Subject
Rosso/Russet/Lucette... Lolita
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Date
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A.Sklyarenko brought fascinating associations related to Ada, Pushkin, Byron
and more. It was nice to be reminded that Byron is the author of The
Prisoner of Chillon (1816). On Antiterra 'She Yawns Castle' is also known as
Château de Byron (3.8). ( Château de Byron indicating Chillon/Byron, not
only Chateaubriand)
He adds: It was, incidentally, the same kindly but touchy Avidov (mentioned
in many racy memoirs of the time) who once catapulted with an uppercut an
unfortunate English tourist into the porter's lodge for his jokingly
remarking how clever it was to drop the first letter of one's name in order
to use it as a particule, at the Gritz, in Venezia Rossa. (1.36)/ [ ]
Venezia Rossa brings to mind "a crag on the Ross, overgrown with wild moss"
in a song that Van, Ada and Lucette hear in 'Ursus' (2.8), and that "crag on
the Ross" seems to be linked to odna skala, grobnitsa slavy (one cliff...
the tomb of glory) in Pushkin's "To the Sea."
Jansy Mello: Following ASs lead with the creative move from Rossa to Ross,
we find that, after leaving the Ursus we reach (an almost anagrammatic)
russet land (Theres a crag on the Ross, overgrown with wild moss) when
Van and his two girls essay a cartographic ménage: The top sheet and quilt
are tumbled at the footboardless south of the island where the newly landed
eye starts [ ] A dewdrop on russet moss eventually finds a stylistic
response in the aquamarine tear on her flaming cheekbone[ ] out of the dim
east to the bright russet west
However, after picturing the red-ochre reference in Venezia Rossa I also
started to imagine youthful Humberts experiences in a princedom by the
sea with his first love rising from the foam like a Boticelli Venus,
recovered in Lolita.* This made me go back to the other doomed little
russet girl, Lucette. The tragic connection between the two tear-pink girls
and the stark contrast between rising Venus and Lucettes sinking in the sea
became rather strong in my mind.
.
*- - she had one of those tender complexions that after a good cry get all
blurred and inflamed, and morbidly alluring [ ] I simply love that tinge of
Botticellian pink, that raw rose about the lips, those wet, matted
eyelashes;
- her russet beauty and the quicksilver in the baby folds of her stomach;
- for there is nothing more conservative than a child [ ] be she the most
auburn and russet, the most mythopoeic nymphet in October's orchard-haze;
- Dolores, so rosy and russet, lips freshly painted, hair brilliantly
brushed;
- although actually her looks had faded, I definitely realized, so
hopelessly late in the day, how much she looked had always looked like
Botticelli's russet Venus the same soft nose, the same blurred beauty.
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and more. It was nice to be reminded that Byron is the author of The
Prisoner of Chillon (1816). On Antiterra 'She Yawns Castle' is also known as
Château de Byron (3.8). ( Château de Byron indicating Chillon/Byron, not
only Chateaubriand)
He adds: It was, incidentally, the same kindly but touchy Avidov (mentioned
in many racy memoirs of the time) who once catapulted with an uppercut an
unfortunate English tourist into the porter's lodge for his jokingly
remarking how clever it was to drop the first letter of one's name in order
to use it as a particule, at the Gritz, in Venezia Rossa. (1.36)/ [ ]
Venezia Rossa brings to mind "a crag on the Ross, overgrown with wild moss"
in a song that Van, Ada and Lucette hear in 'Ursus' (2.8), and that "crag on
the Ross" seems to be linked to odna skala, grobnitsa slavy (one cliff...
the tomb of glory) in Pushkin's "To the Sea."
Jansy Mello: Following ASs lead with the creative move from Rossa to Ross,
we find that, after leaving the Ursus we reach (an almost anagrammatic)
russet land (Theres a crag on the Ross, overgrown with wild moss) when
Van and his two girls essay a cartographic ménage: The top sheet and quilt
are tumbled at the footboardless south of the island where the newly landed
eye starts [ ] A dewdrop on russet moss eventually finds a stylistic
response in the aquamarine tear on her flaming cheekbone[ ] out of the dim
east to the bright russet west
However, after picturing the red-ochre reference in Venezia Rossa I also
started to imagine youthful Humberts experiences in a princedom by the
sea with his first love rising from the foam like a Boticelli Venus,
recovered in Lolita.* This made me go back to the other doomed little
russet girl, Lucette. The tragic connection between the two tear-pink girls
and the stark contrast between rising Venus and Lucettes sinking in the sea
became rather strong in my mind.
.
*- - she had one of those tender complexions that after a good cry get all
blurred and inflamed, and morbidly alluring [ ] I simply love that tinge of
Botticellian pink, that raw rose about the lips, those wet, matted
eyelashes;
- her russet beauty and the quicksilver in the baby folds of her stomach;
- for there is nothing more conservative than a child [ ] be she the most
auburn and russet, the most mythopoeic nymphet in October's orchard-haze;
- Dolores, so rosy and russet, lips freshly painted, hair brilliantly
brushed;
- although actually her looks had faded, I definitely realized, so
hopelessly late in the day, how much she looked had always looked like
Botticelli's russet Venus the same soft nose, the same blurred beauty.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L