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Re: Fwd: Spring in Elsinore? Violets
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----- Forwarded message from naiman@socrates.berkeley.edu -----
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:01:18 -0800
From: Eric Naiman <naiman@socrates.berkeley.edu>
To this very interesting observation by Sandy Drescher, we could add the
link made between Ophelia and violets in Nabokov's Universitetskaia poema:
"Ne shlo ei imia Violeta
(vernee: Vaiolet, -- no eto
edva li my proiznesem).
S fialkoi ne bylo v nei skhodstva,
naprotiv: iarko, do urodstva
glaza blesteli
The name Violeta didn't suit her (to be sure, her name was Violet, but we
can hardly pronounce that). She had nothing of the violet in her; on the
other hand, it was ugly how brightly her eyes flashed
Later, the narrator is on the river with her -- he will soon abandon her.
He sees a tear on her cheek and adds in the next stanza:
"i tikho my poplyli
v tuman, -- gde plakala ne ty li,
Ofeliia, -- il' to byla
lish' grammofonnaia igla
and quietly we floated in the fog -- wasn't that where you cried, Ophelia,
or was that just a grammophone needle.
I'm sorry for the quick translation -- has one been published somewhere?
Eric Naiman.
>EDNOTE. Violets occur a lot in VN. Any ideas?
>
>----- Forwarded message from bunsan@direcway.com -----
> Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:45:06 -0500
> From: Alexander Drescher <bunsan@direcway.com>
>Dear Don and List Members-
>
>Can someone direct me to a paper in which Nina's violets [Spring in
>Fialta] and are related to Laertes's protest of Ophelia's innocence?
>
>Spring in Fialta
>At the next corner we were attracted by an old stone stairway, and we
>climbed up [428 Vintage]
>with a cluster of bone-white flecks (some hamlet) [428]
>we stood for a little longer by the stone parapet [429]
> From somewhere a firm bouquet of small dark, unselfishly smelling
>violets appeared in her hands [429]
>
>Hamlet ACT V, Scene 1
>LAERTES:
>Lay her i' the earth:
>And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
>May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
>A ministering angel shall my sister be,
>When thou liest howling
>
>If such a connection exists, it adds to the view that Victor
>progressively recognizes Nina's vulnerable innocence [a lost child] in
>addition to her outrageousness [a street row] or her heroic struggle [a
>train station accident]; just as he comes out of his fog and finally
>recognizes that he has seen the circus poster [six times] previously.
>Further, it would suggests that his timid withdrawal of his offer of
>love - and perhaps more - contributes, Hamlet-like, to her death.
>
>-Sandy Drescher 1/21/05
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>Don -Apologies if this is a duplicate, the originial mailing appears to
>have disappeared into the ether-S.D.
>
>Dear Don and List Members-
>
>Can someone direct me to a paper in which Nina's violets [Spring in
>Fialta] and are related to Laertes's protest of Ophelia's innocence?
>
>Spring in Fialta
>At the next corner we were attracted by an old stone stairway, and we
>climbed up [428 Vintage]
>with a cluster of bone-white flecks (some hamlet) [428]
>we stood for a little longer by the stone parapet [429]
>>From somewhere a firm bouquet of small dark, unselfishly smelling violets
>>appeared in her hands [429]
>
>Hamlet ACT V, Scene 1
>LAERTES:
>Lay her i' the earth:
>And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
>May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
>A ministering angel shall my sister be,
>When thou liest howling
>
>If such a connection exists, it adds to the view that Victor progressively
>recognizes Nina's vulnerable innocence [a lost child] in addition to her
>outrageousness [a street row] or her heroic struggle [a train station
>accident]; just as he comes out of his fog and finally recognizes that he
>has seen the circus poster [six times] previously. Further, it would
>suggests that his timid withdrawal of his offer of love - and perhaps more
>- contributes, Hamlet-like, to her death.
>
>-Sandy Drescher 1/21/05
----- End forwarded message -----