Subject
SIGNS: Elbows and black trousers
From
Date
Body
Laurence Hocard writes:
Dear List,
I can't say I have the solution of the riddle of S&S but I think I can
glimpse at the "real" story through the semi transparent one.
I'll start with the "raised elbows" and Anthony Stadlen's
question: "could he have his hands clasped below his resting head? but
then
why not say so ?"
Yes, I think he has and VN describes it in this way for the reader
(instead of picturing the banal silhouette of a man reclining with his
hands below his resting head) to be faced with the bareness of these
elbows
even before he realizes the man's position. He doesn't do it just for
the
sake of freshening up an old cliché but to enable the reader to picture
a
man behaving as if he were alone, without anybody witnessing his
private
habits of relaxation: he is half undressed, in his underwear (no shirt =
bare elbows) and his private habits are not particularly clean (untidy
bed). In other words, the kind of intimacy the woman finds repulsive and
should have nothing to do with. It is this promiscuity VN wants to
stress:
Other people's -perfect strangers'- intimacy,however unattractive,
invades
the woman's privacy, it is forced on her (until she pulls the blinds
down -
but too late, anyway, she has been brought into contact with it).
But it is important to notice that these strangers are not
aggressive, they don't mean to invade her privacy, they just do
it "blandly", because they don't meet with enough resistance to set them
limits (the wife's resignation, the husband's passivity, the "pale
victuals that need no teeth" they feed on).
Why is it so? It's not the woman's fault (she pulls the blinds
down) but the consequence of her husband's involvment with "girls":
Elsa,
the maid back in Minsk, whose photo is mixed with photos of family and
friends where it doesn't belong, and now the girl with the "dull little
voice", the "toneless voice", who calls late at night, at an hour when
you
don't usually disturb people at home. Here again, the woman is forced
into
contact with people she would never mix with otherwise (Elsa and her
bestiel beau).
In this context, their being dispossessed of their son -his being
entrusted to "bright" nurses- is only the worst consequence of the
husband's desertion of his family. This is why the boy, neglected, like
an
unfledged baby bird, drowns in a puddle (the consequence of trying to
learn
to fly) or hums to himself in an abstract world, in spite of his
mother's
resources of tenderness and concern (it's through her memories, thoughts
and feelings that we learn about the boy's childhood and illness), of
wonder and compassion even for strangers (the "soft shock" in the bus),
of
pity for her husband ("the mounting pressure of tears"), and in spite of
his (the son's) own resources (the beautiful birds he used to draw as a
child) (the theme of birds with regard to the boy).
But when the husband at last realizes he is responsible for his
son's fate, the woman is immediately ready to fetch her son, as if she
had
been waiting for this moment all the time.
The man is brought back to life by his decision: he is in "high
spirits", makes plans for the future. Intimacy and tenderness return
("he
childishly , toothlessly gaped at his wife") and art rerturns too: he
delights in the luminous colours and beautiful words of the jelly jars.
When the phone rings and the girl claims Charlie (Charlie = the
husband), the wife is able to tell her that her husband is a "O", a
letter,
something very different from a "zero", a difference she can see but the
girl can't.
Now that they are re-united at last, they can share a "festive
tea", although a very late one...
But it is in the girls' nature to insist stubbornly (girls= sensual
desire), and the question is: will she eventually get to Charlie? will
he
listen to her?... There is something in the man's attitude that makes us
doubt his resolution; he is a little too hysterical ("I'mhis forehead with his clenched fist"), a little too excited ("his
excited
monologue")and the woman's calm, unsurprised reaction leaves us
wondering
whether she hasn't already heard it all before...
Laurence Hochard
(Please forgive my awkward English -I'm French)
NB: The combination of the 2 girls, Elsa and the girl on the phone,
strongly reminds of Mariette in Bend Sinister: a maid, the little voice,
and Mariette also has a sweetheart who is a "bestial beau". Moreover,
Krug's son is taken from him (to be entrusted to another team of bright
nurses and doctors) just when he is about to yield to his desire for
Mariette....
