Content-Type: message/rfc822 Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 11:12:47 -0400 From: "Dmitri Nabokov" To: Subject: FW: [NABOKV-L] Bilitis.doc Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=__PartB99C76FF.1__=" --=__PartB99C76FF.1__= Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="=__PartB99C76FF.2__=" --=__PartB99C76FF.2__= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-5 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Two comments for Don and List: =20 A hurried perusal has not yielded the translator's name, but he should be = advised that (in l'Arbre, "The Tree" verse 3, line 3) "orteils" means = "toes," not "heels." =20 As for the fiftth definition of lips, have no qualms about your imagination= , Don. The meaning in question appears elsewhere in Nabokov (e.g., The = Enchanter), and elsewhere in literature. =20 Incidentally, I still have somewhere the score of a musical setting of les = Chansons by a very French composer whose name probably should not escape = me but does. =20 Best greetings, =20 DN =20 -----Original Message----- From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf = Of D. Barton Johnson Sent: mercredi, 7. juin 2006 03:13 To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU Subject: [NABOKV-L] Bilitis.doc I thank Mr. Strickland for his informative series of suggestions. I have = pursued at least one of them. It follows: =20 Don Johnson ----------------------------------------------------- =20 =20 =20 =20 April 23, 2004 =20 Nabokov's Ada and Pierre Lou*s' Chansons de Bilitis:=20 The Tree of Knowledge =20 =20 Pierre Lou*s' 1894 Les Chansons de Bilitis is one of the classics of the = lesbian canon. The work was something of a mystification since it = purported to be the memoir of a sixth century B.C Greek courtesan whose = tomb had recently excavated on Cypress. A prose poem of a hundred and = forty-three stanzas in the form of inscriptions on the tomb walls, it = recounts Bilitis' girlhood as a goatherd in what is now southern Turkey = (then Pamphilia) near the Mediterrean. She is early introduced to sex by a = newly-married friend and then a young herdsman. She has an infant whom = she deserts at sixteen when she moves to Mytil*ne on the Isle of Lesbos = where she is befriended by the poet Sappho and has a ten-year liaison with = a beloved but faithless mistress. After a painful break-up, she moves on = to Cypress, then a thriving and decadent community where she establishes = herself as a wealthy and famed courtesan par excellence, while not = forsaking the pleasures afforded by those of her own sex At forty, she = retires and writes her poetic biography which survives on the walls of = her tomb. The entire work, ostensibly translated from the Greek, is the = work of Pierre Lou*s (1870-1924), a twenty-three-year-old Parisian who was = immersed in the culture of the ancient eastern Mediterranean and went on = to even greater, if transient, fame as the author of the equally scandalous= novel Aphrodite (1906), a tale of bisexual courtesan life in Alexandria. = He was to become a friend of Andr* Gide, Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinc= k, Gabriele d'Annunzio, and Oscar Wilde. Les Chansons de Bilitis was a = pan-European scandal and became a lushly illustrated, privately printed = collector's item in many languages. There was even a Russian version in = 1907. Les Chansons de Bilitis, now mostly forgotten, makes two fleeting, = but explicit appearances in Nabokov's ADA * both in connection with = lesbianism. =20 =20 =20 Soon after that first Ardis summer, Van encounters Ada's boarding-school = dorm-mate Cordula de Prey who tells him of Ada's letters raving about her = visiting cousin. Ada has mentioned in a letter to Van that one of her = school mates is in love with her (158). Van inspects Cordula closely: =20 He had read somewhere (we might recall the precise title if we tried, not = Tiltil, that's in Blue Beard...) that a man can recognize a Lesbian, young = and alone (because a tailored old pair can fool no one), by a combination = of three characteristics: slightly trembling hands, a cold-in-the-head = voice, and that skidding-in-panic of the eyes if you happen to scan with = obvious appraisal such charms as the occasion might force her to show = (lovely shoulders, for instance)[1]. Nothing whatever of all that "(yes * = Mytil*ne, petite isle, by Louis Pierre)" seemed to apply to Cordula, who = wore a 'garbotosh' (belted mackintosh) over her terribly unsmart turtle = and held both hands deep in her pockets as she challenged his stare = (164-165). =20 =20 It takes Van a moment to place the source of the presumed traits of a = lesbian * "(yes * Mytil*ne, petite isle, by Louis Pierre)" [1]. Mytil*ne = was the city on the small island of Lesbos where Bilitis knew the poet = Sappho. Pierre Louis was the pseudonym of Pierre Lou*s. The name Bilitis = is introduced a few page later when it is mentioned en passant that Ada = and Lucette's governess Ida Larivi*re "had been platonically and irrevocabl= y in love ever since she had seen [Marina] in 'Bilitis'" (194). Nor is = this the only lesbian allusion. Cordula's "garbotosh" and stance are those = of Greta Garbo in a poster promoting her first talking film-- Eugene = O'Neil's Anna Christie. Garbo was widely rumored to be a lesbian.