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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Boris Vian and Nabokovian wordplay
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Frances: I also mentioned Goldsmith, because I thought his play *She Stooped
to Conquer* is mentioned in *Lolita.*
(Lines 90-91 of 'The Deserted Village' are very appriopate for HH:
Amidst the swains to show my book-learnd'd skill,
Around my fire an evening group to draw...)
2010/3/14 frances assa <franassa@hotmail.com>
> Excerpt from "The Deserted Village" of Oliver Goldsmith, apropos Lolita:
>
>
> 407 And thou, sweet poetry thou loveliest maid,
> 408 Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;
> 409 Unfit in these degenerate times of shame
> 410 To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
> 411 Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
> 412 My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
> 413 Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
> 414 That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
> 415 Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel,
> 416 Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
> 417 Farewell, and oh! where'er thy voice be tried,
> 418 On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side,
> 419 Whether where equinoctial fervours glow,
> 420 Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
> 421 Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
> 422 Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime;
> 423 Aid slighted truth, with thy persuasive strain
> 424 Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
> 425 Teach him that states of native strength possest,
> 426 Though very poor, may still be very blest;
> 427 That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
> 428 As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away;
> 429 While self-dependent power can time defy,
> 430 As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:34:52 +0100
> From: hafidbouazza@GMAIL.COM
>
> Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] [NABOKOV-L] Boris Vian and Nabokovian wordplay
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>
> Still searching for 'a limp spectre' in Nabokov's works, I stumbled upon
> a... green door! In fact, green *doors*. They are the doors of Elphinstone
> hospital (the poet Oliver Goldsmith was born near Elphin, Ireland) :
> *
> *
> *- and Aurora had hardly 'warmed her hands,' * *as the pickers of lavender
> say in the country of my birth, when I found myself trying to get into that
> dungeon again, knocking upon its green doors, breakfastless, stool-less,
> in despair.*
> *
> *
> (*Lolita, II:22)*
> *
> *
> Best,
> *
> *
> Hafid Bouazza* *
>
> 2010/3/13 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
>
> *S.K-Bootle *[to JM]:* it remains a question of fact whether VN ever read
> anything by Vian. Given VN’s unbounded curiosity, and Vian’s relative
> prominence, the chances are indeed high...But Alexey seemed to suggest that
> the anagrams of v-i-a-n might be relevant, or may even have played a role in
> VN’s choice of reading. Not sure if you accept my rejection of this dubious
> approach? ...I would hope such evidence would be stronger than in the recent
> exchanges on Martin Amis, where the latter’s use of “limp” was rated
> significant*.
>
> *JM*: I cannot say that I either endorse or reject your rejection of
> Alexey's approach because, however hard I try, I cannot understand AS's
> theory or his anagramatic links. I learn a lot, indirectly, by his
> information on Russian lit. and several other indications.
>
> Whenever possible I risk posting an item which might serve him as a clue
> (now,for example, I tried to open the field on Boris Vian, so as to avoid
> closing the issue after your remarks). There were two examples comparing
> sentences by M.Amis and V.Nabokov that were excellent matches. I don't know
> why one should discard the "limp specter" intuition that could provide us
> with a third example. A forum is a forum is a forum.
>
> Take an aphorism I recently collected from "Strong Opinions" (Vintage,155)
> "the best part of a writer's biography is not the record of his adventures
> but the story of his style." I encountered, by accident, a similar
> sentence (but not "similar"enough), by Valéry, quoted by Edmund Wilson
> ("Axel's Castle", ch.3 on Paul Valéry).
> Valéry, like Mallarmé before him, valued literature for its "algebraic"
> qualities and complexity of pattern. He wrote "Who is able to read me will
> find my autobiography through form. Content is of little importance."*
> E.Wilson's chapter on James Joyce (part V) describes how Joyce's characters
> "thought and felt exclusively in terms of words" (cp.with VN's observation
> that Joyce gave too much verbal body to his thoughts). Wilson explains
> that Joyce's faulty vision interfered progressively with his apprehension of
> the world and that this fact was one of the elements that led him to express
> what would have simply remained as a private "sight", describing it in
> detail in order to recover his "vision" for the particular item. Wilson
> offers an interesting example from Portrait of the Artist beginning with "-
> Um dia pintalgado de nuvens marinheiras..."
>
> .............................................
> * I don't have the original in French nor Wilson's rendering in English. I
> use "O Castelo de Axel" as my source...
> The examples of sentences where Amis referred to Nabokov were not
> far-fetched at all, but excellent finds.
