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Re: QUERY: Aunts and orphans, THANKS
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Matt: is it really surprising that in many (most?) cultures the duty of
caring for orphans should fall on the nearest available kin of the deceased
parent(s)? (Consider the strange, extreme exogamous variant, now rare, of
Levirate marriage where a brother-in-law must marry the childless widow! The
children of this new union are to be counted as those of the dead
husband!!). Before the ³Nanny State,² the Aunt would be the most likely
candidate.
Novelists developing their dramatis personae make many choices as to age,
gender, ancestry, hair- and eye-colour, occupation, height, sexual
preferences, ... , some of which are interdependent and relevant to the
mooted plot. Others less so. Others possibly arbitrary and spurious* except
for reader-scholars with time on their hands ;=) * F¹rinstance, some authors
feel we must know their characters¹ collar, shoe & inner-leg measurements,
including price and vendor.
The choice of childhood- and parental-background for key characters is
usually plot-relevant, of course, but the basic choices are quite limited!
Having decided on ³orphanity² for John Shade, Nabokov¹s choice of an Aunt as
³designated mum² is quite natural. The frequency of this fictional-choice
simply reflects its non-fictional popularity! We might ask if and how Pale
Fire would be a different masterpiece had VN given Shade (i) long-lived
parents (ii) the other favourite device of a wicked step-parent!
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 07/11/2008 18:26, "Matthew Roth" <MRoth@MESSIAH.EDU> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the responses below. I had thought of Jane Eyre and Tom
> Sawyer, but I hadn't thought about David Copperfield, Vashtar, the Wiz of Oz,
> or Pollyanna. I can now add that Tolstoy himself was an orphan and was raised
> by his Aunt Alexandra. Also, the title character in Mary Shelley's novella
> Mathilda is raised by her severe aunt after her mother dies and her father
> abandons her. It might be interesting to think about why exactly VN chose to
> make JS an orphan, and whether or not this fits with the way orphans have
> traditionally functioned in literary narratives.
>
> Many thanks,
> Matt
>
>
>>>> >>> On 11/6/2008 at 8:26 PM, in message
>>>> <491352F702000012002EA7D7@dudley.holycross.edu>, NABOKV-L
>>>> <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> Tom Sawyer was raised by his dead mother's sister, Aunt Polly.
>
> Gavriel Shapiro [and Michael Donohue]
>
>
> Sredni Vashtar, of course.
>
> Carolyn Kunin
>
>
> Just barely [September 1900] "Aunty Em, Aunty Em!"
>
> Sandy Drescher
>
>
> Jane Eyre was raised by her heartless Aunt Reed. David Copperfield is adopted
> by his kind, eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood and even renamed "Trot" (an apt
> word for Pale Fire) in her honor. Also Pollyanna (1913) -- but Jane, David,
> and Tom are probably the best examples.
>
> Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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caring for orphans should fall on the nearest available kin of the deceased
parent(s)? (Consider the strange, extreme exogamous variant, now rare, of
Levirate marriage where a brother-in-law must marry the childless widow! The
children of this new union are to be counted as those of the dead
husband!!). Before the ³Nanny State,² the Aunt would be the most likely
candidate.
Novelists developing their dramatis personae make many choices as to age,
gender, ancestry, hair- and eye-colour, occupation, height, sexual
preferences, ... , some of which are interdependent and relevant to the
mooted plot. Others less so. Others possibly arbitrary and spurious* except
for reader-scholars with time on their hands ;=) * F¹rinstance, some authors
feel we must know their characters¹ collar, shoe & inner-leg measurements,
including price and vendor.
The choice of childhood- and parental-background for key characters is
usually plot-relevant, of course, but the basic choices are quite limited!
Having decided on ³orphanity² for John Shade, Nabokov¹s choice of an Aunt as
³designated mum² is quite natural. The frequency of this fictional-choice
simply reflects its non-fictional popularity! We might ask if and how Pale
Fire would be a different masterpiece had VN given Shade (i) long-lived
parents (ii) the other favourite device of a wicked step-parent!
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 07/11/2008 18:26, "Matthew Roth" <MRoth@MESSIAH.EDU> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the responses below. I had thought of Jane Eyre and Tom
> Sawyer, but I hadn't thought about David Copperfield, Vashtar, the Wiz of Oz,
> or Pollyanna. I can now add that Tolstoy himself was an orphan and was raised
> by his Aunt Alexandra. Also, the title character in Mary Shelley's novella
> Mathilda is raised by her severe aunt after her mother dies and her father
> abandons her. It might be interesting to think about why exactly VN chose to
> make JS an orphan, and whether or not this fits with the way orphans have
> traditionally functioned in literary narratives.
>
> Many thanks,
> Matt
>
>
>>>> >>> On 11/6/2008 at 8:26 PM, in message
>>>> <491352F702000012002EA7D7@dudley.holycross.edu>, NABOKV-L
>>>> <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> Tom Sawyer was raised by his dead mother's sister, Aunt Polly.
>
> Gavriel Shapiro [and Michael Donohue]
>
>
> Sredni Vashtar, of course.
>
> Carolyn Kunin
>
>
> Just barely [September 1900] "Aunty Em, Aunty Em!"
>
> Sandy Drescher
>
>
> Jane Eyre was raised by her heartless Aunt Reed. David Copperfield is adopted
> by his kind, eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood and even renamed "Trot" (an apt
> word for Pale Fire) in her honor. Also Pollyanna (1913) -- but Jane, David,
> and Tom are probably the best examples.
>
> Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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/