Dear List,
There are one or two intriguing poinsts which I found
in VN's 1925 Russian novel, "The Return of Chorb" and I wonder if
there is any article with a "timeline" ( like JF's for Pale Fire) which might
elucidate certain puzzles.
The short-story is set in a small peaceful twon in
Germany, in the years that followed WWI ( 1916-1920). A young couple departs on
a long honeymoon- trip in Autumn, crossing from Germany into Switzerland
(Winter) and France ( late Spring, or at the time when apple trees are
in their late bloom). Chorb returns alone, in a detailed & almost
religious trip towards his point of departure, reaching it when it is
still Spring with exuberant blossoming chestnut
trees. Although the husband is a Russian
"destitute 'emigre' and 'litterateur' " the newly-weds must have had enough time
and financial resources to depart on their long pleasure trip
extending from Autumn into Spring.
Nabokov stresses hours and seasons and the story actually takes place in a single night ( from around 8 PM
to at most 3 PM)
There are indirect references to Orpheus (
and Eurydice), Persephone ( sojourning in Hades) and Semele ( killed by her
lover's splendor).
Parsifal, Wagner's opera, is directly mentioned
as "a leisurely affair presented with relish so
as to overgorge one with music"
Chorb needs almost six months to travel, but returns
after three weeks, only.
Wagner's opera, almost "sacred" would not have
been performed in the early twenties except in specially designed
places. The novel's town, with its 13th Century cathedral and Municipal
Opera House is, yet, a "small and peaceful" place.
Nor was Parsifal a leisurely affair, its performance
should take more than six hours to be completed...
Or did the Kellers attend an abridged version of it,
much as Chorb's return was also "abridged"?
The apish Herr Keller looked like a Mr. Kruger, could
this indicate "Krug" and a closed circle?
We find a seasonal cycle, a Ulyssean trip "home" (
but the young wife was buried in Nice and Chorb was Russian). Also the
Keller couple goes from the Opera house towards their own and next
back to the Opera ( the third-rate hotel was nearby the
shing Opera place)
Any helpful hint about Parsifal, death and
ressurrection, chronologies, cycles, European flowers?