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Re: gazebos, summer houses & stainglass panes (fwd)
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------------------ Hello, Don
While perusing the description of gazebos and stainglass panes
which has just reached me from the Nabokov-L , I was reminded of the example
I found in Keats where he used "gules" with the pronunciation similar to the
one that renders "gaol" as "jail", and where "gules" an equivalent of
"jewels".
In the case of the poem " The Eve of Saint Agnes" it is very clear that
Keats had been describing the effect of stainglass on "Madeline´s fair
breast" and it seemed to me an expressive link with VN´s fascination with
jewels, diamonds, rhomboids, lights, marbles, mirrors and coloured glass ....
( and Harlequins are dressed in diamond-shaped colored patches and can
serve as an expression of various experiences like Ada´s "Towers" as we find
in " Look at the Harlequins.."
Best wishes,
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 2:51 PM
Subject: gazebos, summer houses & stainglass panes
> _The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood_ is a memoir by Eugenie
> Fraser, the product of a Russian_Scot marriage, who grew up near
> Arkhangelsk in the early years of the 20th century. On the whole, it is a
> boring book, but one thing caught my eye:
>
> "Nearby the stone steps, flanked by hawthorn and wild roses, led to the
> summer house....Inside there was nothing but the prosaic furnishing of a
> plain table, some chairs and, in a glass cupboard, cups and aucers. But
> through the coloured diamond-shaped panes of the Gothic windows, light
> filtered in rainbow splashes. "Look, Ghermosha," I called out, peering
> through a crimson pane, "the garden is on fire." Look through the purple
> glass," he called in return. "All is dark and 'Baba Yaga' is hiding in the
> bushes." We ran in great excitelent from window to window, seeeing the
> garden in all the different hues -- the sinister dark green; the golden
> yellow, when the trees, the flowers, the butterflies and even the birds
> turned gold. It was strange and mysterious. (167-8.)
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
>
>
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
While perusing the description of gazebos and stainglass panes
which has just reached me from the Nabokov-L , I was reminded of the example
I found in Keats where he used "gules" with the pronunciation similar to the
one that renders "gaol" as "jail", and where "gules" an equivalent of
"jewels".
In the case of the poem " The Eve of Saint Agnes" it is very clear that
Keats had been describing the effect of stainglass on "Madeline´s fair
breast" and it seemed to me an expressive link with VN´s fascination with
jewels, diamonds, rhomboids, lights, marbles, mirrors and coloured glass ....
( and Harlequins are dressed in diamond-shaped colored patches and can
serve as an expression of various experiences like Ada´s "Towers" as we find
in " Look at the Harlequins.."
Best wishes,
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 2:51 PM
Subject: gazebos, summer houses & stainglass panes
> _The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood_ is a memoir by Eugenie
> Fraser, the product of a Russian_Scot marriage, who grew up near
> Arkhangelsk in the early years of the 20th century. On the whole, it is a
> boring book, but one thing caught my eye:
>
> "Nearby the stone steps, flanked by hawthorn and wild roses, led to the
> summer house....Inside there was nothing but the prosaic furnishing of a
> plain table, some chairs and, in a glass cupboard, cups and aucers. But
> through the coloured diamond-shaped panes of the Gothic windows, light
> filtered in rainbow splashes. "Look, Ghermosha," I called out, peering
> through a crimson pane, "the garden is on fire." Look through the purple
> glass," he called in return. "All is dark and 'Baba Yaga' is hiding in the
> bushes." We ran in great excitelent from window to window, seeeing the
> garden in all the different hues -- the sinister dark green; the golden
> yellow, when the trees, the flowers, the butterflies and even the birds
> turned gold. It was strange and mysterious. (167-8.)
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
>
>
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L