Subject: further comment on precursors (Spanish, German,
Austrian,American & Russian)
To the List,
It's very heartening to see the discussion
turn in a more positive direction. The ability of life and art to mirror each
other in devious ways was one of our author's major themes.
Alexey's
"Russian tragedy" sent me googling to see if Dreiser had in fact used it. But
no, there is a perfectly American source for the novel.* But VN may certainly
have known of the "false" Russian source.
At this point in the discussion
it seems to me that the most interesting question raised by Michael Maar's
discovery is who did Nabokov have in mind for Lolita's precursor? She is
Spanish, but she is dark-haired while von Lichberg's Lolita is golden-haired.
The precursor is the daughter of a large-jawed (did I get that right?) nobleman.
I doubt very much that VN had von Lichberg in mind. I find it within the realm
of the possible that VN had read the German Lolita, but I doubt that he would
have known anything of its author, and how would he know that he was an
aristocrat? And why large-jawed? In the German story, of course, Lolita's father
is a poor man and we are told nothing of his jaws.
So who is this
large-jawed Spanish nobleman? I wonder if VN doesn't have in mind one of the
portraits of the Spanish Hapsburgs? Is there one with a dark-haired
daughter?
Carolyn
*An American Tragedy was
based on the infamous Chester Gillette case. Chester abandoned his missionary
parents and wandered, working anywhere he could, until he met Grace Brown. They
had an affair. When she became pregnant, she moved into her parents' house.
After she begged him to marry her, he took her on a "honeymoon" to the
Adirondacks, where he planned to murder her. He was caught before he began; he
left her trunk and hat -- valuable evidence in public places. After registering
under an obvious alias, they went boating, and he drowned her. He fled and
stayed at the Arrowhead Hotel [my italics, ck] until his arrest three
days later. During his trial, Chester said his girlfriend had committed suicide
to escape public humiliation. The DA proved that he hit her with a tennis racket
(which numerous people saw him carry). Chester was found guilty of first degree
murder and electrocuted (newpisgah.keene.edu 1). Gillette's trial and An
American Tragedy have surprising similarities. Chester's attorneys, girls,
rich uncle, and settings were identical to Clyde's, albeit with minor name
changes (www.albany.edu 1). Both Clyde and Chester had poor parents, fell in
love with a garment-factory employees and a good-looking upper-class girls,
botched their girlfriends' drownings, and were electrocuted. So, while Dreiser's
theme was not original, his flair for using details to create involving, vivid
novels is unparalleled.