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[Nabokov-List] [Thoughts] chorb and a return
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Dear List,
There are one or two intriguing poinsts which I found in VN's 1925 Russian novel, "The Return of Chorb" and I wonder if there is any article with a "timeline" ( like JF's for Pale Fire) which might elucidate certain puzzles.
The short-story is set in a small peaceful twon in Germany, in the years that followed WWI ( 1916-1920). A young couple departs on a long honeymoon- trip in Autumn, crossing from Germany into Switzerland (Winter) and France ( late Spring, or at the time when apple trees are in their late bloom). Chorb returns alone, in a detailed & almost religious trip towards his point of departure, reaching it when it is still Spring with exuberant blossoming chestnut trees. Although the husband is a Russian "destitute 'emigre' and 'litterateur' " the newly-weds must have had enough time and financial resources to depart on their long pleasure trip extending from Autumn into Spring.
Nabokov stresses hours and seasons and the story actually takes place in a single night ( from around 8 PM to at most 3 PM)
There are indirect references to Orpheus ( and Eurydice), Persephone ( sojourning in Hades) and Semele ( killed by her lover's splendor).
Parsifal, Wagner's opera, is directly mentioned as "a leisurely affair presented with relish so as to overgorge one with music"
Chorb needs almost six months to travel, but returns after three weeks, only.
Wagner's opera, almost "sacred" would not have been performed in the early twenties except in specially designed places. The novel's town, with its 13th Century cathedral and Municipal Opera House is, yet, a "small and peaceful" place.
Nor was Parsifal a leisurely affair, its performance should take more than six hours to be completed...
Or did the Kellers attend an abridged version of it, much as Chorb's return was also "abridged"?
The apish Herr Keller looked like a Mr. Kruger, could this indicate "Krug" and a closed circle?
We find a seasonal cycle, a Ulyssean trip "home" ( but the young wife was buried in Nice and Chorb was Russian). Also the Keller couple goes from the Opera house towards their own and next back to the Opera ( the third-rate hotel was nearby the shing Opera place)
Any helpful hint about Parsifal, death and ressurrection, chronologies, cycles, European flowers?
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There are one or two intriguing poinsts which I found in VN's 1925 Russian novel, "The Return of Chorb" and I wonder if there is any article with a "timeline" ( like JF's for Pale Fire) which might elucidate certain puzzles.
The short-story is set in a small peaceful twon in Germany, in the years that followed WWI ( 1916-1920). A young couple departs on a long honeymoon- trip in Autumn, crossing from Germany into Switzerland (Winter) and France ( late Spring, or at the time when apple trees are in their late bloom). Chorb returns alone, in a detailed & almost religious trip towards his point of departure, reaching it when it is still Spring with exuberant blossoming chestnut trees. Although the husband is a Russian "destitute 'emigre' and 'litterateur' " the newly-weds must have had enough time and financial resources to depart on their long pleasure trip extending from Autumn into Spring.
Nabokov stresses hours and seasons and the story actually takes place in a single night ( from around 8 PM to at most 3 PM)
There are indirect references to Orpheus ( and Eurydice), Persephone ( sojourning in Hades) and Semele ( killed by her lover's splendor).
Parsifal, Wagner's opera, is directly mentioned as "a leisurely affair presented with relish so as to overgorge one with music"
Chorb needs almost six months to travel, but returns after three weeks, only.
Wagner's opera, almost "sacred" would not have been performed in the early twenties except in specially designed places. The novel's town, with its 13th Century cathedral and Municipal Opera House is, yet, a "small and peaceful" place.
Nor was Parsifal a leisurely affair, its performance should take more than six hours to be completed...
Or did the Kellers attend an abridged version of it, much as Chorb's return was also "abridged"?
The apish Herr Keller looked like a Mr. Kruger, could this indicate "Krug" and a closed circle?
We find a seasonal cycle, a Ulyssean trip "home" ( but the young wife was buried in Nice and Chorb was Russian). Also the Keller couple goes from the Opera house towards their own and next back to the Opera ( the third-rate hotel was nearby the shing Opera place)
Any helpful hint about Parsifal, death and ressurrection, chronologies, cycles, European flowers?
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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