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[Fwd: TT-15 Introductory Notes (corrected)]
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From: "Akiko Nakata" <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>, <chtodel@cox.net>
Subject: TT-15 Introductory Notes (corrected)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 16:23:40 +0900
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Sorry, Don. TT 15 notes I sent lacksmost page/line numbers (sorry
again!)and includes a couple of typos.
Best, Akiko
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52.08: as if by a Flemish master's hand:Cf. "To leap, or try to lower
oneself on knotted ledgelinen (the knotting was being demonstrated by a
medievalish, sort of Flemish, long-necked shopgirl in a speculum at the
back of his dream), seemed tohim madness, . . ." (Ch. 20).
52.14: "*godilles*" and "*wedeln*" (rom?): An ascillating movement of
the body in skiing that involves short quick turns straight down the
fall line. The technique, developed in Austria in the 1950s, was just
filtering into English dictionaries in the 1960s, hence the "rom?" (a
proofreader's query: roman, or italics?) (BrianBoyd's note to the LoATT).
52.15-17: the painted little people skimming along,losing aski here, a
pole there, or victoriously veering in a spray of silver powder: We
wereadvised to learnto "skim" in the beginning of the novel:"Novices
must learn to skim over matter if they want to stay all the exact level
of the moment" (Ch. 1).HP does not follow Armande's advice to learn to
ski,i.e., to skim.Cf. Don Barton Johnson, "Transparent Things" in*The
Garland Companion,* pp. 729-730.
53.03-09:He never could pinpoint, with his dazzled and watery eyes,
Armande's silhouette among the skiers. Once, however, he was sure he had
caught her, floating and flashing, red-anoraked, . . . and abruptly
changing into a goggled stranger:The theme of the elusive in
spacetime.Hughalsotakes Mr. R'ssecretaryfor Julia: "when she put back
the receiver and turned out to be a totally different girl" (Ch. 18).
53.10-12: Presently she appeared from another side of the terrace, in
glossy green nylon, carrying her skis, but with her formidable boots
still on: Hugh was following a skier in a red anorak believing she was
Armande, but actually she was skiing ingreen.He isagaindeceived bythe
red-green "mnemoptical" trick. This time he remembers green as red. But
is there anything that couldmake him rememberthe coloras red instead of
green?
53.11: in glossy green nylon:Armande of the scenewas previewedin Ch. 5
and will be appearing in Ch. 26 as a green figurine of a female skier.
53.14-15: "You look like the first girl on the moon": Apollo 11 landed
on the moon on July 20, 1969,three months before VNset aboutTT. Neil A.
Armstrong and Michael Collins on the moon were repeatedlyreported and
broadcasted over the world. I have no idea whether or not VN had a
special interest in the project, but he must have seen the news.
"The moon" alsoconnects withthetradename of her boots.
53.20: Mondstein Sexy:As Brian Boyd notes, Mondstein is Moonstone.
The tradenamealludes tothe moon, stones, Wittgenstein, andthegaysexual
party because of which Armande has left Jacques.
53.31-33: Jacques had demanded her presence at the onanistic sessions .
. . Jacques had now presented her with an ultimatum--either she join
them in their nasty games or he would cease being her lover: reminds us
of thepromiscuity which Quilty demanded Lolitato take part in.
53.25: the heavenly cable car; 54.01-02: The gondola would have gone on
gliding forever in a blue haze sufficient for paradise:VN also liked the
cableway: "My favorite method oflocomotion, though, is the cable way,
and especially the chairlift. I find enchanting and dreamy in the best
sense of the word to glide in the morning sun from valley to timberline
in that magic seat, and watch from above my own shadow--with the ghost
of a butterfly net in the ghost of a fist--as it keeps gently ascending
in sitting profile along the flowery slope below, among dancing Ringlets
and skimming Fritillaries (Interviewed by Simona Morini in 1972, *SO*
200). Cf. "Or else, at a ski lodge, I would see her floating away from
me, celestial and solitary in an ethereal chairlift, up and up, to a
glittering summit where laughing athletes stripped to the waist were
waiting for her, for her" (*Lolita* II.2).
54.08: buvette: Refreshment room (Brain Boyd's note to the LoA TT).
54.29-30: She consented to pull them down only just as far as necessary.
Nor did she let him kiss her, or caress her thighs: preludes her
unnatural sexual demands in their married life.
55.19-20: with its sense of "all-is-well" despite her worst moods, her
silliest caprices, her harshest demands: Cf. "Despite our tiffs, despite
her nastiness, despite all the fuss and faces she made, and the
vulgarity, and the danger, and the horrible hopelessness of it all, I
still dwelled deep in my elected paradise . . ." (*Lolita* II.3). I feel
*Lolita* lingeringaround this chapter.
54.23-24: A longfile of little boys followed by a scout master climbed
toward them:HP cannot find theunforgettable place in his pilgrim: "Hehad
not even found the spot in the woods where gay band of little hikers had
interrupted an unforgettable kiss" (Ch. 25).
54.27: "Gruss Gott,": Greetings (Brain Boyd's note to the LoA TT).
Akiko Nakata