Subject
La fève de Diane and ...Apollo (who is the hidden baby?)
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Jansy Mello: Dwelling over “La fève de Diane” from Ada”s: “An especially
succulent morsel of one of those brown little fowls yielded a globule of
birdshot between Demon's red tongue and strong canine: 'La fève de Diane,'
he remarked, placing it carefully on the edge of his plate.” (1.38), I
discovered a lot about a bean or figurine placed inside a pastry (galette)
during the festivities of Epiphany - and the tradition of crowning the
person who found it as the “king of the night” and having a small child that
lay hidden under the table dictating which of the guests would receive each
special piece of the pastry.
Demon got his leaden clump while eating a small fowl and Diana is the
goddess related to hunting so “la fève de Diane”, Apollo’s twin sister,
might have resulted from a Nabokovian invention. Kings, traditions, a hidden
little child like an unexpected pregnancy, with the substitution of its
Christian meaning by its original mythological allusion? (besides, “
tradionally the bean is considered a symbol of ‘fertility’.* ). And there’s
more to find! In the wiki in English there is a reference to a figurine
“bean” in the shape of a little child, actually baby Jesus: The cake often
has a small plastic baby (said to represent Baby Jesus
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Jesus> ) inside, or underneath; and the
person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges
and obligations.: "History of King Cakes"
<http://www.neworleansshowcase.com/hisofkincak.html> . New Orleans
Showcase.;Eliza Barclay: Is That a Plastic Baby Jesus in My Cake,
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/17/147039138/is-that-a-plastic-bab
y-jesus-in-my-cake> National Public Radio
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Radio> from
2012-2-17(englisch) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake. From the
French wiki site I learned that the hidden child is named after Apollo, in
France - hence, perhaps, VN’s choice of the name “Diana”, Apollo’s sister,
and his use of the French for the clump inside his mouthful to describe
“Diana’s bean”?**
Here’s what Brian Boyd informs (I only got to his annotations after
searching for “fève” and then “galette” in the wiki in French):
256.34 <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/ada138.htm> : La fève de Diane: Fr.,
“Diana’s bean”: after Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting. Diana as the
goddess of hunting plays a motif in association with the Enchanted Hunters
in Lolita: see BB, Stalking Nabokov, ch. 23. The Kyoto Reading Circle notes
the allusion also to la fève du roi, “a broad bean (fève) hidden in la
galette des rois (‘the cake of the kings’), a cake celebrating the Epiphany
[6 January]. Tradition holds that the cake is ‘to draw the kings’ to the
Epiphany. The person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes the king
for the day and will have to offer the next cake. In 1870 the beans were
replaced by various figurines of porcelain. These days many of them are made
of plastic. Various fèves can be seen at: http://fevemania.exblog.jp/i18/2/”
............................................................................
............................................................................
..........................
*La fève, symbole de fécondité : "La fève fait partie des symboles du
solstice d'hiver. C'est le premier légume qui pousse au printemps. Surtout,
ce légume, comme l'oeuf, contient un embryon. En 'vieillissant', il donne la
vie. La fève est très importante, notamment chez les Grecs -elles
contenaient l'âme des morts selon les pytahgoriciens- et les Romains. Ces
derniers jetaient des fèves dans le dos les 9, 11 et 13 mai pour chasser les
ombres des morts."
http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/saveurs/histoire-de-la-galette-des-rois-et-de-
la-feve_1637819.html
**“Pour assurer une distribution aléatoire des parts de galette, il était de
coutume que le plus jeune se place sous la table et nomme le bénéficiaire de
la part qui était désignée par la personne chargée du service3
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> .Tacite
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacite> écrit que, dans les fêtes consacrées
à Saturne, il était d’usage de tirer au sort la royauté4
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> . Étienne Pasquier
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Pasquier_(po%C3%A8te)> a décrit
dans sesRecherches de la France5
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> les cérémonies qui
s’observaient en cette occasion : « Le gâteau, coupé en autant de parts
qu’il y a de conviés, on met un petit enfant sous la table, lequel le maitre
interroge sous le nom de Phébé <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollon>
(Phœbus ou Apollon), comme si ce fût un qui, en l’innocence de son âge,
représentât un oracle d’Apollon. À cet interrogatoire, l’enfant répond d’un
mot latin domine (seigneur, maître). Sur cela, le maître l’adjure de dire à
qui il distribuera la portion du gâteau qu’il tient en sa main, l’enfant le
nomme ainsi qu’il lui tombe en la pensée, sans acception de la dignité des
personnes, jusqu’à ce que la part soit donnée où est la fève ; celui qui l’a
est réputé roi de la compagnie encore qu’il soit moindre en autorité. Et, ce
fait, chacun se déborde à boire, manger et danser6
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> . » The origin from the
Saturnalia and the slave who became “king for a day” is also mentioned
there. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois
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
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succulent morsel of one of those brown little fowls yielded a globule of
birdshot between Demon's red tongue and strong canine: 'La fève de Diane,'
he remarked, placing it carefully on the edge of his plate.” (1.38), I
discovered a lot about a bean or figurine placed inside a pastry (galette)
during the festivities of Epiphany - and the tradition of crowning the
person who found it as the “king of the night” and having a small child that
lay hidden under the table dictating which of the guests would receive each
special piece of the pastry.
