Subject
birds, nests & Gradus in Pale Fire
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At the beginning (and at the end) of his poem Shade (whose parents were
ornithologists) compares himself to the shadow of the waxwing. In his poem
Tam, gde zhili sviristeli ("Where the Waxwings Lived:" 1908) Velimir
Khlebnikov (whose father was an ornithologist) mentions besporyadok dikiy
teney (a wild confusion of shadows) and staya lyogkikh vremirey (a flock of
light timefinches):
В беспорядке диком теней,
Где, как морок старых дней,
Закружились, зазвенели
Стая лёгких времирей.
Vremiri ("timefinches") is Khlebnikov's neologism derived from vremya
(time). In its singular form, vremir' rhymes with snegir' (bullfinch).
Snigir' ("The Bullfinch," 1800) is a poem by Derzhavin written after
Suvorov's death. In his book on Derzhavin (1931) Hodasevich quotes Lastochka
("The Swallow," 1794, a poem completed after the death of Derzhavin's first
wife), Snigir' and mentions numerous birds that were sung by Derzhavin (who
loved all winged creatures):
Как он любил всё крылатое! Недаром воспел не только орла, соловья, лебедя и
павлина, но и ласточку, ястреба, сокола, голубя, аиста, пеночку, зяблика,
снигиря, синичку, желну, чечётку, тетерева, бекаса и, наконец, даже
комара...
In the next paragraph Hodasevich mentions Count Ksaveriy Petrovich
Branitski, his wife (the beloved niece of Prince Potyomkin, Catherine's
favorite who died while traveling with his niece to Nikolayev) and their
little daughter Eliza (who later married Count Vorontsov, the target of
Pushkin's epigrams, "Half-milord, etc."):
26 июля прибыли в Киев, провели там три дня, помолились в Лавре, осмотрели
достопримечательности и поехали под Белую Церковь, в имение графини
Браницкой, той самой племянницы Потёмкина, на руках у которой он умер
дорогою в Николаев. Перед памятью дяди графиня благоговела; в его честь был
воздвигнут ею род пантеона, где бюст Державина высился среди прочих. Графа
Ксаверия Петровича не случилось дома. Зато Элиза, кокетливая и быстроглазая
дочка графини, в любезности не отставала от матери. Державину был оказан
приём зараз торжественный и сердечный -- как автору "Водопада" и старому
другу.
The Count's Polish name, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, brings to mind John
Francis Shade, the American poet, and Charles Xavier Vseslav (Charles the
Beloved), the last self-exiled king of Zembla. The Count's Russian
patronymic, Petrovich, reminds one of ptentsy gnezda Petrova ("the
fledglings of Peter's nest"), as in Poltava (1828) Pushkin calls the
generals of Peter I (the tsar who opposed the Swedish king Charles XII). In
Canto One of his poem Shade speaks of his dead parents and mentions "a
preterist (one who collects cold nests):"
I was an infant when my parents died.
They both were ornithologists. I've tried
So often to evoke them that today
I have a thousand parents. Sadly they
Dissolve in their own virtues and recede,
But certain words, chance words I hear or read,
Such as "bad heart" always to him refer,
And "cancer of the pancreas" to her.
A preterist: one who collects cold nests. (ll. 71-79)
Actually, preterists (from the Latin praeter, a prefix denoting that
something is "past" or "beyond") are the adherents of preterism, a Christian
eschatological view that interprets some (Partial Preterism) or all (Full
Preterism) prophesies of the Bible as events which have already happened.
The author of the futurological Doski sud'by ("Plates of Destiny"), Velimir
Khlebnikov (1885-1922) was a true futurist. In his essay on Mayakovski (VN's
"late namesake," the most famous Russian futurist), Dekol'tirovannaya
loshad' ("Decolletted Horse," 1927), Hodasevich speaks of Mayakovski's
counter-revolution within Khlebnikov's revolution and uses the phrase
povorot na sto vosem'desyat gradusov (the 180-degree turn):
Маяковский быстро сообразил, что заумная поэзия -- белка в колесе. Для
практического человека, каким он был, в отличие от полоумного визионера
Хлебникова, тупого теоретика Кручёных и несчастного шута Бурлюка, -- в
"зауми" делать было нечего. И вот, не теоретизируя вслух, не высказываясь
прямо, Маяковский, без лишних рассуждений, на практике своих стихов,
подменил борьбу с содержанием (со всяким содержанием) -- огрублением
содержания. По отношению к руководящей идее группы это было полнейшей
изменой, поворотом на сто восемьдесят градусов. Маяковский молча произвел
самую решительную контрреволюцию внутри хлебниковской революции. В самом
основном, в том пункте, где заключался весь пафос, весь (положим --
бессмысленный) смысл хлебниковского восстания в борьбе против содержания, --
Маяковский пошел хуже чем на соглашательство: не на компромисс, а на
капитуляцию. Было у футуристов некое "безумство храбрых". Они шли до конца.
