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pynchon-l-digest V2 #3614 (fwd) PALE FIRE
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Date: Monday, October 20, 2003 8:59 AM -0500
From: pynchon-l-digest <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: pynchon-l-digest@waste.org
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3614
pynchon-l-digest Monday, October 20 2003 Volume 02 : Number 3614
NPPF: Commentary 2(summary and notes) Lines 403-404
NPPF: Commentary 1 (summary and notes) Lines 376-377, 384, 385-386,
NPPF: Commentary 3 (summary) Line 408
NPPF: Commentary 3 (notes) Line 408
NPPF: Commentary 4(summary and notes) Lines 413, 417-421, 426, 431
NPPF: Commentary 5 (summary) Lines 433-434
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:59:53 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 2(summary and notes) Lines 403-404
Lines 403-404, "it's eight fifteen (and here time forked)"
The synchronicity is becoming more highlighted
and Kinbote proceeds to summarize 70 lines of the
poem noting that he italicized the Hazel theme.
Hazel is on her blind date and heading for
disaster while the Shades are at home, working,
watching tv, tense with a sense of foreshadowing
(adumbrated ... see below).
This time the synchronicity is between Hazel and
Shade. In most parts of the book it's Shade and
Gradus whose actions are parallel.
Imo, Kinbote has totally undercut the release of
grief as Shade's poetic intent (assuming a real
Shade wrote a real poem about a real daughter's
real death) and substituted a hyper-critical
commentary. Kinbote's comments amount to praising
the pattern after devaluing the structure, saying
it had been done better by Flaubert and Joyce.
* adumbrated: Merriam-Webster Online <http://www.m-w.com>
Kinbote writes, "Hazel's (already adumbrated)
actions... ." the term "adumbrated" is used
several times throughout the text.
> One entry found for adumbrate.
> Main Entry: ad路um路brate
> Pronunciation: 'a-d&m-"brAt, a-'d&m-
> Function: transitive verb
> Inflected Form(s): -brat路ed; -brat路ing
> Etymology: Latin adumbratus, past participle
> of adumbrare, from ad- + umbra shadow -- more at
> UMBRAGE
> Date: 1581
> 1 : to foreshadow vaguely : INTIMATE
> 2 a : to give a sketchy representation or
> outline of b : to suggest or disclose partially
> 3 : OVERSHADOW, OBSCURE
> - ad路um路bra路tion /"a-(")d&m-'brA-sh&n/ noun
> - ad路um路bra路tive /a-'d&m-br&-tiv/ adjective
> - ad路um路bra路tive路ly adverb
and *Umbrage: (which I don't remember seeing in the text)
> One entry found for umbrage.
> Main Entry: um路brage
> Pronunciation: '&m-brij
> Function: noun
> Etymology: Middle English, from Middle
> French, from Latin umbraticum, neuter of
> umbraticus of shade, from umbratus, past
> participle of umbrare to shade, from umbra
> shade, shadow; akin to Lithuanian unksme shadow
> Date: 15th century
> 1 : SHADE, SHADOW
> 2 : shady branches : FOLIAGE
> 3 a : an indistinct indication : vague
> suggestion : HINT b : a reason for doubt :
> SUSPICION
> 4 : a feeling of pique or resentment at some
> often fancied slight or insult <took umbrage at
> the speaker's remarks>
> synonym see OFFENSE
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:59:45 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 1 (summary and notes) Lines 376-377, 384, 385-386,
Hi all,
The following is what I came up with. I am
nowhere near the league of the esteemed members
on this list, in fact Brian Boyd's _The Magic of
Artistic Discovery will only arrive this week. I
just hope that I not make a complete fool of
myself. I enjoyed taking a go at it and hope you
can make something out of my novice notes.
There are 7 medium sized posts.
****************
Lines 376-377, "was said in English Litt to be"
Shade's poem uses the spelling, "Lit." Kinbote
probably used the not uncommon additional "t"
probably out of carelessness. It's a common
enough abbreviation.
Kinbote is more taken with the draft version,
"the Head of our Department deemed" because it
focuses attention on Paul H., Jr. (Hurley?) who
apparently became "interested" in Kinbote's
migraine headaches and later discounted Kinbote's
ability to edit Shade's poem, going so far as to
say that Kinbote has a "deranged mind" and
suggest legal action. Also, Hurley was invested
in writing the Shade biography before Kinbote
butted in. Line 71 commentary mentions this, too.
Kinbote thinks that his own commentary will
change Paul H's mind about Kinbote's sanity and
his ability to edit the work.
An enigmatic line ends the little section,
"Southey liked a roasted rat for supper - which
is especially comic in view of the rats that
devoured his Bishop." This is apparently a double
slam; he's referring to Paul H. eating crow and
that he has been outmatched in the metaphoric
chess game Kinbote thematically conjures up to
keep the poem.
Along those lines a question; is this the Bishop
that the chess sophisticate "go(es) on a wild
goose chase" to obtain while the na卯ve
serendipitously sees and acquires? (I can't find
where I found that. Probably Brian Boyd's "Shade
and Shape."
<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/boydpf1.htm>)
But instead of eating crow, Kinbote has Paul H.
eating a rat. Is this for "ratting" on him?
****************
Line 384, "book on Pope"
As has been noted, John Shade is a specialist in
18th century literature with Alexander Pope being
a specialty. Shade's scholarly work, "Supremely
Blest," is included in the fictional works at:
<http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/libauthor4.htm>
The title of Shade's book comes from Pope's
"Essay on Man," 22nd line of the 2nd Epistle,
Section VI. Again, and, like "Pale Fire: the
Poem," "Essay on Man" has 4 Epistles of varying
lengths, includes explanatory prefaces and is
written in heroic couplets. (The annotation
connection with Pope has been previously noted as
has Kinbote's familiarity with English
literature.)
****************
Lines 385-386 "Jane Dean, Pete Dean"
These are the fictitious names for Shade's typist
and her cousin. Kinbote had contact with Jane on
his escape trip to Cedarn and learned a certain
amount. So he names and locates them as Jane
Provost (a nice, high sounding name) of Chicago
and Peter Provost of Detroit.
