Subject
BIRTHDAY: Many happy returns (in Speak, Memory)
From
Date
Body
Happy Birthday, Vladimir Vladimirovich!
And speaking of happiness, a theme that I propose that we also celebrate
today, here's one of my favorite passages from *Speak, Memory*:
I see again my schoolroom in Vyra,the blue roses of the wallpaper, the open
window. Its reflection fills the oval mirror above the leathern couch
where my uncle sits, gloating over a tattered book. A sense of security,
of well-being, of summer warmth pervades my memory. That robust reality
makes a ghost of the present. The mirror brims with brightness; a
bumblebee has entered the room and bumps against the ceiling. Everything
is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die.
I love the mirror that reflects the window, brimming with brightness, and
the bumping bumblebee (as well as the alliterative b's that suggest its
sound). Those sweeping statements at the end ("everything is," "nothing
will ever," "nobody will ever") are for me the very essence of how
happiness feels -- even as their wistful untruth poignantly suggests its
limitation.
:) SES
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
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/
And speaking of happiness, a theme that I propose that we also celebrate
today, here's one of my favorite passages from *Speak, Memory*:
I see again my schoolroom in Vyra,the blue roses of the wallpaper, the open
window. Its reflection fills the oval mirror above the leathern couch
where my uncle sits, gloating over a tattered book. A sense of security,
of well-being, of summer warmth pervades my memory. That robust reality
makes a ghost of the present. The mirror brims with brightness; a
bumblebee has entered the room and bumps against the ceiling. Everything
is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die.
I love the mirror that reflects the window, brimming with brightness, and
the bumping bumblebee (as well as the alliterative b's that suggest its
sound). Those sweeping statements at the end ("everything is," "nothing
will ever," "nobody will ever") are for me the very essence of how
happiness feels -- even as their wistful untruth poignantly suggests its
limitation.
:) SES
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
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/