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Re: Semblable: neighbour, fellow, but not double
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Matt Roth: The holograph ms. of PF (now public domain) in the Library of Congress contains an interesting variant related to this Eliot-via-Baudelaire line. Kinbote's note to line 376 concludes, "I deplore my friend's vicious thrusts at the most distinguished poets of his day." Following this in the ms., VN tried out several sentences, but canceled them all with one wavy, looping line...
JM: After I read my posting addressing Matt's marvellous trouvaille I realized that my praise sounded less enthusiastic than I felt, also my answer was rather imprecise. The "toilest" pun (tseliot/toilets/to toil) absurdly seems to disregard a link with Eliot! Actually, my intention had been to explore why Kinbote(Nabokov) had rejected these lines*. I suppose his motive derived from Nabokov's fidelity to his construction of a character. The sentence with "twin brother/reader/toilest" would present Kinbote as someone who sets more value on his reader (here his "twin soul"), than it is to be expected from him.
In "Dear Bunny, dear Volodya" (page 186/186n) Nabokov is discussing with Wilson some sentences by Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes). He writes: " I note the following pearl (:271) "... a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up." Cp. "...qui tordent sur leurs lits les bruns adolescents" ( Baudelaire, - the one about the pink and green frock of shivering dawn." Simon Karlinsky notes: "...which cause dark-haired adolescents to writhe in their beds." A misquoted line from Charles Baudelaire's poem "Le Crépuscule du Matin" ("The Dawn"). A favorite of Nabokov's, this poem is also evoked elsewhere in his writings, most notably in Lolita and Ada, where it is the source of a minor character named Dawn. The wording of the quotation and its context in Baudelaire's poem are: " l'essaim des rêves malfaisants/Tord sur leurs oreillers les bruns adolescents" ( "the swarm of unwholesome dreams/ Causes dark-haired adolescents to writhe on their pillows").
There are few mentions to "Rev. Eliot" in their correspondence (easily located through SK's index). In letter 250 (Aparil 17,1950) he describes Eliot as "a fraud and a fake." Later, in letter 306 (May 24,1958) Nabokov writes: "Your piece on Toile, T.S is absolutely wonderful, it is one of your very best essays, lucid, acid and wise. I realize that you still think a lot of him as a poet, and I disagree with you when you say that his verses lodge in one's head ( they never did in mine - I always disliked him) - but you have pricked a ripe amber pimple and from now on, Eliot's image will never be the same."
................................................................................
Returning to Baudelaire: In another couple of verses (Au Lecteur) from "Fleurs du Mal", we find an ennumeration which contains some of the bold events that take place in Ada (a burning barn and pine forest, a "triple viol", Aqua Toffana & other poisons, swords ...and daggers?). Satan, in Baudelaire, corresponds to the alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, so we probably must rule "Demon" out (there are magical herbs, but no alchemy in Ada, or so I think)
Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.
If rape and poison, dagger and burning,
Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs
On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,
It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!
...........................................................................................
* - (a) [My reader must help me] ^ Here I sit in my bookless mountain cave; but thou, my mirror twin, toilest... ; (b) Here I sit bookless ^ [and idle] in my mountain cave but [ I know]^ thou toilest, my reader, my mirror twin ( from Matt Roth's research).
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JM: After I read my posting addressing Matt's marvellous trouvaille I realized that my praise sounded less enthusiastic than I felt, also my answer was rather imprecise. The "toilest" pun (tseliot/toilets/to toil) absurdly seems to disregard a link with Eliot! Actually, my intention had been to explore why Kinbote(Nabokov) had rejected these lines*. I suppose his motive derived from Nabokov's fidelity to his construction of a character. The sentence with "twin brother/reader/toilest" would present Kinbote as someone who sets more value on his reader (here his "twin soul"), than it is to be expected from him.
In "Dear Bunny, dear Volodya" (page 186/186n) Nabokov is discussing with Wilson some sentences by Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes). He writes: " I note the following pearl (:271) "... a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up." Cp. "...qui tordent sur leurs lits les bruns adolescents" ( Baudelaire, - the one about the pink and green frock of shivering dawn." Simon Karlinsky notes: "...which cause dark-haired adolescents to writhe in their beds." A misquoted line from Charles Baudelaire's poem "Le Crépuscule du Matin" ("The Dawn"). A favorite of Nabokov's, this poem is also evoked elsewhere in his writings, most notably in Lolita and Ada, where it is the source of a minor character named Dawn. The wording of the quotation and its context in Baudelaire's poem are: " l'essaim des rêves malfaisants/Tord sur leurs oreillers les bruns adolescents" ( "the swarm of unwholesome dreams/ Causes dark-haired adolescents to writhe on their pillows").
There are few mentions to "Rev. Eliot" in their correspondence (easily located through SK's index). In letter 250 (Aparil 17,1950) he describes Eliot as "a fraud and a fake." Later, in letter 306 (May 24,1958) Nabokov writes: "Your piece on Toile, T.S is absolutely wonderful, it is one of your very best essays, lucid, acid and wise. I realize that you still think a lot of him as a poet, and I disagree with you when you say that his verses lodge in one's head ( they never did in mine - I always disliked him) - but you have pricked a ripe amber pimple and from now on, Eliot's image will never be the same."
................................................................................
Returning to Baudelaire: In another couple of verses (Au Lecteur) from "Fleurs du Mal", we find an ennumeration which contains some of the bold events that take place in Ada (a burning barn and pine forest, a "triple viol", Aqua Toffana & other poisons, swords ...and daggers?). Satan, in Baudelaire, corresponds to the alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, so we probably must rule "Demon" out (there are magical herbs, but no alchemy in Ada, or so I think)
Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.
If rape and poison, dagger and burning,
Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs
On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,
It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!
...........................................................................................
* - (a) [My reader must help me] ^ Here I sit in my bookless mountain cave; but thou, my mirror twin, toilest... ; (b) Here I sit bookless ^ [and idle] in my mountain cave but [ I know]^ thou toilest, my reader, my mirror twin ( from Matt Roth's research).
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/