I think that it's interesting that Kinbote
advises us here and elsewhere about his sources.
If he is not Charles II, he never tells us how he
comes to know so much about the details of his
life.
Kinbote says Jane and Peter are innocent,
presumably in the death of Hazel. Jane set Hazel
up with Peter for the blind date. Peter
essentially dumped Hazel saying that he had a
very urgent appointment with a frat pal. The
evening ended with Hazel's death. In this
commentary Kinbote sympathizes with Peter using
overtly homosexual language and overtones.
Jane has tried to communicate with the Shades,
particularly Sybil, about the tragedy, but to no
avail. Kinbote reveals his amazingly clumsy and
inept manner of dealing in human relationships by
trying out his new English slang, "You are
telling me!" In saying that, he's revealing that
Sybil is not to be assuaged in her grief and that
he is sympathetic to neither Sybil or Jane. He's
also implying to Jane that he has a closer
relationship with Sybil (and therefore John) than
actually exists.
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:05 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 3 (summary) Line 408
(** means there's a related note(s) on the following page.)
Line 408:
In which the Kinbote tells us that Shade is starting his 33rd index
card while Gradus is traveling by car from Geneva to Lex ** to see
Charles' friend Odon who is staying at the villa of Joseph S.
Lavender, another friend of Charles. He wants to pick up some clues
as to the King's whereabouts.
Gradus has done some research and knows that his host collects
obrioles, ** photographs of landscaped lampshades. He thinks that he
can pass for a collector's agent but Odon will know the difference
because Gradus acts like a commoner and will likely reveal himself.
In a small town he picks up a small crystal giraffe to ask the price. .**
He stops the car on a steep, windy road and walks, wearing a new
brown, wrinkled suit and fanning himself with his "trilby." He gets
to a place where "...he was shown by the three index fingers of three
masons the red roofs of Lavender's (unfinished) villa." The Villa's
name is Libitina. **
Gradus proceeds to the house from which he hears piano music. He is
escorted into the villa by a man in green and finds the piano empty
but reverberating with only a pair of sandals to indicate a pianist.
There is also a "jet-glittering" lady who introduces herself as the
tutor of Mr. Lavender's nephew, Gordon, whom she calls from the
other room. She knows nothing about Lavender's collections or hobbies.
Gordon, .** a lad of 14 or 15, appears wearing a leopard spotted
loin cloth. As they walk in light and shadows to the gardens and pool
Gordon is wearing ivy. They walk on, Gordon makes his pronouncement
about spending the night with a friend on a nearby stained mattress.
Then suddenly Gordon is wearing black swim trunks. .**
In the Delaware derivative outhouse there are references to "the
King" and Gordon lies. Kinbote interjects that this lying was good
and comes close to admitting that he, Kinbote, was Gordon's " big
friend." Charles. But not quite. Meanwhile, Gordon goofs and
mentions the Cote D'Azur, tipping Gradus off as to the King's
whereabouts.
They reach the pool and while Gradus is a bit too heavy for the
stools, Gordon is described as being a young woodwose. ** Gordon
gets naked and Gradus spits and walks off. Gordon is definitely the
more attractive of the two. Nabokov is playing up the youthful and
sensual, as natural and good.
Lavender telephones and asks if Gradus is a spy for a French
newspaper. (This is the same thing that Bretwit accused him of
being.) Gradus hangs up and leaves the villa.
The commentary to this line ends with a train running between the
gardens, a black butterfly with red diagonal stripe heraldic
butterfly crossing the stone parapet .** and John Shade taking a
fresh card
"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:15 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 3 (notes) Line 408
Gradus? Who is Gradus?
GR "add us?" meaning story additions after the fact of Shade's death?
Kinbote has ostensibly met with Jack Gray in prison (and had a friendly
chat with him I'm sure!).
"Grade us?" The cry of Botkin looking at the student papers still awaiting
attention?
Who knows? I'll skip it and let Kinbote's version that Gradus is the tool
of the revolutionaries, out to kill Charles hold.
** Lex? Lex means "law" but it is also the name of Lex Luthor who happened
to have a little pet Butterfly of Doom (181)
<http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0307&msg=83922&keywords=Butter
fly%20of%20Doom>). Lex Luthor was introduced to the fans of Superman in
1940 so if VN was familiar with pop culture it might have seemed a good
name. (g)
Could this add "synchronicity" be a dimension to the duality inherent in
the structure of a butterfly? (Did someone say that already and I missed
it?) Could the structure of the book itself be like a butterfly, two
complete and separate circles connected at the middle? Maybe even some
small circles on top of the big ones (forward and index).
** 脰d枚n is an Hungarian name which means "keeper of the fief" or "wealthy
protector." But with his father being an O'Donnell the name may be
obvious. So he is Odon O'Donnell, a "fox-browed, burly Irishman, with a
pink head," stage and motion picture actor engaged in revolutionary Zemblan
politics. Except that he changed his name somewhere along the line,
probably for professional reasons, to Don Odon. Odonata are dragonflies or
damselflies. But we are getting awfully close to Don Ho too who was popular
at the time.
** Meanwhile Lavender "(the name hails from the laundry, not the laund)."
Roman's used lavender oils for bathing, cooking, and scenting the air, and
they most likely gave it the Latin root name (either lavare-to wash or
livendula- livid or bluish) from which we derive the modern name.B
From: <http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?PAGE=834>
> Laund
> Laund (l&add;nd), n. [See Lawn of grass.] A plain sprinkled with trees or
> underbrush; a glade. [Obs.]
>
> In a laund upon an hill of flowers. Chaucer.
>
> Through this laund anon the deer will come. Shak.
>
> Launder
> Laun"der (?), n. [Contracted fr. OE. lavender, F. lavandi\'8are, LL.
> lavandena, from L. lavare to wash. See Lave.]
>
> 1. A washerwoman. [Obs.]
** Ombrioles:
A French word for lampshade with landscape? I can't find a thing with that
name but my best guess is that it's similar to a Tiffany lampshade with a
landscape on it. see: <http://www.sendlamps.com/tiffanylamps.asp> or go to
the Google Images and put "Tiffany Lamps" for a bunch of image links.
