Matt Roth: The holograph ms. of PF (now public domain) in
the Library of Congress contains an interesting variant related to this
Eliot-via-Baudelaire line. Kinbote's note to line 376 concludes, "I deplore my
friend's vicious thrusts at the most distinguished poets of his day." Following
this in the ms., VN tried out several sentences, but canceled them all with one
wavy, looping line...
JM: After I read my posting addressing Matt's
marvellous trouvaille I realized that my praise sounded less enthusiastic
than I felt, also my answer was rather imprecise. The "toilest" pun
(tseliot/toilets/to toil) absurdly seems to disregard a link
with Eliot! Actually, my intention had been to explore why
Kinbote(Nabokov) had rejected these lines*. I suppose his
motive derived from Nabokov's fidelity to his construction of a
character. The sentence with "twin brother/reader/toilest"
would present Kinbote as someone who sets more value on his reader
(here his "twin soul"), than it is to be expected from him.
In "Dear Bunny, dear Volodya" (page 186/186n)
Nabokov is discussing with Wilson some sentences by Conan Doyle (Sherlock
Holmes). He writes: " I note the following pearl (:271) "... a sudden
ejaculation caused me to wake up." Cp. "...qui tordent sur leurs lits les bruns
adolescents" ( Baudelaire, - the one about the pink and green frock of shivering
dawn." Simon Karlinsky notes: "...which cause dark-haired adolescents to
writhe in their beds." A misquoted line from Charles Baudelaire's poem "Le
Crépuscule du Matin" ("The Dawn"). A favorite of Nabokov's, this poem is also
evoked elsewhere in his writings, most notably in Lolita and
Ada, where it is the source of a minor character named Dawn. The
wording of the quotation and its context in Baudelaire's poem are: " l'essaim
des rêves malfaisants/Tord sur leurs oreillers les bruns adolescents" ( "the
swarm of unwholesome dreams/ Causes dark-haired adolescents to writhe on their
pillows").
There are few mentions to "Rev. Eliot" in their
correspondence (easily located through SK's index). In letter 250 (Aparil
17,1950) he describes Eliot as "a fraud and a fake." Later, in letter 306 (May
24,1958) Nabokov writes: "Your piece on Toile, T.S is absolutely wonderful, it
is one of your very best essays, lucid, acid and wise. I realize that you still
think a lot of him as a poet, and I disagree with you when you say that his
verses lodge in one's head ( they never did in mine - I always disliked him) -
but you have pricked a ripe amber pimple and from now on, Eliot's image will
never be the same."
................................................................................
Returning to Baudelaire: In another couple
of verses (Au Lecteur) from "Fleurs du Mal", we find an
ennumeration which contains some of the
bold events that take place in Ada (a burning barn
and pine forest, a "triple viol", Aqua Toffana &
other poisons, swords ...and daggers?). Satan, in Baudelaire,
corresponds to the alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, so we probably must rule
"Demon" out (there are magical herbs, but no alchemy in Ada, or so I
think)
Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore
brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux
destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.
- If rape and poison, dagger and burning,
- Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs
- On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,
- It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!
...........................................................................................
* - (a) [My
reader must help me] ^ Here I sit in my bookless mountain cave; but thou,
my mirror twin, toilest... ; (b) Here I sit
bookless ^ [and idle] in my mountain cave but [ I know]^ thou toilest,
my reader, my mirror twin (
from Matt Roth's research).