[2] = Van's first (mis-)recollection ("not Tiltil, that's in Blue Beard" come = from Maurice Maeterlinck's play L'oiseau bleu (1909) in which the names of = the woodcutter's children, Tyltyl and Mytyl, lead him to Sappho's = Mytil*ne.=20 =20 Cordula further fuels Van's suspicions (and continues the French theme) = with her comments that she and Ada are in the Advanced French goup that = share a dormitory. In his next letter Van asks Ada whether Cordula is = the lezbianochka she had earlier referred to. Van remains suspicious when = Ada denies it. The theme is reintensified during durig Van miserable = rainy-day visit to Ada's school where their meeting is "chaperoned" by = Cordula, again in her Garbo outfit. Van is tormented by his imaginings of = their ecstactic "twinned *entwinement,*: Corada, Adula" (168). He imagines = taking revenge by telling the pair of the sexual antics of Cordula's = cousin at Riverlane, but contents himself with a literary discussion of = Proust's characters, Marcel and Albertine, whose actions make sense only = if the reader knows the narrator is "a pansy" * a fatal flaw since = author's life should be extraneous to his art. The lesbian theme is = enacted throughout the novel by Ada and Lucette and echoed here and = there in allusions to Ada's and Cordula's schoolmate, the tribadka Vanda = (!) Broom. Cf. the French tribade defined by the four-volume 1957 Emile = Littr* Dictionnaire as a "Terme qu'on *vite d'employer. Femme qui abuse = de son sexe avec une autre femme" (584). =20 The above, more or less explicit allusions to Pierre Lou*s' Chansons de = Bilitis do not exhaust its presence in Ada, although we now enter upon = more slippery ground. Let us call this new theme "The Tree of Knowledge."= =20 =20 =20 For the big picnic on Ada's twelfth birthday and Ida's forty-second jour = de f*te, the child was permitted to wear her lolita *, a rather long, but = very airy and ample, black skirt *. . She had stepped into it, naked, * and pulled it on with a brisk jiggle of = the hips which provoked her governess's familiar rebuke: mais ne te = tr*mousse pas comme *a quand tu mets ta jupe! Une petite fille de bonne = maison, etc. Per contra, the omission of panties was ignored by Ida = Larivi*re, a bosomy woman of great and repulsive beauty (in nothing but = corset and gartered stockings at the moment) who was not above making = secret concessions to the heat of the dog-days herself; but in tender = Ada's case the practice had deprecable effects. The child tried to assuage = the rash in the soft arch, with all its accompaniment of sticky, itchy, = not altogether unpleasurable sensations, by tightly straddling the cool = limb of a Shattal apple tree, much to Van's disgust as we shall see more = than once. *.Neither hygiene, nor sophistication of taste, were, as Van = kept observing, typical of the Ardis household (I-13 77-78). =20 A few days later find the children climbing the shattal tree at the bottom = of the garden (I-15, pp. 94-95) =20 =20 Her bare foot slipped, and the two panting youngsters tangled ignominiously= among the branches, in a shower of drupes and leaves, clutching at each = other, and the next moment, as they regained a semblance of balance, his = expressionless face and cropped head were between her legs and a last = fruit fell with a thud * the dropped dot of an inverted exclamation point. = She was wearing his wristwatch and a cotton frock. ('Remember?' 'Yes, of course, I remember: you kissed me here, on the inside *' 'And you started to strangle me with those devilish knees of yours *' 'I was seeking some sort of support.') That might have been true, but according to a later (considerably = later!) version they were still in the tree, and still glowing, when Van = removed a silk thread of larva web from his lip and remarked that such = negligence of attire was a form of hysteria. 'Well,' answered Ada, straddling her favorite limb, 'as we all know = byow, Mlle La Rivi*re de Diamants has nothing against a hysterical little = girl's not wearing pantalets during l'ardeur de la canicule.' 'I refuse to share the ardor of your little canicule with an apple = tree.' 'It is really the Tree of Knowledge * this specimen was imported last = summer * from the Eden National Park *=20 =20 For a detailed exegesis, I refer the reader to Brian Boyd's "Annotations = to Ada 15: Part I Chapter 15" in issue 44 of The Nabokovian (65ff). For = our purposes, it suffices to remark two things. The identification of the = Edenic shattal as the "Tree of Knowledge," i.e., carnal knowledge, and of = Ada's slip (with its "lip-to-lips" consequences) as "The Fall." Pay = particular note to the first excerpt in which Ada arouses herself by = rubbing her genitalia against the tree branch. Van is not yet on the = scene. =20 Now*what might this have to do with Lou*s' Les Chansons de Bilitis? The = image of a young girl masturbating again a tree limb is not a frequent one = in world literature but, as it happens, it is precisely the scene that = opens The Songs of Bilitis. =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 I L'ARBRE =20 Je me suis d*v*tue pour monter * un arbre; mes cuisses nues embrassaient l'*corce lisse et humide; mes sandales marchaient sur les branches. =20 Tout en haut, mais encore sous les feuilles et * l'ombre de la chaleur, je me suis mise * cheval sur une fourche *cart*e en balan*ant mes pieds dans le vide. =20 Il avait plu. Des gouttes d'eau tombaient et coulaient sur ma peau. Mes mains *taient tach*es de mousse, et mes orteils *taient rouges, * cause des fleurs *cras*es. =20 Je sentais le bel arbre vivre quand le vent passait au travers; alors je serrais mes jambes davantage et j'appliquais mes l*vres ouvertes sur la nuque chevelue d'un rameau. =20 =20 THE TREE =20 I undressed to climb a tree; my naked thighs embraced the smooth and humid = bark; my sandals climbed upon the branches.