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Re: [NABOKOV-L] Boris Vian and Nabokovian wordplay
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Jansy: I didn't mean 'a limp spectre' in the literal sense, but in a
metaphorical one. Like in Amis' 'a limp spectre of embarrassment and
remorse...'
I have to give up and apologize... I seem to have confused things.
There is this sentence in *Lolita*: *I had next great fun with all kind of
shorts and briefs - phantom little Lolitas dancing, falling, daisying all
over the counter. *(I:25)
And, of course, in the last paragraph: *...because otherwise my specter
shall come at him, like black smoke *&etc... (This one in the literary
sense.)
With *Despair's: ...and my will lay limp in an empty world...*
*
*
It's Amis' line and it just (just?!) reminded me of Nabokov's many uses of
the words 'limp' 'spectre/specter'.
Close reading has lead me into blind memory.
Best,
Hafid Bouazza
*
*
2010/3/14 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
> *Hafid Bouazza*: *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)
>
> *JM*: This interesting example from "Lolita" offers, for the first time,
> the idea of "knocking upon a green door." In "ADA" there are phantom fists
> knocking against a green door (Ada, I ch.24: "Van was already unlocking
> the door — the green door against which they were to bang so often with
> boneless fists in their later separate dreams." ) The additional
> "knocking" is an important element and it had escaped my attention until
> now, inspite of Bob Dylan's "knockin' on heaven's door" and all the real
> green ones)
>
> My books are, unfortunately, heavily underlined with what I want to find
> again because this makes it almost impossible for me to find what is new or
> unprecedent. I created for myself a "prejudiced trap." Hafid, did you try to
> explore "The Eye"? That's a good place for posthumous apparitions.
> 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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metaphorical one. Like in Amis' 'a limp spectre of embarrassment and
remorse...'
I have to give up and apologize... I seem to have confused things.
There is this sentence in *Lolita*: *I had next great fun with all kind of
shorts and briefs - phantom little Lolitas dancing, falling, daisying all
over the counter. *(I:25)
And, of course, in the last paragraph: *...because otherwise my specter
shall come at him, like black smoke *&etc... (This one in the literary
sense.)
With *Despair's: ...and my will lay limp in an empty world...*
*
*
It's Amis' line and it just (just?!) reminded me of Nabokov's many uses of
the words 'limp' 'spectre/specter'.
Close reading has lead me into blind memory.
Best,
Hafid Bouazza
*
*
2010/3/14 Jansy <jansy@aetern.us>
> *Hafid Bouazza*: *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)
>
> *JM*: This interesting example from "Lolita" offers, for the first time,
> the idea of "knocking upon a green door." In "ADA" there are phantom fists
> knocking against a green door (Ada, I ch.24: "Van was already unlocking
> the door — the green door against which they were to bang so often with
> boneless fists in their later separate dreams." ) The additional
> "knocking" is an important element and it had escaped my attention until
> now, inspite of Bob Dylan's "knockin' on heaven's door" and all the real
> green ones)
>
> My books are, unfortunately, heavily underlined with what I want to find
> again because this makes it almost impossible for me to find what is new or
> unprecedent. I created for myself a "prejudiced trap." Hafid, did you try to
> explore "The Eye"? That's a good place for posthumous apparitions.
> 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/