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Fw: Fw: speaking of prefaces LOLITA's John Ray, Jr.
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Edmunds
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 7:18 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: speaking of prefaces
From Jeff Edmunds <jhe2@psulias.psu.edu>:
In response to Carolyn Kunin's query about John Ray, Jr.:
In her book _Lolita: un royaume au-delà des mers_ (Talence: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1996), Christine Raguet-Bouvart lists John Ray, Jr. among the book's many doubles. I quote from my discussion of the book that originally appeared in Nabokov Studies #3 (1996):
"In her essay on "Doubles and Reflections," Raguet-Bouvart begins by noting the oft-overlooked double title (Lolita, or the Confessions of White Widowed Male) suggested by Humbert and by listing the familiar roster of the novel's doubles: John Ray, Jr. [JR, Jr.], Gaston Godin, Harold Haze, etc. etc.."
My article includes a footnote to Raguet-Bouvart's mention of John Ray, Jr.:
"It might also be noted that, pronounced à la française, "J.R." gives "J'y erre," which is particularly resonant given Raguet-Bouvart's subsequent emphasis on Humbert's errance."
Although it was inspired by Raguet-Bouvart's discussion of Humbert's wandering (errance), a theme first discussed at length by Alain Robbe-Grillet in his 1964 article "La notion d'itinéraire dans Lolita," the observation in my footnote may be too contrived to be true.
Or it may not.
At 08:55 AM 3/20/2004 -0800, you wrote:
EDNOTE.
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 7:49 AM
Subject: speaking of prefaces
To the List,
I have often wondered about the name John Rae, Jr (preface Lolita). I sometimes came across the name John Rae linked to Arctic exploration, but "Jr" was never there.
I am reading Ken McGoogan's Fatal Passage: the Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot and it turns out that John Rae was the son of "John Rae, Sr," and so, though never referred to that way, he really was John Rae, Jr.
Other names linked to Arctic exploration occasionally turn up in Nabokov's work (Amundsen in Ada, for example) and I think I that there is a play about Scott? or am I dreaming?
Carolyn
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EDNOTE. But LO's presenter is John RAY, Jr. PhD, not John
RAE. The Scott play is "The Pole" available in English translated by DN with a very nice preface. The play was performed in Berlin a few years back.