EDNOTE. A good question. The faint bells it
tinkles for me are: 1) I think VN in his GOGOL book uses the swan shtick as an
an example of "poshlost' 2) Actor Walter Slezak used the line "What Time is the
Next Swan" as the title of his autobiography as the title of his autobiography
in re to a story about his opera star father in
Lohengrin.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of
4
...."the prelude to the adventure of riding
the swan..."
What does this mean? There is a joke
about catching the next swan ( Lohengrin ) in "Laughter in the Dark" ;
there is a link between a dying swan and "Mademoiselle".
Is this some kind of sexual
metaphor?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:51
PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Translation of German
Lolita -- page 3 of 4
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of
4
But there was something
more than her beauty that attracted me -- there was a strange mystery about
her that troubled me often on those moonlit nights.
When she came into my
room to tidy up, she would sometimes pause in her work, her red laughing
smile compressed into a narrow line, and she would stare with fear into the
sunlight. She reminded me of Iphigenia as played by some great
tragedienne. Then I would take the child in my arms and feel an imperative
need to protect her from some unknown danger.
Surely this clinches it. This must be the prelude to the adventure
of riding the swan. It's unmistakable.
Walter Miale