Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001754, Sun, 2 Mar 1997 13:06:14 -0800

Subject
Re: VN on Melville? (fwd)
Date
Body
From: "J. A. Rea" <JAREA@UKCC.uky.edu>

And let's not forget that Appel in his first edition of _The Annotated
Lolita_ in referring to "Pierre Point in Melville Sound" simply cites
H. H.'s invention, from _Pierre_ (l852) by Herman Melville." Which he
slightly improves in the second edition by referring to the novel's
"gloomy 'Byronic' themes" -- not specifying what these themes might be!

As a Melville critic would point out (several have), Pierre is a novel that
deals with the incestuous passion of his eponymous hero for his sister.
I refrain from further comment. On second thought, there is a "literary
biography" (a term both internally self contradictory and ambiguous!)
which has at its beginning two pedigree charts nicely reminiscent of _Ada_:
and the title _Subversive Genealogies_ -- I warn that I'm typing from the
top of my head (where memory is perhaps thinner than hair) and I may be
slightly misspelling that title, but it's close (title, not hair). I have
no notion why "subversive genealogy" and sibling incest would be of any
interest to denizens of this list, so I'll quit here.

John

Ki semenat ispinaza, non andet iskultsu!

J. A. Rea jarea@ukcc.uky.edu