=20 High up, but still beneath the leaves and shaded from the heat, I = straddled a wide-spread fork and swung my feet into the void. It had rained. Drops of water fell and flowed upon my skin. My hands were = soiled with moss and my heels were reddened by the crushed blossoms. I felt the lovely tree living when the wind passed through it; so I locked = my legs tighter, and crushed my open lips to the hairy nape of a bough. =20 =20 Lest the reader think I have an overactive imagination, please note that = the next chapter but one (in which they first kiss) opens with a double = entendre: =20 =20 =20 The hugest dictionary in the library said under Lip: 'Either of a pair of = fleshy folds surrounding an orifice.' Mileyshiy Emile, as Ada called Monsieur Littr*, spoke thus: 'Partie = ext*rieure et charnue qui forme le contour de la bouche... Les deux bords = d'une plaie simple' (we simply speak with our wounds; wounds procreate) = '...C'est le membre qui l*che.' Dearest Emile! =20 =20 Nabokov's choice from "the hugest dictionary," (Merriam-Webster II) is in = fact the fifth among the definitions. The first locates "lips" at the = opening of the mouth. English "lips" and the French "l*vres" refer to both = the upper and lower orifices and presumably are cognate with the Latin = labium, pl. labia. Also perhaps of note is that Ada's shattal tree is = from Edenic Asia Minor as is Bilitis herself. Their positions astraddle = the branch leave no doubt about which lips are intended. They are, by the = way, about the same age. =20 Ada is not the first Nabokov work to cite Les Chansons de Bilitis. The = protagonist of Podvig (Glory) Nabokov's fourth novel (1932) flees = revolutionary Russia aboard a freighter. Seventeen-year-old Martin is = seduced by a flamboyant Petersburg society poetess. After their arrival = in Athens, Alla presents him with Pierre Lou*s' Chansons de Bilitis "in = the cheap edition illustrated with the naked forms of adolescents, from = which she would read to him, meaningfully pronouncing the French, in the = early evening on the Acropolis, the most appropriate place, one might say" = (30). (=B0=DB=DB=D0 * =DF=DE =DF=E0ie=D7=D4e =D2=EA =B0=E4=D8=DD=EB, = =DF=DE=D4=D0=E0=D8=DB=D0 =D5=DC=E3 "=BFe=E1=DD=D8 =B1=D8=DB=D8=E2=D8=E1=EA"= , =D4=D5=E8=D5=D2=DE=D5 =D8=D7=D4=D0=DDi=D5, =D8=DB=DB=EE=E1=E2=E0=D8=E0=DE= =D2=D0=DD=DD=DE=D5 =E4=D8=D3=E3=E0=D0=DC=D8 =D3=DE=DB=EB=E5=EA =DF=DE=D4=E0= =DE=E1=E2=DA=DE=D2=EA, [38] =D8 =E7=D8=E2=D0=DB=D0 =D5=DC=E3 =D2=E1=DB=E3= =E5=EA, =D2=EB=E0=D0=D7=D8=E2=D5=DB=EC=DD=DE =DF=E0=DE=D8=D7=DD=DE=E1=EF = =E4=E0=D0=DD=E6=E3=D7=E1=DAi=EF =E1=DB=DE=D2=D0, =DF=DE=D4=D2=D5=E7=D5=E0= =EA, =DD=D0 =B0=DA=E0=DE=DF=DE=DBe, =DD=D0 =E1=D0=DC=DE=DC=EA, =E2=D0=DA=EA= =E1=DA=D0=D7=D0=E2=EC, =DF=DE=D4=E5=DE=D4=EF=E9=D5=DC=EA =DCe=E1=E2e). = The low opinion of the thirty-year-old Nabokov of Les Chansons de Bilitis = is evident. But perhaps it had once been otherwise.=20 =20 One of Ada's themes is the Ardis library from which Van filches erotic = reading material for himself and Ada, whose access is strictly regulated. = Nabokov has remarked that between the ages of ten and fifteen in St. = Petersbburg he probably read more fiction and poetry*English, Russian, = and French -- than in any other five-year period in my life" (SO-42). The = Nabokov family library has long since been dispersed but its printed = catalogue survives: Sistematicheskii katalog Biblioteki Vladimira = Dmitrievicha Nabokova. (S-Peterburg: Tovarishchestvo Xudozhestvennoi = Pechati, 1904). Item numbers 372 & 373 are "Louys, P. Aphrodite. Paris, = 1901" and "Louys, P. Les Chansons de Bilitis, Paris MDCCCXCVIII" (1898). =20 * Be it noted that Van's three infallible characteristics for recognizing = lesbians are to be found in Lou*s' novella where short hair and skimpy = bosoms are the typifying traits. =20 D. Barton Johnson, Editor NABOKV-L = =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 _____ =20 [1] Be it noted that Les Chansons do not, in fact, remark these features. [2] For details, see my NABOKV-L note "Ada & Garbo" of August 30, 2003. Search the Nabokv-L = archive at UCSB Contact the Editors All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both = co-editors.=20 Visit Zembla =20 View Nabokv-L Policies =20 Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html 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 Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html 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 --=__PartB99C76FF.2__= Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="=__PartB99C76FF.3__=" --=__PartB99C76FF.3__= Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-5 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Description: HTML Message
Two=20 comments for Don and List:
 
