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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Hazel and Vair eyes (quotes)
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JM ( Saturday, October 02): ...LOLITA: "My Dolly, my folly! Her eyes were vair,/And never closed when I kissed her[...]Her dream-gray gaze never flinches... //PNIN: ...... Russian squirrel fur - vair, in French....Slavic for a certain beautiful, pale, winter-squirrel fur, having a bluish, or better say sizïy, columbine, shade - 'from columba, Latin for "pigeon ",
PS to posting on Haze/Marevo/Harlequinade (Oct.15): If Lolita's eyes are "vair" or "gray" and related to a "columbine shade," then Nabokov's choice for Lolita's eye-color might also be indicating the commedia del'arte's love triangle (which he mentions directly at least once in the novel). In this case, Lolita would stand for the Columbine, Quilty, the Harlequin ("quiled robe") and... well, Humbert as Pierrot? I couldn't follow completely the article about "the juice of three oranges," due to my insufficient acquaintance with Russian writers and poets, also because certain assertions by the authors, related to the "balagan," were too categorical ( eg: "Nabokov was no mystic"). Nevertheless, the thread seems to be worth pursuing in "Lolita" when we keep in mind her gray, "columbine eyes" - and her maiden surname.
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PS to posting on Haze/Marevo/Harlequinade (Oct.15): If Lolita's eyes are "vair" or "gray" and related to a "columbine shade," then Nabokov's choice for Lolita's eye-color might also be indicating the commedia del'arte's love triangle (which he mentions directly at least once in the novel). In this case, Lolita would stand for the Columbine, Quilty, the Harlequin ("quiled robe") and... well, Humbert as Pierrot? I couldn't follow completely the article about "the juice of three oranges," due to my insufficient acquaintance with Russian writers and poets, also because certain assertions by the authors, related to the "balagan," were too categorical ( eg: "Nabokov was no mystic"). Nevertheless, the thread seems to be worth pursuing in "Lolita" when we keep in mind her gray, "columbine eyes" - and her maiden surname.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/