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Fw: [NABOKV-L] konskie deti
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JM: What could be the intention behind Nabokov's image that links Lucette's rubber cap and the magic helmet that changes a blonde into red-haired boy? (or the powerful force allied to the Sun Horse lies only with the Yukonsk Ikon, not in the helmet alone?)
In Pushkin's Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820), the long poem set in Kiev of Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko (Vladimir the Red/Beautiful Sun, the Kievan Prince who in 988 introduced Christianity to Rus), the magic cap makes the heroine invisible. Nabokov seems to cross pagan (sun god Hors) and Christian (chudotvornaya, miracle-working, Yukonsk Ikon) miracles.
In Pushkin's Pesn' o veshchem Olege ("The Song of Magic Oleg," 1822) the old sorcerer, "a pagan who obeys no one but Perun," predicts to Prince Oleg that he will die because of his horse. The historical Oleg was the first Kievan Prince of the House of Rurik (ruled in 879-912). Oleg's son Igor' (a namesake and ancestor of the hero of Slovo o polku Igoreve) was married to Olga (who was as clever as her svyokr, father-in-law).
Olga is Oleg in feminine key. If turned into a man, Lucette would be Lucien. In Ada (3.8), Lucien is a concierge at Les Trois Cygnes, a hotel in Mont Roux:
'Lucien,' said Dr Veen, peering over his spectacles, 'I may have - as your predecessor would know - all kinds of queer visitors, magicians, masked ladies, madmen - que sais-je? and I expect miracles of secrecy from all three mute swans. Here's a prefatory bonus.'
'Merci infiniment,' said the concierge, and, as usual, Van felt infinitely touched by the courteous hyperbole provoking no dearth of philosophical thought.
Btw., Lucette, with her jeweled head and "struthious" dress (3.5), is linked to the beautiful Tsarevna Lebed' (Swan Princess) from Pushkin's Skazka o tsare Saltane ("The Fairy Tale about Czar Saltan," 1831).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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In Pushkin's Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820), the long poem set in Kiev of Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko (Vladimir the Red/Beautiful Sun, the Kievan Prince who in 988 introduced Christianity to Rus), the magic cap makes the heroine invisible. Nabokov seems to cross pagan (sun god Hors) and Christian (chudotvornaya, miracle-working, Yukonsk Ikon) miracles.
In Pushkin's Pesn' o veshchem Olege ("The Song of Magic Oleg," 1822) the old sorcerer, "a pagan who obeys no one but Perun," predicts to Prince Oleg that he will die because of his horse. The historical Oleg was the first Kievan Prince of the House of Rurik (ruled in 879-912). Oleg's son Igor' (a namesake and ancestor of the hero of Slovo o polku Igoreve) was married to Olga (who was as clever as her svyokr, father-in-law).
Olga is Oleg in feminine key. If turned into a man, Lucette would be Lucien. In Ada (3.8), Lucien is a concierge at Les Trois Cygnes, a hotel in Mont Roux:
'Lucien,' said Dr Veen, peering over his spectacles, 'I may have - as your predecessor would know - all kinds of queer visitors, magicians, masked ladies, madmen - que sais-je? and I expect miracles of secrecy from all three mute swans. Here's a prefatory bonus.'
'Merci infiniment,' said the concierge, and, as usual, Van felt infinitely touched by the courteous hyperbole provoking no dearth of philosophical thought.
Btw., Lucette, with her jeweled head and "struthious" dress (3.5), is linked to the beautiful Tsarevna Lebed' (Swan Princess) from Pushkin's Skazka o tsare Saltane ("The Fairy Tale about Czar Saltan," 1831).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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/