Subject
RES:[NABOKV-L] Quiz: unreliable narrators and fictional
certainties
certainties
From
Date
Body
Matt Roth: I have always thought that the coincidence of 342s (Lawn St,
hotel room, hotel registries) in Lolita was HH's invention, so as to make
himself seem a pawn of McFate.
Jansy Mello: Matt's interpretation of one of my past postings proves that I
formulated it incorrectly ( I wrote about my project to "invite the VN-L
participants to offer suggestions about the "fictional facts" that can be
considered as unquestionable "fictional truths" in any VN's novel.").
In the instances cited by Matt we find that a "fictional fact" (a possibly
random house number in a random street) has been deftly (a bit too
emphatically) transformed into a "fictional truth" (the number in a hotel
room), and then, almost quietly, resuscitated as a definite total number of
hotel registrations that coincides with the former 342s (in this case it's
an uncertain fictional truth with the intention of, for example, "make
himself seem a pawn of McFate).
Things are even more complicated than I thought! Great suggestion, Matt.
Cf:
"In the slow clear hand of crime I wrote: Dr. Edgar H. Humbert and daughter,
342 Lawn Street, Ramsdale. A key (342!) was half-shown to me (magician
showing object he is about to palm) - and handed over to Uncle Tom[ ]
Parody of a hotel corridor. Parody of silence and death.
"Say, it's our house number," said cheerful Lo.
"I have a memo here: between July 5 and November 18, when I returned to
Beardsley for a few days, I registered, if not actually stayed, at 342
hotels, motels and tourist homes. This figure includes a few registrations
between Chestnut and Beardsley... and there must have been at least fifty
places where I merely inquired at the desk..."
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hotel room, hotel registries) in Lolita was HH's invention, so as to make
himself seem a pawn of McFate.
Jansy Mello: Matt's interpretation of one of my past postings proves that I
formulated it incorrectly ( I wrote about my project to "invite the VN-L
participants to offer suggestions about the "fictional facts" that can be
considered as unquestionable "fictional truths" in any VN's novel.").
In the instances cited by Matt we find that a "fictional fact" (a possibly
random house number in a random street) has been deftly (a bit too
emphatically) transformed into a "fictional truth" (the number in a hotel
room), and then, almost quietly, resuscitated as a definite total number of
hotel registrations that coincides with the former 342s (in this case it's
an uncertain fictional truth with the intention of, for example, "make
himself seem a pawn of McFate).
Things are even more complicated than I thought! Great suggestion, Matt.
Cf:
"In the slow clear hand of crime I wrote: Dr. Edgar H. Humbert and daughter,
342 Lawn Street, Ramsdale. A key (342!) was half-shown to me (magician
showing object he is about to palm) - and handed over to Uncle Tom[ ]
Parody of a hotel corridor. Parody of silence and death.
"Say, it's our house number," said cheerful Lo.
"I have a memo here: between July 5 and November 18, when I returned to
Beardsley for a few days, I registered, if not actually stayed, at 342
hotels, motels and tourist homes. This figure includes a few registrations
between Chestnut and Beardsley... and there must have been at least fifty
places where I merely inquired at the desk..."
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