A=20 hurried perusal has not yielded the translator's name, but he should be = advised=20 that (in l'Arbre, "The Tree" verse=20 3,     line 3) "orteils" means "toes," not=20 "heels."
 
As for the fiftth definition of lips, have no qualms about = your=20 imagination, Don. The meaning in question appears elsewhere in Nabokov = (e.g.,=20 The Enchanter), and  elsewhere in literature.
 
Incidentally, I still have somewhere the = score of=20 a musical setting of les Chansons by a very = French=20 composer whose name probably should not escape me but=20 does.
 
Best greetings,
 
DN
  
 -----Original Message-----
Fr= om:=20 Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf = Of=20 D. Barton Johnson
Sent: mercredi, 7. juin 2006 03:13
To= :=20 NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L]=20 Bilitis.doc

I thank Mr. Strickland for his informative = series of=20 suggestions.  I have pursued = at=20 least one of them. It follows:

 

Don Johnson

-------------------------------------------------= ----

 

 

 

 

April 23, 2004

 

Nabokov=E2=80= =99s=20 Ada=20 and Pierre Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80=99 Chansons de = Bilitis:

The Tree = of=20 Knowledge

 

 

Pierre = Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80=99 1894 Les Chansons de = Bilitis =20 is one of the classics of the lesbian canon.  The work was something of a=20 mystification since it purported to be the memoir of a sixth century B.C = Greek=20 courtesan whose tomb had recently excavated on=20 Cypress. =  A prose poem of a hundred and = forty-three=20 stanzas in the form of inscriptions on the tomb walls, it recounts = Bilitis=E2=80=99 girlhood as a goatherd in what is = now southern=20 Turkey = (then=20 Pamphilia) near the Mediterrean. She is early introduced to sex by a=20 newly-married friend and then a young herdsman.  She has an infant whom she = deserts at=20 sixteen when she moves to Mytil=C3=A8ne on the = Isle of=20 Lesbos where she is befriended by the poet = Sappho and has a ten-year liaison with a beloved = but=20 faithless mistress. After a painful break-up, she moves on to Cypress, = then a=20 thriving and decadent community where she establishes herself as a wealthy = and=20 famed courtesan par=20 excellence, while not forsaking the pleasures afforded by those = of=20 her own sex  At forty, she = retires=20 and writes her poetic biography =20 which survives on the walls of her tomb. The entire work, ostensibly= =20 translated from the Greek, is the work of Pierre Lou= =C3=BFs=20 (1870-1924), a twenty-three-year-old Parisian who was immersed in the = culture of=20 the ancient eastern Mediterranean and went on to even greater, if = transient,=20 fame as the author of the equally scandalous novel= Aphrodite= =20 (1906), a tale of  bisexual= =20 courtesan life in Alexandria. He was to become a friend of Andr=C3=A9 = Gide, Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinck, Gabriele = d=E2=80=99Annunzio, and Oscar Wilde. Les = Chansons de = Bilitis was a pan-European scandal and = became a=20 lushly illustrated, privately printed collector=E2=80=99s item in many = languages. There=20 was even a Russian version in 1907. Les = Chansons de = Bilitis, now mostly forgotten, makes = two=20 fleeting, but explicit appearances in Nabokov=E2=80=99s ADA=20 =E2=80=93 both in connection with lesbianism.  

