Subject
Re: Abraham Milton
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Date
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A.S to JM: There is also a logogriph in Jules Verne's "Voyage to the Center of the World."
JM: Thank you. Now I'm doubly curious about Verne.
(btw: why place John Milton in relation to the assassinated A.Lincoln? Could it be explained thru the Pushkin connection?)
JA to BB: [Why bring the Vane Sisters in here? When VN wants to allude to them in later work, he does so in no uncertain terms.]J.A. Is in complete agreement here, that stiff vane thing is a pretty iffy connection.
JM: Interesting word, "iffy" to qualify "stiff" on efforts to eff VN's not-so-hidden ineffable ifs...
I agree with BB's Some weathervanes wear down their shafts and become loose, veering with every breeze. Some rust solid. Others not so far gone move occasionally but stiffly. Also with B.Karp's poetic image. C. Kunin's information that "stiff vane" is used in archery is intriguing. I was mistaken when I supposedthe adjective "stiff" had been employed to create a variation for "TV antenna" from which the bird flew away and next, returned.
Like it happens with "cartesian devils", "clocks with no hands", "barometers" and such, VN often refers to instruments that measure speed, time, pressure, weather.
The purpose of this message, though, is to emphasize VN's frequent use of the negative in relation to Hazel.
1. a white-scarfed beau/ Would never come for her; she'd never go,/A dream of gauze and jasmine, to that dance.
2.no phantom would/ Rise gracefully to welcome you and me
I wonder to what purpose! It could be construed as indicating the opposite*, but for me it represents mainly a figure of "loss" and "unfulfillment".
other instances (two related to the "beau" scene):
1.Alas, the dingy cygnet never turned/Into a wood duck.
2. No lips would share the lipstick of her smoke;/The telephone ...For her would never ring
There are many scattered references to different sorts of birds, often linked to deceit or misapprehension ( duck/cignet; Dot, arrow pointing back... A pheasant's feet!;a proud and happy linguist: je nourris/ Les pauvres cigales - meaning that he/ Fed the poor sea gulls!)
....................................................................................................................................................................
* as in the irony of finding Shade's:
I'm reasonably sure that we survive/ And that my darling somewhere is alive,/As I am reasonably sure that I/980 Shall wake at six tomorrow, on July/ The twenty-second, nineteen fifty-nine...
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JM: Thank you. Now I'm doubly curious about Verne.
(btw: why place John Milton in relation to the assassinated A.Lincoln? Could it be explained thru the Pushkin connection?)
JA to BB: [Why bring the Vane Sisters in here? When VN wants to allude to them in later work, he does so in no uncertain terms.]J.A. Is in complete agreement here, that stiff vane thing is a pretty iffy connection.
JM: Interesting word, "iffy" to qualify "stiff" on efforts to eff VN's not-so-hidden ineffable ifs...
I agree with BB's Some weathervanes wear down their shafts and become loose, veering with every breeze. Some rust solid. Others not so far gone move occasionally but stiffly. Also with B.Karp's poetic image. C. Kunin's information that "stiff vane" is used in archery is intriguing. I was mistaken when I supposedthe adjective "stiff" had been employed to create a variation for "TV antenna" from which the bird flew away and next, returned.
Like it happens with "cartesian devils", "clocks with no hands", "barometers" and such, VN often refers to instruments that measure speed, time, pressure, weather.
The purpose of this message, though, is to emphasize VN's frequent use of the negative in relation to Hazel.
1. a white-scarfed beau/ Would never come for her; she'd never go,/A dream of gauze and jasmine, to that dance.
2.no phantom would/ Rise gracefully to welcome you and me
I wonder to what purpose! It could be construed as indicating the opposite*, but for me it represents mainly a figure of "loss" and "unfulfillment".
other instances (two related to the "beau" scene):
1.Alas, the dingy cygnet never turned/Into a wood duck.
2. No lips would share the lipstick of her smoke;/The telephone ...For her would never ring
There are many scattered references to different sorts of birds, often linked to deceit or misapprehension ( duck/cignet; Dot, arrow pointing back... A pheasant's feet!;a proud and happy linguist: je nourris/ Les pauvres cigales - meaning that he/ Fed the poor sea gulls!)
....................................................................................................................................................................
* as in the irony of finding Shade's:
I'm reasonably sure that we survive/ And that my darling somewhere is alive,/As I am reasonably sure that I/980 Shall wake at six tomorrow, on July/ The twenty-second, nineteen fifty-nine...
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/