(there are no nudes, although Tiffany may have created some with nudes.)
Lampshades are interesting things. They shade and filter the light to
change the effect, soften it. No one wants a bare bulb.
** Crystal giraffe: Crystal glass plays games with light due to refraction
or deflection from a straight path. It's not just flat window glass but
many faceted glass.
** "...three index fingers of three masons... red roofs:" Common
European terraced housing with sloping red-tiled roofs for snow. The red
roof is a status symbol in Israel. There is something stirring in me about
the Knights Templars and their red roofs and masonry and those three
helpers, Yan, Yon and Angeling, (index: Shadows) but... Probably just
three very steep, red-tiled parapets and it reminds Gradus of three masons.
??? (some from the Nabokov list:
<http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0108&L=nabokv-l&D=0&P=3844>)
** Libitina.
** the Roman goddess of the Underworld who watched over funerals and the
custodian of corpses. Whenever someone died a coin had to be brought to her
temple which contained all the mortuary records and death registers..
Undertakers where called Libitinarii. Sometimes known as "little Libi," she
apparently derived her name from the semitic root "L'B" which meant "fat"
or "whitish" in color. The name relates to Lilith's association with the
PALE LIGHT OF THE MOON. Also related to Lilith and Libra.
http://members.tripod.com/~PetraGrail/lilith2.html
** Trilby (a hat for our man, Gradus)
http://www.mikethehatter.com/christy.htm
** the jet-glittering Mademoiselle Belle / Mademoiselle Baud
I suppose that this woman in extreme and shiny black would rather be called
Belle than Baud, as the latter sounds a bit like ""bod" (short for body) or
"bawd."
Gordon,
** the English or Scottish name means "From The Cornered Hill" or
"Triangular Hill" (or similar) see any "baby names" site, ie:
<http://www.babynameworld.com/g-boy.asp>
We have another dichotomy going between Gradus, ("a cross between a crab
and a bat" line 171, pg 151) the seedy, sweaty, overdressed, dull,
unlucky, would-be murderer and Gordon, the graceful, gifted, naked, nature
boy.
"Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice," said Samuel Johnson.
But Gordon seems to play his vices as well as the piano (or are they vices
to Kinbote?) and Gordon's attitude, "You have not seen anything, yet" is
disconcerting. To what is this boy referring? The gardens? His body? The
outhouse? (Is this a male Lolita? Is this entrapment? who is this sweet
young thing?)
** Cote D'Azur: (put that one in the "Google images" search and peek at
delightful)
** woodwose: "a sort of cousin of the Green Man, is the legendary
European 'wild man of the woods'. Oddly, given his wildness, he is
associated with nobility of spirit and also the aristocracy - he his
frequently found on coats of arms. There are quite often female woodwoses
and couples! The woodwose usually carries a stick or bough as a weapon, as
does this fellow on a misericord in Faversham's parish church - the only
woodwose I know of depicted in Kent."
<http://www.canterburygreenman.fsnet.co.uk/GreenManKent.htm>
** black butterfly: Vanessa of Doom again, "A dark Vanessa" -- Nabokov's
beloved Red Admirable butterfly. See Jasper's comments at:
<http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0307&msg=83922&keywords=Vaness
a>
And photos at:
<http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/224.htm>
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:23 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 4(summary and notes) Lines 413, 417-421, 426, 431
Line 413 "a nymph came pirouetting"
vs draft, "a nymphette pirouetted"
I liked Shade's version better myself. It's more interesting. But
considering his preference for the very young and small, Kinbote would
probably prefer the draft.
****************
Line 417-421 "I went upstairs, etc."
The draft explains what's "actually happening" more clearly than the
"final" verses. Because Kinbote had said previously that he italicized
Hazel's lines in the Canto's passages, the italicization of the line, "'See
the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,'" had me boggled. Was that
happening to Hazel? Was she playing the fool?
But in the commentary to those lines I see where Shade has quoted Pope's
"Essay on Man" and is probably doing the italicizing himself. But there
are many other italicized words and lines; are they Shade's or Kinbotes?
(I'd say Shade's because Kinbote tells us if he does it.)
** See "Essay on Man" by Alexander Pope EPISTLE II:
Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to Himself as an Individual
Section VI, lines 19-20 <http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/pope-e2.html>
Kinbote doesn't get it, naturally. He figures Shade removed the draft lines
because of possible offense to a "real king." And Kinbote critiques Pope on
his rhyming and Shade for being flabby and wonders if Shade really has
guessed his "secret".
Btw, "Supremely Bless'd" (the name of Shade's book) is from 2 lines down in
"Essay on Man." The whole sentence from Pope reads:
"'See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The sot a hero, lunatic a king,
The starving chymist in his golden views
Supremely bless'd, the poet in his Muse."
****************
Line 426 "Just behind (one oozy footstep) Frost"
I think that we have to put ourselves back into 1961 or so. Robert Frost
died in 1963. This means that Shade was comparing himself, albeit "behind,"
to a living author, not a deceased American Hero. Robert Frost was named
Inaugural Poet for President John F. Kennedy, 1961 Poet Laureate of Vermont
both in 1961. He'd been awarded several Pulitzers, as had numerous other
poets of the day.
And there are distinct comparisons. They were both naturalists. They
started from where they were and spread outward to the universal. We only
have the poems of Pale Fire Shade for a comparison. We have hundreds by
Frost and some are better than others. We don't have any poems by Frost on
the suicide of his daughter.
So it is possible, albeit with a small stretch, to accept Shade's work at
the time as being "one oozy footstep" behind Frost. And Nabokov's
snowflakes don't quite settle like Frost's either.
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
There is an Atlantic Monthly article by Mark Van Doren (another important
poet of the times) from June, 1951 at
<http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/poetry/frost/vand.htm>,
And I found this very early naturalist poem by Frost, written in 1912:
Design
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On the white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth-
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches broth-
A snow-drop spider, a flower like froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to apall?-
If design govern in a thing so small.
****************
Line 431 "March night...headlights from afar approached"
"...the television theme merges with the girl's theme." Well, indeed it
does if the Shades are, just moments before she died, watching a travelogue
of the area where the girl was conceived. At least Kinbote is paying
attention to someone else's grief although he's focused on technique rather
than the tension and shadow.
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:32 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 5 (summary) Lines 433-434
(** means there's a related note(s) on the following page.)
Lines 433-434 "To the...sea Which we had visited in thirty-three"
The Shades had spent some time in Nice in '33, 9 months prior to
Hazel's birth (line 435). Kinbote doesn't have access to material on
this and blames Sybil. Nice is near Cap Turc where the Villa
Paradiso/a (renamed for Disa) is located.953, and where Disa has
lived for the past 5 years. **
Disa devotedly tries to help Charles get out of Zembla where he is
confined to the palace. First her letter to him is intercepted,
translated and read to Charles by his captors. Its double translation
is irregular and bawdy, embarrassing Charles. **
Charles again tells Disa that he is confined so she naturally
attempts to get to him but is advised by the Karlists, via Curdy
Buff, a loathsome cousin, to reconsider. She furiously awaits him in
her Villa. **
Weeks pass and Disa, hearing rumors of assassination, again tries to
free her man. She travels to the north country but this time finds
out from Odon that Charles has escaped and is on his way. He also
tells her to return home, which she does. Alone there, she is
bemoaning her fate in a letter to Lavender (a family friend, I guess)
when Charles appears and "advances through garlands of shade." Disa
would know him anywhere.
Then Kinbote gets into a long memory of Charles' previous trips to
see Disa and passing on the Zemblan saying, "A beautiful woman should
be like a compass rose ivory with four parts of ebony." **
Kinbote compares Disa at age 25 to Shade's Sybil (from lines 261-267)
at age 60. Through poetry, love and memory Sybil is idealized and
therefore beautiful. Disa's loveliness is due to the simple fact that
that's the way she is (or so sayeth Kimbote). And in Kinbote's
opinion, if the reader can't appreciate "the strangeness of that" he
should not read. **
Kinbote then relates some details about Charles' married life to
Disa, who was somewhat unstable, tending to "blazes and blasts."
Charles tried to reason with her to no avail and eventually used her
antics as an excuse to get away from her for awhile. **
Early in their marriage, Kinbote tried a variety of methods to make
love to Disa with disappointing and humiliating results. He told her
he had never made love before, (with a sideways note to the reader
about the voracity of that claim). No luck. Finally he realized that
the problem was that her body, particularly the frontal parts, put
him off. **
He tries some tiger tea and is hopeful. ** He requests some unusual
sexual practice which Disa finds unnatural and disgusting. And at
last he tells her that he had an old riding accident and that a
cruise and sea bathing with his pals could possibly be rehabilitate
him.
Disa is very naive and without mentors so she turns to books where
she discovers the "manly Zemblan customs." She hides her distress
behind sarcasm which Charles compliments and tries to forego his
inclinations. **
But "everywhere along the road powerful temptation stood at
attention." Charles caved once, then more frequently, finally going
on a bender which included Curdy Buff and the boys. Disa finds out,
Charles promises, fails, promises fails. Disa finally moved to the
Riviera leaving Charles to his Etonesque boys.
Kinbote reflects on the emotional content of the relationship between
Disa and Charles; friendly indifference, bleak respect, pity,
heartache, casual, heartless.
And then, "in the heart of his dreaming self" Charles changes.
In recurring, emotion-laden dreams Disa wore different clothes in
different settings, but she always reflected the same shock when he
"fatally starred the mirror" by telling her that he didn't love her.
After that, the image of her always reminded him of his confession,
"as with some disease or the secret aftereffects of surgical
operation too intimate to be mentioned." (A male operation I assume,
for a venereal disease? the aftereffects of a vasectomy? a belated
circumcision?)
The plot of the dreams remained the same; he was trying to refute his
confession. In his dreams Disa was young and innocent and Charles
loved her deeply, passionately and purely. He was always trying to
make it up to her. And if there were carnal overtones, they were
coming from those with whom he had betrayed her, Phrynia or
Timandra. Disa was perhaps being accosted by a distant (as in
physically far away) relative. She finds a tell-tale object, a boot?
in his bed. **
And although knowing Charles' feelings and in mortal Payn, Disa
manages to be polite; to smile at the workmen; to engage in the daily
banalities like breakfast for two in the sea cave. ** Knowing that
"her soul was in disarray, aware that an odious, undeserved
humiliating disaster had befallen her," was what hurt Charles the
most. Disa's "little frown" always returned, and Charles could not
forget that.
In the dream they walked along the lakeside lawn, then down an alley
and was she looking at him? Maybe with a faint smile, but when he
looked she was gone and everybody was happy and he had to find her to
tell her he adored her. But the audience said she was not available,
she was inaugurating a fire, married to an American businessman, a
character in a novel, dead. **
So ends the massive memory and dream-time.
Now Charles sits with Disa, undisturbed by the past, and tells of his
escape. She enjoys the tale except for the part about Garh; Disa
seems to think he should have taken her in a bit of "hough-magandy" **
And then Disa doesn't want to talk about sex anymore so he talks of
politics but she has no interest. They conduct some business, Disa
apparently telephones for Fleur D'fyler through the trellis line. **
Fleur comes and recognizes the King by his voice. She curtseys and
wants to talk to the King but doesn't dare with the servants near.
Disa and Charles are alone, sign papers and discuss the future. She
lets him know that she is leaving and he can have the house to
himself and sleep up to 40. He says he's going to America to teach
young people (a hobby). She says she might visit New York. He changes
the subject to her hair. She wants a kiss and melts in his arms. They
part, he looks back and sees her, almost loves her for reals, and
realizes that it's Fleur de Fyler.
Kinbote tells this whole story to Shade who wonders how he can share
all that intimate stuff at all, much less while people may still be
alive. Charles says not to worry, Shade's words will make everything
"come alive."
In a great line, Shade says, "Oh sure," said Shade, "One can harness
words like performing fleas and make them drive other fleas."
Charles ignores Shade's protests and tries to lure him with the
promise that when the truth is revealed, the Truth will be revealed.
