NABOKV-L post 0018558, Sat, 5 Sep 2009 20:26:38 -0300

A Quiz: from the following excerpts, which have been written by Nabokov?


1. "the armchair again folding its arms resumed its inscrutable expression (which might have been one of contemptuous dignity)"

2. "a silent and pensive little river sparkling shyly behind a rank growth of rushes...the sky was reflected in the river, and the stars bathed themselves in its depths and trembled on its ripples"

3. "flames were mounting the stairs, in pairs, in trios, in redskin file, hand in hand, tongue after tongue, conversing and humming happily."

4. "as he reached the window a long lavender-tipped flame danced up to stop him with a graceful gesture of its gloved hand."

5. "the two clouds had quitted the moon and were sailing at a distance with an air of whispering together about something which the moon must not hear."

6. he "gently closed the door after him but like a stupid pet it whined and immediately followed him into the room."

7. "And his umbrella he always kept in a case and his watch was in a case of grey chamois...Even his face seemed to be in a case, for he always kept it concealed behind the turned-up collar of his coat."

8. "Steeds, steeds - what steeds! Has the whirlwind a home in your manes? Is every sinew in you aglow with a new sense of hearing?"

9. "His voice literally blinded me"

10. "the bells of the church...rang out for midnight. The wind sported with the sound as it did with the snowflakes; it pursued the notes and whirled them over a mighty space so that some were broken off short, some were drawn out into long, quavering tones, and some were lost entirely in the general uproar."

11." I sensed the musical relationship between the silvery specters of rain and your inclined shoulders, which would give a shudder when you pressed your fingers into the rippling luster...I myself, you, the carnations, at that instant all became vertical chords on musical staves. I realized that everything in the world was an interplay of identical particles comprising different kinds of consonance: the trees, the water, you... All was unified, equivalent, divine. You got up. Rain was still mowing down the sunlight. The puddles looked like holes in the dark sand, apertures onto some other heavens that were gliding past underground."

12. "All night the stars shrieked with infant voices"

13. "the milky way is a bright as if it had been washed and scrubbed with snow for the holiday."

14. "Remember the twelve poplars conferring about how to cross the river...The wind comes tumbling upon me from behind like a limp doll and tickles my neck with its downy paw."

15. "a violin wrung its sounds as if they were human hands."

16. "It is not really a house...This dense mass of verdure completely hides it from view but does not prevent it from considering itself a little town house."

17. "whenever your name was mentioned in my presence: a bolt of black, a scented, forceful motion-that's how you threw back your arms when adjusting your veil "

18. "the birch tree is whispering something with the remains of its yellow foliage...Dim, evil tears hang on these blades."

19. "the blind wind, which had helplessly slithered into its depths, once again began reaching upward, and suddenly it regained its sight, swept up and, in the amber apertures of the black wall opposite, the silhouettes of arms and disheveled heads began to dart, as escaping windows were being caught and their frames resonantly and firmly locked"

20."when the stove drew in its breath with a howl, as if longing to sing in tune with the wind, and the logs took heart and brke out into bright flames, muttering angrily"

21. "The snowdrifts reached all the way to the windows of the annex, tightly gripping the snug little wooden structure in their frosty clutches...the firs seemed to draw in their green paws under their bright plump load."

22. "is there not a kind of lofty and magic melody in fast driging? You seem to feel some unknown power lifting you and placing you upon its wing...everything is flying by:the milesposts fly, merchants fly by on the boxes of their carriages, forests fly...away into the dissolving distance."

23. "A car rolls by on pillars of wet light...It trumpets gruffly into the ear of the night, and its shadow passes under my feet."

24. "her hands never stopped moving, moving-to pluck a leaf from a bush or stroke a rock wall in passing-light, laughing hands that knew no repose."

25. "the sidewalk sped under him, the carriages with their swift horses seemed motionless, the bridge stretched out and broke in the middle of its arch, a house stood upside down, a sentry box toppled towards him."

26."half a dozen small houses poured down a hill, some of them, in their haste, barely missing being run over by the train; then a huge purple-red factory strode by flashing its windowpanes"

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