Subject
Glori / Nabokoviana
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Here's an excerpt from /Gloriana; or The Unfulfill'd Queen, Being
a Romance/, by Michael Moorcock (1978), from the beginning of The
Tenth Chapter. It's a historical fantasy on Elizabethan England.
Ernest Wheldrake is a poet in the Gormenghastly royal palace;
apparently Moorcock stole him from Swinburne and has used him in
a number of books. The other character is masochistic Wheldrake's
mistress, Lady Lyst.
As I've mentioned here before, I think Moorcock's /Cornelius
Chronicles/ have occasional resemblances to Nabokov.
Possibly only the poem refers to Nabokov, but I'm adding some
more in case it's relevant (or amusing). Here's the excerpt,
with slashes for italics:
"Listen"--and he quoted the sheet.
/"And Ada's Ardour's slowly growing cold
'Neath leaden hammer blows
Of Slavic Prose,
As picking at his Academic nose
He'll pass in public as a Wit
And Labouring Iron transmute to Gold."/
"Well, what d'you think? Got 'im, eh?"
"But I don't know you you're talking about," she said. "A rival
poet? Really, Wheldrake, you become increasingly obscure and
and decreasingly inventive as time goes on!"
"No! It's him! /He/ grows obscure!" Master Wheldrake's
arms flapped as if some primitive pterosaur tried desperately
to take to the air for the first time. "Not /me/!"
"You, too. And I don't know /him/." Her lovely blue eyes
were wider than ever they regarded him with a certain distant
sadness; her lovely golden hair fell in unruly strands across
her golden face. "And I doubt, Wheldrake, dear, from your
tone, that he knows /you/."
"Damn him!" Wheldrake stalked, as best he could, through the
rubble of her room. Parrots and macaws cackled and fled for
the thicker growths of ivy near the ceiling. "He's rich--
because he panders to the public. Makes 'em think they're
intelligent! Bah! While I'm here, forever, dependent on
the Queen's patronage, when all I want is her respect."
--
Jerry Friedman
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
a Romance/, by Michael Moorcock (1978), from the beginning of The
Tenth Chapter. It's a historical fantasy on Elizabethan England.
Ernest Wheldrake is a poet in the Gormenghastly royal palace;
apparently Moorcock stole him from Swinburne and has used him in
a number of books. The other character is masochistic Wheldrake's
mistress, Lady Lyst.
As I've mentioned here before, I think Moorcock's /Cornelius
Chronicles/ have occasional resemblances to Nabokov.
Possibly only the poem refers to Nabokov, but I'm adding some
more in case it's relevant (or amusing). Here's the excerpt,
with slashes for italics:
"Listen"--and he quoted the sheet.
/"And Ada's Ardour's slowly growing cold
'Neath leaden hammer blows
Of Slavic Prose,
As picking at his Academic nose
He'll pass in public as a Wit
And Labouring Iron transmute to Gold."/
"Well, what d'you think? Got 'im, eh?"
"But I don't know you you're talking about," she said. "A rival
poet? Really, Wheldrake, you become increasingly obscure and
and decreasingly inventive as time goes on!"
"No! It's him! /He/ grows obscure!" Master Wheldrake's
arms flapped as if some primitive pterosaur tried desperately
to take to the air for the first time. "Not /me/!"
"You, too. And I don't know /him/." Her lovely blue eyes
were wider than ever they regarded him with a certain distant
sadness; her lovely golden hair fell in unruly strands across
her golden face. "And I doubt, Wheldrake, dear, from your
tone, that he knows /you/."
"Damn him!" Wheldrake stalked, as best he could, through the
rubble of her room. Parrots and macaws cackled and fled for
the thicker growths of ivy near the ceiling. "He's rich--
because he panders to the public. Makes 'em think they're
intelligent! Bah! While I'm here, forever, dependent on
the Queen's patronage, when all I want is her respect."
--
Jerry Friedman
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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