Subject
Re: TT-10 (fwd) Possible significance of chapter numbers
vis-a-vis content?
vis-a-vis content?
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The number of this chapter is emblematic of the
encounter between HP (who is half an inch taller than R.) and R., the
"obese old boy". Not sure if this numerical symbolism can be extended to
other chapters, perhaps only Ch. 11. Has anyone written on the significance
of chapter numbering in TT, as well as the overall number of chapters (26)
-- letters of the Latin alphabet do not seem to quite fit here.
Also, to continue the line of reasoning from my previous post, Ch.18 --
HP's next meeting with R. -- reflects this chapter's theme; this symmetry,
if continued, would imply that the "nexus" of the book is around Ch. 14.
Strange.
(and, to beat the emblem theme to death, the 8 could be seen as a
withered 0 -- in this chapter, as we know, R. is withering away from his
liver ailment)
Regarding the "fit" thread -- I notice that "fit" is one of those words
that resemble themselves when turned upside-down, mirrored, etc. -- in
this case, it's a flipped mirror reflection of itself. A sort of wordplay
that Nabokov is quite fond of -- it reminds me of "bog-gods" from "Nikolai
Gogol", the "pathetic pangs and bathetic bangs" from "Lectures on Don
Quixote" (?), and numerous other examples. Also, it is certainly related
to the mirroring of R. as the Russian "ya", and to the general theme of
reflection (and transparency?) Lower-case "f" as an upside-down relfection
of "t", the cardinal letter of the book ?
Misha
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
The number of this chapter is emblematic of the
encounter between HP (who is half an inch taller than R.) and R., the
"obese old boy". Not sure if this numerical symbolism can be extended to
other chapters, perhaps only Ch. 11. Has anyone written on the significance
of chapter numbering in TT, as well as the overall number of chapters (26)
-- letters of the Latin alphabet do not seem to quite fit here.
Also, to continue the line of reasoning from my previous post, Ch.18 --
HP's next meeting with R. -- reflects this chapter's theme; this symmetry,
if continued, would imply that the "nexus" of the book is around Ch. 14.
Strange.
(and, to beat the emblem theme to death, the 8 could be seen as a
withered 0 -- in this chapter, as we know, R. is withering away from his
liver ailment)
Regarding the "fit" thread -- I notice that "fit" is one of those words
that resemble themselves when turned upside-down, mirrored, etc. -- in
this case, it's a flipped mirror reflection of itself. A sort of wordplay
that Nabokov is quite fond of -- it reminds me of "bog-gods" from "Nikolai
Gogol", the "pathetic pangs and bathetic bangs" from "Lectures on Don
Quixote" (?), and numerous other examples. Also, it is certainly related
to the mirroring of R. as the Russian "ya", and to the general theme of
reflection (and transparency?) Lower-case "f" as an upside-down relfection
of "t", the cardinal letter of the book ?
Misha
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L