Маяковский не только не пошёл с ними, не только не разделил их гибельной
участи, но и постепенно сумел, так сказать, перевести капитал футуризма на
свое имя. Сохранив славу новатора и революционера, уничтожил то самое, во
имя чего было выкинуто знамя переворота. По отношению к революции футуристов
Маяковский стал нэпманом.
According to Kinbote, the name of the man who killed Shade is Gradus. It
seems that to be completed Shade's unfinished poem needs two lines:
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By its own double in the windowpane.
Gradus is thus Kinbote's double and Shade is Kinbote's shadow. Shade,
Kinbote ("the waxwing") and Gradus seem to represent three different aspects
of V. Botkin, the American scholar of Russian descent who went mad after his
daughter's death. There is a hope that, when Kinbote commits suicide, Botkin
will be "full" again.
Khlebnikov's vremiri also bring to mind Tolstoy's Voina i mir ("War and
Peace," 1869). In Tolstoy's novel Pierre Bezukhov, in an attempt to prove
that he the man destined to kill Napoleon, makes calculations based on the
book of Revelation. Leo Tolstoy is the author of Pyotr Khlebnik ("Peter the
Baker," 1894), a play. In Eugene Onegin (One: XXXV: 12-14) Pushkin mentions
khlebnik, nemets akkuratnyi (the baker, a punctual German) who has more than
once already opened his vasisdas ("a small spy-window or transom with a
mobile screen or grate"):
И хлебник, немец аккуратный,
В бумажном колпаке, не раз
Уж отворял свой васисдас.
In his EO Commentary (vol. II, p. 143) VN points out that in line 9 of this
stanza, prosnulsya utra shum priyatnyi (morn's pleasant hubbub has awoken),
is very close to a line in Poltava, pt. II, l. 319, razdalsya utra shum
igrivyi (morn's frisky hubbub has resounded).
Gradus + ostov = gosudarstvo
ostov - frame, framework; shell; skeleton
gosudarstvo - State
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
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Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
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Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
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ornithologists) compares himself to the shadow of the waxwing. In his poem
Tam, gde zhili sviristeli ("Where the Waxwings Lived:" 1908) Velimir
Khlebnikov (whose father was an ornithologist) mentions besporyadok dikiy
teney (a wild confusion of shadows) and staya lyogkikh vremirey (a flock of
light timefinches):
В беспорядке диком теней,
Где, как морок старых дней,
Закружились, зазвенели
Стая лёгких времирей.
Vremiri ("timefinches") is Khlebnikov's neologism derived from vremya
(time). In its singular form, vremir' rhymes with snegir' (bullfinch).
Snigir' ("The Bullfinch," 1800) is a poem by Derzhavin written after
Suvorov's death. In his book on Derzhavin (1931) Hodasevich quotes Lastochka
("The Swallow," 1794, a poem completed after the death of Derzhavin's first
wife), Snigir' and mentions numerous birds that were sung by Derzhavin (who
loved all winged creatures):
Как он любил всё крылатое! Недаром воспел не только орла, соловья, лебедя и
павлина, но и ласточку, ястреба, сокола, голубя, аиста, пеночку, зяблика,
снигиря, синичку, желну, чечётку, тетерева, бекаса и, наконец, даже
комара...
In the next paragraph Hodasevich mentions Count Ksaveriy Petrovich
Branitski, his wife (the beloved niece of Prince Potyomkin, Catherine's
favorite who died while traveling with his niece to Nikolayev) and their
little daughter Eliza (who later married Count Vorontsov, the target of
Pushkin's epigrams, "Half-milord, etc."):
26 июля прибыли в Киев, провели там три дня, помолились в Лавре, осмотрели
достопримечательности и поехали под Белую Церковь, в имение графини
Браницкой, той самой племянницы Потёмкина, на руках у которой он умер
дорогою в Николаев. Перед памятью дяди графиня благоговела; в его честь был
воздвигнут ею род пантеона, где бюст Державина высился среди прочих. Графа
Ксаверия Петровича не случилось дома. Зато Элиза, кокетливая и быстроглазая
дочка графини, в любезности не отставала от матери. Державину был оказан
приём зараз торжественный и сердечный -- как автору "Водопада" и старому
другу.