Bekah
------------------------------
End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3614
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D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
Date: Monday, October 20, 2003 8:59 AM -0500
From: pynchon-l-digest <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: pynchon-l-digest@waste.org
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3614
pynchon-l-digest Monday, October 20 2003 Volume 02 : Number 3614
NPPF: Commentary 2(summary and notes) Lines 403-404
NPPF: Commentary 1 (summary and notes) Lines 376-377, 384, 385-386,
NPPF: Commentary 3 (summary) Line 408
NPPF: Commentary 3 (notes) Line 408
NPPF: Commentary 4(summary and notes) Lines 413, 417-421, 426, 431
NPPF: Commentary 5 (summary) Lines 433-434
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:59:53 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 2(summary and notes) Lines 403-404
Lines 403-404, "it's eight fifteen (and here time forked)"
The synchronicity is becoming more highlighted
and Kinbote proceeds to summarize 70 lines of the
poem noting that he italicized the Hazel theme.
Hazel is on her blind date and heading for
disaster while the Shades are at home, working,
watching tv, tense with a sense of foreshadowing
(adumbrated ... see below).
This time the synchronicity is between Hazel and
Shade. In most parts of the book it's Shade and
Gradus whose actions are parallel.
Imo, Kinbote has totally undercut the release of
grief as Shade's poetic intent (assuming a real
Shade wrote a real poem about a real daughter's
real death) and substituted a hyper-critical
commentary. Kinbote's comments amount to praising
the pattern after devaluing the structure, saying
it had been done better by Flaubert and Joyce.
* adumbrated: Merriam-Webster Online <http://www.m-w.com>
Kinbote writes, "Hazel's (already adumbrated)
actions... ." the term "adumbrated" is used
several times throughout the text.
> One entry found for adumbrate.
> Main Entry: ad路um路brate
> Pronunciation: 'a-d&m-"brAt, a-'d&m-
> Function: transitive verb
> Inflected Form(s): -brat路ed; -brat路ing
> Etymology: Latin adumbratus, past participle
> of adumbrare, from ad- + umbra shadow -- more at
> UMBRAGE
> Date: 1581
> 1 : to foreshadow vaguely : INTIMATE
> 2 a : to give a sketchy representation or
> outline of b : to suggest or disclose partially
> 3 : OVERSHADOW, OBSCURE
> - ad路um路bra路tion /"a-(")d&m-'brA-sh&n/ noun
> - ad路um路bra路tive /a-'d&m-br&-tiv/ adjective
> - ad路um路bra路tive路ly adverb
and *Umbrage: (which I don't remember seeing in the text)
> One entry found for umbrage.
> Main Entry: um路brage
> Pronunciation: '&m-brij
> Function: noun
> Etymology: Middle English, from Middle
> French, from Latin umbraticum, neuter of
> umbraticus of shade, from umbratus, past
> participle of umbrare to shade, from umbra
> shade, shadow; akin to Lithuanian unksme shadow
> Date: 15th century
> 1 : SHADE, SHADOW
> 2 : shady branches : FOLIAGE
> 3 a : an indistinct indication : vague
> suggestion : HINT b : a reason for doubt :
> SUSPICION
> 4 : a feeling of pique or resentment at some
> often fancied slight or insult <took umbrage at
> the speaker's remarks>
> synonym see OFFENSE
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:59:45 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 1 (summary and notes) Lines 376-377, 384, 385-386,
Hi all,
The following is what I came up with. I am
nowhere near the league of the esteemed members
on this list, in fact Brian Boyd's _The Magic of
Artistic Discovery will only arrive this week. I
just hope that I not make a complete fool of
myself. I enjoyed taking a go at it and hope you
can make something out of my novice notes.
There are 7 medium sized posts.
****************
Lines 376-377, "was said in English Litt to be"
Shade's poem uses the spelling, "Lit." Kinbote
probably used the not uncommon additional "t"
probably out of carelessness. It's a common
enough abbreviation.
Kinbote is more taken with the draft version,
"the Head of our Department deemed" because it
focuses attention on Paul H., Jr. (Hurley?) who
apparently became "interested" in Kinbote's
migraine headaches and later discounted Kinbote's
ability to edit Shade's poem, going so far as to
say that Kinbote has a "deranged mind" and
suggest legal action. Also, Hurley was invested
in writing the Shade biography before Kinbote
butted in. Line 71 commentary mentions this, too.
Kinbote thinks that his own commentary will
change Paul H's mind about Kinbote's sanity and
his ability to edit the work.
An enigmatic line ends the little section,
"Southey liked a roasted rat for supper - which
is especially comic in view of the rats that
devoured his Bishop." This is apparently a double
slam; he's referring to Paul H. eating crow and
that he has been outmatched in the metaphoric
chess game Kinbote thematically conjures up to
keep the poem.
Along those lines a question; is this the Bishop
that the chess sophisticate "go(es) on a wild
goose chase" to obtain while the na卯ve
serendipitously sees and acquires? (I can't find
where I found that. Probably Brian Boyd's "Shade
and Shape."
<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/boydpf1.htm>)
But instead of eating crow, Kinbote has Paul H.
eating a rat. Is this for "ratting" on him?
****************
Line 384, "book on Pope"
As has been noted, John Shade is a specialist in
18th century literature with Alexander Pope being
a specialty. Shade's scholarly work, "Supremely
Blest," is included in the fictional works at:
<http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/libauthor4.htm>
The title of Shade's book comes from Pope's
"Essay on Man," 22nd line of the 2nd Epistle,
Section VI. Again, and, like "Pale Fire: the
Poem," "Essay on Man" has 4 Epistles of varying
lengths, includes explanatory prefaces and is
written in heroic couplets. (The annotation
connection with Pope has been previously noted as
has Kinbote's familiarity with English
literature.)
****************
Lines 385-386 "Jane Dean, Pete Dean"
These are the fictitious names for Shade's typist
and her cousin. Kinbote had contact with Jane on
his escape trip to Cedarn and learned a certain
amount. So he names and locates them as Jane
Provost (a nice, high sounding name) of Chicago
and Peter Provost of Detroit.
I think that it's interesting that Kinbote
advises us here and elsewhere about his sources.
