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Fw: Turgenev and Pauline anide
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Dear Jansy and all,
It had occurred to me, too, that the name of the femme de menage in TT
might have to do something with Pauline Viardot. I can add to the
information provided by Jansy that Turgenev (whose rooms were on a separate
floor of the Viardot couple's house) loved to hear to Pauline's beautiful
voice when she was giving singing lessons to her
pupils. He used to put his ear to the chimney wall in his living-room to
hear her singing upstairs (or may be on the floor below, I don't remember
exactly).
Interestingly, the name of Armande's mother also seems to point to Turgenev.
In Turgenev's story "Chasy" (The Watch, 1875), the narrator's godfather has
an absurd name-and-patronimic Nastasey Nastaseich (a corrupted form of
Anastasiy Anastasievich).* That story is of interest to a Nabokov scholar,
because the watch in it, just like some objects in TT, serves as a kind of
transparent thing through which the past shines.
Back to TT, note that Armande's mother dies in a Belgian hospital (Armande
comes to her deathbed too late). On the other hand, it is with a Belgian
artist dwelling upstairs that the Persons share the obese Pauline (who is as
fat as Armande's mother). Does all this suggest that Hugh's dream that
proved lethal for Armande was sent to him by Armande's late mother, perhaps
as a revenge for her daughter having been slow to come to her deathbed? Note
also that Chamar rhymes with "koshmar" (nightmare) in Russian.
Finally, for those who haven't read Turgenev's "Faust" yet: it ends with the
heroine's late mother taking her daughter with her to the grave at the
crucial and most perilous moment of her life.
*another form of the name Anastasia that hasn't been mentioned yet is
Nastasia. No such possibility exists for the masculine version of that name
("Anastasiy" can only be shortened to Anastas: as in "Anastas Mikoyan"). It
hardly has any significance, but the most famous Nastasia in literarure is
Nastasia Philippovna of Dostoevsky's novel "Idiot." The novel ends with the
murder of Nastasia Philippovna by Rogozhin.
best,
Alexey
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
> > > To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 3:15 AM
> > > Subject: Fwd: Turgenev and Pauline anide
> > >
> > >
> > > > ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> > > > Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 07:52:52 +0900
> > > > From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> > > > Reply-To: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> > > > Subject: Turgenev and Pauline
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Dear Don and List,
> > > >
> > > > I am forwarding a note from Jansy and my reply.
> > > >
> > > > Best, Akiko
> > > >
> > > > EDNOTE.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> > > > To: Akiko Nakata
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 2:03 AM
> > > > Subject: killed by a dead bull
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Dear Akiko
> > > >
> > > > Quite outside the scope of our Pauline Anide in TT, here comes the
> > > curious
> > > > coincidence:
> > > > Turgenev was in love with a married woman named Pauline during at
> > least
> > > > forty years of his life. He had had a daughter with a serf and he
> > changed
> > > > the girl´s name to Pauline and took her to live among the Virardot
> > > > children at the home of his constant love. He followed Mrs.P.
> Viardot
> > > > ( a singer ) to all the places she moved to ( Baden Baden,
Berlin...)
> > and
> > > > T. described home as " on the ege of someone else´s nest ".
> > > >
> > > > Turgenev also wrote a novel called " A Nest of the Landed Gentry".
> > > >
> > > > ( this information came from L. Shapiro who translated for Penguin
> > > Edition
> > > > Turgenev´s " Spring Torrents" )
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > > Jansy
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: Akiko Nakata
> > > > To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 7:45 AM
> > > > Subject: Re: killed by a dead bull
> > > >
> > > > Dear Jansy,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks very much for the big find about Turgenev with Pauline!
> > > >
> > > > As you say, Turgenev is not referred to in TT, but I think
Turgenev
> is
> > > one
> > > > of the important motifs hidden under the surface of the novel and
> never
> > > > referred to--such things are too many in TT! As Dieter Zimmer and
> Alexey
> > > > Sklyarenko discussed in July (long, long ago!), I am convinced the
> > > > identity--at least a half--of the "minor Dostoevsky" in Ch. 6 is
> > Turgenev.
> > > > Until then I had no idea about "Faust in Moscow," but it must be
> > > Turgenev's
> > > > "Faust." It is a kind of ghost story and some similarities with TT
> could
> > > be
> > > > found in it.
> > > >
> > > > And now, thanks to you, there appears another thread connecting
> > Turgenev
> > > > and "Pauline anide." I have been wondering where the Pauline is from
> as
> > > well
> > > > as the "anide"--whatever it is, "formless" or something like "nest,"
I
> > > felt
> > > > there must be something more. Turgenev, Pauline, nest. Wonderful!
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > > Akiko
> > > >
> > > > ----- End forwarded message -----
> > > > EDNOTE. As I recall (always a dubious introduction), Simon Karlinsky
> > > suggested
> > > > the the Turgenev connection in his early review of TT, but not
> > Turgenev's
> > > > Pauline Viardot connection. Why the TT character is Pauline is so
> named
> > I
> > > don't
> > > > know but the anide (=Fr. "formless") refers to the upstairs
sculpture
> > she
> > > serves
> > > > as the modele. The anide sculpture strongly suggests Henry Moore's
> > > endless,
> > > > formless "Mother" sculptures which VN mentions elsewhere in most
> > negative
> > > > terms.
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>
----- End forwarded message -----