One might equally ask why Nabokov chose the surname Quilty. It would be rash to suggest VN borrowed Quilty from an earlier character: Bridie Quilty, protagonist in the film I See a Dark Stranger (1941), played by Deborah Kerr. Given the large number of themes/incidents in both this film and Lolita, it would not be difficult for creative, cherry-picking pattern-seekers to convince themselves of significant links between the two works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_See_a_Dark_Strange
However, VN’s choice is more plausibly TOPONYMICAL, covering both Surname and Given Name!
Namely: the town QUILTY, County CLARE, Ireland.
For the inevitably complex and speculative etymologies/spellings of the surname and town Quilty, see
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Quilty
“It originates from the pre 10th century Gaelic surname O' Caoilte meaning the male descendant of Caol, a nickname for a slender person, from caol meaning small or slight, or from coillte meaning woods or forest and hence a topographical name for a resident in a wooded area.”
More at: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Quilty#ixzz24SeGa6zj
All this dilutes, without, of course, disproving, the hypothesis that Lorrie More
had Nabakov’s Clare Quilty in mind when naming her character. Jay Livingstone is commendably cautious of a causal connection, based as it is on tenuous plot similarities. But the dissimilarities are overwhelming enough to cast stronger doubts! The two Quilties can hardly be more different. Blind Queer versus Insightful, Straight Nymphet-and Car-chasing, Porno-movie director.
Look again at Jay’s extract from Moore’s What You Want Fine:
There is a song his Mack’s aunt used to sing to him when he was little. “I am a man upon the land. I am a silkie on the sea.” . . . . It was a creature who comes back to fetch his child – his child by a woman on the land. But the woman’s new husband is a hunter, a good shot, and kills him when he tries to escape back to the sea with the child. Perhaps that was best, in the end. Still the song was sad – stolen love, lost love, amphibious doom . . .
It’s worth noting the lyrics of this ballad (Number 113 in Child’s definitive collection), one of many devoted to the diverse Silkie (aka Selkie) myths common to Norse and Celtic folklore.
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
An earthly nurse sits and sings,
And aye, she sings by lily wean,
And little ken I my bairn's father,
Far less the land where he dwells in.
For he came on night to her bed feet,
And a grumbly guest, I'm sure was he,
Saying "Here am I, thy bairn's father,
Although I be not comely."
"I am a man upon the land,
I am a silkie on the sea,
And when I'm far and far frae land,
My home it is in Sule Skerrie."
And he had ta'en a purse of gold
And he had placed it upon her knee,
Saying, "Give to me my little young son,
And take thee up thy nurse's fee."
"And it shall come to pass on a summer's day,
When the sun shines bright on every stane,
I'll come and fetch my little young son,
And teach him how to swim the faem."
"And ye shall marry a gunner good,
And a right fine gunner I'm sure he'll be,
And the very first shot that e'er he shoots
Will kill both my young son and me."
---------------
I humbly submit that, however creative be our allusion-chasers, it’s well-nigh impossible to link this tale plausibly with Nabokov’s Lolita. In any case, this is Mack’s Aunt singing to Moore’s Quilty, so identifying or relating the characters in the ballad with those in Lolita is problematical to say the least. One might have more luck with Pale Fire!? Well ... Exiles, mixed identities, bad shooting, watery deaths (only joking ;=))
But, let’s assume an intended Lolita link in
It was a creature who comes back to fetch his child – his child by a woman on the land. But the woman’s new husband is a hunter, a good shot, and kills him when he tries to escape back to the sea with the child.
Count the risible plot discrepancies and potential anachronisms:
If the creature is Humbert Humbert, can his child by a woman on the land (implying paternity rather than step-fatherhood) really be his child-mistress-nymphet Lolita? We’ll tolerantly accept this to prolong the fun! But immediately, VN’s time-lines for Quilty’s murder get badly out of synch with Moore’s Silkie ballad. HH’s fetching his child has already failed before his encounter with CQ. His failure in winning her back is acknowledged with a farewell gift of money and a ‘sweet American’ goodbye. As compensation, HH gets confirmation of CQ’s sordid role, and, vital to VN’s plot, learns of CQ’s whereabouts. HH sets off for revenge. More identity confusion: the woman’s new husband at the time of HH’s failed fetching is good old innocent Dick, well-named (slang for cock!) father of Lolita’s child-to-be, and blissfully ignorant of her past travails. Yet, in Moore’s tale, the woman’s new husband is ... surprise ... none other than the creature HH. Calling HH a hunter and good shot is hardly consistent with CQ’s comically botched murder, which reveals HH as possibly the worst shot in the whole of world literature! (Did hot-shot Vronky fake his failed suicide?) Finally, Clare Quilty, rather than trying to escape back to the sea with the child at the time of his murder, had long since abandoned Lolita for her disobedience.
Summary: we can’t always know for certain why/how authors pick the names of their characters. The best choices seem, in restrospect, to have an indefinable INEVITABILITY. Nabokov is remarkably successful. Deliberately borrowing from his polymathic dramatis personae is to be generally deplored.
Should we applaud or condemn the Virginia, USA rock group CLARE QUILTY?
Mixed feelings here. Homage or Exploitation?
Stan Kelly-Bootle, MA (Cantab), Dip NAAC, MAA, AMS, ASCAP
On 23/08/2012 16:04, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
Subject:
Lorrie Moore - Again
From:
Jay Livingston <livingstonj@mail.montclair.edu> <mailto:livingstonj@mail.montclair.edu>
Date:
Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:05:56 -0400
To:
Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Lorrie Moore’s story “Referential” was the subject of some discussion here back in May. This was not her first story with an unmistakable reference to Nabokov. I just came across a story of hers from 1998 – “What You Want Fine” in her collection Birds of America (originally “Lucky Ducks” in Harper’s in slightly different form). One of the two central characters is named Quilty.
The connection to Clare Quilty is obscure. Moore’s Quilty, is homosexual and blind. He goes on a road trip with Mack, a divorced father, who has become his lover. Aside from the road trip, I can find only one other hint of a connection to VN’s Quilty.
There is a song his Mack’s aunt used to sing to him when he was little. “I am a man upon the land. I am a silkie on the sea.” . . . . It was a creature who comes back to fetch his child – his child by a woman on the land. But the woman’s new husband is a hunter, a good shot, and kills him when he tries to escape back to the sea with the child. Perhaps that was best, in the end. Still the song was sad – stolen love, lost love, amphibious doom . . .
Does anyone have any guesses or knowledge as to why Moore chose this name for the character?