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Re: TT-2: "the gentleman from Massachussets" (fwd)
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------------------ I'm not sure what to make of this just yet, but I can't
help noticing that "the gentleman from Massachussets" whom Person sees
reflected in the "rapt mirror" in the lift (i.e., himself) is described as
having a face that "would have been a rugged, horsey, mountain-climbing
arrangment had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his fantastic
majesty."
I'd like to call attention to those two final words, "fantastic majesty."
Earlier in this chapter, when Person queries the receptionist about the
former hotel director, Kronig, he finds out that this director "died last
year." At first, though, Person mishears the idiomatic expression that she
uses (I have to admit I don't know what it could have been); to him it
sounds as though the director had relocated to become manager of something
like "the Fantastic in Blur" or "the Majestic in Chur."
So when Person's appearance is described in terms of "fantastic majesty,"
one thinks immediately of "the Fantastic" and "the Majestic," which are both
associated with death (and the afterlife).
As I said, I don't know yet how to interpret this, but perhaps other
contributors will have some ideas about the phrase and its resonances.
Maybe this relates to Mark Bennett's tentative assertion that the narrative
is actually circular, beginning after Person's death, and that the first
chapter opens "as he makes the transition [from life to death], but Hugh has
yet to make the 'mysterious mental maneuver' that is necessary to adjust to
this new 'state of being.'"
Jamie Olson
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 12:49 AM
Subject: TT-2
> Comments re TT-1 are still in order but we move on to TT-2. Although any
> relevant observations are more than welcome, I mention
> a few things worthy of comment. There are many more. These are NOT "test"
> questions. I ask because I am far from certain of the full answers.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> 1. NB the flurry of parenthetical remarks. Take a close look at them. As
> for the weird initial parenthesis (whatever else is going on), "Parson"
> (clergyman) does come from Person, but it seems unlikely that Peterson
> enters into the matter.
> 2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
> of the Ascot Hotel?
> 3. NB the shoebox from the yawning boot.--a wordplay possible only by
> continuing the Britishism of the opening "Hullo." Also note that ironic
> "Fit" on the shoebox.
> 4.Can someone tell us what the mistranslated "Lying Lawn"(with its
> "fraudulent perspective") is in the orignal German (where the wordplay
> probably doesn't work)?
> 5. H apparently mis-remembers his old room number when he guesses
> the "middle three-hundreds." It was 313. Significance??
>
> 6. Note the sneaky introduction of Armande via her substitute the
> receptionist. Also the sneaky mechanism via which we get the description
of
> H's facial features. Barbara Wyllie in her NABOKOV IN FILM comments at
> length on the role of glass and reflecting surfaces in the novel (Ch. 7)
as
> part of her analysis of VN's use of cinema-like techniques in TT.
> 7. Do you see anything (beyond rich humor) in the law about the
destruction
> of the old hotel registers after the suicide of a former director?
> 8. The chapter ends with its hilarious survey of the hotel room and
> the real introduction of the "water theme" forecast by the novice
> "descendingnupright among the staring fish,"
> i.e. sinking into the past.
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
help noticing that "the gentleman from Massachussets" whom Person sees
reflected in the "rapt mirror" in the lift (i.e., himself) is described as
having a face that "would have been a rugged, horsey, mountain-climbing
arrangment had not his melancholy stoop belied every inch of his fantastic
majesty."
I'd like to call attention to those two final words, "fantastic majesty."
Earlier in this chapter, when Person queries the receptionist about the
former hotel director, Kronig, he finds out that this director "died last
year." At first, though, Person mishears the idiomatic expression that she
uses (I have to admit I don't know what it could have been); to him it
sounds as though the director had relocated to become manager of something
like "the Fantastic in Blur" or "the Majestic in Chur."
So when Person's appearance is described in terms of "fantastic majesty,"
one thinks immediately of "the Fantastic" and "the Majestic," which are both
associated with death (and the afterlife).
As I said, I don't know yet how to interpret this, but perhaps other
contributors will have some ideas about the phrase and its resonances.
Maybe this relates to Mark Bennett's tentative assertion that the narrative
is actually circular, beginning after Person's death, and that the first
chapter opens "as he makes the transition [from life to death], but Hugh has
yet to make the 'mysterious mental maneuver' that is necessary to adjust to
this new 'state of being.'"
Jamie Olson
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 12:49 AM
Subject: TT-2
> Comments re TT-1 are still in order but we move on to TT-2. Although any
> relevant observations are more than welcome, I mention
> a few things worthy of comment. There are many more. These are NOT "test"
> questions. I ask because I am far from certain of the full answers.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> 1. NB the flurry of parenthetical remarks. Take a close look at them. As
> for the weird initial parenthesis (whatever else is going on), "Parson"
> (clergyman) does come from Person, but it seems unlikely that Peterson
> enters into the matter.
> 2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
> of the Ascot Hotel?
> 3. NB the shoebox from the yawning boot.--a wordplay possible only by
> continuing the Britishism of the opening "Hullo." Also note that ironic
> "Fit" on the shoebox.
> 4.Can someone tell us what the mistranslated "Lying Lawn"(with its
> "fraudulent perspective") is in the orignal German (where the wordplay
> probably doesn't work)?
> 5. H apparently mis-remembers his old room number when he guesses
> the "middle three-hundreds." It was 313. Significance??
>
> 6. Note the sneaky introduction of Armande via her substitute the
> receptionist. Also the sneaky mechanism via which we get the description
of
> H's facial features. Barbara Wyllie in her NABOKOV IN FILM comments at
> length on the role of glass and reflecting surfaces in the novel (Ch. 7)
as
> part of her analysis of VN's use of cinema-like techniques in TT.
> 7. Do you see anything (beyond rich humor) in the law about the
destruction
> of the old hotel registers after the suicide of a former director?
> 8. The chapter ends with its hilarious survey of the hotel room and
> the real introduction of the "water theme" forecast by the novice
> "descendingnupright among the staring fish,"
> i.e. sinking into the past.
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L