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Re: THOUGHTS: Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat; Eberthella Hurley
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Jansy:
1. Re-VN¹s ³wod²: those of us exposed to Chaucer from early boyhood
(including especially the naughty bits, which our school was wise enough not
to expurgate) are familiar with ³wood² meaning ³mad, enraged.² This
re-spelling of Anglo-Saxon ³wod² is what you would expect from all those
mysterious vowel-shifts (³Good God!²). I share your doubts re-PM¹s
flamboyant extrapolations, except it¹s fun to indulge! For example, ³wood²
is used in the porn industry, as I accidentally learned while idly flipping
TV channels, in relation to erections and the ³getting-it-up² problems faced
by exhausted actors. Whether that extension of the meaning of ³wood=stiff²
was known to VN or not may be worth investigation. But it does remind me of
Chaucer¹s outspoken, cynical, anti-cleric Shipman in the Canterbury Tales:
³God us sende / Taillynge ynogh unto our lyves ende.² (May God grant us
plenty of ³taillynge² while yet we live) A wonderful pun, lost unless you
know that ³taillynge² meant both ³accounting/reckoning/tallying² and
³shagging² (which survives in idioms such as ³chasing tail;² compare also
³tally² with ³dalliance² and ³dilly-dally²) The ambiguity (bed- and
ledger-sheets), of course, is built into the Shipman¹s Tale of the Monk
borrowing from the Merchant in order to buy the Merchant¹s wife¹s favors.
³That for thise hundred frankes he sholde al nyght / Have hire in his armes
bolt upright.²
2. Re-your ref. to Kinbote¹s comment on razors and his possible sexual
inuendo against Shade. Rather puzzling, unless deliberately anachronistic,
is CK¹s use of ³ordinary razor² in contrast to an ³ancient Gillette.² The
usual contrast, at the time of PF¹s setting, would between the ³ancient²
single-blade, Sweeny-Tod CUT-THROAT razor of Tennyson¹s era, that by, say,
the 1940s or earlier (in 1914 Gillettes were adopted en masse by the US
military so much for any sissy implications), was almost universally
replaced in the home by the relatively modern, and definitely ordinary
³safety² double-bladed razor introduced by ³King² Gillette in 1904. In turn,
electric razors have gained a big slice of the market since the 1950s. The
cut-throat survives today as the professional barbers¹ preferred implement,
with only a tiny minority risking ritualistic self-decapitation at home.
Looking at the hairy-chinned Tennyson, razors are the last thing that spring
to mind! And from his dates (1809-1892), the Gillette would not have been an
option (nor, realistically, would have been earlier unsuccessful French
safety razors). In the unlikely event of LORD Alfred shaving himself (or
rather light shaping & trimming), the straight, cut-throat would indeed be
ordinary. The clean-chinned, hairy-upper-lipped Housman (1859-1936) is a
bird of different plumage. He¹s more likely (socio-economically) than
Tennyson to have self-barbered. YET, if CK¹s right about AEH¹s use of the
ordinary ³macho² cut-throat, he¹s hardly right about that being any
indication of Housman¹s sexual preferences. As the sniggering bio jokes go:
Moses Jackson, see UNDER A E Housman. A W Pollock, see also UNDER A E
Housman. But no sign of consummation. The evidence is (i) AEH the unrequited
homosexual (ii) Tennyon 99% hetero with one near-thing-non-carnal
³platonic?² episode with the AHH (Arthur Hallam) dedicatee of ³In Memoriam.²
Questions unanswered: Does Kinbote¹s ³ordinary² SINGLE-BLADED razor really
have any sexual undertones? Possibilities are Bold, Brave Macho (straight);
Single partner (straight); Single partner (homosexual). None of these
points to Tennyson or Housman. But IF CK thinks there¹s a connection, which
one can he contrast with Shade¹s DOUBLE-BLADED Gillette? What, if any, are
the sexual indications of the Gillette? E.g., Weak, sissy (homosexual)? Or,
as we continue to stretch things, Bi-blade -> BI-sexual?
