Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003677, Thu, 4 Feb 1999 10:48:23 -0800

Subject
Query: canna mind (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
EDITOR's NOTE. See my comment at end.
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From: "Jerry Friedman, Northern N. M. Community College"
<jfriedman@nnm.cc.nm.us>

Here's a minor detail for you. In the new _Lolita_ movie, cannas are
blooming in the Hazes' front yard. Does anyone know whether they're one of
the varieties called "King Humbert"? Judging from the picture in one of my
catalogs, they're fairly similar, though the ones in the movie might be too
orange-flowered (at least for "Red King Humbert") and too short.
If there is a Humbert reference here, I'm curious about where it
started. I can't remember whether there are cannas in the novel--a quick
glance didn't turn any up. Are there in Nabokov's screenplay? Or are they
Schiff's contribution?
(In keeping with our moderator's request--I teach physics and a
solar-car class in Espanola, New Mexico, and all my tiny efforts in Nabokov
studies have appeared on this list.)

Jerry Friedman
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EDITOR's NOTE. Despite Jerry Friedman's claims of his "tiny efforts," his
earlier queries and comments have led to a couple of extended discussions
on NABOKV-L. His query/comment above evokes the recollection that there is
a rhiddenron named "Nova Zembla"- as Sam Schuman noted in THE NABOKVIAN a
few years ago. Film makers (and script writers) do do this sort of thing.
Note Kubrik's scene in the Haze home when Lolita fiddles with a sculutre
of a hand holding a Quill.