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Re: QUERY: Percy Elphinstone in Lolita
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I had one of those lovely literary coincidences concerning
"Elphinstone" recently. During the narrator's brother's escape from
London in the "War of the Worlds", he runs into two ladies who aid him
in his flight, one of whom is named "Miss Elphinstone." Given this
name's association with the mass exodus of London from the baleful
weapons of the approaching Martians, I could not help but be struck by
how fitting it's invocation then became in Lolita's exit from the life
of Humbert Humbert.
Scott Houldin
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"Elphinstone" recently. During the narrator's brother's escape from
London in the "War of the Worlds", he runs into two ladies who aid him
in his flight, one of whom is named "Miss Elphinstone." Given this
name's association with the mass exodus of London from the baleful
weapons of the approaching Martians, I could not help but be struck by
how fitting it's invocation then became in Lolita's exit from the life
of Humbert Humbert.
Scott Houldin
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