J.Aisenberg: I love the way N.
uses the story breaks though, with great economy so that the whole
miniature world is suggested with brisk assurance; the way that two
sections break off as Wolffe describes his made-up annecdotes. Stylistically and
structurally the story is very impressive, I think.
S.K-Bootle: Those brought up with
agglutinating languages (and German is relatively mild in this respect) consider
such amalgamations as perfectly normal, readable, and, indeed eminently
sensible...
JM: Indeed. A German book
described Australian Hottentotten and a herd of kangaroos ( Beutelratten)
which was placed in cages (Kotter) that were covered by a
screen ( Lattengitter). One day they emprisioned a Hottentotte-assassin (
Attentäter) who killed the mother (Mutter) of a deaf and mute boy (
Stottertrottel) inside this cage.
He was referred to as the:
Hottentotterstottertrottelmutterlattengitterkotterbeutelrattenattentäter (
I emphasized iconicity using bold reds).
Nabokov foresaw the popular "emoticons" but, thanks to
his synesthesia, he didn't add red or
blue to emphasise letters although it is difficult ( impossible?)
to ascertain how he transmitted his colored-emotions
without describing them directly.
After I
read "rembrandtian" Natasha I began to wonder why
references to Nabokovian moods - - such as
those he achieved by specific mixtures, like when he
described Lucette's "angry green" eyes or used
personification and animation ( sad samovars, pillars hasting
away ...) - - are not presented here with the same regularity
and precision as we find for his stylistic use of space and
breaks to convey ineffable visions.