Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010763, Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:59:15 -0800

Subject
Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: don barton johnson
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 5:11 PM
Subject: Fw: lunette/meniscus in TT
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John and List,

Following the "lunette" and its various meanings referring to:
the crescent cut for holding the neck at the guillotine;
crescent moon; meniscus; little moon;
arcade with an opening for ventilation and light;
architectural projection;
"lunotto", the rear window of a car or carriage, which may have a moonlike shape or serve for admiring the moon;
etc...

we find, after the initial chapter in TT where " the future is but a figure of speech, a specter ot thought" ( even at an imminent beheading secured by a lunette ), a slow and discreet emergence of the crescent moon in various "figures of speech" culminating with our Baron R´s " tralatitions".

A subtle variation of "lunette" appears on Ch.5: " He strolled aimlessly, keeping in the shelter of various ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTIONS ( one of the meanings of "lunette") for it was in vain the the daily paper of that rainy town kept clamoring for ARCADES to be built in its shopping district "
( on Ch 4, Hugh was sharing a room with his father in a "halfhearted alcove, separated by an ARCHWAY and a clothes tree" which, more or less, also suggests the crescent shape but not as clearly as what follows later ) .

At the closing of Ch 6 we find a frightened Hugh close to the dead body of his father when he opens "wide both casements; they gave on a parking place four floors below; the thin MENISCUS overhead was too wan to illumine the roofs of the houses descending towar the invisible lake".


Then, of ch.9 Hugh meets pretty Armande who has " two dimples of the CRESCENTIC type" and that "came down her tanned cheeks on the sides of her mournful mouth".

The "lunette" is now firmly connected to Armande herself! and I stopped at Ch.9. I wonder what lies in the next chapters!

( the hunting goddess Diana is also depicted with a crescent as a crest on her head)
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There is also the affair of ch9, with the play with "opposite" images from "crescent moon" to "setting sun".
It starts with "Would he mind pulling that dark blind down a little? THE LOW SUN´S FUNERAL"
and proceeds to " Ask me what I can do, not what I do, lovely girl, lovely WAKE OF THE SUN" ( ...)
And, after that:
" I can commit to memory a whole page...I have never published one scrap of verse except some juvenile nonsense at college" ..
And what was the juvenile nonsense? It appears at the begining of Ch8: " Blest are suspension dots...THE SUN WAS SETTING A HEAVENLY EXAMPLE TO THE LAKE' .

( wonderful: Funeral - Wake - Sunset and set an example - ( Lake )
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Has it been brought up at the list that the hotel "FANTASTIC in Blur" that is actually the "MAJESTIC in Chur", soon gains expression in Hugh´s appearance: " had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his FANTASTIC MAJESTY' ?
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Best to all,
Jansy
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