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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Sighting (celadon eyes; light of my life)
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Jansy: I agree that such allusions/sightings add to our sheer reading
pleasure. What I find boring about much of my non-Nabokov-fiction reading is
the absence of ³lexical challenge.² But I must say that ³celadan eyes² are
more intriguing than the almost commonplace idiom ³light of my life.² The
latter¹s appeal derives from the alliterative context of Lolita¹s loins and
labia[ls].
³Celadan² will certainly have me brushing up my somewhat stale Dryden, and
re-reading RLSK for further clues of relevance beyond the mere fact
(coincidence?) of usage. My chief reservation against ³dis-allusion,² to
cite Priscilla Meyers again, is not to extrapolate VN¹s use of, say, a few
Anglo-Saxon puns into reading Pale Fire as a hidden treatise on the
evolution of the English Language competing with Otto Jesperson! (I
exaggerate; sorry).
An instance of Nabokovian serendipity: today I notice a book on lepidoptery
on my daughter¹s shelf. I read of the warnings of over-collecting rare
butterflies, and the growing interest in breeding threatened species and
releasing them into the wild. Immediate thought: must check if VN ever tried
this? The author specializes with Big Blues, tricky since they breed in
ant-hills! On the first page discussing ecozonal distributions, the word
PALEARCTIC puzzles until I realize that the PALE, pronounced PALLY [sic], is
from the prefix PALEO- meaning ancient or Old-World. Do we have Friendly
Pale(o)-Fire with Promethean implications?
I may not be the first to ask this, but
Your search - "Pale Fire" Prometheus site:listserv.ucsb.edu=en - did not
match any documents.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 21/02/2009 17:15, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> I wondered how common were certain apparently simple associations of words,
> created by Nabokov, to warrant a "sighting" when they appear in another
> author's work, or if they are then merely unrelated recurring images.
>
> 1. Celadon eyes ( RLSK and "a cat with celadon eyes") could indicate John
> Dryden's play Astrea ( through her lover, Celadon), Chinese blue-green
> porcelain and, after Eric Rohmer's movie Celadon et Astrée, fashionable items
> such as brands of wine [Cf. 2005 Topanga Vineyards, 'Celadon',CA: a shadowy
> girl with smoky celadon eyes as frigid as glacier ice (
> files.meetup.com/397296/Nectar_wine_glass_list_marina.pdf0.] or make-up [
> Celadon Pure Eyes Matte Eyeshadow: A rich mid-deep toned green matte
> shadow...]
> 2. Light of my life ( Lolita ) with its whiff of tango. There are several
> songs in Portuguese titled "Luz da minha vida" (Bosco & Vinicius and two other
> country music lyrics) and in Spanish "Luz de Mi Vida" Cf.
> www.metrolyrics.com/luz-de-mi-vida-lyrics-los-lobos.html
> <http://www.metrolyrics.com/luz-de-mi-vida-lyrics-los-lobos.html>
> ;cifras.clickgratis.com.br/marcos_witt_-_gospel/luz_de_mi_vida-18269.html;
> letras.terra.com.br/patricia-sosa/495645/
> The most surprising is the "Gospel" by Marcos Witt: "Luz de mi vida, aliento
> en mi ser/ tu amor me consume, es fuego en mi ser/ y nada podrá apagar este
> amor/ Luz de mi vida eres tú/ al contemplarte te quiero adorar, tu voz seduce
> mi voluntad/ tú eres mi primer amor, y yo anhelo tu gloria en mí", also
> because it mentions "light of my life/ fire in my being (fuego en mi ser)"
>
> The curious sighting/references (?) I came across today came from Dean
> Koontz: "From the Corner of his Eye" ( 2000 Bantam Books):
> 1. "A man with beautiful celadon eyes, his face beaded with jewels of rain,
> reached through the cut-away door and removed the blanket from Agnes." (p.59)
> 2."Get this through your head, you shit-for-brains. I lost a daughter, a
> precious daughter, my Naomi, the light of my life." (p.169).
>
> I haven't yet progressed enough and wonder if I will go on but these two
> references stood out in its initial chapters. The new-born hero is called
> Bartholomew ( is there also something in common with Lolita's and Pnin's
> St.Bart?)
