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Re: Minor points: Surnames and name days
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Dear Jansy,
You wrote: Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All I
got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer than
the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college was
considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is probably
the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an effect of
style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a series of
foreshortened sentences." There are other clues, right? What are they?
The other clues are in Jekyll and Hyde. I just realized that this part of your
note was not addressed to me. Nevertheless ...if you accept my hypothesis that
there is a relationship between Pale Fire and Jekyll and Hyde, then you will
find it interesting to note that Shade doesn't know what his parents look like.
I found it odd -- apparently no one else does.* What is then interesting is to
note that Dr Jekyll's younger brother (so to speak), Mr Hyde, destroys all
evidence of Jekyll's parents. In a fit of pique, he destroys all letters written
from J to his parents, and his (or their, I guess) father's portrait.
I took this and ran with it to the bank. Do you see? the implication, I mean.
What I mean is that like Hyde, Shade destroyed -- must have destroyed -- his
parents portraits. Why would he do such a thing? Do you see now? I thought it
likely that Shade, having killed his mother (his 'younger brother, Kinbote**)
couldn't bear to have any reminders - or perhaps, good old Doctor Colt told Aunt
Maude to hyde them (pun intended).
Carolyn
*as I noted when I initially reported this trouvaille, we live in the age of
photographs. How is it possible that Shade doesn't know what his parents looked
like?
**Kinbote, as I noted many moons ago, refers to Hyde's first crime in J & H. And
as someone else noticed, perhaps Jerry F?, or possibly Charles from
Scandanavia?, that the name Charles (masc. form of Caroline) might have been
derived from his mother's. I can't recall now, but I also figured out that she,
his mother, was possibly of Russian descent, making Shade the "scholar of
Russian descent" at Waindell, commonly supposed to refer to Kinbote. Charles is
hardly a Slavic or Scandanavian name - nor is Kinbote either, for that matter.
Well, all of this is to be found in the archives, for any who wish to pursue it
further.
________________________________
From: Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Mon, April 29, 2013 10:56:15 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Minor points: Surnames and name days
Jansy Mello: inspite of innumerous inspired angles and photography, or the play
inside the play blending fictional reality and its representation, I disliked
enormously the recent production of Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright. The
real world of a novelist, at least its intelligibility, gains consistency by
details (caress them) and I missed them all, inspite of all the luxurious lamps
and trinkets.
Jerry Katsell: Perhaps Nabokov, who was capable of uninhibited, uproarious
laughter, would have enjoyed some original details in the Joe Wright directed
Anna Karenina. My favorite moment was during the race scene when Frou Frou,
Vronsky holding on for dear life, crashes into the orchestra pit. J
Jansy Mello: During this episode I kept expecting the farcical race horse scene
from "My Fair Lady." The meaty stumbling Frou Frou filled me with pity.
Abdel Bouazza: The recollection of children playing among other games hide and
seek on Vladimir’s name-day and forgetting about Peter who was still hiding and
therefore missed the picnic he was looking forward to is from VN’s short story
“A Bad Day” (Obida, 1931) included in Details of a Sunset & Other Stories.
Jansy Mello: One added information: a celebration on Vladimir's name-day was
described in his short story "A Bad Day." And, of course, a precise correction
by AB: the scene I had in mind was not included in "Speak,Memory."
Jerry Friedman: I didn't remember Carolyn Kunin's suggestion "that John Shade
is the young miscreant that was judged by Judge whatsisname (next-door
neighbor) with the alphabetic daughters, for having offed his parents when he
was but a wee bairn." This runs into problems with the timing. The more
important one, probably, is that Kinbote's statement that the little parricide
was seven (n. 47-48) would contradict his statement that Samuel Shade died in
1902 (n. 71), which is when John was three or four.
Jansy Mello: Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All
I got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer
than the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college
was considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is
probably the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an
effect of style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a
series of foreshortened sentences." There are other clues, right? What are
they?
Google Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options Visit AdaOnline
View NSJ Ada Annotations Temporary L-Soft Search the archive
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
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
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
You wrote: Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All I
got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer than
the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college was
considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is probably
the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an effect of
style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a series of
foreshortened sentences." There are other clues, right? What are they?
The other clues are in Jekyll and Hyde. I just realized that this part of your
note was not addressed to me. Nevertheless ...if you accept my hypothesis that
there is a relationship between Pale Fire and Jekyll and Hyde, then you will
find it interesting to note that Shade doesn't know what his parents look like.
I found it odd -- apparently no one else does.* What is then interesting is to
note that Dr Jekyll's younger brother (so to speak), Mr Hyde, destroys all
evidence of Jekyll's parents. In a fit of pique, he destroys all letters written
from J to his parents, and his (or their, I guess) father's portrait.
I took this and ran with it to the bank. Do you see? the implication, I mean.
What I mean is that like Hyde, Shade destroyed -- must have destroyed -- his
parents portraits. Why would he do such a thing? Do you see now? I thought it
likely that Shade, having killed his mother (his 'younger brother, Kinbote**)
couldn't bear to have any reminders - or perhaps, good old Doctor Colt told Aunt
Maude to hyde them (pun intended).
Carolyn
*as I noted when I initially reported this trouvaille, we live in the age of
photographs. How is it possible that Shade doesn't know what his parents looked
like?
**Kinbote, as I noted many moons ago, refers to Hyde's first crime in J & H. And
as someone else noticed, perhaps Jerry F?, or possibly Charles from
Scandanavia?, that the name Charles (masc. form of Caroline) might have been
derived from his mother's. I can't recall now, but I also figured out that she,
his mother, was possibly of Russian descent, making Shade the "scholar of
Russian descent" at Waindell, commonly supposed to refer to Kinbote. Charles is
hardly a Slavic or Scandanavian name - nor is Kinbote either, for that matter.
Well, all of this is to be found in the archives, for any who wish to pursue it
further.
________________________________
From: Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Mon, April 29, 2013 10:56:15 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Minor points: Surnames and name days
Jansy Mello: inspite of innumerous inspired angles and photography, or the play
inside the play blending fictional reality and its representation, I disliked
enormously the recent production of Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright. The
real world of a novelist, at least its intelligibility, gains consistency by
details (caress them) and I missed them all, inspite of all the luxurious lamps
and trinkets.
Jerry Katsell: Perhaps Nabokov, who was capable of uninhibited, uproarious
laughter, would have enjoyed some original details in the Joe Wright directed
Anna Karenina. My favorite moment was during the race scene when Frou Frou,
Vronsky holding on for dear life, crashes into the orchestra pit. J
Jansy Mello: During this episode I kept expecting the farcical race horse scene
from "My Fair Lady." The meaty stumbling Frou Frou filled me with pity.
Abdel Bouazza: The recollection of children playing among other games hide and
seek on Vladimir’s name-day and forgetting about Peter who was still hiding and
therefore missed the picnic he was looking forward to is from VN’s short story
“A Bad Day” (Obida, 1931) included in Details of a Sunset & Other Stories.
Jansy Mello: One added information: a celebration on Vladimir's name-day was
described in his short story "A Bad Day." And, of course, a precise correction
by AB: the scene I had in mind was not included in "Speak,Memory."
Jerry Friedman: I didn't remember Carolyn Kunin's suggestion "that John Shade
is the young miscreant that was judged by Judge whatsisname (next-door
neighbor) with the alphabetic daughters, for having offed his parents when he
was but a wee bairn." This runs into problems with the timing. The more
important one, probably, is that Kinbote's statement that the little parricide
was seven (n. 47-48) would contradict his statement that Samuel Shade died in
1902 (n. 71), which is when John was three or four.
Jansy Mello: Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All
I got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer
than the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college
was considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is
probably the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an
effect of style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a
series of foreshortened sentences." There are other clues, right? What are
they?
Google Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options Visit AdaOnline
View NSJ Ada Annotations Temporary L-Soft Search the archive
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
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
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/