Demon got his leaden clump while eating a small fowl and Diana is the
goddess related to hunting so “la fève de Diane”, Apollo’s twin sister,
might have resulted from a Nabokovian invention. Kings, traditions, a hidden
little child like an unexpected pregnancy, with the substitution of its
Christian meaning by its original mythological allusion? (besides, “
tradionally the bean is considered a symbol of ‘fertility’.* ). And there’s
more to find! In the wiki in English there is a reference to a figurine
“bean” in the shape of a little child, actually baby Jesus: The cake often
has a small plastic baby (said to represent Baby Jesus
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Jesus> ) inside, or underneath; and the
person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges
and obligations.: "History of King Cakes"
<http://www.neworleansshowcase.com/hisofkincak.html> . New Orleans
Showcase.;Eliza Barclay: Is That a Plastic Baby Jesus in My Cake,
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/17/147039138/is-that-a-plastic-bab
y-jesus-in-my-cake> National Public Radio
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Radio> from
2012-2-17(englisch) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake. From the
French wiki site I learned that the hidden child is named after Apollo, in
France - hence, perhaps, VN’s choice of the name “Diana”, Apollo’s sister,
and his use of the French for the clump inside his mouthful to describe
“Diana’s bean”?**
Here’s what Brian Boyd informs (I only got to his annotations after
searching for “fève” and then “galette” in the wiki in French):
256.34 <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/ada138.htm> : La fève de Diane: Fr.,
“Diana’s bean”: after Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting. Diana as the
goddess of hunting plays a motif in association with the Enchanted Hunters
in Lolita: see BB, Stalking Nabokov, ch. 23. The Kyoto Reading Circle notes
the allusion also to la fève du roi, “a broad bean (fève) hidden in la
galette des rois (‘the cake of the kings’), a cake celebrating the Epiphany
[6 January]. Tradition holds that the cake is ‘to draw the kings’ to the
Epiphany. The person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes the king
for the day and will have to offer the next cake. In 1870 the beans were
replaced by various figurines of porcelain. These days many of them are made
of plastic. Various fèves can be seen at: http://fevemania.exblog.jp/i18/2/”
............................................................................
............................................................................
..........................
*La fève, symbole de fécondité : "La fève fait partie des symboles du
solstice d'hiver. C'est le premier légume qui pousse au printemps. Surtout,
ce légume, comme l'oeuf, contient un embryon. En 'vieillissant', il donne la
vie. La fève est très importante, notamment chez les Grecs -elles
contenaient l'âme des morts selon les pytahgoriciens- et les Romains. Ces
derniers jetaient des fèves dans le dos les 9, 11 et 13 mai pour chasser les
ombres des morts."
http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/saveurs/histoire-de-la-galette-des-rois-et-de-
la-feve_1637819.html
**“Pour assurer une distribution aléatoire des parts de galette, il était de
coutume que le plus jeune se place sous la table et nomme le bénéficiaire de
la part qui était désignée par la personne chargée du service3
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> .Tacite
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacite> écrit que, dans les fêtes consacrées
à Saturne, il était d’usage de tirer au sort la royauté4
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> . Étienne Pasquier
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Pasquier_(po%C3%A8te)> a décrit
dans sesRecherches de la France5
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> les cérémonies qui
s’observaient en cette occasion : « Le gâteau, coupé en autant de parts
qu’il y a de conviés, on met un petit enfant sous la table, lequel le maitre
interroge sous le nom de Phébé <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollon>
(Phœbus ou Apollon), comme si ce fût un qui, en l’innocence de son âge,
représentât un oracle d’Apollon. À cet interrogatoire, l’enfant répond d’un
mot latin domine (seigneur, maître). Sur cela, le maître l’adjure de dire à
qui il distribuera la portion du gâteau qu’il tient en sa main, l’enfant le
nomme ainsi qu’il lui tombe en la pensée, sans acception de la dignité des
personnes, jusqu’à ce que la part soit donnée où est la fève ; celui qui l’a
est réputé roi de la compagnie encore qu’il soit moindre en autorité. Et, ce
fait, chacun se déborde à boire, manger et danser6
<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois> . » The origin from the
Saturnalia and the slave who became “king for a day” is also mentioned
there. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette_des_Rois
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