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Fw: Parenthetical Images
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Suellen Stringer-Hye" <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (83
lines) ------------------
> You would also have to compare pre-Nabokov and post-Nabokov
> writers since I believe Nabokov's use of the parenthetical aside has
> become, in some circles, a convention.
------------------------------------------------
EDNOTE. And, as well, look at the evolution of the devices in VN's own
works:and contrastively - -the English vs the Russian where typographic
conventions differ from those in English.
>----------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
> On 10 Apr 2003, at 19:37, D. Barton Johnson wrote:>
> EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Nick Grundy for these examples and comments. They
nicely illustrate
> the complexity of the problem. There are many different categories of
parenthetical comments--some more interesting than the "dictionary meanings"
of "parenthetical." If we want to establish what is unique or atypical
about VN's usage, we must first set up a a set of categories and compare
> their distribution in VN's usa vs that of other writers.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Nick Grundy
>
>
>
> The "extra" chapter to 'Speak, Memory' ('Conclusive Evidence' as was)
offers:
>
> "The solution of the riddle theme is also the solution of the theme of
exile, of the intrinsic loss running through the whole book, and these lines
blend, in their turn, with the culmination of the rainbow theme ("a spiral
of life in an agate"), and merge, at a most satisfying rond-point, with
> the many garden paths and park walks and forest trails meandering through
the book."
>
> Mona induces one or two in 'Lolita': "It was characteristic of Lo that she
chose for her closest chum that elegant, cold, lascivious, experienced young
female whom I once heard (misheard, Lo swore) cheerfully say in the hallway
to Lo - who had remarked that her (Lo's) sweater was of virgin wool:
> 'The only thing about you that is, kiddo....'"
>
> The Reverend Rigger on the facing page of my copy: "...beautiful Mona
replied: 'Well, sir, the fact is Dolly is not much concerned with mere boys.
Fact is, we are rivals. She and I have a crush on the Reverend Rigger.'
(This was a joke - I have already mentioned that gloomy giant of a man, with
> the jaw of a horse: he was to bore me to near murder with his impressions
of Switzerland at a tea party for parents that I am unable to place
correctly in terms of time.)"
>
> Kinbote, in 'Pale Fire':
>
> "Let me state that without my notes Shade's text simply has no human
reality at all since the human reality of such a poem as his (being too
skittish and reticent for an autobiographical work), with the omission of
many pithy lines carelessly rejected by him, has to depend entirely on the
reality
> of its author and his surroundings, attachments and so forth, a reality
that only my notes can provide."
>
> Pnin:
> "...Of course, Victor's mother was not really dead; she had left his
everyday father, Dr Eric Wind (now in South America), and was to be married
in Buffalo to a man named Church."
>
> Kinbote, 'narrating' a conversation with Shade, uses them to remind the
reader that his memory is as good as verbatim:
> "He said that ... (much exploited by Left-Wingers) ... (he admitted) ....
(he thought) ... (tensing
> of simian nostrils, sickening dulling of eyes) ... (observed Shade) ...
(he agreed) ... (he conced
> ed) ... (he continued) ... [he said] ..."
>
> Humbert again:
> "Now, in perusing what follows, the reader should bear in mind not only
the general circuit as adum
> brated above, with its many side-trips and tourist traps, secondary
circles and skittish deviations
> , but also the fact that far from being an indolent partie de plaisir, our
tour was a hard, twisted
> , teleological growth, whose sole raison d'etre (these French cliches are
symptomatic) was to keep
> my companion in passable humour from kiss to kiss."
>
> "We passed and re-passed through the whole gamut of American roadside
restaurants from the lowly Ea
> t with its deer head (dark trace of a long tear at inner canthus),
'humorous' picture post cards [.
> ...]"
>
> "I asked Mr. Potts was he quite sure my wife had not telephoned, and what
about that cot? He answer
> ed that she had not (she was dead, of course) and the cot would be
installed tomorrow if we decided
> to stay on."
>
> "(what shadow of us was he after?)"
>
> "(she was a very mediocre mermaid)"
>
> "In the afternoon, Haze (common-sensical shoes, tailor-made dress) said
she was driving downtown to
> buy a present for a friend of a friend of hers [...]"
>
> "The sport was so excellent, its results - in my case - so ruddy that I
stayed on for a whole month
> after I was quite well (sleeping admirable and eating like a
schoolgirl)."
>
> And here, to close, are a pair of triplets from Pnin:
> "In order not to complicate the modish triangle of Freudian romance
(father, mother, child), Liza's
> first husband had never been mentioned."
>
> "He was a well-known, frankly academic painter, whose soulful oils -
'Mother Volga', 'Three Old Fri
> ends' (lag, nag, dog), 'April Glade', and so forth - still graced a museum
in Moscow."
>
> That last one reads rather like the Russian wordplay I can't quite
remember about the word "God".
>
> There are also a number of instances in Pnin where parentheses enclose
first translations of Russia
> n, then the Russian itself after the translation, and interestingly
Kinbote uses the same technique
> in 'Pale Fire' with Zemblan. However, only a few of the ones I've turned
out above actually fit t
> he original bill, so enough of that.
>
> Nick.
