NPPF Commentary 238, P. 168, Part I

[Vince & Shelly Maeder]

Plain text version

Line 238: empty emerald case
 
Mr. Kinbote begins by a discussion of the literal reference to the
cicada shell <http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/okwild/misc/cicshell.html>
left after it has emerged from shedding its exoskeleton
<http://my.stratos.net/~flosi/nature/CicadaExoskeleton.htm> .  Kinbote
also references translators of Lafontaine's La Cigale et la Fourmi
<http://www.callisto.si.usherb.ca/~gisweb/gis/fables/cigale.htm>  and
the cigale's companion, the ant, about to be embalmed in amber
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691057281/104-2870170-39
00729?v=glance&vi=excerpt> .  Mr. Kinbote then recounts his many nature
walks with Mr. Shade were the latter would point out "curious natural
objects" and ignores Mr. Kinbote's admiration and desire to speak of
life and literature as well as desire to now at what point Mr. Shade was
in recounting the Zemblan king's adventures which he'd been regaling the
poet.  I have an image of a pestering man of low self-esteem seeking
validation by constantly attempting to divert discussion to himself, Mr.
Kinbote, and the poet deftly avoiding such discussions--a bit of word
play and mental games.
 
During these discussions there are references to the Canadian and
Austral Zones
<http://lsvl.la.asu.edu/bio428/jfouquette/Outlines/3.03.lifezone.html> ,
Appalachia <http://onelook.com/?w=appalachia&ls=a> , the Diana flower
<http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/iac/greentip/gt1202.pdf> , and the
Atlantis flower
<http://www.victoria-adventure.org/victoria/atlantis_gallery_1.html> .
There are also peculiar grammatical mistakes such as Mr. Kinbote's
reference "(see, frequently see [sic], note to line 181)" and "Shade
kept evading me, me [sic], who was hysterically. . . ."  Throughout the
passage there is interplay between the real, natural environment of the
Appalachians versus the imagined, artificial world of New Wye and the
Zemblan kingdom.  This is a strong metaphor for the interplay between
the true, real author and the proposed, imagined author of the work we
are reading.  
 
At the end of the passage, there is an extended reference to King Alfred
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/King+Alfred>  and Mr. Shade's attempt to
stop Mr. Kinbote's repeated attempts to bring up his own references to
Zembla (making it more apparent that his harassment of Mr. Shade in this
area was not very subtle).  The last line of the comment refers us out
to his note at line 802.
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