The Count's Polish name, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, brings to mind John
Francis Shade, the American poet, and Charles Xavier Vseslav (Charles the
Beloved), the last self-exiled king of Zembla. The Count's Russian
patronymic, Petrovich, reminds one of ptentsy gnezda Petrova ("the
fledglings of Peter's nest"), as in Poltava (1828) Pushkin calls the
generals of Peter I (the tsar who opposed the Swedish king Charles XII). In
Canto One of his poem Shade speaks of his dead parents and mentions "a
preterist (one who collects cold nests):"
I was an infant when my parents died.
They both were ornithologists. I've tried
So often to evoke them that today
I have a thousand parents. Sadly they
Dissolve in their own virtues and recede,
But certain words, chance words I hear or read,
Such as "bad heart" always to him refer,
And "cancer of the pancreas" to her.
A preterist: one who collects cold nests. (ll. 71-79)
Actually, preterists (from the Latin praeter, a prefix denoting that
something is "past" or "beyond") are the adherents of preterism, a Christian
eschatological view that interprets some (Partial Preterism) or all (Full
Preterism) prophesies of the Bible as events which have already happened.
The author of the futurological Doski sud'by ("Plates of Destiny"), Velimir
Khlebnikov (1885-1922) was a true futurist. In his essay on Mayakovski (VN's
"late namesake," the most famous Russian futurist), Dekol'tirovannaya
loshad' ("Decolletted Horse," 1927), Hodasevich speaks of Mayakovski's
counter-revolution within Khlebnikov's revolution and uses the phrase
povorot na sto vosem'desyat gradusov (the 180-degree turn):
Маяковский быстро сообразил, что заумная поэзия -- белка в колесе. Для
практического человека, каким он был, в отличие от полоумного визионера
Хлебникова, тупого теоретика Кручёных и несчастного шута Бурлюка, -- в
"зауми" делать было нечего. И вот, не теоретизируя вслух, не высказываясь
прямо, Маяковский, без лишних рассуждений, на практике своих стихов,
подменил борьбу с содержанием (со всяким содержанием) -- огрублением
содержания. По отношению к руководящей идее группы это было полнейшей
изменой, поворотом на сто восемьдесят градусов. Маяковский молча произвел
самую решительную контрреволюцию внутри хлебниковской революции. В самом
основном, в том пункте, где заключался весь пафос, весь (положим --
бессмысленный) смысл хлебниковского восстания в борьбе против содержания, --
Маяковский пошел хуже чем на соглашательство: не на компромисс, а на
капитуляцию. Было у футуристов некое "безумство храбрых". Они шли до конца.
Маяковский не только не пошёл с ними, не только не разделил их гибельной
участи, но и постепенно сумел, так сказать, перевести капитал футуризма на
свое имя. Сохранив славу новатора и революционера, уничтожил то самое, во
имя чего было выкинуто знамя переворота. По отношению к революции футуристов
Маяковский стал нэпманом.
According to Kinbote, the name of the man who killed Shade is Gradus. It
seems that to be completed Shade's unfinished poem needs two lines:
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By its own double in the windowpane.
Gradus is thus Kinbote's double and Shade is Kinbote's shadow. Shade,
Kinbote ("the waxwing") and Gradus seem to represent three different aspects
of V. Botkin, the American scholar of Russian descent who went mad after his
daughter's death. There is a hope that, when Kinbote commits suicide, Botkin
will be "full" again.
Khlebnikov's vremiri also bring to mind Tolstoy's Voina i mir ("War and
Peace," 1869). In Tolstoy's novel Pierre Bezukhov, in an attempt to prove
that he the man destined to kill Napoleon, makes calculations based on the
book of Revelation. Leo Tolstoy is the author of Pyotr Khlebnik ("Peter the
Baker," 1894), a play. In Eugene Onegin (One: XXXV: 12-14) Pushkin mentions
khlebnik, nemets akkuratnyi (the baker, a punctual German) who has more than
once already opened his vasisdas ("a small spy-window or transom with a
mobile screen or grate"):
И хлебник, немец аккуратный,
В бумажном колпаке, не раз
Уж отворял свой васисдас.
In his EO Commentary (vol. II, p. 143) VN points out that in line 9 of this
stanza, prosnulsya utra shum priyatnyi (morn's pleasant hubbub has awoken),
is very close to a line in Poltava, pt. II, l. 319, razdalsya utra shum
igrivyi (morn's frisky hubbub has resounded).
Gradus + ostov = gosudarstvo
ostov - frame, framework; shell; skeleton
gosudarstvo - State
Alexey Sklyarenko
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
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L