Does Shade¹s antique Gillette have any hidden clues? Sign of a rather
fuddy-duddy character hanging on to an old, cheap razor with a mistaken
sense of thrift. WE ALL KNOW IT¹S THE BLADES THAT MADE GILLETTE¹S FORTUNE!
In fact, try buying BLADES for an antique Gillette. My working-class father
used a trick to sharpen the blades by rubbing them on the inside of a wet
glass. Before buying his Gillette, he, like most of his mates would VISIT
THE LOCAL BARBER for shaves & haircuts. I¹m trying to place this whole
shaving business in socio-historic context. Be patient.
Physical facts: the single-blade cut-throat is IDEAL for shaving OTHERS, but
damned difficult for SELF-shaving. The safety-razor REVERSES this. Try
shaving someone else with a Gillette.
Final point: is the razor comment just CK¹s anti-American sarcasm? The
traditional, manly EUROPEAN single-blade versus the molly-coddling NEW WORLD
safety-razor.
SKB
On 15/02/2009 04:35, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> //snip
>
> In relation to "left-handed" and homosexuality, there are other allusions
> which shall probably remain undecided. For example, we know that Kinbote rated
> Housman highly. Therefore when, in Pale Fire, we read:"since both Alfreds [
> Housman and Tennyson] certainly used an Ordinary Razor, and John Shade an
> ancient Gillette, the discrepancy may have been due to the use of different
> instruments," Kinbote's stress on "Gilette" ( a double-edged razor-blade) may
> be indicatitve of his familiarity with its sexual innuendoes: ie: was Kinbote
> thereby suggesting that Shade was a bisexual?
> btw: I tried to figure out P.Meyer's additional comments on Kinbote's "wod"
> and VN's use of the word (PM writes that Eadbald, son of Aethelbert, caused
> "much damage to the church by his faithlessness and fornication with his
> father's wife"), because the motive for this chastisement is unrelated to
> Kinbote's own sexual inclinations and to John Shade's history: is there a link
> I missed?
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1. Re-VN¹s ³wod²: those of us exposed to Chaucer from early boyhood
(including especially the naughty bits, which our school was wise enough not
to expurgate) are familiar with ³wood² meaning ³mad, enraged.² This
re-spelling of Anglo-Saxon ³wod² is what you would expect from all those
mysterious vowel-shifts (³Good God!²). I share your doubts re-PM¹s
flamboyant extrapolations, except it¹s fun to indulge! For example, ³wood²
is used in the porn industry, as I accidentally learned while idly flipping
TV channels, in relation to erections and the ³getting-it-up² problems faced
by exhausted actors. Whether that extension of the meaning of ³wood=stiff²
was known to VN or not may be worth investigation. But it does remind me of
Chaucer¹s outspoken, cynical, anti-cleric Shipman in the Canterbury Tales:
³God us sende / Taillynge ynogh unto our lyves ende.² (May God grant us
plenty of ³taillynge² while yet we live) A wonderful pun, lost unless you
know that ³taillynge² meant both ³accounting/reckoning/tallying² and
³shagging² (which survives in idioms such as ³chasing tail;² compare also
³tally² with ³dalliance² and ³dilly-dally²) The ambiguity (bed- and
ledger-sheets), of course, is built into the Shipman¹s Tale of the Monk
borrowing from the Merchant in order to buy the Merchant¹s wife¹s favors.
³That for thise hundred frankes he sholde al nyght / Have hire in his armes
bolt upright.²
2. Re-your ref. to Kinbote¹s comment on razors and his possible sexual
inuendo against Shade. Rather puzzling, unless deliberately anachronistic,
is CK¹s use of ³ordinary razor² in contrast to an ³ancient Gillette.² The
usual contrast, at the time of PF¹s setting, would between the ³ancient²
single-blade, Sweeny-Tod CUT-THROAT razor of Tennyson¹s era, that by, say,
the 1940s or earlier (in 1914 Gillettes were adopted en masse by the US
military so much for any sissy implications), was almost universally
replaced in the home by the relatively modern, and definitely ordinary
³safety² double-bladed razor introduced by ³King² Gillette in 1904. In turn,
electric razors have gained a big slice of the market since the 1950s. The
cut-throat survives today as the professional barbers¹ preferred implement,
with only a tiny minority risking ritualistic self-decapitation at home.