 

 

Soon after = that first=20 Ardis summer, Van encounters=20 Ada=E2=80= =99s=20 boarding-school dorm-mate Cordula de Prey who = tells=20 him of Ada=E2=80= =99s=20 letters raving about her visiting cousin. Ada has mentioned in a letter = to Van=20 that one of her school mates is in love with  her (158).  Van inspects Cordula closely:

 

 He had read somewhere (we might = recall=20 the precise title if we tried, not Tiltil, = that=E2=80=99s in=20 Blue Beard...) that a man can recognize a Lesbian, young and alone = (because a=20 tailored old pair can fool no one), by a combination of three characteristi= cs:=20 slightly trembling hands, a cold-in-the-head voice, and that skidding-in-pa= nic=20 of the eyes if you happen to scan with obvious appraisal such charms as = the=20 occasion might force her to show (lovely shoulders, for instance)[1].=20 Nothing whatever of all that =E2=80=9C(yes =E2=80=94 <= I>Mytil=C3=A8ne, petite isle, by Louis Pierre)=E2= =80=9D seemed to=20 apply to Cordula, who wore a =E2=80=98garbotosh=E2=80=99 (belted mackintosh) over her = terribly unsmart turtle and held both hands deep in her = pockets as=20 she challenged his stare (164-165).

 

 

It = takes Van a=20 moment to place the source of the presumed traits of a lesbian =E2=80=93 = =E2=80=9C(yes =E2=80=94 Mytil=C3=A8ne, petite isle, by Louis Pierre)=E2= =80=9D [1].=20 Mytil=C3=A8ne was the city on the small island = of Lesbos where Bilitis = knew the poet=20 Sappho. Pierre Louis was the pseudonym of=20 Pierre Lou=C3=BFs. The name Bilitis is introduced a few page later when it is=20 mentioned en passant=20 that Ada and Lucette=E2=80=99s governess Ida = Larivi=C3=A8re=20 =E2=80=9Chad been platonically and irrevocably in love ever since she had = seen=20 [Marina] in =E2=80=98Bilitis=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D=20 (194). Nor = is this=20 the only lesbian allusion. Cordula=E2=80=99s = =E2=80=9Cgarbotosh=E2=80=9D and stance are those of Greta = Garbo in a poster promoting her first talking film-- = Eugene=20 O=E2=80=99Neil=E2=80=99s Anna=20 Christie.  Garbo was widely rumored to be a lesbian.= [2]=20 Van=E2=80=99s first (mis-)recollection = (=E2=80=9Cnot Tiltil, that=E2=80=99s in Blue Beard=E2=80=9D come = from Maurice=20 Maeterlinck=E2=80=99s play L=E2=80=99oiseau<= /SPAN> bleu = (1909)=20 in which the names of the woodcutter=E2=80=99s children, Tyltyl and Mytyl, lead = him to=20 Sappho=E2=80=99s  Mytil=C3= =A8ne. =

 

Cordula further fuels = Van=E2=80=99s=20 suspicions (and continues the French theme) with her comments that she = and=20 Ada= are in=20 the Advanced French goup that share a = dormitory.  In his next letter Van asks =  Ada whether Cordula is the lezbianochka  she had earlier referred to. Van = remains=20 suspicious when Ada denies it. The theme is = reintensified during durig Van=20 miserable rainy-day visit to Ada=E2=80= =99s=20 school where their meeting is =E2=80=9Cchaperoned=E2=80=9D by Cordula,=20 again in her Garbo outfit. Van is tormented by = his=20 imaginings of their ecstactic =E2=80=9Ctwinned = =E2=80=A6entwinement,=E2=80=A6:=20 Corada, Adula=E2=80= =9D (168). He=20 imagines taking revenge by telling the pair of  the sexual antics of Cordula=E2=80=99s cousin at Rive= rlane, but=20 contents himself with a literary discussion of Proust=E2=80=99s characters, Marcel and Albertine, whose actions make sense only if the = reader knows=20 the narrator is =E2=80=9Ca pansy=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93 a fatal flaw since = author=E2=80=99s life should be=20 extraneous to his art. The lesbian theme is enacted   throughout the novel by=20 Ada= and=20 Lucette and echoed here and there in allusions = to=20 Ada= =E2=80=99s and Cordula=E2=80=99s= schoolmate, the=20 tribadka=20  Vanda (!)=20 Broom. Cf. the French tribade=20 defined by the four-volume 1957 = Emile=20 Littr=C3=A9  Dictionnaire as a =E2=80=9CTerme qu=E2=80=99on = =C3=A9vite d=E2=80=99employer. Femme qui abuse=20 de son sexe avec une autre femme=E2=80=9D (584).

