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Re: Fw: Linguistic showoffs EDCOMMENT
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EDNOTE. I think there are some conceptual stumbling blocks involved in the
linguistic showoff discussion. In the interest of clarifying the issue--two
points based upon theADA excerpt reproduced at the bottom.
1) Some assume that "gratuitous virtuosity" is bad. Personally, I'm do not
necessarily agree. Specific instances may indeed be but sheer virtuosity is
a source of aesthetic appreciation. It can also go wrong as in LOLITA's
Texan town sign "Soda, pop. 101" (or whatever it was). But Shakespeare is
full of low puns.
2) Sometimes the absence of motivation for apparent virtuosity is a
function of casual reading than than weak writing. Note in the final
paragraph of the quoted text--the bathing cap, the beer can, & the clusters
of "pink mushrooms" are all motivated by earlier references in the quoted
text. (And underlined by VN's twice repeated "Double exposure.")The
"sunglasses of much-sung lasses" found by Lucette are not "locally
motivated" but more remotely in what maybe a double allusion. The first, of
course, is the famous scene in the much-sung LOLITA -- a doomed girl first
seen in a swim suit. The second is the ADA scene where swim-suited Lucette
wears sun glasses on the liner Admiral Tobakoff during her seduction
campaign that ends in her suicide. What appears to be gratuitous may in fact
be structural--as well as stylistic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <nitrogen14@australia.edu>
> >
> >EDNOTE. Nick Grundy poses an interesting question. Can anyone point out
>a
> case of VN linguistic virtuosisty that is that is "unmotivated"?
> >>
>
> yes, but as I am away from my books, I'll be quoting from
> memory and without citation; apologies in advance
>
> somewhere in ADA, he writes about
> "the sunglasses of much-sung lasses"
I think that's very lame as wordplay and pointless otherwise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADA I-32
She had been casting sidelong glances, during that dreadful talk, and now
saw pure, fierce Van under the tulip tree, quite a way off, one hand on his
hip, head thrown back, drinking beer from a bottle. She left the pool edge,
with its corpse, and moved toward the tulip tree making a strategic detour
between the authoress, who - still unaware of what they were doing to her
novel - was dozing in a deckchair (out of whose wooden arms her chubby
fingers grew like pink mushrooms), and the leading lady, now puzzling over a
love scene where the young chatelaine's 'radiant beauty' was mentioned.
'But,' said Marina, 'how can one act out "radiant," what does radiant beauty
mean?'
'Pale beauty,' said Pedro helpfully, glancing up at Ada as she passed by,
'the beauty for which many men would cut off their members.'
'Okay,' said Vronsky. 'Let us get on with this damned script. He leaves the
pool-side patio, and since we contemplate doing it in color -'
Van left the pool-side patio and strode away. He turned into a side gallery
that led into a grovy part of the garden, grading insensibly into the park
proper. Presently, he noticed that Ada had hastened to follow him. Lifting
one elbow, revealing the black star of her armpit, she tore off her bathing
cap and with a shake of her head liberated a torrent of hair. Lucette, in
color, trotted behind her. Out of charity for the sisters' bare feet, Van
changed his course from gravel path to velvet lawn (reversing the action of
Dr Ero, pursued by the Invisible Albino in one of the greatest novels of
English literature). They caught up with him in the Second Coppice. Lucette,
in passing, stopped to pick up her sister's cap and sunglasses - the
sunglasses of much-sung lasses, a shame to throw them away! My tidy little
Lucette (I shall never forget you...) placed both objects on a tree stump
near an empty beer bottle, trotted on, then went back to examine a bunch of
pink mushrooms that clung to the stump, snoring. Double take, double
exposure.
>
------------------------------------------------
linguistic showoff discussion. In the interest of clarifying the issue--two
points based upon theADA excerpt reproduced at the bottom.
1) Some assume that "gratuitous virtuosity" is bad. Personally, I'm do not
necessarily agree. Specific instances may indeed be but sheer virtuosity is
a source of aesthetic appreciation. It can also go wrong as in LOLITA's
Texan town sign "Soda, pop. 101" (or whatever it was). But Shakespeare is
full of low puns.
2) Sometimes the absence of motivation for apparent virtuosity is a
function of casual reading than than weak writing. Note in the final
paragraph of the quoted text--the bathing cap, the beer can, & the clusters
of "pink mushrooms" are all motivated by earlier references in the quoted
text. (And underlined by VN's twice repeated "Double exposure.")The
"sunglasses of much-sung lasses" found by Lucette are not "locally
motivated" but more remotely in what maybe a double allusion. The first, of
course, is the famous scene in the much-sung LOLITA -- a doomed girl first
seen in a swim suit. The second is the ADA scene where swim-suited Lucette
wears sun glasses on the liner Admiral Tobakoff during her seduction
campaign that ends in her suicide. What appears to be gratuitous may in fact
be structural--as well as stylistic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <nitrogen14@australia.edu>
> >
> >EDNOTE. Nick Grundy poses an interesting question. Can anyone point out
>a
> case of VN linguistic virtuosisty that is that is "unmotivated"?
> >>
>
> yes, but as I am away from my books, I'll be quoting from
> memory and without citation; apologies in advance
>
> somewhere in ADA, he writes about
> "the sunglasses of much-sung lasses"
I think that's very lame as wordplay and pointless otherwise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADA I-32
She had been casting sidelong glances, during that dreadful talk, and now
saw pure, fierce Van under the tulip tree, quite a way off, one hand on his
hip, head thrown back, drinking beer from a bottle. She left the pool edge,
with its corpse, and moved toward the tulip tree making a strategic detour
between the authoress, who - still unaware of what they were doing to her
novel - was dozing in a deckchair (out of whose wooden arms her chubby
fingers grew like pink mushrooms), and the leading lady, now puzzling over a
love scene where the young chatelaine's 'radiant beauty' was mentioned.
'But,' said Marina, 'how can one act out "radiant," what does radiant beauty
mean?'
'Pale beauty,' said Pedro helpfully, glancing up at Ada as she passed by,
'the beauty for which many men would cut off their members.'
'Okay,' said Vronsky. 'Let us get on with this damned script. He leaves the
pool-side patio, and since we contemplate doing it in color -'
Van left the pool-side patio and strode away. He turned into a side gallery
that led into a grovy part of the garden, grading insensibly into the park
proper. Presently, he noticed that Ada had hastened to follow him. Lifting
one elbow, revealing the black star of her armpit, she tore off her bathing
cap and with a shake of her head liberated a torrent of hair. Lucette, in
color, trotted behind her. Out of charity for the sisters' bare feet, Van
changed his course from gravel path to velvet lawn (reversing the action of
Dr Ero, pursued by the Invisible Albino in one of the greatest novels of
English literature). They caught up with him in the Second Coppice. Lucette,
in passing, stopped to pick up her sister's cap and sunglasses - the
sunglasses of much-sung lasses, a shame to throw them away! My tidy little
Lucette (I shall never forget you...) placed both objects on a tree stump
near an empty beer bottle, trotted on, then went back to examine a bunch of
pink mushrooms that clung to the stump, snoring. Double take, double
exposure.
>
------------------------------------------------