Subject
Fw: Re: Fwd: Greece, Argus and Ulysses J-4 May
From
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 08:19:27 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Fw: Re: Fwd: Greece, Argus and Ulysses J-4 May
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Hello, Jerry
I had forgotten about the other Arguses, thank you. Still, I think that the last
reference that brings up Greek yachts, fidelity and "seeing off/coming back"
must refer to Ulysses and his dog ( and to the car).
I tried to see if there was anything else with yachts or Yaks and had another
thrilling surprise. There were two references in "Ada" that mentioned Greeks
and Yaks and described a kind of barometer ( The cartesian diver, usually
floating in a glass tube and a wooden-barometer in the other that informs about
rainy or sunny weather).
A third barometer appeared ( it registered the hours!) but not as close to the
Yaks as the other ones but VN brought again the expression "saw off"...
Google offered me an address refering to "YAK" but it can only be a
coincidental find! There is a British company named "Yak" that offers yachting
equipment, including "boyancy aids". For the fun of it, I´ll copy their address:
YAK: Producers of marine safety equipment, lifejackets and buoyancy aids, and
immersion suits in Great Britain. www.crewsaver.co.uk/
The elements linked to separation/reunion, water flow, Yachts and Yaks, and
paraphernalia for diving/ flotation/measurement in VN are :
"God save America, embarrassed sons, vulgar fathers, titled Britisher and Greek
grandee matching yachts, and yacs, and yoickfests in the Bahamudas (...) God
save their poor little American tastebuds.
'Your new car sounds wonderful,' said Van.
'Doesn't it? Yes.'(...) 'And how is everything, my dear boy? I saw you last the
day you returned from Chose. We waste life in separations! We are the fools of
fate!
There comes a reference to a strange "barometer" at the end of the meeting, when
Demon departs, but it doesn´t appear as close to car/yacht as the others. But
the expression "saw him off" appears next, once again:
"Demon tapped the barometer next to the door. It had been tapped too often to
react in any intelligible way and remained standing at a quarter past three.
Van and Ada saw him off. The night was very warm and dripping with what Ladore
farmers called green rain. Demon's black sedan glinted elegantly among the
varnished laurels in the moth-flaked porchlight". All that Marina "could see
was the sheen of the car's bonnet and the rain slanting in the light of its
lamps".
......................................................
Ada's Argus had not yet been delivered. The gloomy black gloss of the hackney
Yak (...) reminded him of her departure in 1905. He saw her off - and
ascended, like a Cartesian glassman, like spectral Time standing at attention,
back to his desolate fifth floor.
................................................................
Even more patly the sudden onset of her flow had curtailed yesterday's caresses.
It was raining when he slammed the door of his car, hitched up his velveteen
slacks, and, stepping across puddles, passed between an ambulance and a large
black Yak, waiting one behind the other before the hotel. All the wings of the
Yak were spread open, two bellboys had started to pile in luggage under the
chauffeur's supervision, and various parts of the old hackney car were
responding with discreet creaks to the grunts of the loaders.(...) he was about
to enter the glass revolvo, when it produced Ada, somewhat in the manner of
those carved-wood barometers whose doors yield either a male puppet or a female
one (...) there she attempted to embrace him but he evaded her lips. She was
leaving in a few minutes.
(Purpur?) /Dark-blue is a color associated with Van´s ancestors. Dark-blue is
also a dream train that goes from London to the Cape.
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 10:41 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Greece, Argus and Ulysses J-3 May
According to Wikipedia, there were five Arguses in Greek mythology.
There are two, possibly three here. "Argus-eyed" refers to the
giant with 100 eyes who Hermes lulled to sleep. Jansy points out
that the reference to Argus at Van and Ada's reunion connects with
Odysseus's dog Argus, which recognized him when he returned to
Ithaca. That seems to refer to a car, but we can imagine the car
is named for the builder of the _Argo_, Jason's ship. (And it's
dark blue--is that anything like wine-dark?)