 

The above, = more or less=20 explicit allusions to Pierre Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80= =99 Chansons de = Bilitis do not exhaust its presence in=20 Ada,=20 although we now enter upon more slippery ground. Let us call this new = theme =E2=80=9CThe=20 Tree of Knowledge.=E2=80=9D

 

 

For the big = picnic on=20 Ada=E2=80=99s twelfth birthday and Ida=E2=80=99= s forty-second jour de f=C3=AAte, the child was permitted to = wear her=20 lolita =E2=80=A6, a rather long, but very airy = and ample,=20 black skirt =E2=80=A6. .

<= SPAN=20 style=3D"FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: normal; = FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-style: = italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">She=20 had stepped into it, naked, =E2=80=A6 and pulled it on with a brisk jiggle = of the hips=20 which provoked her governess=E2=80=99s familiar rebuke: <= /B>mais=20 ne te tr=C3=A9mousse pas comme = =C3=A7a quand tu mets ta jupe! Une=20 petite fille de bonne maison,=20 etc. Per contra, the omission of panties was ignored by Ida Larivi=C3=A8re,= a bosomy=20 woman of great and repulsive beauty (in nothing but corset and gartered=20 stockings at the moment) who was not above making secret concessions to = the heat=20 of the dog-days herself; but in tender Ada=E2=80=99s case the practice had = deprecable=20 effects. The=20 child tried to assuage the rash in the soft arch, with all its accompanimen= t of=20 sticky, itchy, not altogether unpleasurable=20 sensations, by tightly straddling the cool limb of a Shattal apple tree, much to Van=E2=80=99s disgust as = we shall see=20 more than once. =E2=80=A6.Neither hygiene, nor sophistication of taste, = were, as Van=20 kept observing, typical of the Ardis = household=20 (I-13=20 77-78).

 

A few days later find = the=20 children climbing the shattal tree at the = bottom of=20 the garden (I-15, pp. 94-95)

 

 

Her bare foot = slipped, and=20 the two panting youngsters tangled ignominiously among the branches, in a = shower=20 of drupes and leaves, clutching at each other, and the next moment, as = they=20 regained a semblance of balance, his expressionless face and cropped head = were=20 between her legs and a last fruit fell with a thud =E2=80=94 the dropped = dot of an=20 inverted exclamation point. She was wearing his wristwatch and a cotton=20 frock.

  =20 (=E2=80=98Remember?=E2=80=99

   =E2=80=98Yes, of course, I = remember: you=20 kissed me here, on the inside =E2=80=94=E2=80=99

    =E2=80=98And you = started to strangle=20 me with those devilish knees of yours =E2=80=94=E2=80=99<= /FONT>

    =E2=80=98I was = seeking some sort of=20 support.=E2=80=99)

    That might have been = true,=20 but according to a later (considerably later!) version they were still in = the=20 tree, and still glowing, when Van removed a silk thread of larva web from = his=20 lip and remarked that such negligence of attire was a form of=20 hysteria.

    =E2=80=98Well,=E2=80= =99 answered Ada, straddling her favorite limb, =E2=80=98as we = all know byow,=20 Mlle La Rivi=C3=A8re de Di= amants=20 has nothing against a hysterical little girl=E2=80=99s not wearing = pantalets during=20 l=E2=80=99ardeur de la canicule.=E2=80=99

    =E2=80=98I refuse to = share the ardor=20 of your little canicule with an apple=20 tree.=E2=80=99

    =E2=80=98It is = really the Tree of=20 Knowledge =E2=80=94 this specimen was imported last summer =E2=80=A6 from = the=20 Eden National=20 Park=20 =E2=80=A6 

 

For a detailed exegesis, I refer = the reader=20 to Brian Boyd=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CAnnotations to Ada 15: Part I Chapter = 15=E2=80=9D in issue=20 44 of The Nabokovian (65ff). For our purposes, it = suffices=20 to remark two things. The identification of the Edenic= =20 shattal as the =E2=80=9CTree of Knowledge,=E2= =80=9D i.e., carnal=20 knowledge, and of Ada=E2=80= =99s slip=20 (with its =E2=80=9Clip-to-lips=E2=80=9D  consequences) as =E2=80=9CThe = Fall.=E2=80=9D Pay=20 particular note to the first excerpt in which Ada arouses herself by = rubbing her=20 genitalia against the tree branch. = =20 Van is not yet on the scene.

