Subject
Fw: Fw: Leonardo.
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello" <jansy@aetern.us>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Leonardo.
> This message was originally submitted by jansy@AETERN.US to the NABOKV-L
list
> at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU. If you simply forward it back to the list, using a
mail
> command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask your local user support or
consult
> the documentation of your mail program if in doubt), it will be
distributed and
> the explanations you are now reading will be removed automatically. If
on the
> other hand you edit the contributions you receive into a digest, you will
have
> to remove this paragraph manually. Finally, you should be able to
contact the
> author of this message by using the normal "reply" function of your
mail
> program.
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (97
lines) ------------------
> Dear Don and List,
>
> While I was researching about "Rastelli" I wrote Don a small note which
> should now be distributed to those on the List who haven´t received it.
>
> I wrote:
> I had put my stakes on the "Italian" texts ( Allepo, Fialta...) and I
> discovered a curious story about two brothers, not twins, with a play with
> space-time and a small doll hidden under a bed. One of the brothers was
> Anton, like in the Lichberg story. VN´s was " The Leonardo" and you
> remember, there he writes about illusions, counterfeits and falsifications
> ( actually, a common theme, as it also arises in La Veneziana...). I was
> not too thorough but I couldn´t find Rastelli in them either.
>
> I did not want to bring fuel to the discussion about VN and von Lichberg!
> In my opinion the distance that separates VN´s work from von Lichberg´s is
> too big. To take VN´s analogies, imageries, quotes and references ( we´ve
> already had this intertextuality discussion before, and many, many many
> others ) to approach their oeuvre - almost if they were comparable -
makes
> no sense to me.
>
> Jansy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:12 PM
> Subject: Fw: Leonardo.
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Michael Maar" <michael.maar@snafu.de>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (37
> > lines) ------------------
> > > Dear list,
> > >
> > >
> > > Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello is right to point at Nabokov's story "The
> > Leonardo",
> > > and his discovery of the "small doll hidden under a bed" is an
> exquisitely
> > > subtle point. Nevertheless one should mention the most striking
> similarity
> > with
> > > Lichberg's "Lolita". Not only that one of the brothers, as he
mentions,
> is
> > > called "Anton" like in Lichberg's tale. Not only that they
> metaphorically
> > appear
> > > like twins ("Red sweater and gray went up the window and actually
leaned
> > out,
> > > becoming identical twins.") On the same page a strange thing happens
> with
> > those
> > > two aggressive brothers.
> > >
> > > "Meanwhile the brothers began to swell, to grow, they filled up the
> whole
> > room,
> > > the whole house, and then grew out if it. (...) Gigantic, imperiouskly
> > reeking
> > > of sweat and beer, with beefy voices and senseless speeches, with
fecal
> > matter
> > > replacing the human brain, they provoke a tremor of ignoble fear."
> > >
> > > Compare this with that very remarkable scene of the other Anton and
his
> > > twin-brother in Lichberg's "Lolita" when Lola is challenging them just
> > before
> > > being killed by one of them - like the "Leonardo" of Nabokov's story
> will
> > be:
> > >
> > > "'I will love whoever is tallest.' Their eyes flashed and the men
seemed
> > to grow
> > > taller and taller, their necks lengthened and thickened, and their
> sleeves
> > burst
> > > right down to the elbows. Their faces became so ugly and distorted,
that
> I
> > > feared their bones would break."
> > >
> > > An ugly couple of (twin-)brothers, one of them Anton, in a
> > phantasmagorical
> > > growing-scene (even if you leave the hidden doll and the
> > > Leonardo-Gioconda-complex out) - coincidence? Come on!
> > >
> > > Best wishes
> > > Michael Maar
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
From: "Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello" <jansy@aetern.us>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Leonardo.
> This message was originally submitted by jansy@AETERN.US to the NABOKV-L
list
> at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU. If you simply forward it back to the list, using a
> command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask your local user support or
consult
> the documentation of your mail program if in doubt), it will be
distributed and
> the explanations you are now reading will be removed automatically. If
on the
> other hand you edit the contributions you receive into a digest, you will
have
> to remove this paragraph manually. Finally, you should be able to
contact the
> author of this message by using the normal "reply" function of your
> program.
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (97
lines) ------------------
> Dear Don and List,
>
> While I was researching about "Rastelli" I wrote Don a small note which
> should now be distributed to those on the List who haven´t received it.
>
> I wrote:
> I had put my stakes on the "Italian" texts ( Allepo, Fialta...) and I
> discovered a curious story about two brothers, not twins, with a play with
> space-time and a small doll hidden under a bed. One of the brothers was
> Anton, like in the Lichberg story. VN´s was " The Leonardo" and you
> remember, there he writes about illusions, counterfeits and falsifications
> ( actually, a common theme, as it also arises in La Veneziana...). I was
> not too thorough but I couldn´t find Rastelli in them either.
>
> I did not want to bring fuel to the discussion about VN and von Lichberg!
> In my opinion the distance that separates VN´s work from von Lichberg´s is
> too big. To take VN´s analogies, imageries, quotes and references ( we´ve
> already had this intertextuality discussion before, and many, many many
> others ) to approach their oeuvre - almost if they were comparable -
makes
> no sense to me.
>
> Jansy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 7:12 PM
> Subject: Fw: Leonardo.
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Michael Maar" <michael.maar@snafu.de>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (37
> > lines) ------------------
> > > Dear list,
> > >
> > >
> > > Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello is right to point at Nabokov's story "The
> > Leonardo",
> > > and his discovery of the "small doll hidden under a bed" is an
> exquisitely
> > > subtle point. Nevertheless one should mention the most striking
> similarity
> > with
> > > Lichberg's "Lolita". Not only that one of the brothers, as he
mentions,
> is
> > > called "Anton" like in Lichberg's tale. Not only that they
> metaphorically
> > appear
> > > like twins ("Red sweater and gray went up the window and actually
leaned
> > out,
> > > becoming identical twins.") On the same page a strange thing happens
> with
> > those
> > > two aggressive brothers.
> > >
> > > "Meanwhile the brothers began to swell, to grow, they filled up the
> whole
> > room,
> > > the whole house, and then grew out if it. (...) Gigantic, imperiouskly
> > reeking
> > > of sweat and beer, with beefy voices and senseless speeches, with
fecal
> > matter
> > > replacing the human brain, they provoke a tremor of ignoble fear."
> > >
> > > Compare this with that very remarkable scene of the other Anton and
his
> > > twin-brother in Lichberg's "Lolita" when Lola is challenging them just
> > before
> > > being killed by one of them - like the "Leonardo" of Nabokov's story
> will
> > be:
> > >
> > > "'I will love whoever is tallest.' Their eyes flashed and the men
seemed
> > to grow
> > > taller and taller, their necks lengthened and thickened, and their
> sleeves
> > burst
> > > right down to the elbows. Their faces became so ugly and distorted,
that
> I
> > > feared their bones would break."
> > >
> > > An ugly couple of (twin-)brothers, one of them Anton, in a
> > phantasmagorical
> > > growing-scene (even if you leave the hidden doll and the
> > > Leonardo-Gioconda-complex out) - coincidence? Come on!
> > >
> > > Best wishes
> > > Michael Maar
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>