Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010073, Thu, 15 Jul 2004 20:28:58 -0700

Subject
Re: Notes to TT-4 (fwd) Introductory remarks (fwd)
Date
Body
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Date: Friday, July 16, 2004 11:09 AM +0900
From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>

------------------ Dear Don,

Thank you for the good questions.

> 10.05: and he grunted and sighed in his sleep: In Ch. 20, Armande annoys
> Hugh with her clattering snore, and in the second stage of her sleep, she
> "sighs" and smacks her lips then sleeps mutely. Is she possessed by Hugh's
> dead father?

> 1. The parallel Armande/HP's father doesn't ring true for me. What would
it
> mean?

Though they are not explicit, I believe Armande and HP's father have
similarities. First, as you point out in the Garland paper, they (and HP)
exclusively die "on stage" among 16 dead people. Second, as I wrote before,
they both die in a kind of fake fall. HP's father dies "as if falling from
some great height"; in HP's dream Armande (as Giulia/Julia Romeo) flying in
the arms of HP crashes against the floor. Third, we do not know why (does
anyone know?), but their ghosts wish HP's death. The noises in their
sleep also hint another affinity.

>
> 10.05-08: dreaming of large unwieldy blocks of blackness, which had to be
> sorted out and removed from one's path or over which one had to clamber in
> agonizing attitudes of debility and despair: the Hannibal theme.

> 2. Those "blocks of blackness" etc. Hint of the "falling" or "spatial"
> theme. Is there something concrete that leads you to the very neat
> "Hannibal theme"?

The "spatial" theme, yes, but I think it is the "clambering/climbing" theme
rather than the "falling" one. Please note "...which had to be...removed
from one's path or over which one had to clamber..." In Ch. 1, we had a
glimpse of "a hillside stone over which a multitude of small animals have
scurried." That introduces the "skimming" theme contrasting the "falling"
one. At the same time, a hillside stone, which will "grow" to be solid rock
on the mountainside later to be clamberd over or removed from the path, is
shown. Who is known to have been troubled by a huge rock on the
mountainside? Why is the kennelman's wife driving an Amilcar in the last
chapter? An Amilcar is, as Tadashi Wakashima found out, a French sportscar,
but not just it. "Why 'Amilcar'? What is Hannibal's father doing here?"--the
question led me to the Hannibal theme. I will write more about it later.

Sorry, I must go now. I will be back to your third question.
Best, Akiko




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D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L