Subject
[NABOKOV-L] Laughter in the Dark .. Axel Rex and a Berlin
landscape?
landscape?
From
Date
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David Brodie inquires: "...what if the Dutch School painting, pastoral or otherwise, were coded into details of the novel's 1930's Berlin landscape?"
While he develops his hunch from Breughel's "The Proverbs" (or "The Blue Cloak"),he finds out that in "the idiom of Breughel's time, to hang a blue cloak on someone was to cuckhold him," and, for him, the "puzzle would seem to be solved then: Albinus is hoist with his own petard by being consigned to the retributions of an art nearer to cartooning than he had imagined. Within Nabokov's color-coded syn-esthetic, it is sure to be no casual matter that the bulging "wave" of the (colorless) carpet in the final passage above succeeds in handing off, by sardonic association, to Albinus's "blue, blue wave" of revelation a few pages before, through which the blind man "sees" as he lies dying of a gunshot wound....The blue wave is, in effect, the blurry, translucent fabric of the blue cloak which has blinded him."*
JM: Blindness, according to Jorge Luis Borges, is not being kept in the dark. His particular torments were occasional flashes of light although, most of the time, he was envelopped by a hazy blue wave.** Analogies, correspondences, even human relationships form an interminable link between existing and even fantastic things. One can always take our pick and develop it into an enticing narrative and embark on it as children do when they play.
It's almost too easy to denounce human stupidity. Although it seems to me that this was the kind of prank Nabokov enjoyed, as in Brueghel who lived in dire times, one cannot forget the pain and cruelty, the rich and powerful's political irradiation of lies, which is also covered by a blue haze***. It seems to me that, even though Nabokov wasn't indifferent to the times in which he lived, while staying in Berlin, it's difficult to find a thread of compassion beyond the level of a "father's loving heart" (Bend Sinister). I was taught how to read this kind of dolour in "Pnin," in the very succint but poignant sentences about the professor's first love, killed in a concentration camp. Perhaps someone else could help ellucidate, here, how to proceed beyond the cleverness and games in "Laughter in the Dark" and VN's other Berlin novels?
........................................................................................................................................................................................
* wiki: "The picture was originally entitled The Blue Cloak or The Folly of the World which indicates he was not intending to produce a mere collection of proverbs but rather a study of human stupidity. The Blue Cloak referred to in the painting's original title is being placed on the man in the centre of the picture by his wife. This was indicative that she was cuckolding him. Other proverbs indicate mankind's foolishness: a man fills in a pond after his calf has died, just above the central figure of the blue-cloaked man another man carries daylight in a basket. Some of the figures seem to represent more than one figure of speech (whether this was Bruegel's intention or not is unknown), such as the man shearing a sheep in the centre bottom left of the picture. He is sat next to a man shearing a pig, so represents the expression "one shears sheep and one shears pigs" meaning that one has the advantage over the other, but he may also represent the advice "shear them but don't skin them" meaning make the most of your assets... Netherlandish Proverbs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs.
The image I add is a detail, focusing on "The Blue Cloak"
** - I cannot remember where I got this information.
*** - A very informative blend of cleverness and tragedy in Breughel's times is to be found in Michael Frayn's "Headlong."
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While he develops his hunch from Breughel's "The Proverbs" (or "The Blue Cloak"),he finds out that in "the idiom of Breughel's time, to hang a blue cloak on someone was to cuckhold him," and, for him, the "puzzle would seem to be solved then: Albinus is hoist with his own petard by being consigned to the retributions of an art nearer to cartooning than he had imagined. Within Nabokov's color-coded syn-esthetic, it is sure to be no casual matter that the bulging "wave" of the (colorless) carpet in the final passage above succeeds in handing off, by sardonic association, to Albinus's "blue, blue wave" of revelation a few pages before, through which the blind man "sees" as he lies dying of a gunshot wound....The blue wave is, in effect, the blurry, translucent fabric of the blue cloak which has blinded him."*
JM: Blindness, according to Jorge Luis Borges, is not being kept in the dark. His particular torments were occasional flashes of light although, most of the time, he was envelopped by a hazy blue wave.** Analogies, correspondences, even human relationships form an interminable link between existing and even fantastic things. One can always take our pick and develop it into an enticing narrative and embark on it as children do when they play.
It's almost too easy to denounce human stupidity. Although it seems to me that this was the kind of prank Nabokov enjoyed, as in Brueghel who lived in dire times, one cannot forget the pain and cruelty, the rich and powerful's political irradiation of lies, which is also covered by a blue haze***. It seems to me that, even though Nabokov wasn't indifferent to the times in which he lived, while staying in Berlin, it's difficult to find a thread of compassion beyond the level of a "father's loving heart" (Bend Sinister). I was taught how to read this kind of dolour in "Pnin," in the very succint but poignant sentences about the professor's first love, killed in a concentration camp. Perhaps someone else could help ellucidate, here, how to proceed beyond the cleverness and games in "Laughter in the Dark" and VN's other Berlin novels?
........................................................................................................................................................................................
* wiki: "The picture was originally entitled The Blue Cloak or The Folly of the World which indicates he was not intending to produce a mere collection of proverbs but rather a study of human stupidity. The Blue Cloak referred to in the painting's original title is being placed on the man in the centre of the picture by his wife. This was indicative that she was cuckolding him. Other proverbs indicate mankind's foolishness: a man fills in a pond after his calf has died, just above the central figure of the blue-cloaked man another man carries daylight in a basket. Some of the figures seem to represent more than one figure of speech (whether this was Bruegel's intention or not is unknown), such as the man shearing a sheep in the centre bottom left of the picture. He is sat next to a man shearing a pig, so represents the expression "one shears sheep and one shears pigs" meaning that one has the advantage over the other, but he may also represent the advice "shear them but don't skin them" meaning make the most of your assets... Netherlandish Proverbs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs.
The image I add is a detail, focusing on "The Blue Cloak"
** - I cannot remember where I got this information.
*** - A very informative blend of cleverness and tragedy in Breughel's times is to be found in Michael Frayn's "Headlong."
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/
