In addition to the literal "wineglass" definition of goblet, I suspect Nabokov of playing an alliterative association game with "globules": a tiny globe or ball, especially of liquid.  This combined with the slang "gob"- or blobby sphere- evokes an amorphous, almost liquid quality to the light while simultaneously pointing, as Jerry mentioned, to the wine within the glass, with all its subtext of high culture, romance, and indolent pleasure. 
~c

On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 5:06 PM, yannicke chupin <cyannicke@yahoo.fr> wrote:
Hello Siri Vane, there is also a "whorelet" in Ada. 

Yannicke

De : Hafid Bouazza <hafidbouazza@GMAIL.COM>
À : NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Envoyé le : Mar 1 Décembre 2009, 18 h 28 min 57 s
Objet : Re: [NABOKV-L] "-lets"

Hello Siri Vane,

As far as concerns 'goblet', it might be a diminuitive of gob: 'a lump, clot of some slimy substance' (OED). Something, perhaps, like pear-shaped droplets(!) of light? I admit I don't know where it appears in Ada.

And for 'fawnlet': a fawn is a young deer in the first year. But I think you mean 'faunlet', which Nabokov uses in Pale Fire as an masculine equivalent for 'nymphet': a young attractive boy.

Hafid Bouazza

2009/11/30 Siri Vane <neptunes_only_daughter@hotmail.com>
Hello List,
Currently reading a seminal work about the history of Iraq, the authors' surname "Sluglett" triggered in me a memory of many diminuitive "-lets" in V.N.'s novels and I decided for myself that maybe "sluglet" was a word only waiting to be discovered and put to use by V.N.
The only "-lets" I remembered were "wavelet" and "goblet", and I was further reminded of "fawnlet" (what might that mean?) as well as "radugalet" and "motor laundalet" (meaning?).
I remembered "goblet" to mean "little gob" (mouth?), but apparently it appears in Ada as "goblets of light". I'd be happy if someone could clear up what that is supposed to mean. Otherwise I wanted to ask the list to remind me 

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