Looking at the hairy-chinned Tennyson, razors are the last thing that spring
to mind! And from his dates (1809-1892), the Gillette would not have been an
option (nor, realistically, would have been earlier unsuccessful French
safety razors). In the unlikely event of LORD Alfred shaving himself (or
rather light shaping & trimming), the straight, cut-throat would indeed be
ordinary. The clean-chinned, hairy-upper-lipped Housman (1859-1936) is a
bird of different plumage. He¹s more likely (socio-economically) than
Tennyson to have self-barbered. YET, if CK¹s right about AEH¹s use of the
ordinary ³macho² cut-throat, he¹s hardly right about that being any
indication of Housman¹s sexual preferences. As the sniggering bio jokes go:
Moses Jackson, see UNDER A E Housman. A W Pollock, see also UNDER A E
Housman. But no sign of consummation. The evidence is (i) AEH the unrequited
homosexual (ii) Tennyon 99% hetero with one near-thing-non-carnal
³platonic?² episode with the AHH (Arthur Hallam) dedicatee of ³In Memoriam.²
Questions unanswered: Does Kinbote¹s ³ordinary² SINGLE-BLADED razor really
have any sexual undertones? Possibilities are Bold, Brave Macho (straight);
Single partner (straight); Single partner (homosexual). None of these
points to Tennyson or Housman. But IF CK thinks there¹s a connection, which
one can he contrast with Shade¹s DOUBLE-BLADED Gillette? What, if any, are
the sexual indications of the Gillette? E.g., Weak, sissy (homosexual)? Or,
as we continue to stretch things, Bi-blade -> BI-sexual?
Does Shade¹s antique Gillette have any hidden clues? Sign of a rather
fuddy-duddy character hanging on to an old, cheap razor with a mistaken
sense of thrift. WE ALL KNOW IT¹S THE BLADES THAT MADE GILLETTE¹S FORTUNE!
In fact, try buying BLADES for an antique Gillette. My working-class father
used a trick to sharpen the blades by rubbing them on the inside of a wet
glass. Before buying his Gillette, he, like most of his mates would VISIT
THE LOCAL BARBER for shaves & haircuts. I¹m trying to place this whole
shaving business in socio-historic context. Be patient.
Physical facts: the single-blade cut-throat is IDEAL for shaving OTHERS, but
damned difficult for SELF-shaving. The safety-razor REVERSES this. Try
shaving someone else with a Gillette.
Final point: is the razor comment just CK¹s anti-American sarcasm? The
traditional, manly EUROPEAN single-blade versus the molly-coddling NEW WORLD
safety-razor.
SKB
On 15/02/2009 04:35, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> //snip
>
> In relation to "left-handed" and homosexuality, there are other allusions
> which shall probably remain undecided. For example, we know that Kinbote rated
> Housman highly. Therefore when, in Pale Fire, we read:"since both Alfreds [
> Housman and Tennyson] certainly used an Ordinary Razor, and John Shade an
> ancient Gillette, the discrepancy may have been due to the use of different
> instruments," Kinbote's stress on "Gilette" ( a double-edged razor-blade) may
> be indicatitve of his familiarity with its sexual innuendoes: ie: was Kinbote
> thereby suggesting that Shade was a bisexual?
> btw: I tried to figure out P.Meyer's additional comments on Kinbote's "wod"
> and VN's use of the word (PM writes that Eadbald, son of Aethelbert, caused
> "much damage to the church by his faithlessness and fornication with his
> father's wife"), because the motive for this chastisement is unrelated to
> Kinbote's own sexual inclinations and to John Shade's history: is there a link
> I missed?
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/