 

Now=E2=80=94what might this have = to do with  Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80=99 Les Chansons de = Bilitis? =20 The image of a young girl masturbating again a tree limb is not = a=20 frequent one in world literature but, as it happens, it is precisely the = scene=20 that opens The Songs of = Bilitis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

L'ARBRE

 

 Je me = suis d=C3=A9v=C3=AAtue = pour monter =C3=A0 un = arbre;

 mes = cuisses=20 nues embrassaient = l'=C3=A9corce lisse

 et humide;=20 mes sandales = marchaient sur=20 les

 branches.

 

 Tout en haut, mais encore sous les = feuilles

 et =C3=A0 l'ombre de la chaleur, = je me suis mise =C3=A0=

 cheval sur=20 une fourche = =C3=A9cart=C3=A9e en balan=C3=A7ant

 mes = pieds dans le=20 vide.

 

 Il avait plu.  = Des gouttes d'eau tombaient et

 coulaient sur ma peau.  Mes = mains=20 =C3=A9taient

 tach=C3=A9es<= /SPAN> de=20 mousse, et mes orteils =C3=A9taient

 rouges, =C3= =A0 cause=20 des fleurs =C3=A9cras=C3=A9es.

 

 Je = sentais le bel arbre vivre quand le=20 vent

 passait au=20 travers; alors = je serrais mes

 jambes= davantage et j'appliquais= mes l=C3=A8vres

 ouvertes sur la nuque chevelue d'un rameau.

 

 

THE=20 TREE

 

I undressed = to climb a=20 tree; my naked thighs embraced the smooth and humid bark; my sandals = climbed=20 upon the branches.

High up, but = still=20 beneath the leaves and shaded from the heat, I straddled a wide-spread = fork and=20 swung my feet into the void.

It had = rained. Drops of=20 water fell and flowed upon my skin. My hands were soiled with moss and my = heels=20 were reddened by the crushed blossoms.

I felt the = lovely tree=20 living when the wind passed through it; so I locked my legs tighter, and = crushed=20 my open lips to the hairy nape of a bough.

 

 

Lest the reader think I have an overactive imagination, =
please note that the next chapter but one (in which they first kiss) opens =
with a double entendre:  <=
/PRE>

 


 


The hugest dictionary =
in the=20
library said under Lip: =E2=80=98Either of a pair of fleshy folds =
surrounding an=20
orifice.=E2=80=99


Mileyshiy Emile, as <=
SPAN=20
class=3DSpellE>Ada called Monsieur Littr=C3=A9, spoke thus: =E2=80=98Partie =
ext=C3=A9rieure et charnue qui forme le contour de la bouche...=20
Les deux bords =
d=E2=80=99une plaie =
simple=E2=80=99 (we=20
simply speak with our wounds; wounds procreate) =E2=80=98...C=E2=80=99est=
 le membre qui l=C3=A8che.=E2=
=80=99=20
Dearest Emile! =20



 


Nabokov=
=E2=80=99s choice=20
from =E2=80=9Cthe hugest dictionary,=E2=80=9D (Merriam-Webster II) is in =
fact the fifth among=20
the definitions. The first locates =E2=80=9Clips=E2=80=9D  at the opening of the mouth. =
English=20
=E2=80=9Clips=E2=80=9D and the French =E2=80=9C=
l=C3=A8vres=E2=80=9D refer to both the upper and =
lower orifices=20
and presumably are cognate with the Latin labium, =
pl.=20
labia.=
  Also perhaps of note is that=20
Ada=E2=80=99s<=
/SPAN> shattal =
tree is=20
from Edenic Asia Minor as is Bilitis herself. Their positions astraddle =
the branch=20
leave no doubt about which lips are intended. They are, by the way, about =
the=20
same age.


 

