Subject
Re: "Amen Corner" in New Yorker "Conclusive Evidence" (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Tom Bolt is a poet, artist, and novelist, whose 1001-line
poem DARK ICE (on ZEMBLA) cannot fail to delight any good Nabokovian,
offers his thoughts on "Amen Corner." Jerry Friedman has also just
pointed out this line of association. At first glance, it may seem
improbable that VN circa 1950 would have known about this particular sense
of "Amen Corner." (After all, it would also seem improbable that he knew
Gene Stratton-Porter's 1911 kiddie's book, _Girl of the Limberlost_, but
he did.) As for the likelihood of an American source for "Amen Corner," it
may be worth noting that as per Boyd I, p. 50 VN spent several days as a
guest lecturer at Spelman College, a college for black women in Atlanta,
where he was thoroughly charmed by college president Florence Read
and attended church services
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From: Thomas Bolt <bolt@tbolt.com>
The phrase "Amen Corner" is a
Southern USA church expression
(black and white). It refers to,
not a place, but a group of people
(usually, but not necessarily,
sitting together) who loudly
affirm whatever the preacher says.
("Amen!" or "Preach on it!") The
affirmation is vociferous but not
necessarily thoughtful- hence the
pejorative sense of knee-jerk
agreement by a chorus of supporters.
"Barbara Braun" - Brown Beard? VN's
love for American Germanists was
never very great. (White Man
[Whitman], Brown Beard?) Sounds
like another disguise (or Abe
Lincoln, the subject of Whitman's
Dooryard elegy).
Tom
poem DARK ICE (on ZEMBLA) cannot fail to delight any good Nabokovian,
offers his thoughts on "Amen Corner." Jerry Friedman has also just
pointed out this line of association. At first glance, it may seem
improbable that VN circa 1950 would have known about this particular sense
of "Amen Corner." (After all, it would also seem improbable that he knew
Gene Stratton-Porter's 1911 kiddie's book, _Girl of the Limberlost_, but
he did.) As for the likelihood of an American source for "Amen Corner," it
may be worth noting that as per Boyd I, p. 50 VN spent several days as a
guest lecturer at Spelman College, a college for black women in Atlanta,
where he was thoroughly charmed by college president Florence Read
and attended church services
--------------------
From: Thomas Bolt <bolt@tbolt.com>
The phrase "Amen Corner" is a
Southern USA church expression
(black and white). It refers to,
not a place, but a group of people
(usually, but not necessarily,
sitting together) who loudly
affirm whatever the preacher says.
("Amen!" or "Preach on it!") The
affirmation is vociferous but not
necessarily thoughtful- hence the
pejorative sense of knee-jerk
agreement by a chorus of supporters.
"Barbara Braun" - Brown Beard? VN's
love for American Germanists was
never very great. (White Man
[Whitman], Brown Beard?) Sounds
like another disguise (or Abe
Lincoln, the subject of Whitman's
Dooryard elegy).
Tom