My guess is that it might be irony, that is, VN is hinting that green-eyed cats is a literary cliché. Another possibility that the perception of green eyes is a subjective reflex of the ambient lighting—certainly a familiar theme in Nabokov. I’ve been around cats all my life and have yet to see a green-eyed one (Siamese cats really do, however, have blue eyes).

Eric Hyman

Professor of English

Department of English

Butler 133

Fayetteville State University

1200 Murchison Road

Fayetteville, NC 28301-4252

(910) 672-1901

ehyman@uncfsu.edu

From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of Jansy Mello
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 3:03 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Cat's eyes

In Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lectures on Literature”, on the chapter on Dickens (Bowers,p.120), when he notes that Krook “comes slowly up, with his green-eyed cat following at his heels” he adds: “All cats have green eyes – but notice how green these eyes are owing to the lighted candle slowly ascending the stairs.” His own eyes were greenish (or hazel?), Lolita’s were “vair” (grey-green while Lucette’s were a definite catty emerald green.

In RLSK we encounter a vanishing cat with “celadon” eyes ( a bluish/green/grey colored porcelain), so it seems that VN admitted variations in feline eye-coloring. Why then did VN assure his students that “all cats have green eyes”?

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