Re: SES's query:
An intriguing request related to Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and to Nabokov allusions to it in "Lolita" ["I feel sure that someone has written about connections between Nabokov's novel and Browning's poem. To my surprise, however, Appel doesn't mention the poem in his annotations, and searches in the NABOKV-L archives and the MLA database yielded nothing at first glance. Has anyone out there read or written anything about any Nabokovian allusions to the Pied Piper?"] Your investigation makes a lot of sense and it's a pity that I have no access to the majority of Nabokov scholarly articles to be able to help your search. We all know that Browning is explicitly mentioned in Lolita and in Pale Fire, where we also may find hints to the German poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote about "Die Wanerrtatten"* (cited in Tsvetaeva's "The Rat-Catcher."** ) - but the thread is to thin. When I watched Walt Disney's old movie about the Pied Piper I was shocked to realize with what naturalness we find a depiction of children being cruelly kept busy with heavy house chores. This is certainly another kind of child abuse, but it is not patent in Browning's rendering of the tale, nor are there clues about Nabokov ever having watched it.Following various google sources, I found that Browning mentions Tartary in his Hamelin poem. Cf. Robert Browning's the Pied Piper mentions Tartary as one of his credentials in pest removal to the Mayor of Hamelin. "In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats"... Tartary: Definition from Answers.com www.answers.com › ...There's also a "Pied Piper" butterfly [ Cf. A list of butterflies found in South America, the Amazon, Andes: Butterflies of South America/Amazon/Andes Nabokov's Lycid Narrow-lined Beauty Neotropical Chequered Skipper ... www.silkysteps.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7866 -As a side find, I found a rather old Nabokov sighting, at The New York Times: Book Review Search Article www.nytimes.com/.../powers-soul.html - on Powers's "Operation Wandering Soul"
"In 'On Becoming a Novelist,' John Gardner describes a certain kind of writer who seems to care "more about his gift than about his characters." At times, Mr. Powers fits this description. To read his work is to be wowed by his verbal muscularity and by his ability to stitch seemingly disparate elements into a larger metaphorical fabric. Mr. Powers's acclaimed earlier novel 'The Gold Bug Variations' explored the worlds of science and history through two love stories. The narrative traveled back and forth in time as if on a well-oiled track, and the effect was somehow just as dazzling, but also more inviting, and on a more human scale. This is not to say that writers should tone down their work if they want to be loved. There is room in the library of memorable books for various kinds of titles. Not every writer needs to be as ambidextrous as Nabokov or as cozy as Salinger. But the books that we truly love are the ones that finally move us...Somehow, though, this glut of unflinching detail has a numbing effect.The special treat (for those who enjoy coincidences) comes from a cross-word puzzle, mentioning Nabokov's Lolita and the Pied Piper's sound, "tootle" (I didn't encounter this particular word in either Lolita or Ada, which I searched becauxse I know Nabokov enjoys to hide his clues to other author's indicating an unusual and revelatory word...)Cf.: WEB's New York Times Crossword Solution @ NYTCrossword.com: 1027 ... 27 Oct 2010 ... Pied Piper's sound : TOOTLE .... Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita" has a famously controversial storyline, dealing with a middle-aged man's ... www.nytcrossword.com/.../1027-10-new-york-times-crossword.html -..........................................* Heinrich Heine: Die Wanderratten
Es gibt zwei Sorten Ratten:
Die hungrigen und satten.
Die satten bleiben vergnügt zu Haus,
Die hungrigen aber wandern aus.
Sie wandern viel tausend Meilen,
Ganz ohne Rasten und Weilen,
Gradaus in ihrem grimmigen Lauf,
Nicht Wind noch Wetter hält sie auf.
Sie klimmen wohl über die Höhen,
Sie schwimmen wohl durch die Seen;
Gar manche ersäuft oder bricht das Genick,
Die lebenden lassen die toten zurück.
Es haben diese Käuze
Gar fürchterliche Schnäuze;
Sie tragen die Köpfe geschoren egal,
Ganz radikal, ganz rattenkahl.
Die radikale Rotte
Weiß nichts von einem Gotte.
Sie lassen nicht taufen ihre Brut,
Die Weiber sind Gemeindegut.
Der sinnliche Rattenhaufen,
Er will nur fressen und saufen,
Er denkt nicht, während er säuft und frißt,
Daß unsre Seele unsterblich ist.
So eine wilde Ratze,
Die fürchtet nicht Hölle, nicht Katze;
Sie hat kein Gut, sie hat kein Geld
Und wünscht aufs neue zu teilen die Welt.
Die Wanderratten, o wehe!
Sie sind schon in der Nähe.
Sie rücken heran, ich höre schon
Ihr Pfeifen - die Zahl ist Legion.
O wehe! wir sind verloren,
Sie sind schon vor den Toren!
Der Bürgermeister und Senat,
Sie schütteln die Köpfe, und keiner weiß Rat.
Die Bürgerschaft greift zu den Waffen,
Die Glocken läuten die Pfaffen.
Gefährdet ist das Palladium
Des sittlichen Staats, das Eigentum.
Nicht Glockengeläute, nicht Pfaffengebete,
Nicht hochwohlweise Senatsdekrete,
Auch nicht Kanonen, viel Hundertpfünder,
Sie helfen Euch heute, Ihr lieben Kinder!
Heut helfen Euch nicht die Wortgespinste
Der abgelebten Redekünste.
Man fängt nicht Ratten mit Syllogismen,
Sie springen über die feinsten Sophismen.
Im hungrigen Magen Eingang finden
Nur Suppenlogik mit Knödelgründen,
Nur Argumente von Rinderbraten,
Begleitet mit Göttinger Wurst-Zitaten.
Ein schweigender Stockfisch, in Butter gesotten,
Behaget den radikalen Rotten
Viel besser als ein Mirabeau
Und alle Redner seit Cicero.__________________
Duobus litigantibus tertius gaudet
Wenn zwei sich streiten, freut sich der Dritte.**- wiki: The poem which Tsvetaeva describes as liricheskaia satira, The Rat-Catcher, is loosely based on the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The Rat-Catcher, which is also known as The Pied Piper, is considered by some to be the finest of Tsvetaeva's work. It was also partially an act of hommage to Heinrich Heine's poem Die Wanderatten*. The Rat-Catcher appeared initially, in serial format, in the émigré journal Volia Rossii in 1925-1926 whilst still being written. It was not to appear in the Soviet Union until after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1956. Its hero is the Pied Piper of Hamelin who saves a town from hordes of rats and then leads the town's children away too, in retribution for the citizens' ingratitude. As in the other folkloric narratives, The Ratcatcher's story line emerges indirectly through numerous speaking voices which shift from invective, to extended lyrical flights, to pathos.