Pninisms and Magical Pencils

Pninism: "I search, John, for the viscous and sawdust" = I search, Joan, for the whiskey(s) and soda"

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The pencil figures hugely in Invitation to a Beheading and, though foggy from distance, there's a wonderfully magic passage in Transparent Things re this writing implement (I believe, along with the index card, it was Nabokov's weapon of choice).

Anyway, here's a third paean to the pencil in Pnin:

With the help of the janitor he screwed onto the side of the desk a pencil sharpener -- that highly satisfying, highly philosophical implement that goes ticonderoga-ticon-deroga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must.