> Suellen Stringer-Hye
> Jean and Alexander Heard Library
> Vanderbilt University
> stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu
From: "Suellen Stringer-Hye" <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (83
lines) ------------------
> You would also have to compare pre-Nabokov and post-Nabokov
> writers since I believe Nabokov's use of the parenthetical aside has
> become, in some circles, a convention.
------------------------------------------------
EDNOTE. And, as well, look at the evolution of the devices in VN's own
works:and contrastively - -the English vs the Russian where typographic
conventions differ from those in English.
>----------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
> On 10 Apr 2003, at 19:37, D. Barton Johnson wrote:>
> EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Nick Grundy for these examples and comments. They
nicely illustrate
> the complexity of the problem. There are many different categories of
parenthetical comments--some more interesting than the "dictionary meanings"
of "parenthetical." If we want to establish what is unique or atypical
about VN's usage, we must first set up a a set of categories and compare
> their distribution in VN's usa vs that of other writers.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Nick Grundy
>
>
>
> The "extra" chapter to 'Speak, Memory' ('Conclusive Evidence' as was)
offers:
>
> "The solution of the riddle theme is also the solution of the theme of
exile, of the intrinsic loss running through the whole book, and these lines
blend, in their turn, with the culmination of the rainbow theme ("a spiral
of life in an agate"), and merge, at a most satisfying rond-point, with
> the many garden paths and park walks and forest trails meandering through
the book."
>
> Mona induces one or two in 'Lolita': "It was characteristic of Lo that she
chose for her closest chum that elegant, cold, lascivious, experienced young
female whom I once heard (misheard, Lo swore) cheerfully say in the hallway
to Lo - who had remarked that her (Lo's) sweater was of virgin wool:
> 'The only thing about you that is, kiddo....'"
>
> The Reverend Rigger on the facing page of my copy: "...beautiful Mona
replied: 'Well, sir, the fact is Dolly is not much concerned with mere boys.
Fact is, we are rivals. She and I have a crush on the Reverend Rigger.'
(This was a joke - I have already mentioned that gloomy giant of a man, with
> the jaw of a horse: he was to bore me to near murder with his impressions
of Switzerland at a tea party for parents that I am unable to place
correctly in terms of time.)"
>
> Kinbote, in 'Pale Fire':
>
> "Let me state that without my notes Shade's text simply has no human
reality at all since the human reality of such a poem as his (being too
skittish and reticent for an autobiographical work), with the omission of
many pithy lines carelessly rejected by him, has to depend entirely on the
reality
> of its author and his surroundings, attachments and so forth, a reality
that only my notes can provide."
>
> Pnin:
> "...Of course, Victor's mother was not really dead; she had left his
everyday father, Dr Eric Wind (now in South America), and was to be married
in Buffalo to a man named Church."
>
> Kinbote, 'narrating' a conversation with Shade, uses them to remind the
reader that his memory is as good as verbatim:
> "He said that ... (much exploited by Left-Wingers) ... (he admitted) ....
(he thought) ... (tensing
> of simian nostrils, sickening dulling of eyes) ... (observed Shade) ...
(he agreed) ... (he conced
> ed) ... (he continued) ... [he said] ..."
>
> Humbert again:
> "Now, in perusing what follows, the reader should bear in mind not only
the general circuit as adum
> brated above, with its many side-trips and tourist traps, secondary
circles and skittish deviations
> , but also the fact that far from being an indolent partie de plaisir, our
tour was a hard, twisted
> , teleological growth, whose sole raison d'etre (these French cliches are
symptomatic) was to keep
> my companion in passable humour from kiss to kiss."
>
> "We passed and re-passed through the whole gamut of American roadside
restaurants from the lowly Ea
> t with its deer head (dark trace of a long tear at inner canthus),
'humorous' picture post cards [.
> ...]"
>
> "I asked Mr. Potts was he quite sure my wife had not telephoned, and what
about that cot? He answer
> ed that she had not (she was dead, of course) and the cot would be
installed tomorrow if we decided
> to stay on."
>
> "(what shadow of us was he after?)"
>
> "(she was a very mediocre mermaid)"
>
> "In the afternoon, Haze (common-sensical shoes, tailor-made dress) said
she was driving downtown to
> buy a present for a friend of a friend of hers [...]"
>
> "The sport was so excellent, its results - in my case - so ruddy that I
stayed on for a whole month
> after I was quite well (sleeping admirable and eating like a
schoolgirl)."
>
> And here, to close, are a pair of triplets from Pnin:
> "In order not to complicate the modish triangle of Freudian romance
(father, mother, child), Liza's
> first husband had never been mentioned."
>
> "He was a well-known, frankly academic painter, whose soulful oils -
'Mother Volga', 'Three Old Fri
> ends' (lag, nag, dog), 'April Glade', and so forth - still graced a museum
in Moscow."
>
> That last one reads rather like the Russian wordplay I can't quite
remember about the word "God".
>
> There are also a number of instances in Pnin where parentheses enclose
first translations of Russia
> n, then the Russian itself after the translation, and interestingly
Kinbote uses the same technique
> in 'Pale Fire' with Zemblan. However, only a few of the ones I've turned
out above actually fit t
> he original bill, so enough of that.
>
> Nick.
> Suellen Stringer-Hye
> Jean and Alexander Heard Library
> Vanderbilt University
> stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu