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Re: TT-2 mneoptical trick (fwd) shutters
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> 2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
> of the Ascot Hotel?
When I visited Switzerland, I was a little surprised to find how common the
houses made of gray stones framed by
brown wood with red or green shades or shutters were around Lausanne
and Montreux, supposedly a couple of settings of TT. That could
partially explain, as well as the apple-green apron on the valet, why Hugh
misremembers the color as apple-green instead of cherry-red.
Another "mnemoptical trick" is to be almost repeated regarding the
color of
the curtain to a fitting room in Ch. 5: ". . . she laughed at her stupidity,
swiftly led Hugh to the fitting room and, still laughing heartily, drew the
green, not brown, curtain open with what became in retrospect a dramatic
gesture." A brown curtain Hugh watched is to a booth, in which a blonde
in black was taking a picture. I think these mnemoptical tricks form part of
the themes "irrecoverable/elusive past"and "the problem of perception."
Hugh's fake memory is also considered a variation of Nabokovian confusion
between the
interior/exterior of a house and a character's clothes. An example is in the
first chapter of THE GIFT. Fyodor is going to slip his tongue making
compliments on the landlady's dress. The tulips Fyodor thinks he sees are
actually on the wallpaper's pattern, but he is too excited by the hoax news
to recognize it. As for the confusion between the complimentary colors,
Martha of KING, QUEEN, KNAVE asks for her "emerald slippers" in her dying
delirium, mixing her red slippers and emerald earrings.
Akiko Nakata
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
> 2. What do you make, if anything, of the "mnemoptical trick" re the color
> of the Ascot Hotel?
When I visited Switzerland, I was a little surprised to find how common the
houses made of gray stones framed by
brown wood with red or green shades or shutters were around Lausanne
and Montreux, supposedly a couple of settings of TT. That could
partially explain, as well as the apple-green apron on the valet, why Hugh
misremembers the color as apple-green instead of cherry-red.
Another "mnemoptical trick" is to be almost repeated regarding the
color of
the curtain to a fitting room in Ch. 5: ". . . she laughed at her stupidity,
swiftly led Hugh to the fitting room and, still laughing heartily, drew the
green, not brown, curtain open with what became in retrospect a dramatic
gesture." A brown curtain Hugh watched is to a booth, in which a blonde
in black was taking a picture. I think these mnemoptical tricks form part of
the themes "irrecoverable/elusive past"and "the problem of perception."
Hugh's fake memory is also considered a variation of Nabokovian confusion
between the
interior/exterior of a house and a character's clothes. An example is in the
first chapter of THE GIFT. Fyodor is going to slip his tongue making
compliments on the landlady's dress. The tulips Fyodor thinks he sees are
actually on the wallpaper's pattern, but he is too excited by the hoax news
to recognize it. As for the confusion between the complimentary colors,
Martha of KING, QUEEN, KNAVE asks for her "emerald slippers" in her dying
delirium, mixing her red slippers and emerald earrings.
Akiko Nakata
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L