Subject
[ Nabokov-List] [Reminders] John Shade's Big Bear ( Ursa
Major) and Samuel Johson as Big Bear
Major) and Samuel Johson as Big Bear
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Dear List,
A long time ago I underlined a sentence in Borges' "Introducción a la literatura inglesa", in relation to Samuel Johnson and the constellation Ursa Major ( Big Bear).
At the time I had ADA in mind ( variations on Flaubert& his nickname, Saint Ursula, Ursus, Bears...) but soon I forgot all about it. Chance brought me back to Borges and I connected his comment to my most recent posting on Dr.Sutton.After all, there are also references to bears in Shade's poem and in Kinbote's notes. Stars, furs and time...
And, of course, Pale Fire begins with Boswell writing about Samuel Johnson's cat...( no bear!)
Borges on Samuel Johnson:"conversador brillante y autoritario, fundó um cenáculo cuyos miembros lo llamaban, a sus espaldas, la Osa Mayor. Casi enseguida conoció a un joven escocés llamado James Boswell..." Samuel Johnson's fascinating conversational encounters were referred to, at his back, as "Big Bear" (Ursa Major).
There are many entries on Johnson and Ursa Major if one checks the Google for it, or consults English teachers... I chose only one:
Volume: 34 Issue: 12 | December 1984 | Page 43-46 | Words: 2013 | Author: Porter, Roy The Dark Side of Samuel Johnson - 'Mad All My Life'.
'Ursa Major', The Great Bear, was the pet name many of his friends used for Samuel Johnson; and we habitually think of him now as some indestructible great beast, larger than life, typical of that 'John Bull' character of which eighteenth-century Englishmen grew so proud. Tall, big boned, big featured, and inclined to fat, Johnson ate with gusto...
Here are the references in ADA and Pale Fire:
Pale Fire:
Impenetrable! Halfway up the hill
I'd pause in thrall of their delirious trill.
That's Dr. Sutton's light. That's the Great Bear.
120 A thousand years ago five minutes were
Equal to forty ounces of fine sand.
Outstare the stars. Infinite foretime and
Infinite aftertime: above your head
...........................................................................................................................
On suddenly discovering that you
Are now a young and vulnerable toad
Plump in the middle of a busy road,
565 Or a bear cub beneath a burning pine,
Or a book mite in a revived divine.
Time means...
Kinbote: Line 71 ( Parents)...at the portable altars of a vast number of hobbies, from the study of book mites to bear hunting, and could reel off Macbeth from beginning to end during hikes....
Ada:
Van reached the third lawn, and the bower, and carefully inspected the stage prepared for the scene, 'like a provincial come an hour too early to the opera after jogging all day along harvest roads with poppies and bluets catching and twinkle-twining in the wheels of his buggy' (Floeberg's Ursula).
A black bear with bright russet locks (the sun had reached its first parlor window) stood awaiting him. Yes - the Z gene had won
'This is where he lives,' she said, looking around, turning around, as he helped her with wonder and sorrow out of her soft, deep, dark coat, side-thinking (he liked furs): sea bear (kotik)? No, desman (vïhuhol').
'By the way,' he said, 'let's-fix the date of your visit. Her letter changes my schedule. Let's have dinner at Ursus next weekend. I'll get in touch with you.'
Knowing how fond his sisters were of Russian fare and Russian floor shows, Van took them Saturday night to 'Ursus,' the best Franco-Estonian restaurant in Manhattan Major
('Ursus,' Lucette in glistening green, 'Subside, agitation of passion,' Flora's bracelets and breasts, the whelk of Time).
There seem to be various ramifications concerning Flaubert, giant Russia and the Bear (also symbollic for Berlin, Berne...) , time and constellations, Ursa Major... I'd forgotten Johnson!
Jansy
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A long time ago I underlined a sentence in Borges' "Introducción a la literatura inglesa", in relation to Samuel Johnson and the constellation Ursa Major ( Big Bear).
At the time I had ADA in mind ( variations on Flaubert& his nickname, Saint Ursula, Ursus, Bears...) but soon I forgot all about it. Chance brought me back to Borges and I connected his comment to my most recent posting on Dr.Sutton.After all, there are also references to bears in Shade's poem and in Kinbote's notes. Stars, furs and time...
And, of course, Pale Fire begins with Boswell writing about Samuel Johnson's cat...( no bear!)
Borges on Samuel Johnson:"conversador brillante y autoritario, fundó um cenáculo cuyos miembros lo llamaban, a sus espaldas, la Osa Mayor. Casi enseguida conoció a un joven escocés llamado James Boswell..." Samuel Johnson's fascinating conversational encounters were referred to, at his back, as "Big Bear" (Ursa Major).
There are many entries on Johnson and Ursa Major if one checks the Google for it, or consults English teachers... I chose only one:
Volume: 34 Issue: 12 | December 1984 | Page 43-46 | Words: 2013 | Author: Porter, Roy The Dark Side of Samuel Johnson - 'Mad All My Life'.
'Ursa Major', The Great Bear, was the pet name many of his friends used for Samuel Johnson; and we habitually think of him now as some indestructible great beast, larger than life, typical of that 'John Bull' character of which eighteenth-century Englishmen grew so proud. Tall, big boned, big featured, and inclined to fat, Johnson ate with gusto...
Here are the references in ADA and Pale Fire:
Pale Fire:
Impenetrable! Halfway up the hill
I'd pause in thrall of their delirious trill.
That's Dr. Sutton's light. That's the Great Bear.
120 A thousand years ago five minutes were
Equal to forty ounces of fine sand.
Outstare the stars. Infinite foretime and
Infinite aftertime: above your head
...........................................................................................................................
On suddenly discovering that you
Are now a young and vulnerable toad
Plump in the middle of a busy road,
565 Or a bear cub beneath a burning pine,
Or a book mite in a revived divine.
Time means...
Kinbote: Line 71 ( Parents)...at the portable altars of a vast number of hobbies, from the study of book mites to bear hunting, and could reel off Macbeth from beginning to end during hikes....
Ada:
Van reached the third lawn, and the bower, and carefully inspected the stage prepared for the scene, 'like a provincial come an hour too early to the opera after jogging all day along harvest roads with poppies and bluets catching and twinkle-twining in the wheels of his buggy' (Floeberg's Ursula).
A black bear with bright russet locks (the sun had reached its first parlor window) stood awaiting him. Yes - the Z gene had won
'This is where he lives,' she said, looking around, turning around, as he helped her with wonder and sorrow out of her soft, deep, dark coat, side-thinking (he liked furs): sea bear (kotik)? No, desman (vïhuhol').
'By the way,' he said, 'let's-fix the date of your visit. Her letter changes my schedule. Let's have dinner at Ursus next weekend. I'll get in touch with you.'
Knowing how fond his sisters were of Russian fare and Russian floor shows, Van took them Saturday night to 'Ursus,' the best Franco-Estonian restaurant in Manhattan Major
('Ursus,' Lucette in glistening green, 'Subside, agitation of passion,' Flora's bracelets and breasts, the whelk of Time).
There seem to be various ramifications concerning Flaubert, giant Russia and the Bear (also symbollic for Berlin, Berne...) , time and constellations, Ursa Major... I'd forgotten Johnson!
Jansy
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