JM While I was reading "Laughter in the Dark"* from its
very beginning I realized that a great part of its initial chapters had
been totally erased from my memory by the sudden change in Margot, after
Axel Rex (Herr Miller) abandoned her. The first two or three chapters
are delicate renderings of Albert Albinus' life
and the very young Margot's ordeals in a harsh world
(not much later, starting on ch 4 and more definitely on ch.7,
this same story shall be used in a cynical way to extract money from
her so-called protectors). Margot is often described as a school-girl
at first, but she is no Lolita-nymphet and
she seems closer to the late Laura in TOoL.
Except for the last chapter, in which a dying Albinus drops on
his side like a big soft doll, I found no allusion nor suggestion of a
golliwogg impersonation, or wordplay, in the Portuguese translation of this
novel. There are two direct references to Wagnerian operas (Lohengrin and
Sigfried) but the overall theme suggested to me the temptations
of Venusberg and the purity of a girl named Elizabeth (the name of Albinus' pale
wife) from Tannhäuser, but without a final redemption for its main
character.
Axel Rex is almost always referred to by his surname, Rex, and Albert
Albinus, by Albinus. However, most females (Elizabeth, Margot and various
maids) are mentioned by their first name, as does Elizabeth's brother, Paul
Hochenwart, who remains "Paul" throughout the entire novel.**
...........................................................................................................................................................
* Camera Obscura/Laughter in the Dark was first translated by Winifred Roy
and published in England in 1936. Displeased with its quality, Nabokov worked on
a new translation which was published two years later and under a new
title. Other names were also altered (according to
www.enotes.com/topic/Laughter_in_the_Dark_(novel)
). I quote: " The characters were given
different names in the English translation. In the following list the names of
the main characters of the English translation are given first with the original
names in parentheses. Albert Albinus (Bruno Krechmar) - a middle-aged
art-critic; Margot Peters (Magda Peters) - a 18-year-old aspiring actress,
common worker, model, seductress; Axel Rex (Robert Gorn, probably Robert Horn) -
A painter from New York and Margot's first lover and molester)".
** - Among the coleoptera (Lucanoidea, Aesalidae) we find a "C.
chrysomelinus Hochenwart" ( but that allusion is too
far-fetched!)