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Re: QUERY: VN's use of "azure"
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In a message dated 4/7/2007 6:26:19 PM Central Daylight Time,
NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
> Did VN frequently use the word 'azure' outside Pale Fire, where it appears
> quite
> frequently? The occurrence I can find is in The Gift: "She was rosy, this
> Venice, and the water of her lagoon was azure". I thought it might shed
> light
> on VN's attitude toward the word's use in the poem's first line. Also, "the
> water of her lagoon" strikes me as unusual syntax and could support a
> reading
> of all occurrences of the word as melodramatic.
See the fifth paragraph of chapter 32 of Lolita. He uses it twice:
"azure-barred" is especially compelling. ". . . Lolita would say with a sigh to heaven
, and the next moment the tenderness and the azure--all would be shattered."
(my italics)
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NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
> Did VN frequently use the word 'azure' outside Pale Fire, where it appears
> quite
> frequently? The occurrence I can find is in The Gift: "She was rosy, this
> Venice, and the water of her lagoon was azure". I thought it might shed
> light
> on VN's attitude toward the word's use in the poem's first line. Also, "the
> water of her lagoon" strikes me as unusual syntax and could support a
> reading
> of all occurrences of the word as melodramatic.
See the fifth paragraph of chapter 32 of Lolita. He uses it twice:
"azure-barred" is especially compelling. ". . . Lolita would say with a sigh to heaven
, and the next moment the tenderness and the azure--all would be shattered."
(my italics)
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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