If he is not Charles II, he never tells us how he
comes to know so much about the details of his
life.
Kinbote says Jane and Peter are innocent,
presumably in the death of Hazel. Jane set Hazel
up with Peter for the blind date. Peter
essentially dumped Hazel saying that he had a
very urgent appointment with a frat pal. The
evening ended with Hazel's death. In this
commentary Kinbote sympathizes with Peter using
overtly homosexual language and overtones.
Jane has tried to communicate with the Shades,
particularly Sybil, about the tragedy, but to no
avail. Kinbote reveals his amazingly clumsy and
inept manner of dealing in human relationships by
trying out his new English slang, "You are
telling me!" In saying that, he's revealing that
Sybil is not to be assuaged in her grief and that
he is sympathetic to neither Sybil or Jane. He's
also implying to Jane that he has a closer
relationship with Sybil (and therefore John) than
actually exists.
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:05 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 3 (summary) Line 408
(** means there's a related note(s) on the following page.)
Line 408:
In which the Kinbote tells us that Shade is starting his 33rd index
card while Gradus is traveling by car from Geneva to Lex ** to see
Charles' friend Odon who is staying at the villa of Joseph S.
Lavender, another friend of Charles. He wants to pick up some clues
as to the King's whereabouts.
Gradus has done some research and knows that his host collects
obrioles, ** photographs of landscaped lampshades. He thinks that he
can pass for a collector's agent but Odon will know the difference
because Gradus acts like a commoner and will likely reveal himself.
In a small town he picks up a small crystal giraffe to ask the price. .**
He stops the car on a steep, windy road and walks, wearing a new
brown, wrinkled suit and fanning himself with his "trilby." He gets
to a place where "...he was shown by the three index fingers of three
masons the red roofs of Lavender's (unfinished) villa." The Villa's
name is Libitina. **
Gradus proceeds to the house from which he hears piano music. He is
escorted into the villa by a man in green and finds the piano empty
but reverberating with only a pair of sandals to indicate a pianist.
There is also a "jet-glittering" lady who introduces herself as the
tutor of Mr. Lavender's nephew, Gordon, whom she calls from the
other room. She knows nothing about Lavender's collections or hobbies.
Gordon, .** a lad of 14 or 15, appears wearing a leopard spotted
loin cloth. As they walk in light and shadows to the gardens and pool
Gordon is wearing ivy. They walk on, Gordon makes his pronouncement
about spending the night with a friend on a nearby stained mattress.
Then suddenly Gordon is wearing black swim trunks. .**
In the Delaware derivative outhouse there are references to "the
King" and Gordon lies. Kinbote interjects that this lying was good
and comes close to admitting that he, Kinbote, was Gordon's " big
friend." Charles. But not quite. Meanwhile, Gordon goofs and
mentions the Cote D'Azur, tipping Gradus off as to the King's
whereabouts.
They reach the pool and while Gradus is a bit too heavy for the
stools, Gordon is described as being a young woodwose. ** Gordon
gets naked and Gradus spits and walks off. Gordon is definitely the
more attractive of the two. Nabokov is playing up the youthful and
sensual, as natural and good.
Lavender telephones and asks if Gradus is a spy for a French
newspaper. (This is the same thing that Bretwit accused him of
being.) Gradus hangs up and leaves the villa.
The commentary to this line ends with a train running between the
gardens, a black butterfly with red diagonal stripe heraldic
butterfly crossing the stone parapet .** and John Shade taking a
fresh card
"
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:15 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 3 (notes) Line 408
Gradus? Who is Gradus?
GR "add us?" meaning story additions after the fact of Shade's death?
Kinbote has ostensibly met with Jack Gray in prison (and had a friendly
chat with him I'm sure!).
"Grade us?" The cry of Botkin looking at the student papers still awaiting
attention?
Who knows? I'll skip it and let Kinbote's version that Gradus is the tool
of the revolutionaries, out to kill Charles hold.
** Lex? Lex means "law" but it is also the name of Lex Luthor who happened
to have a little pet Butterfly of Doom (181)
<http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0307&msg=83922&keywords=Butter
fly%20of%20Doom>). Lex Luthor was introduced to the fans of Superman in
1940 so if VN was familiar with pop culture it might have seemed a good
name. (g)
Could this add "synchronicity" be a dimension to the duality inherent in
the structure of a butterfly? (Did someone say that already and I missed
it?) Could the structure of the book itself be like a butterfly, two
complete and separate circles connected at the middle? Maybe even some
small circles on top of the big ones (forward and index).
** 脰d枚n is an Hungarian name which means "keeper of the fief" or "wealthy
protector." But with his father being an O'Donnell the name may be
obvious. So he is Odon O'Donnell, a "fox-browed, burly Irishman, with a
pink head," stage and motion picture actor engaged in revolutionary Zemblan
politics. Except that he changed his name somewhere along the line,
probably for professional reasons, to Don Odon. Odonata are dragonflies or
damselflies. But we are getting awfully close to Don Ho too who was popular
at the time.
** Meanwhile Lavender "(the name hails from the laundry, not the laund)."
Roman's used lavender oils for bathing, cooking, and scenting the air, and
they most likely gave it the Latin root name (either lavare-to wash or
livendula- livid or bluish) from which we derive the modern name.B
From: <http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.page.sh?PAGE=834>
> Laund
> Laund (l&add;nd), n. [See Lawn of grass.] A plain sprinkled with trees or
> underbrush; a glade. [Obs.]
>
> In a laund upon an hill of flowers. Chaucer.
>
> Through this laund anon the deer will come. Shak.
>
> Launder
> Laun"der (?), n. [Contracted fr. OE. lavender, F. lavandi\'8are, LL.
> lavandena, from L. lavare to wash. See Lave.]
>
> 1. A washerwoman. [Obs.]
** Ombrioles:
A French word for lampshade with landscape? I can't find a thing with that
name but my best guess is that it's similar to a Tiffany lampshade with a
landscape on it. see: <http://www.sendlamps.com/tiffanylamps.asp> or go to
the Google Images and put "Tiffany Lamps" for a bunch of image links.
(there are no nudes, although Tiffany may have created some with nudes.)
