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[NABOKOV-L] TOoL and a "recurring motif"
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Martin Amis (view article) wrote: "Nothing much, in Laura, qualifies as a theme (ie, as a structural or at least a recurring motif). But we do notice the appearance of a certain Hubert H Hubert..."
JM: In Nabokov's "A Nursery Tale" (1926) the "nymphet theme" is already present ( as described. many years later, by Nabokov, following a quote by Alfred Appel Jr. (AL,347) when we meet Erwin's first and last young girl, while she is in a squatting position, fondling a black pup.
Lolita, in her haunches, fondles Quilty's dog. A running Floss! is slowly recalled in "First Love." (S.M).
Sybil, in PF, is lovingly described: "the way/you smile at dogs; the trail of silver slime/..." and, more to the point, CK's description of Aunt Maud's pet:" the first object to perform was the basket in which she had once kept her half-paralyzed Skye terrier (the breed called in our country "weeping-willow dog")." The animal was destroyed to Hazel's great distress and his basket "shot out of the ... and traveled along the corridor past the open door of the study..." Skye-terriers have been mentioned before, now in RLSK, also in connection to weeping-willows*.
As I see it, shaggy black pups and willows recurrently bring up the theme of nostalgia and loss (with two ghostly recoveries from the past).
The additional "in her haunches" or "squatting" is not always present but, in "TOoL," it reappers, now totally devoid of life: "I'll drug him next time said Flora, rummaging all around her seat for her small formless vanity bag, a blind black puppy. Here it is, cried an anonymous girl, squatting quietly." (The anonymous girl shall be later identified.)
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* Dogs and willows have been discussed in former Nab-L postings.
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JM: In Nabokov's "A Nursery Tale" (1926) the "nymphet theme" is already present ( as described. many years later, by Nabokov, following a quote by Alfred Appel Jr. (AL,347) when we meet Erwin's first and last young girl, while she is in a squatting position, fondling a black pup.
Lolita, in her haunches, fondles Quilty's dog. A running Floss! is slowly recalled in "First Love." (S.M).
Sybil, in PF, is lovingly described: "the way/you smile at dogs; the trail of silver slime/..." and, more to the point, CK's description of Aunt Maud's pet:" the first object to perform was the basket in which she had once kept her half-paralyzed Skye terrier (the breed called in our country "weeping-willow dog")." The animal was destroyed to Hazel's great distress and his basket "shot out of the ... and traveled along the corridor past the open door of the study..." Skye-terriers have been mentioned before, now in RLSK, also in connection to weeping-willows*.
As I see it, shaggy black pups and willows recurrently bring up the theme of nostalgia and loss (with two ghostly recoveries from the past).
The additional "in her haunches" or "squatting" is not always present but, in "TOoL," it reappers, now totally devoid of life: "I'll drug him next time said Flora, rummaging all around her seat for her small formless vanity bag, a blind black puppy. Here it is, cried an anonymous girl, squatting quietly." (The anonymous girl shall be later identified.)
.....................................................................
* Dogs and willows have been discussed in former Nab-L postings.
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/