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com/> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
>
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com/> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
> ------------------------------
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> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
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Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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to Conquer* is mentioned in *Lolita.*
(Lines 90-91 of 'The Deserted Village' are very appriopate for HH:
Amidst the swains to show my book-learnd'd skill,
Around my fire an evening group to draw...)
2010/3/14 frances assa <franassa@hotmail.com>
> Excerpt from "The Deserted Village" of Oliver Goldsmith, apropos Lolita:
>
>
> 407 And thou, sweet poetry thou loveliest maid,
> 408 Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;
> 409 Unfit in these degenerate times of shame
> 410 To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
> 411 Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
> 412 My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
> 413 Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
> 414 That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
> 415 Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel,
> 416 Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
> 417 Farewell, and oh! where'er thy voice be tried,
> 418 On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side,
> 419 Whether where equinoctial fervours glow,
> 420 Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
> 421 Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
> 422 Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime;
> 423 Aid slighted truth, with thy persuasive strain
> 424 Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
> 425 Teach him that states of native strength possest,
> 426 Though very poor, may still be very blest;
> 427 That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
> 428 As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away;
> 429 While self-dependent power can time defy,
> 430 As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:34:52 +0100
> From: hafidbouazza@GMAIL.COM
>
> Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] [NABOKOV-L] Boris Vian and Nabokovian wordplay
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>
> Still searching for 'a limp spectre' in Nabokov's works, I stumbled upon
> a... green door! In fact, green *doors*. They are the doors of Elphinstone
> hospital (the poet Oliver Goldsmith was born near Elphin, Ireland) :
> *
> *
> *- and Aurora had hardly 'warmed her hands,' * *as the pickers of lavender
> say in the country of my birth, when I found myself trying to get into that
> dungeon again, knocking upon its green doors, breakfastless, stool-less,
> in despair.*
> *
> *
> (*Lolita, II:22)*
> *
> *
> Best,
> *
> *
> Hafid Bouazza* *
>
> 2010/3/13 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
>
> *S.K-Bootle *[to JM]:* it remains a question of fact whether VN ever read
> anything by Vian. Given VN’s unbounded curiosity, and Vian’s relative
> prominence, the chances are indeed high...But Alexey seemed to suggest that
> the anagrams of v-i-a-n might be relevant, or may even have played a role in
> VN’s choice of reading. Not sure if you accept my rejection of this dubious
> approach? ...I would hope such evidence would be stronger than in the recent
> exchanges on Martin Amis, where the latter’s use of “limp” was rated
> significant*.
>
> *JM*: I cannot say that I either endorse or reject your rejection of
> Alexey's approach because, however hard I try, I cannot understand AS's
> theory or his anagramatic links. I learn a lot, indirectly, by his
> information on Russian lit. and several other indications.
>
> Whenever possible I risk posting an item which might serve him as a clue
> (now,for example, I tried to open the field on Boris Vian, so as to avoid
> closing the issue after your remarks). There were two examples comparing
> sentences by M.Amis and V.Nabokov that were excellent matches. I don't know
> why one should discard the "limp specter" intuition that could provide us
> with a third example. A forum is a forum is a forum.
>
> Take an aphorism I recently collected from "Strong Opinions" (Vintage,155)
> "the best part of a writer's biography is not the record of his adventures
> but the story of his style." I encountered, by accident, a similar
> sentence (but not "similar"enough), by Valéry, quoted by Edmund Wilson
> ("Axel's Castle", ch.3 on Paul Valéry).
> Valéry, like Mallarmé before him, valued literature for its "algebraic"
> qualities and complexity of pattern. He wrote "Who is able to read me will
> find my autobiography through form. Content is of little importance."*
> E.Wilson's chapter on James Joyce (part V) describes how Joyce's characters
> "thought and felt exclusively in terms of words" (cp.with VN's observation
> that Joyce gave too much verbal body to his thoughts). Wilson explains
> that Joyce's faulty vision interfered progressively with his apprehension of
> the world and that this fact was one of the elements that led him to express
> what would have simply remained as a private "sight", describing it in
> detail in order to recover his "vision" for the particular item. Wilson
> offers an interesting example from Portrait of the Artist beginning with "-
> Um dia pintalgado de nuvens marinheiras..."
>
> .............................................
> * I don't have the original in French nor Wilson's rendering in English. I
> use "O Castelo de Axel" as my source...
> The examples of sentences where Amis referred to Nabokov were not
> far-fetched at all, but excellent finds.
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com/> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
>
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com/> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
> ------------------------------
> Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your
> inbox. Learn More.<http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID27925::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:032010_1>
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
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
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/