Ada is =
not the=20
first Nabokov work to cite Les Chansons de =
Bilitis. The protagonist of Podvig=
=20
(Glory) Nabokov=E2=80=99s fourth novel (1932) flees revolutionary=20
Russia =
aboard a=20
freighter. Seventeen-year-old Martin is seduced by a flamboyant=20
Petersburg society poetess.  After their arrival in=20
Athens, Alla presents him with Pierre Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80=99 Chansons de =
Bilitis =E2=80=9Cin the cheap edition =
illustrated with=20
the naked forms of adolescents, from which she would read to him, =
meaningfully=20
pronouncing the French, in the early evening on the Acropolis, the most=20
appropriate place, one might say=E2=80=9D (30). =20
(=D0=90=D0=BB=D0=BB=D0=B0=20
=E2=80=A6 =D0=BF=D0=BE =D0=BF=D1=80ie=D0=B7=D0=B4e=20
=D0=B2=D1=8A =D0=90=D1=84=D0=B8=D0=BD=D1=8B, =D0=BF=D0=BE=D0=B4=D0=B0=D1=80=
=D0=B8=D0=BB=D0=B0 =D0=B5=D0=BC=D1=83 "=D0=9Fe=D1=81=D0=BD=D0=B8=20
=D0=91=D0=B8=D0=BB=D0=B8=D1=82=D0=B8=D1=81=D1=8A", =D0=B4=D0=B5=D1=88=D0=B5=
=D0=B2=D0=BE=D0=B5 =D0=B8=D0=B7=D0=B4=D0=B0=D0=BDi=D0=B5,=20
=D0=B8=D0=BB=D0=BB=D1=8E=D1=81=D1=82=D1=80=D0=B8=D1=80=D0=BE=D0=B2=D0=B0=D0=
=BD=D0=BD=D0=BE=D0=B5 =D1=84=D0=B8=D0=B3=D1=83=D1=80=D0=B0=D0=BC=D0=B8 =
=D0=B3=D0=BE=D0=BB=D1=8B=D1=85=D1=8A =D0=BF=D0=BE=D0=B4=D1=80=D0=BE=D1=81=
=D1=82=D0=BA=D0=BE=D0=B2=D1=8A, [38] =D0=B8 =D1=87=D0=B8=D1=82=D0=B0=D0=BB=
=D0=B0 =D0=B5=D0=BC=D1=83 =D0=B2=D1=81=D0=BB=D1=83=D1=85=D1=8A,=20
=D0=B2=D1=8B=D1=80=D0=B0=D0=B7=D0=B8=D1=82=D0=B5=D0=BB=D1=8C=D0=BD=D0=BE =
=D0=BF=D1=80=D0=BE=D0=B8=D0=B7=D0=BD=D0=BE=D1=81=D1=8F =D1=84=D1=80=D0=B0=
=D0=BD=D1=86=D1=83=D0=B7=D1=81=D0=BAi=D1=8F=20
=D1=81=D0=BB=D0=BE=D0=B2=D0=B0, =D0=BF=D0=BE=D0=B4=D0=B2=D0=B5=D1=87=D0=B5=
=D1=80=D1=8A, =D0=BD=D0=B0 =D0=90=D0=BA=D1=80=D0=BE=D0=BF=D0=BE=D0=BBe,=20
=D0=BD=D0=B0 =D1=81=D0=B0=D0=BC=D0=BE=D0=BC=D1=8A, =D1=82=D0=B0=D0=BA=D1=8A=
 =D1=81=D0=BA=D0=B0=D0=B7=D0=B0=D1=82=D1=8C, =D0=BF=D0=BE=D0=B4=D1=85=D0=BE=
=D0=B4=D1=8F=D1=89=D0=B5=D0=BC=D1=8A =D0=BCe=D1=81=D1=82e). The low opinion of =
the=20
thirty-year-old Nabokov of Les Chansons de =
Bilitis is evident. But perhaps it had =
once been=20
otherwise. 


 

One of=20
Ada=E2=80=99s themes is the Ardis library=20
from which Van filches erotic reading material for himself and=20
Ada=
, whose=20
access is strictly regulated. Nabokov has =
remarked=20
that between the ages of ten and fifteen in St. Petersbburg he probably read  more  fiction and poetry=E2=80=94Englis=
h, Russian, and=20
French -- than in any other five-year period in my life=E2=80=9D (SO-42). =
The Nabokov family library has long since been dispersed =
but its=20
printed catalogue survives: Sistematicheskii katalog =
Biblioteki Vladimira =
Dmitrievicha Nabokova.=20
(S-Peterburg: Tovarishchestvo Xudozhestvennoi<=
/SPAN>=20
Pechati, 1904). Item numbers 372 & 373 are =
=E2=80=9CLouys,  =
P.  Aphrodite. Paris, 1901=E2=80=9D =
and =E2=80=9CLouys, P. Les Chansons de =
Bilitis, Paris MDCCCXCVIII=E2=80=9D=20
(1898).


 


* Be it =
noted that Van=E2=80=99s=20
three infallible characteristics for recognizing lesbians are to be found =
in=20
Lou=C3=BFs=E2=80=99 novella where short hair =
and skimpy bosoms are=20
the typifying traits.


 


D. Barton =
Johnson,=20
Editor NABOKV-L


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[1]  Be it noted that Les Chansons=20 do not, in fact, remark these features.

[2]= =20 For details, see my NABOKV-L note =E2=80=9CAda = & Garbo=E2=80=9D of August=20 30, 2003.

Search the Nabokv-L archive at = UCSB

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