Lampshades are interesting things. They shade and filter the light to
change the effect, soften it. No one wants a bare bulb.
** Crystal giraffe: Crystal glass plays games with light due to refraction
or deflection from a straight path. It's not just flat window glass but
many faceted glass.
** "...three index fingers of three masons... red roofs:" Common
European terraced housing with sloping red-tiled roofs for snow. The red
roof is a status symbol in Israel. There is something stirring in me about
the Knights Templars and their red roofs and masonry and those three
helpers, Yan, Yon and Angeling, (index: Shadows) but... Probably just
three very steep, red-tiled parapets and it reminds Gradus of three masons.
??? (some from the Nabokov list:
<http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0108&L=nabokv-l&D=0&P=3844>)
** Libitina.
** the Roman goddess of the Underworld who watched over funerals and the
custodian of corpses. Whenever someone died a coin had to be brought to her
temple which contained all the mortuary records and death registers..
Undertakers where called Libitinarii. Sometimes known as "little Libi," she
apparently derived her name from the semitic root "L'B" which meant "fat"
or "whitish" in color. The name relates to Lilith's association with the
PALE LIGHT OF THE MOON. Also related to Lilith and Libra.
http://members.tripod.com/~PetraGrail/lilith2.html
** Trilby (a hat for our man, Gradus)
http://www.mikethehatter.com/christy.htm
** the jet-glittering Mademoiselle Belle / Mademoiselle Baud
I suppose that this woman in extreme and shiny black would rather be called
Belle than Baud, as the latter sounds a bit like ""bod" (short for body) or
"bawd."
Gordon,
** the English or Scottish name means "From The Cornered Hill" or
"Triangular Hill" (or similar) see any "baby names" site, ie:
<http://www.babynameworld.com/g-boy.asp>
We have another dichotomy going between Gradus, ("a cross between a crab
and a bat" line 171, pg 151) the seedy, sweaty, overdressed, dull,
unlucky, would-be murderer and Gordon, the graceful, gifted, naked, nature
boy.
"Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice," said Samuel Johnson.
But Gordon seems to play his vices as well as the piano (or are they vices
to Kinbote?) and Gordon's attitude, "You have not seen anything, yet" is
disconcerting. To what is this boy referring? The gardens? His body? The
outhouse? (Is this a male Lolita? Is this entrapment? who is this sweet
young thing?)
** Cote D'Azur: (put that one in the "Google images" search and peek at
delightful)
** woodwose: "a sort of cousin of the Green Man, is the legendary
European 'wild man of the woods'. Oddly, given his wildness, he is
associated with nobility of spirit and also the aristocracy - he his
frequently found on coats of arms. There are quite often female woodwoses
and couples! The woodwose usually carries a stick or bough as a weapon, as
does this fellow on a misericord in Faversham's parish church - the only
woodwose I know of depicted in Kent."
<http://www.canterburygreenman.fsnet.co.uk/GreenManKent.htm>
** black butterfly: Vanessa of Doom again, "A dark Vanessa" -- Nabokov's
beloved Red Admirable butterfly. See Jasper's comments at:
<http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0307&msg=83922&keywords=Vaness
a>
And photos at:
<http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/224.htm>
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:23 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 4(summary and notes) Lines 413, 417-421, 426, 431
Line 413 "a nymph came pirouetting"
vs draft, "a nymphette pirouetted"
I liked Shade's version better myself. It's more interesting. But
considering his preference for the very young and small, Kinbote would
probably prefer the draft.
****************
Line 417-421 "I went upstairs, etc."
The draft explains what's "actually happening" more clearly than the
"final" verses. Because Kinbote had said previously that he italicized
Hazel's lines in the Canto's passages, the italicization of the line, "'See
the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,'" had me boggled. Was that
happening to Hazel? Was she playing the fool?
But in the commentary to those lines I see where Shade has quoted Pope's
"Essay on Man" and is probably doing the italicizing himself. But there
are many other italicized words and lines; are they Shade's or Kinbotes?
(I'd say Shade's because Kinbote tells us if he does it.)
** See "Essay on Man" by Alexander Pope EPISTLE II:
Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to Himself as an Individual
Section VI, lines 19-20 <http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/pope-e2.html>
Kinbote doesn't get it, naturally. He figures Shade removed the draft lines
because of possible offense to a "real king." And Kinbote critiques Pope on
his rhyming and Shade for being flabby and wonders if Shade really has
guessed his "secret".
Btw, "Supremely Bless'd" (the name of Shade's book) is from 2 lines down in
"Essay on Man." The whole sentence from Pope reads:
"'See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,
The sot a hero, lunatic a king,
The starving chymist in his golden views
Supremely bless'd, the poet in his Muse."
****************
Line 426 "Just behind (one oozy footstep) Frost"
I think that we have to put ourselves back into 1961 or so. Robert Frost
died in 1963. This means that Shade was comparing himself, albeit "behind,"
to a living author, not a deceased American Hero. Robert Frost was named
Inaugural Poet for President John F. Kennedy, 1961 Poet Laureate of Vermont
both in 1961. He'd been awarded several Pulitzers, as had numerous other
poets of the day.
And there are distinct comparisons. They were both naturalists. They
started from where they were and spread outward to the universal. We only
have the poems of Pale Fire Shade for a comparison. We have hundreds by
Frost and some are better than others. We don't have any poems by Frost on
the suicide of his daughter.
So it is possible, albeit with a small stretch, to accept Shade's work at
the time as being "one oozy footstep" behind Frost. And Nabokov's
snowflakes don't quite settle like Frost's either.
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
There is an Atlantic Monthly article by Mark Van Doren (another important
poet of the times) from June, 1951 at
<http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/poetry/frost/vand.htm>,
And I found this very early naturalist poem by Frost, written in 1912:
Design
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On the white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth-
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches broth-
A snow-drop spider, a flower like froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to apall?-
If design govern in a thing so small.
****************
Line 431 "March night...headlights from afar approached"
"...the television theme merges with the girl's theme." Well, indeed it
does if the Shades are, just moments before she died, watching a travelogue
of the area where the girl was conceived. At least Kinbote is paying
attention to someone else's grief although he's focused on technique rather
than the tension and shadow.
