Subject
VN & Sherlock Holmes
From
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. I have a hazy recollection that something on VN & Sherlock
appeared some years ago in the publication of the Sherlock Holmes Society.
Sherlock Holmes jokes are still current in Russian, but modesty forbids...
---------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <kevin@limits.org>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: NABOKV-L Digest - 23 Feb 2001 to 24 Feb 2001 (#2001-31)
> On Sun, 25 Feb 2001, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > From: redjames@commie.co.uk
>
> >[Cabman scenes from _Study in Scarlet_ and _Lolita_ snipped]
> >
> > - which suggest a deliberate echoing by Nabokov of Conan Doyle, and
> > serves (beautifully and subtly, of course) by putting Humbert in the
> > position of the confused Watson ('too simple for words' hints at the
> > teacher/pupil relationship between Holmes and Watson - cf. their
> > exchanges at the beginning of many of the short stories) to help with
> > the undermining of Humbert's self-image which Nabokov makes throughout
> > the book.
Excellent find with the cabman scenes. While reading _Pale Fire_ this
morning, it occurred to me that Kinbote desires a Holmes/Watson
relationship with Shade, but he hasn't the study for it ("I...suspect that
our poet simply made up the Case of the Reversed Footprints," note to line
27).
Whether Kinbote wants to play Holmes or Watson is something that may merit
further investigation. On one hand, his devotion to Shade indicates a
Watsonian temperment, or rather a deluded perception that he serves as the
grounding ballast to the poet's flying Holmes. On the other hand, his
wild flights of Zemblan fancy remind me very much of Holmes's deductions
in _Study in Scarlet_: from a few realistically depicted clues in a
London setting, Holmes deduces that the killer was, of course, an exiled
American frontiersman bent on revenge against his former superiors in the
Church of Latter-Day Saints; Holmes's deductions make about as much sense
as Kinbote's account of his exile from Zembla. I think it can be said
that Kinbote is disapointed that Shade doesn't look at his hands (or
perhaps, his blue eyes, brown beard, and rosy cheeks) and say, "I see you
have been in Zembla," the way Holmes first greets Watson; Kinbote is
equally disapointed that Shade never gives Kinbote a chance to say,
"elementary, my dear Jonathan...."
appeared some years ago in the publication of the Sherlock Holmes Society.
Sherlock Holmes jokes are still current in Russian, but modesty forbids...
---------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <kevin@limits.org>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: NABOKV-L Digest - 23 Feb 2001 to 24 Feb 2001 (#2001-31)
> On Sun, 25 Feb 2001, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > From: redjames@commie.co.uk
>
> >[Cabman scenes from _Study in Scarlet_ and _Lolita_ snipped]
> >
> > - which suggest a deliberate echoing by Nabokov of Conan Doyle, and
> > serves (beautifully and subtly, of course) by putting Humbert in the
> > position of the confused Watson ('too simple for words' hints at the
> > teacher/pupil relationship between Holmes and Watson - cf. their
> > exchanges at the beginning of many of the short stories) to help with
> > the undermining of Humbert's self-image which Nabokov makes throughout
> > the book.
Excellent find with the cabman scenes. While reading _Pale Fire_ this
morning, it occurred to me that Kinbote desires a Holmes/Watson
relationship with Shade, but he hasn't the study for it ("I...suspect that
our poet simply made up the Case of the Reversed Footprints," note to line
27).
Whether Kinbote wants to play Holmes or Watson is something that may merit
further investigation. On one hand, his devotion to Shade indicates a
Watsonian temperment, or rather a deluded perception that he serves as the
grounding ballast to the poet's flying Holmes. On the other hand, his
wild flights of Zemblan fancy remind me very much of Holmes's deductions
in _Study in Scarlet_: from a few realistically depicted clues in a
London setting, Holmes deduces that the killer was, of course, an exiled
American frontiersman bent on revenge against his former superiors in the
Church of Latter-Day Saints; Holmes's deductions make about as much sense
as Kinbote's account of his exile from Zembla. I think it can be said
that Kinbote is disapointed that Shade doesn't look at his hands (or
perhaps, his blue eyes, brown beard, and rosy cheeks) and say, "I see you
have been in Zembla," the way Holmes first greets Watson; Kinbote is
equally disapointed that Shade never gives Kinbote a chance to say,
"elementary, my dear Jonathan...."