Subject
TT-2
From
Date
Body
Comments re TT-1 are still in order but we move on to TT-2. Although any
relevant observations are more than welcome, I mention
a few things worthy of comment. There are many more. These are NOT "test"
questions. I ask because I am far from certain of the full answers.
---------------------------------------------
1. NB the flurry of parenthetical remarks. Take a close look at them. As
for the weird initial parenthesis (whatever else is going on), "Parson"
(clergyman) does come from Person, but it seems unlikely that Peterson
enters into the matter.
2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
of the Ascot Hotel?
3. NB the shoebox from the yawning boot.--a wordplay possible only by
continuing the Britishism of the opening "Hullo." Also note that ironic
"Fit" on the shoebox.
4.Can someone tell us what the mistranslated "Lying Lawn"(with its
"fraudulent perspective") is in the orignal German (where the wordplay
probably doesn't work)?
5. H apparently mis-remembers his old room number when he guesses
the "middle three-hundreds." It was 313. Significance??
6. Note the sneaky introduction of Armande via her substitute the
receptionist. Also the sneaky mechanism via which we get the description of
H's facial features. Barbara Wyllie in her NABOKOV IN FILM comments at
length on the role of glass and reflecting surfaces in the novel (Ch. 7) as
part of her analysis of VN's use of cinema-like techniques in TT.
7. Do you see anything (beyond rich humor) in the law about the destruction
of the old hotel registers after the suicide of a former director?
8. The chapter ends with its hilarious survey of the hotel room and
the real introduction of the "water theme" forecast by the novice
"descendingnupright among the staring fish,"
i.e. sinking into the past.
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
relevant observations are more than welcome, I mention
a few things worthy of comment. There are many more. These are NOT "test"
questions. I ask because I am far from certain of the full answers.
---------------------------------------------
1. NB the flurry of parenthetical remarks. Take a close look at them. As
for the weird initial parenthesis (whatever else is going on), "Parson"
(clergyman) does come from Person, but it seems unlikely that Peterson
enters into the matter.
2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
of the Ascot Hotel?
3. NB the shoebox from the yawning boot.--a wordplay possible only by
continuing the Britishism of the opening "Hullo." Also note that ironic
"Fit" on the shoebox.
4.Can someone tell us what the mistranslated "Lying Lawn"(with its
"fraudulent perspective") is in the orignal German (where the wordplay
probably doesn't work)?
5. H apparently mis-remembers his old room number when he guesses
the "middle three-hundreds." It was 313. Significance??
6. Note the sneaky introduction of Armande via her substitute the
receptionist. Also the sneaky mechanism via which we get the description of
H's facial features. Barbara Wyllie in her NABOKOV IN FILM comments at
length on the role of glass and reflecting surfaces in the novel (Ch. 7) as
part of her analysis of VN's use of cinema-like techniques in TT.
7. Do you see anything (beyond rich humor) in the law about the destruction
of the old hotel registers after the suicide of a former director?
8. The chapter ends with its hilarious survey of the hotel room and
the real introduction of the "water theme" forecast by the novice
"descendingnupright among the staring fish,"
i.e. sinking into the past.
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L