Bekah
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 07:00:32 -0700
From: bekah <bekah0176@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: NPPF: Commentary 5 (summary) Lines 433-434
(** means there's a related note(s) on the following page.)
Lines 433-434 "To the...sea Which we had visited in thirty-three"
The Shades had spent some time in Nice in '33, 9 months prior to
Hazel's birth (line 435). Kinbote doesn't have access to material on
this and blames Sybil. Nice is near Cap Turc where the Villa
Paradiso/a (renamed for Disa) is located.953, and where Disa has
lived for the past 5 years. **
Disa devotedly tries to help Charles get out of Zembla where he is
confined to the palace. First her letter to him is intercepted,
translated and read to Charles by his captors. Its double translation
is irregular and bawdy, embarrassing Charles. **
Charles again tells Disa that he is confined so she naturally
attempts to get to him but is advised by the Karlists, via Curdy
Buff, a loathsome cousin, to reconsider. She furiously awaits him in
her Villa. **
Weeks pass and Disa, hearing rumors of assassination, again tries to
free her man. She travels to the north country but this time finds
out from Odon that Charles has escaped and is on his way. He also
tells her to return home, which she does. Alone there, she is
bemoaning her fate in a letter to Lavender (a family friend, I guess)
when Charles appears and "advances through garlands of shade." Disa
would know him anywhere.
Then Kinbote gets into a long memory of Charles' previous trips to
see Disa and passing on the Zemblan saying, "A beautiful woman should
be like a compass rose ivory with four parts of ebony." **
Kinbote compares Disa at age 25 to Shade's Sybil (from lines 261-267)
at age 60. Through poetry, love and memory Sybil is idealized and
therefore beautiful. Disa's loveliness is due to the simple fact that
that's the way she is (or so sayeth Kimbote). And in Kinbote's
opinion, if the reader can't appreciate "the strangeness of that" he
should not read. **
Kinbote then relates some details about Charles' married life to
Disa, who was somewhat unstable, tending to "blazes and blasts."
Charles tried to reason with her to no avail and eventually used her
antics as an excuse to get away from her for awhile. **
Early in their marriage, Kinbote tried a variety of methods to make
love to Disa with disappointing and humiliating results. He told her
he had never made love before, (with a sideways note to the reader
about the voracity of that claim). No luck. Finally he realized that
the problem was that her body, particularly the frontal parts, put
him off. **
He tries some tiger tea and is hopeful. ** He requests some unusual
sexual practice which Disa finds unnatural and disgusting. And at
last he tells her that he had an old riding accident and that a
cruise and sea bathing with his pals could possibly be rehabilitate
him.
Disa is very naive and without mentors so she turns to books where
she discovers the "manly Zemblan customs." She hides her distress
behind sarcasm which Charles compliments and tries to forego his
inclinations. **
But "everywhere along the road powerful temptation stood at
attention." Charles caved once, then more frequently, finally going
on a bender which included Curdy Buff and the boys. Disa finds out,
Charles promises, fails, promises fails. Disa finally moved to the
Riviera leaving Charles to his Etonesque boys.
Kinbote reflects on the emotional content of the relationship between
Disa and Charles; friendly indifference, bleak respect, pity,
heartache, casual, heartless.
And then, "in the heart of his dreaming self" Charles changes.
In recurring, emotion-laden dreams Disa wore different clothes in
different settings, but she always reflected the same shock when he
"fatally starred the mirror" by telling her that he didn't love her.
After that, the image of her always reminded him of his confession,
"as with some disease or the secret aftereffects of surgical
operation too intimate to be mentioned." (A male operation I assume,
for a venereal disease? the aftereffects of a vasectomy? a belated
circumcision?)
The plot of the dreams remained the same; he was trying to refute his
confession. In his dreams Disa was young and innocent and Charles
loved her deeply, passionately and purely. He was always trying to
make it up to her. And if there were carnal overtones, they were
coming from those with whom he had betrayed her, Phrynia or
Timandra. Disa was perhaps being accosted by a distant (as in
physically far away) relative. She finds a tell-tale object, a boot?
in his bed. **
And although knowing Charles' feelings and in mortal Payn, Disa
manages to be polite; to smile at the workmen; to engage in the daily
banalities like breakfast for two in the sea cave. ** Knowing that
"her soul was in disarray, aware that an odious, undeserved
humiliating disaster had befallen her," was what hurt Charles the
most. Disa's "little frown" always returned, and Charles could not
forget that.
In the dream they walked along the lakeside lawn, then down an alley
and was she looking at him? Maybe with a faint smile, but when he
looked she was gone and everybody was happy and he had to find her to
tell her he adored her. But the audience said she was not available,
she was inaugurating a fire, married to an American businessman, a
character in a novel, dead. **
So ends the massive memory and dream-time.
Now Charles sits with Disa, undisturbed by the past, and tells of his
escape. She enjoys the tale except for the part about Garh; Disa
seems to think he should have taken her in a bit of "hough-magandy" **
And then Disa doesn't want to talk about sex anymore so he talks of
politics but she has no interest. They conduct some business, Disa
apparently telephones for Fleur D'fyler through the trellis line. **
Fleur comes and recognizes the King by his voice. She curtseys and
wants to talk to the King but doesn't dare with the servants near.
Disa and Charles are alone, sign papers and discuss the future. She
lets him know that she is leaving and he can have the house to
himself and sleep up to 40. He says he's going to America to teach
young people (a hobby). She says she might visit New York. He changes
the subject to her hair. She wants a kiss and melts in his arms. They
part, he looks back and sees her, almost loves her for reals, and
realizes that it's Fleur de Fyler.
Kinbote tells this whole story to Shade who wonders how he can share
all that intimate stuff at all, much less while people may still be
alive. Charles says not to worry, Shade's words will make everything
"come alive."
In a great line, Shade says, "Oh sure," said Shade, "One can harness
words like performing fleas and make them drive other fleas."
Charles ignores Shade's protests and tries to lure him with the
promise that when the truth is revealed, the Truth will be revealed.
Bekah
------------------------------
End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3614
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