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Re: Swift: An Account of a Battel
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Jerry Friedman: "Brian Boyd pointed out in his book (p. 79) that the being that dwells on Swift's mountain in Nova Zembla is "a malignant deity, called Criticism". I think that's relevant, even from Shade's point of view."
JM (quoting B.Boyd): "Since Kinbote insists on the distinction between his Zembla and "Nova Zembla" (C.894,267), his own Zembla must be different from those slim polar island once called Nova Zembla. Now known more oftern by their Russian name, Novaya Zemlya, or "new land," they were formerly, as the Popean quotation in Shade's manuscript note at line 937 indicates ( "At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where"), a byword for remoteness and coledness, connotations Pope's friend Swift exploited when in his Battle of the Books he announces that "a malignant deity, call'd Criticism...dwelf on the Top of a snowy Mountain in Nova Zembla." Judging by geographical and linguistic indications, Kinbote's Zembla is sometimes very close to Novaya Zemlya but shits at times toward Scandinavia, perhaps toward Finland..." [...] Nabokov noted that "the story starts in Ultima Thule, an insular kingdom, where a palace itrigue and some assistance from Nova Zembla clear the way for a dull and savage revolution. My main creature the King of Thule is dethroned. ..." Adds Boyd: "Zembla must be closer to the mythic Ultima Thule than to the actual Novaya Zemlya or the relative 'realism' of New Wye. Boyd also mentions a newspaper article (July 30,1939) related to Zembla and which was published close to the time when Nabokov began writing Solus Rex.(Magic of artistic discovery, pages 79/80).
(copying from Swift's page, sent in the attached archive):
"Mean while Momus fearing the worst, and calling to mind an antient Prophecy, which bore no very good Face to his Children the Moderns; bent his Flight to the Region of a malignant Deity, called Criticism. She dwelt on the Top of a snowy Mountain in Nova Zembla; there Momus found her extended in her Den, upon the Spoils of numberles Voumes half devoured. At her right Hand sat Ignorance, her Father and Husband, blind with Age; at her left, Pride her Mother, dressing her up in the Scraps of Paper herself had torn. There, was Opinion her Sister, light of Food, hoodwinkt, an headstrong, yet giddy and perpertually turning. About her play'd her Children... "
Comment: What strikes me, in a superficial examination of Swift's page (he is himself a critic and a satirist), is that Criticism (a malignant deity) is married and descends from Ignorance, she is the daughter of Pride and a sister to Opinion, while Momus indicates to the god of satire ( in Brazilian carnival festivities are headed by a "Rei Momo" wearing a tin crown), parody and distorted criticism. In Nova Zembla, therefore, what we find is evil or incompetent criticism, not criticism in general. I couldn't yet grasp the relation between what the title of the "Battel*" announces qua "Antient and Modern Books" and the reference in that paragraph to Momus children, the Moderns...
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* Battel suggests a "battle" - but I found something else in the wiki: Battel, or Battels (of uncertain origin, possibly connected with "battle," a northern English word meaning to feed, or "batten") was a word used at the University of Oxford for the food ordered by members of the college as distinct from the usual "commons"...Though the distinction from commons is no longer relevant, the term persists as the name for members' termly bills at many colleges at the Universities of Oxford and Durham.
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JM (quoting B.Boyd): "Since Kinbote insists on the distinction between his Zembla and "Nova Zembla" (C.894,267), his own Zembla must be different from those slim polar island once called Nova Zembla. Now known more oftern by their Russian name, Novaya Zemlya, or "new land," they were formerly, as the Popean quotation in Shade's manuscript note at line 937 indicates ( "At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where"), a byword for remoteness and coledness, connotations Pope's friend Swift exploited when in his Battle of the Books he announces that "a malignant deity, call'd Criticism...dwelf on the Top of a snowy Mountain in Nova Zembla." Judging by geographical and linguistic indications, Kinbote's Zembla is sometimes very close to Novaya Zemlya but shits at times toward Scandinavia, perhaps toward Finland..." [...] Nabokov noted that "the story starts in Ultima Thule, an insular kingdom, where a palace itrigue and some assistance from Nova Zembla clear the way for a dull and savage revolution. My main creature the King of Thule is dethroned. ..." Adds Boyd: "Zembla must be closer to the mythic Ultima Thule than to the actual Novaya Zemlya or the relative 'realism' of New Wye. Boyd also mentions a newspaper article (July 30,1939) related to Zembla and which was published close to the time when Nabokov began writing Solus Rex.(Magic of artistic discovery, pages 79/80).
(copying from Swift's page, sent in the attached archive):
"Mean while Momus fearing the worst, and calling to mind an antient Prophecy, which bore no very good Face to his Children the Moderns; bent his Flight to the Region of a malignant Deity, called Criticism. She dwelt on the Top of a snowy Mountain in Nova Zembla; there Momus found her extended in her Den, upon the Spoils of numberles Voumes half devoured. At her right Hand sat Ignorance, her Father and Husband, blind with Age; at her left, Pride her Mother, dressing her up in the Scraps of Paper herself had torn. There, was Opinion her Sister, light of Food, hoodwinkt, an headstrong, yet giddy and perpertually turning. About her play'd her Children... "
Comment: What strikes me, in a superficial examination of Swift's page (he is himself a critic and a satirist), is that Criticism (a malignant deity) is married and descends from Ignorance, she is the daughter of Pride and a sister to Opinion, while Momus indicates to the god of satire ( in Brazilian carnival festivities are headed by a "Rei Momo" wearing a tin crown), parody and distorted criticism. In Nova Zembla, therefore, what we find is evil or incompetent criticism, not criticism in general. I couldn't yet grasp the relation between what the title of the "Battel*" announces qua "Antient and Modern Books" and the reference in that paragraph to Momus children, the Moderns...
.....................................................................................
* Battel suggests a "battle" - but I found something else in the wiki: Battel, or Battels (of uncertain origin, possibly connected with "battle," a northern English word meaning to feed, or "batten") was a word used at the University of Oxford for the food ordered by members of the college as distinct from the usual "commons"...Though the distinction from commons is no longer relevant, the term persists as the name for members' termly bills at many colleges at the Universities of Oxford and Durham.
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/