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[NABOKOV-L] Lauther in the Dark and fairy stories
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In the opening lines of Laugther in the Dark we find: "Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster." In Nabokov's opening Lecture on English Literature Nabokov says that "... great novels are great fairy tales". However, in the postface of "Lolita" he writes that "in modern times the term "pornography" connotes... certain strict rules of narration...Thus,in pornographic novels, action has to be limited to the copulation of clichés. Style, structure, imagery should never distract the reader from his tepid lust... (a mentality stemming from the routine of "true" fairy tales in childhood)."
Although I'd always been intrigued by the differentiation Nabokov established between novelistic "great fairy tales" and the " 'true' fairy tales in childhood," I understood that, contrary to what happens in a good novel for Nabokov, the latter, like it''s observable in adult pornographic novels, must follow specific rules of narration that include a predictable ending. And yet, in "Laugthter in the Dark" (Camera Oscura) Nabokov not only begins his novel with a traditional kernel of uniqueness indicated by "once upon a time" but he immediately reveals his novel's yarn. Inspite of its title, this novel is not about movie-making, scripts or actors. Actually its beginning comprises "a dark cinema" and in its closing chapters cause its central character to become blind and thereby missing the overall pornographic action and perverse laughter centered around him*.
Nabokov, as a youth, studied and particularly enjoyed medieval texts which, in a way, can be regarded as "fairy-tales" and where the action that is taking place in each chapter is outlined at the start. In the Arthurian Legends and in the Rhine Tales (those are the associations that came to my mind & rather vaguely),however, this kind of predictability never spoils the enjoyment of the annunciated plot**. I gather that Nabokov's ambitions at that time included structure, imagery and style along with the task of holding up suspense in a profusion of announced or (apparently) predictable plots (something we also meet, in part, in some of his short-stories, in Lolita, in Pale Fire and even in Transparent Things). I wonder if his preference for the unreliable narrators has a determining role in this...
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
* While searching for a few quotes, I came across Don B.Johnson 2008 article online, a reminder about which I take the opportunity to bring up now:
Don BARTON JOHNSON,« Ada's “Last Tango” in Dance, Song and Film »,cyc, Volume 24 n°1,mis en ligne le 20 mars 2008
URL : http://revel.unice.fr/cycnos/index.html?id=1045
POSLEDNEE TANGO: Iza Kremer's new Russian lyrics are credited for the plot line of a silent film starring Vera Kholodnaya, the most famous Russian female star of her era. The film was appropriately called Poslednee Tango.9 The film, released in May 1918, was silent, but it is safe to assume that the song was used as live musical accompaniment at each showing. Kholodnaya appeared in one last film that Nabokov may have seen. Following a performance in Odessa, she contracted Spanish influenza and died. Her elaborate funeral was the subject of a documentary news clip featuring her cortege and casket. Poslednee Tango flickers in and out of several Russian later novels. The most famous, Ilf and Petrov's Zolotoi telenok (1931) [The Golden Calf], was among the few Soviet novels that Nabokov enjoyed. The song appears in chapter XX entitled "???????? ??????? ?????," where the rogue hero Ostap Bender sings the first few bars to himself and is so carried away that even his samovar and typewriter join in the melody as he launches into a solo tango dance.10 The scene and song appear in several screen versions of Zolotoi telenok. The youthful Vasily Aksyonov also drew on the song as the title and motif of a surreal travel piece about a 1963 film festival in Argentina.11 As a curious aside, I note that the song, retitled "Kiss of Fire" and graced with new lyrics, enjoyed a renaissance in the summer of 1952 when it was Number One on the American Hit Parade for fourteen weeks. It was recorded by several pop singers, including Tony [Martin?] (who figures on Lolita's Hit Parade) and Louis Armstrong (who receives a passing nod in Pale Fire).
** - The same fascination we find in Ruth Rendell's "A Judgement in Stone."
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Although I'd always been intrigued by the differentiation Nabokov established between novelistic "great fairy tales" and the " 'true' fairy tales in childhood," I understood that, contrary to what happens in a good novel for Nabokov, the latter, like it''s observable in adult pornographic novels, must follow specific rules of narration that include a predictable ending. And yet, in "Laugthter in the Dark" (Camera Oscura) Nabokov not only begins his novel with a traditional kernel of uniqueness indicated by "once upon a time" but he immediately reveals his novel's yarn. Inspite of its title, this novel is not about movie-making, scripts or actors. Actually its beginning comprises "a dark cinema" and in its closing chapters cause its central character to become blind and thereby missing the overall pornographic action and perverse laughter centered around him*.
Nabokov, as a youth, studied and particularly enjoyed medieval texts which, in a way, can be regarded as "fairy-tales" and where the action that is taking place in each chapter is outlined at the start. In the Arthurian Legends and in the Rhine Tales (those are the associations that came to my mind & rather vaguely),however, this kind of predictability never spoils the enjoyment of the annunciated plot**. I gather that Nabokov's ambitions at that time included structure, imagery and style along with the task of holding up suspense in a profusion of announced or (apparently) predictable plots (something we also meet, in part, in some of his short-stories, in Lolita, in Pale Fire and even in Transparent Things). I wonder if his preference for the unreliable narrators has a determining role in this...
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
* While searching for a few quotes, I came across Don B.Johnson 2008 article online, a reminder about which I take the opportunity to bring up now:
Don BARTON JOHNSON,« Ada's “Last Tango” in Dance, Song and Film »,cyc, Volume 24 n°1,mis en ligne le 20 mars 2008
URL : http://revel.unice.fr/cycnos/index.html?id=1045
POSLEDNEE TANGO: Iza Kremer's new Russian lyrics are credited for the plot line of a silent film starring Vera Kholodnaya, the most famous Russian female star of her era. The film was appropriately called Poslednee Tango.9 The film, released in May 1918, was silent, but it is safe to assume that the song was used as live musical accompaniment at each showing. Kholodnaya appeared in one last film that Nabokov may have seen. Following a performance in Odessa, she contracted Spanish influenza and died. Her elaborate funeral was the subject of a documentary news clip featuring her cortege and casket. Poslednee Tango flickers in and out of several Russian later novels. The most famous, Ilf and Petrov's Zolotoi telenok (1931) [The Golden Calf], was among the few Soviet novels that Nabokov enjoyed. The song appears in chapter XX entitled "???????? ??????? ?????," where the rogue hero Ostap Bender sings the first few bars to himself and is so carried away that even his samovar and typewriter join in the melody as he launches into a solo tango dance.10 The scene and song appear in several screen versions of Zolotoi telenok. The youthful Vasily Aksyonov also drew on the song as the title and motif of a surreal travel piece about a 1963 film festival in Argentina.11 As a curious aside, I note that the song, retitled "Kiss of Fire" and graced with new lyrics, enjoyed a renaissance in the summer of 1952 when it was Number One on the American Hit Parade for fourteen weeks. It was recorded by several pop singers, including Tony [Martin?] (who figures on Lolita's Hit Parade) and Louis Armstrong (who receives a passing nod in Pale Fire).
** - The same fascination we find in Ruth Rendell's "A Judgement in Stone."
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/