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Dear List,
I can't say I have the solution of the riddle of S&S but I think I can
glimpse at the "real" story through the semi transparent one.
I'll start with the "raised elbows" and Anthony Stadlen's
question: "could he have his hands clasped below his resting head? but
then
why not say so ?"
Yes, I think he has and VN describes it in this way for the reader
(instead of picturing the banal silhouette of a man reclining with his
hands below his resting head) to be faced with the bareness of these
elbows
even before he realizes the man's position. He doesn't do it just for
the
sake of freshening up an old cliché but to enable the reader to picture
a
man behaving as if he were alone, without anybody witnessing his
private
habits of relaxation: he is half undressed, in his underwear (no shirt =
bare elbows) and his private habits are not particularly clean (untidy
bed). In other words, the kind of intimacy the woman finds repulsive and
should have nothing to do with. It is this promiscuity VN wants to
stress:
Other people's -perfect strangers'- intimacy,however unattractive,
invades
the woman's privacy, it is forced on her (until she pulls the blinds
down -
but too late, anyway, she has been brought into contact with it).
But it is important to notice that these strangers are not
aggressive, they don't mean to invade her privacy, they just do
it "blandly", because they don't meet with enough resistance to set them
limits (the wife's resignation, the husband's passivity, the "pale
victuals that need no teeth" they feed on).
Why is it so? It's not the woman's fault (she pulls the blinds
down) but the consequence of her husband's involvment with "girls":
Elsa,
the maid back in Minsk, whose photo is mixed with photos of family and
friends where it doesn't belong, and now the girl with the "dull little
voice", the "toneless voice", who calls late at night, at an hour when
you
don't usually disturb people at home. Here again, the woman is forced
into
contact with people she would never mix with otherwise (Elsa and her
bestiel beau).
In this context, their being dispossessed of their son -his being
entrusted to "bright" nurses- is only the worst consequence of the
husband's desertion of his family. This is why the boy, neglected, like
an
unfledged baby bird, drowns in a puddle (the consequence of trying to
learn
to fly) or hums to himself in an abstract world, in spite of his
mother's
resources of tenderness and concern (it's through her memories, thoughts
and feelings that we learn about the boy's childhood and illness), of
wonder and compassion even for strangers (the "soft shock" in the bus),
of
pity for her husband ("the mounting pressure of tears"), and in spite of
his (the son's) own resources (the beautiful birds he used to draw as a
child) (the theme of birds with regard to the boy).
But when the husband at last realizes he is responsible for his
son's fate, the woman is immediately ready to fetch her son, as if she
had
been waiting for this moment all the time.
The man is brought back to life by his decision: he is in "high
spirits", makes plans for the future. Intimacy and tenderness return
("he
childishly , toothlessly gaped at his wife") and art rerturns too: he
delights in the luminous colours and beautiful words of the jelly jars.
When the phone rings and the girl claims Charlie (Charlie = the
husband), the wife is able to tell her that her husband is a "O", a
letter,
something very different from a "zero", a difference she can see but the
girl can't.
Now that they are re-united at last, they can share a "festive
tea", although a very late one...
But it is in the girls' nature to insist stubbornly (girls= sensual
desire), and the question is: will she eventually get to Charlie? will
he
listen to her?... There is something in the man's attitude that makes us
doubt his resolution; he is a little too hysterical ("I'mhis forehead with his clenched fist"), a little too excited ("his
excited
monologue")and the woman's calm, unsurprised reaction leaves us
wondering
whether she hasn't already heard it all before...
Laurence Hochard
(Please forgive my awkward English -I'm French)
NB: The combination of the 2 girls, Elsa and the girl on the phone,
strongly reminds of Mariette in Bend Sinister: a maid, the little voice,
and Mariette also has a sweetheart who is a "bestial beau". Moreover,
Krug's son is taken from him (to be entrusted to another team of bright
nurses and doctors) just when he is about to yield to his desire for
Mariette....
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/