I wanted to compare the dates of CCL’s writing and “Invitation to a Beheading”’s. As usual, wiki provides a wonderful shortcut: Invitation to a Beheading (Russian: Приглашение на казнь, Priglasheniye na kazn') is a novel by Russian Americanauthor Vladimir Nabokov. It was originally published in Russian in 1935-1936 as a serial in Contemporary Notes(Sovremennye zapiski), a highly respected Russian émigré magazine. In 1938 the work was published in Paris, with anEnglish translation following in 1959. The English version was translated by Nabokov's son, Dmitri Nabokov, under the author's supervision.

The novel is often described as "Kafkaesque," but Nabokov claimed that at the time he wrote the book, he was unfamiliar with German and "completely ignorant" of Kafka's work.Nabokov interrupted his work on The Gift in order to write Invitation, describing the creation of the first draft as "one fortnight of wonderful excitement and sustained inspiration." Some scholars have argued that the central plot of Invitation has its roots in Chernyshevski, a character from The Gift.

While Nabokov stated in an interview that of all his novels he held the greatest affection for Lolita, it was Invitation to a Beheading that he held in the greatest esteem.

What prompted me, in relation to CCL, were the sentences: "You are taking a pleasure trip with us. Tomorrow, according to the appointed itinerary—look at your ticket—we are all returning to Berlin. There can be no question of anyone—in this case you—refusing to continue this communal journey [   ] //  "I shall complain," wailed Vasiliy Ivanovich. "Give me back my bag. I have the right to remain where I want. Oh, but this is nothing less than an invitation to a beheading"—he told me he cried when they seized him by the arms."

At this point L.Hochard's precise rendering of the relation between the narrator and who I’d incorrectly taken to be “an employee” of his gains an added significance. He wrote: “Vasili Ivanovitch is a very efficient representative of the anonymous narrator.”  Narrator and character are often blended together, but also distinct as in “he told me he cried when…” However, further on, in the midst of an idyllic scenery that has been stopped in time, both are again united by a certain “you” who emerges as “my love! My obedient one!”:

“…after another hour of marching, that very happiness of which he had once half dreamt was suddenly discovered.// It was a pure, blue lake, with an unusual expression of its water. In the middle, a large cloud was reflected in its entirety. On the other side, on a hill thickly covered with verdure (and the darker the verdure, the more poetic it is), towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle. Of course, there are plenty of such views in Central Europe, but just this one—in the inexpressible and unique harmoniousness of its three principal parts, in its smile, in some mysterious innocence it had, my love! my obedient one!—was something so unique, and so familiar, and so long-promised, and it so understood the beholder that Vasiliy Ivanovich even pressed his hand to his heart, as if to see whether his heart was there in order to give it away.”

A few paragraphs before the narrator had narrated:  “Vasiliy Ivanovich, as the least burdened, was given an enormous round loaf of bread to carry under his arm. How I hate you, our daily! But still his precious, experienced eyes noted what was necessary.” Stating that he hated their “daily”, he acknowledges that Vasiliy’s “precious, experienced eyes noted…” It is as if, in truth, narrator and character were one in one level (a single person) whereas, when isolated, it was Vasilyi’s function to operate as the narrator’s perceptual apparatus, sustaining his splendid dreams with his always compliant body (or personality). The two, in another level, as partial representatives of the Author who, in the end, intervenes more effectively and lets Vasiliy “go.” Nevertheless, I haven’t yet found the correct focus

to “see” the crystallized landscape’s smile, the shape and extension of that magic central cloud, or to situate the “voice.” The more I read and travel from paragraph to paragraph the less I know what the novel means, the meaning of every sentence gets blurred and clears up like another cloudy and windy skype, with the exception of its pervasive Arcadian dream.

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De: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] Em nome de laurence hochard

Enviada em: sábado, 28 de junho de 2014 17:00

Para: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

Assunto: [NABOKV-L] CCL: Title, Kafkaian undertones and efficiency

To me, the title, because of its rythm and the similarity of rythm with King, Queen, Knave suggests a hand of cards, the miraculous hand of cards Vasili is waiting for. The next short story in the anthology is Signs and Symbols  which features a hand of 3 (ominous) cards.

(And why not "Lake, Castle, Cloud"?) asks SES. I wonder if the order of the words is the same in Russian?

When reading the first paragraph, one can't help but think of Kafka's The Trial (which was published in Berlin 12 years before CCL). Like Josef K, Vasili Ivanovitch is caught in a bureaucratic maze; however,  the resemblance is superficial; the bureacracy is far less systematic and implacable than in The Trial. We are told that selling the ticket would would involve cutting through all sorts of red tape but nowhere are we told that he has to go. He could simply forego the trip,  So, why did he go?

We learn in the very first sentence that Vasili Ivanovitch is a very efficient representative of the anonymous narrator but the last paragraph reveals that the position he wants to resign is not an ordinary one, he wants to resign his position as a member of mankind.; But we may wonder what his "efficiency" consists in ...

Laurence Hochard

All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.