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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Boris Vian and Nabokovian wordplay
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Still searching for 'a limp spectre' in Nabokov's works, I stumbled upon
a... green door! In fact, green *doors*. They are the doors of Elphinstone
hospital (the poet Oliver Goldsmith was born near Elphin, Ireland) :
*
*
*- and Aurora had hardly 'warmed her hands,' * *as the pickers of lavender
say in the country of my birth, when I found myself trying to get into that
dungeon again, knocking upon its green doors, breakfastless, stool-less, in
despair.*
*
*
(*Lolita, II:22)*
*
*
Best,
*
*
Hafid Bouazza* *
2010/3/13 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
> *S.K-Bootle *[to JM]:* it remains a question of fact whether VN ever read
> anything by Vian. Given VN’s unbounded curiosity, and Vian’s relative
> prominence, the chances are indeed high...But Alexey seemed to suggest that
> the anagrams of v-i-a-n might be relevant, or may even have played a role in
> VN’s choice of reading. Not sure if you accept my rejection of this dubious
> approach? ...I would hope such evidence would be stronger than in the recent
> exchanges on Martin Amis, where the latter’s use of “limp” was rated
> significant*.
>
> *JM*: I cannot say that I either endorse or reject your rejection of
> Alexey's approach because, however hard I try, I cannot understand AS's
> theory or his anagramatic links. I learn a lot, indirectly, by his
> information on Russian lit. and several other indications.
>
> Whenever possible I risk posting an item which might serve him as a clue
> (now,for example, I tried to open the field on Boris Vian, so as to avoid
> closing the issue after your remarks). There were two examples comparing
> sentences by M.Amis and V.Nabokov that were excellent matches. I don't know
> why one should discard the "limp specter" intuition that could provide us
> with a third example. A forum is a forum is a forum.
>
> Take an aphorism I recently collected from "Strong Opinions" (Vintage,155)
> "the best part of a writer's biography is not the record of his adventures
> but the story of his style." I encountered, by accident, a similar
> sentence (but not "similar"enough), by Valéry, quoted by Edmund Wilson
> ("Axel's Castle", ch.3 on Paul Valéry).
> Valéry, like Mallarmé before him, valued literature for its "algebraic"
> qualities and complexity of pattern. He wrote "Who is able to read me will
> find my autobiography through form. Content is of little importance."*
> E.Wilson's chapter on James Joyce (part V) describes how Joyce's characters
> "thought and felt exclusively in terms of words" (cp.with VN's observation
> that Joyce gave too much verbal body to his thoughts). Wilson explains
> that Joyce's faulty vision interfered progressively with his apprehension of
> the world and that this fact was one of the elements that led him to express
> what would have simply remained as a private "sight", describing it in
> detail in order to recover his "vision" for the particular item. Wilson
> offers an interesting example from Portrait of the Artist beginning with "-
> Um dia pintalgado de nuvens marinheiras..."
>
> .............................................
> * I don't have the original in French nor Wilson's rendering in English. I
> use "O Castelo de Axel" as my source...
> The examples of sentences where Amis referred to Nabokov were not
> far-fetched at all, but excellent finds.
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
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> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
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a... green door! In fact, green *doors*. They are the doors of Elphinstone
hospital (the poet Oliver Goldsmith was born near Elphin, Ireland) :
*
*
*- and Aurora had hardly 'warmed her hands,' * *as the pickers of lavender
say in the country of my birth, when I found myself trying to get into that
dungeon again, knocking upon its green doors, breakfastless, stool-less, in
despair.*
*
*
(*Lolita, II:22)*
*
*
Best,
*
*
Hafid Bouazza* *
2010/3/13 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
> *S.K-Bootle *[to JM]:* it remains a question of fact whether VN ever read
> anything by Vian. Given VN’s unbounded curiosity, and Vian’s relative
> prominence, the chances are indeed high...But Alexey seemed to suggest that
> the anagrams of v-i-a-n might be relevant, or may even have played a role in
> VN’s choice of reading. Not sure if you accept my rejection of this dubious
> approach? ...I would hope such evidence would be stronger than in the recent
> exchanges on Martin Amis, where the latter’s use of “limp” was rated
> significant*.
>
> *JM*: I cannot say that I either endorse or reject your rejection of
> Alexey's approach because, however hard I try, I cannot understand AS's
> theory or his anagramatic links. I learn a lot, indirectly, by his
> information on Russian lit. and several other indications.
>
> Whenever possible I risk posting an item which might serve him as a clue
> (now,for example, I tried to open the field on Boris Vian, so as to avoid
> closing the issue after your remarks). There were two examples comparing
> sentences by M.Amis and V.Nabokov that were excellent matches. I don't know
> why one should discard the "limp specter" intuition that could provide us
> with a third example. A forum is a forum is a forum.
>
> Take an aphorism I recently collected from "Strong Opinions" (Vintage,155)
> "the best part of a writer's biography is not the record of his adventures
> but the story of his style." I encountered, by accident, a similar
> sentence (but not "similar"enough), by Valéry, quoted by Edmund Wilson
> ("Axel's Castle", ch.3 on Paul Valéry).
> Valéry, like Mallarmé before him, valued literature for its "algebraic"
> qualities and complexity of pattern. He wrote "Who is able to read me will
> find my autobiography through form. Content is of little importance."*
> E.Wilson's chapter on James Joyce (part V) describes how Joyce's characters
> "thought and felt exclusively in terms of words" (cp.with VN's observation
> that Joyce gave too much verbal body to his thoughts). Wilson explains
> that Joyce's faulty vision interfered progressively with his apprehension of
> the world and that this fact was one of the elements that led him to express
> what would have simply remained as a private "sight", describing it in
> detail in order to recover his "vision" for the particular item. Wilson
> offers an interesting example from Portrait of the Artist beginning with "-
> Um dia pintalgado de nuvens marinheiras..."
>
> .............................................
> * I don't have the original in French nor Wilson's rendering in English. I
> use "O Castelo de Axel" as my source...
> The examples of sentences where Amis referred to Nabokov were not
> far-fetched at all, but excellent finds.
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
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/