could see or hear
nothing.  Daniele Varé, a member of the Italian secretariat, decided to take
the vacant seats behind the Venezuela delegation for his compatriots.  He
sneaked into the Assembly Hall at night and on a placard where the name of a
country was to be displayed, wrote "Zembla."  On the following day, pundits
cast one quick glance at the placard and nodded significantly, "Zembla, of
course"'.  Since Nabokov began working later in 1939 on his last, abandoned
Russian novel, _Solus Rex_, which revolves around Ultima Thule and
eventually in _Pale Fire_ would evolve into Zembla, it seems quite possible
this strange intrusion of an almost legendary land into modern politics may
have precipitated something in his imagination and lingered there quietly in
suspended germination for twenty years." (Boyd, p. 80 quoting from
Barabtarlo and Shikhovtsev, "The Republic of Zembla", 1987, 54-56).

akaGasperCidget (I'm trying to quit though)