>
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pleasure. What I find boring about much of my non-Nabokov-fiction reading is
the absence of ³lexical challenge.² But I must say that ³celadan eyes² are
more intriguing than the almost commonplace idiom ³light of my life.² The
latter¹s appeal derives from the alliterative context of Lolita¹s loins and
labia[ls].
³Celadan² will certainly have me brushing up my somewhat stale Dryden, and
re-reading RLSK for further clues of relevance beyond the mere fact
(coincidence?) of usage. My chief reservation against ³dis-allusion,² to
cite Priscilla Meyers again, is not to extrapolate VN¹s use of, say, a few
Anglo-Saxon puns into reading Pale Fire as a hidden treatise on the
evolution of the English Language competing with Otto Jesperson! (I
exaggerate; sorry).
An instance of Nabokovian serendipity: today I notice a book on lepidoptery
on my daughter¹s shelf. I read of the warnings of over-collecting rare
butterflies, and the growing interest in breeding threatened species and
releasing them into the wild. Immediate thought: must check if VN ever tried
this? The author specializes with Big Blues, tricky since they breed in
ant-hills! On the first page discussing ecozonal distributions, the word
PALEARCTIC puzzles until I realize that the PALE, pronounced PALLY [sic], is
from the prefix PALEO- meaning ancient or Old-World. Do we have Friendly
Pale(o)-Fire with Promethean implications?
I may not be the first to ask this, but
Your search - "Pale Fire" Prometheus site:listserv.ucsb.edu=en - did not
match any documents.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 21/02/2009 17:15, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> I wondered how common were certain apparently simple associations of words,
> created by Nabokov, to warrant a "sighting" when they appear in another
> author's work, or if they are then merely unrelated recurring images.
>
> 1. Celadon eyes ( RLSK and "a cat with celadon eyes") could indicate John
> Dryden's play Astrea ( through her lover, Celadon), Chinese blue-green
> porcelain and, after Eric Rohmer's movie Celadon et Astrée, fashionable items
> such as brands of wine [Cf. 2005 Topanga Vineyards, 'Celadon',CA: a shadowy
> girl with smoky celadon eyes as frigid as glacier ice (
> files.meetup.com/397296/Nectar_wine_glass_list_marina.pdf0.] or make-up [
> Celadon Pure Eyes Matte Eyeshadow: A rich mid-deep toned green matte
> shadow...]
> 2. Light of my life ( Lolita ) with its whiff of tango. There are several
> songs in Portuguese titled "Luz da minha vida" (Bosco & Vinicius and two other
> country music lyrics) and in Spanish "Luz de Mi Vida" Cf.
> www.metrolyrics.com/luz-de-mi-vida-lyrics-los-lobos.html
> <http://www.metrolyrics.com/luz-de-mi-vida-lyrics-los-lobos.html>
> ;cifras.clickgratis.com.br/marcos_witt_-_gospel/luz_de_mi_vida-18269.html;
> letras.terra.com.br/patricia-sosa/495645/
> The most surprising is the "Gospel" by Marcos Witt: "Luz de mi vida, aliento
> en mi ser/ tu amor me consume, es fuego en mi ser/ y nada podrá apagar este
> amor/ Luz de mi vida eres tú/ al contemplarte te quiero adorar, tu voz seduce
> mi voluntad/ tú eres mi primer amor, y yo anhelo tu gloria en mí", also
> because it mentions "light of my life/ fire in my being (fuego en mi ser)"
>
> The curious sighting/references (?) I came across today came from Dean
> Koontz: "From the Corner of his Eye" ( 2000 Bantam Books):
> 1. "A man with beautiful celadon eyes, his face beaded with jewels of rain,
> reached through the cut-away door and removed the blanket from Agnes." (p.59)
> 2."Get this through your head, you shit-for-brains. I lost a daughter, a
> precious daughter, my Naomi, the light of my life." (p.169).
>
> I haven't yet progressed enough and wonder if I will go on but these two
> references stood out in its initial chapters. The new-born hero is called
> Bartholomew ( is there also something in common with Lolita's and Pnin's
> St.Bart?)
>
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/