I was hoping that made a clean sweep, since those are the three
Arguses mentioned in Arthur C. Clarke's sf novel _Imperial Earth_
(I'm afraid I don't get my information on mythology from the
original sources), but apparently there are two more: the son of
Zeus and Niobe who became king of Phoronea (named after Niobe's
father) and renamed it Argos after himself, and someone who the
Argonauts rescued and who helped them on their quest. If anyone
wants to look for more Arguses.
Speaking of Wikipedia, I wrote a good part of the article on
_Pale Fire_. If that makes any of the experts here think it
could use critical attention, I think it would be great if you
revised that or any other Nabokov articles.
Jerry Friedman
--- "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu> wrote:
> EDNOTE. This one was a surprise for me too.
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
> Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 13:31:58 -0300
> From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
> Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
> Subject: Greece, Argus and Ulysses J-3 May
> To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum Dear List,
>
>
>
> There is always a surprise in store when re-reading Ada. Today I
> realized the
> reference to Argus/Penelope/Faithfulness and our Greek homecoming
> Ulysses.
> When Van and Ada prepare for their last encounter ( the "balcony scene
> at the
> Three Swans"), after which they will no longer separete, they almost
> don´t make
> it because " Ada´s Argus had not yet been delivered" ( Ada was not
> ready?) and
> she invited to depart to Greece instead. And added emphasis about
> faithful/unfaithful comes with the repeated reference to "saw off" ( C.
> husband´s antlers and a good-bye )
>
>
>
> I promise to get in touch with you in a day or two, and then we'll go on
> a
> cruise to Greece with the Baynards - they have a yacht and three
> adorable
> daughters who still swim in the tan, okay?'(...) veterinaries had had to
> saw
> off her husband's antlers (...) Ada's Argus had not yet been delivered.
> The
> gloomy black gloss of the hackney Yak (...) He saw her off - and
> ascended, like
> a Cartesian glassman, like spectral Time standing at attention, back to
> his
> desolate fifth floor.
>
>
>
> other references to Argus:
>
> 1. "Neither of them could imagine the partings that her professional
> existence
> 'on location' might necessitate, and neither could imagine their
> traveling
> together to Argus-eyed destinations and living together in Hollywood,
> U.S.A.,
> or Ivydell, England(...)
>
> 2. Today is Monday, July 14, 1922, five-thirteen p.m. by my wrist watch,
> eleven
> fifty-two by my car's built-in clock, four-ten by all the timepieces in
> town
> (...)He started working his way west in a dark-blue Argus, dearer to him
> than
> sapphires and morphos because she happened to have ordered an exactly
> similar
> one to be ready for her in Geneva.
>
> Jansy Mello
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
---------------------------------
Dear List,
There is always a surprise in store when re-reading Ada. Today I realized
the reference to Argus/Penelope/Faithfulness and our Greek homecoming
Ulysses. When Van and Ada prepare for their last encounter ( the "balcony
scene at the Three Swans"), after which they will no longer separete, they
almost don´t make it because " Ada´s Argus had not yet been delivered" (
Ada was not ready?) and she invited to depart to Greece instead. And added
emphasis about faithful/unfaithful comes with the repeated reference to
"saw off" ( C. husband´s antlers and a good-bye )
I promise to get in touch with you in a day or two, and then we'll go on a
cruise to Greece with the Baynards - they have a yacht and three adorable
daughters who still swim in the tan, okay?'(...) veterinaries had had to
saw off her husband's antlers (...) Ada's Argus had not yet been
delivered. The gloomy black gloss of the hackney Yak (...) He saw her off
- and ascended, like a Cartesian glassman, like spectral Time standing at
attention, back to his desolate fifth floor.
other references to Argus:
1. "Neither of them could imagine the partings that her professional
existence 'on location' might necessitate, and neither could imagine their
traveling together to Argus-eyed destinations and living together in
Hollywood, U.S.A., or Ivydell, England(...)
2. Today is Monday, July 14, 1922, five-thirteen p.m. by my wrist watch,
eleven fifty-two by my car's built-in clock, four-ten by all the
timepieces in town (...)He started working his way west in a dark-blue
Argus, dearer to him than sapphires and morphos because she happened to
have ordered an exactly similar one to be ready for her in Geneva.
Jansy Mello
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----