On Apr 17, 2009, at 7:10 AM, Matthew Roth wrote: And we have to accept that John & Sybil witnessed these events and accepted that they were "an outward extension or expulsion of insanity" (Hazel's). (Btw, I agree with Kinbote that it doesn't make much sense, and even seems cruel, for them to blame Hazel.)

Dear Matt,

I don't have an answer for you. But there does seem to be a recurring theme in Nabokov of supernatural events as expressions of insanity. That is of course for those of us who do not accept the "otherworldly" theme as seriously as others do. I'm not sure why you think this cruel, since poltergeists are often linked to the presence of a disturbed adolescent female.

Funny story: I had an experience similar to the flying doggy bed. One afternoon, a bathroom door in my parents home slammed with apparent supernatural force. I stuck my head out of another room just in time to see a heavy soap dish in flight from the bathroom. It did cross my mind that this might be something spooky. It actually turned out to be a deer who, chased by a dog,  had crashed through the bathroom window setting in motion the previous events. 

But there is a spooky p.s. Hours later when the house had been un-deered by the fire department I called a friend to tell her the story. "You'll never guess ..." I told her. There was a pause and then "A deer was in your house." "How did you guess?" "From your father's whistling." What was he whistling? The toreador song from Carmen. 

Carolyn



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