Gogol: "I am following
Gogol through the dismal maze of his life and have selected as basic rhythm of
my book the en passant move of the Pawn ( please note
this).
(Volodya to Bunny, letter 45, August 9,
1942)
JM: Could someone
who knows chess-moves explain how this "move"
operates and if, in fact, one finds it as "the basic rhythm" of
VN's biography of Gogol?*
.......................................................................................................
* In my penciled markings on pg.75 (VN/EW Letters), I
jotted down: "TOoL"?? I cannot play
chess and this note (resulting from a succession of readings, ie: merely
associative) has lost its meaning. In my ignorance,
until now, VN's "Gogol" brought T.S.Eliot's "Four Quartets" (East
Coker) to mind, but not as inducing a particular rhythm ("In my
beginning is my end. In succession/Houses rise and fall, crumble, are
extended,/Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place..."// "The wave
cry, the wind cry, the vast waters/ Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is
my beginning."), but indicating time and literary
metamorphosing, as it takes place under our eyes.