Very interesting. I have long thought that
Pale Fire’s IPH was an echo of “Theosophist” and that a
critique of Theosophy and Spiritualism is implicit in much of VNs
writings. It is clear that Wilcox and her husband were very interested in
Theosophy and for those who suspect that VNs control extends beyond the grave
into the metatextual world of Wikipedia, here is an entry found under Ella
Wheeler Wilcox:
Cordula’s Web---features illustrated
poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
---Suellen
From: Vladimir
Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of Matthew Roth
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007
10:14 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS: Ella
Wheeler Wilcox in SM and PF (?)
Maureen
Johnston's query about "miserable concoction" caused me to read more
closely section 5 of Ch. 11 of SM. I was surprised to find there a reference to
Ella Wheeler Wilcox. VN says that as a youth he was subjected to "lots of
stuff by Ella Wheeler Wilcox." This surprised me because, just two
days prior, I spent a bit of time trying to figure out if VN ever read or even
knew of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. In particular, I'd been reading the last section
of Wilcox's memoir The
Worlds and I (1918), in which Wheeler talks about her
attempts to contact the spirit of her late husband. The view and language
seemed similar to old John Shade, or so it seemed to me. So...now that I see
that VN did indeed know of her work (her poems, at least), I will venture the
possibility that Mrs. Wilcox does indeed make a cameo appearance in Shade's
poem.
Three parallels:
Shade: "For
as we know from dreams it is so hard / To speak of our dear dead!"
(589-590)
Wilcox: "The
effort to obtain communication with our dear dead should begin with prayer and
supplication..." (408)
Shade: "I'm
reasonably sure that we survive / And that somewhere my darling is
alive..." (977-78)
Wilcox:
"Somewhere beyond all this I believed my Robert was living..." (347)
Shade: "A
medium smuggled in / Pale jellies and a floating mandolin." (639-40)
Wilcox: Here is a
picture of Wilcox with her beloved mandolin: http://books.google.com/books?id=BBJIU0v_gyUC&printsec=frontcover#PPT23,M1
Of these
parallels, I think the last is most definitive, unless of course there is
another good reason to have a mandolin there.
Best,
Matt Roth