Discovery #2- pg. 83

This is a brief discovery of sorts, within this sentence: "In the study I found a large picture of their parents, with sexes reversed, Mrs. G resembling Malenkov, and Mr. G. a Medusa-locked hag..." (83).

I wasn't sure who Malenkov was, but I knew from the "kov" he was Russian. Turns out he was in the inner circle of Stalin during the communist regime and was a rather unpleasant looking man.

Aside from the entirely comical "gender reversal", the sentence makes me want to picture what the family photo might have looked like. Here, ladies and gentleman, is pictorial your gift from me:

Man and Wife

Book Covers for Pale Fire

Trying hard to find a discovery within the book covers. Obviously the middle cover is of Nabokov himself, as a younger person - but why younger? Why not a photograph of him during the time period he wrote Pale Fire?

The Penguin Publishing version of P.F. is the first- a candle in a red room? Why? Does anyone else have an idea about this? Does the color red signify something in P.F.?

And, lastly, the cover that was reprinted by his publisher (Vintage International), which the credits say was refurbished in 1989 by "the Estate of Vladimir Nabokov". Does this mean his son or someone within the family redid the cover? If so, what is the picture? It looks like a person within some sort of ghostly light- which obviously makes sense. Is that how most readers envision P.F.? As a sort of ghostly story?

I'll continue my hunt.

Discovery #1-Goldsworth Names

It is a given to explore the reasons for names within Nabokov's literature. The names of the A-D daughters of Goldsworth also carry intellectual tidbits.

Alphina, or Alpina, is a moth within the Geometer family- a common species that we humans call "pests". They look like your typical brown moth. Alphina, in other words, signifies a plain, girlish pest.

Betty could possibly stand for the popular cookbook from Betty Crocker, first published in 1950. Because of the misogyny represented in this book, it wouldn't surprise me to see women's names carrying the burden of stereotypical women's roles. The Betty Crocker cookbook was the most popular of the decade- and with the Goldsworth cat even having his diet written out for him, who's to say Ms. Crocker wasn't celebrated among the G family.

Candida- upon first glance, my knowledge of yeast came into play. Candida yeast overgrowth is a common reason why we first-world Americans are so fat. The overgrowth is caused by the antibiotics we are prescribed- the yeast stays in our body and craves sugar, so we eat more to satisfy the "parasite". It's probably doubtful that Nabokov meant this- but while we're on the role of names carrying negative connotations...
"Candida" was also a play in 1898 about a man trying to win a woman's affections- from wikipedia: "The play questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, asking what a woman really desires from her husband"- I found no real link to Pale Fire here, therefore I'm going with my first, and more negative assumption: yeast overgrowth.

Dee is proving to be a stretch. Also a common 1950's popular name- it carrys the same burden as Betty: stereotypical and plain.
Sidenote: In all pronunciations of Nabokov's name, it says "vlah-DEE-meer"...which I'm probably reading too much into.

Kinbote Annoyances

I forgot to post the reasons why Kinbote annoys me. I decided to stop listing them after only a few pages into my reading because the list was getting too long. These are the main annoyances to highlight:
1) Almost every sentence on page 73 begins with "I". The poem isn't about "you".
2) This sentence in general: "(in accordance with what may be known some day as Kinbote's Law)."
3) "I have not shaved for a year..." (76)- is that sentence alone really necessary? His hygiene? Really?
4) His nosiness in general, but namely in the Goldsworth home. (83-85)- everything from their cat's dietary needs to their literature, to their children's names- won't he just leave things alone?
5) On page 89 he decided for his "agnostic John" that whether he knew it or not he was having a "God" moment.
6) Sybil apparently looked as though she had just invented a new recipe because of the look on her face (91)- probably because that's all women think about anyway, right?
7) Sybil toned down his Zemblan theme! (91)

...there are so many more, but probably not worth my typing. I suspect other readers have many more to contribute, so I'll stop here!

Pada ata lane.... etc

I had to cheat on this one. I really have no idea how someone could have just guessed at the secret message with in the scramble of words!

"Pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan the tale feur far rant lant tal told" on page 188 of Pale Fire is a secret message Hazel gives to her father to not go to the lane to be mistaken for Goldsworth after finishing 'Pale Fire'.

This does not explain how she knew something like this would happen. What human would? Is this genre really science fiction?

Kinbote "Commentary" on 2-Pager

It was very difficult for me to choose a paper to comment on- mostly because so many of them were scattered and touched on so many thoughts, not just one central theme. However, Jon Orsi's paper struck me right away. He picked a topic and noticed the small details within, therefore nailing the assignment.

Commentary:
"Ouroboros: the snake that eats itself," he begins, leaving everything to the imagination. "Page 57: Lolita in a page." -Ahh, now we can recall, understand, piece together...

"The passage begins, “Main Character: Humbert the Hummer. Time: Sunday morning in June. Place: sunlit living room. Props old, candy-stripped davenport…” The setup is that of stage direction, of a play. A play by Humbert, in which he is the writer/director, the puppeteer of his subjects. A prelude to an orchestration."
Although we have all read this passage at least twice, Orsi hits on something important here: Humbert is the one creating the 'play'- everything about Lolita can be seen as a sort of play, another dimension of reality, reminding us that it is fiction all the while (even though our mind tells us otherwise). It is interesting to note that he says Humbert is the character in charge, instead of Nabokov.

"The puppets tethers have been tied with tight poetry."
A Nabokovian sentence to conclude the second paragraph- it's in the T's.

"After the stage has been set, Humbert instantly drives toward the subject of the novel: Lolita: his sin his soul, our story."
Again, Orsi interestingly chooses "Humbert" as the one who is leading us along- hinting that he is also among those whom are fooled by the fictional 'play' at hand.

"Even the structure of the passage reads as we would see Lolita, slowly letting our gaze take her in, “…and, to complete the color scheme, she had painted her lips and was holding in her hollowed hands a beautiful, banal, Eden-red apple.” The subtleties grow and ripen. Temptation flowers. Even the reader, whether or not they will admit, wants a bite of that apple."
Orsi's interpretation of the passage is dead-on. Readers do want a piece of the apple, or at least to see a picture of Lolita and the apple together so as to know if we're accurately envisioning her beauty and the beauty of the apple. Temptation is incredibly accurate here as Lolita tempts Humbert and the readers.

"Turns the written word into streaming realism, inducing a literary synesthesia. It also manages to turn character psyche, in that innocence is lost. Lolita-as Humbert would like us to believe- has become the seductress. Tossing. Tempting."
Yes, Jon, with our "literary synethesia" (I love this term), we can't tell what's going on anymore. We're tempted by the fruit, enthralled by its colors and Lolita holding it- therefore, on the turn of a dime, we find ourselves thinking she is the actual "seductress" now.

"In this passage, flirtation is carried out, temptation is presented, and in little time, the original sin is indulged, “Humbert Humbert intercepted the apple.” "
There is so much going on in this passage and Orsi continues to nail it. This is the first time we really see H.H. carry out his treachery, and the use of the apple as a metaphor is genius. I thank you for pointing this out to me, Orsi.

The topic of fruit as metaphor in Lolita is something I definitely overlooked when I read through. Although my mind went in depth on other topics, I am glad to have found Jon Orsi's paper about this incredible imagery.

Final Lolita Entry

I never really made a final post about my thoughts on Lolita, so I will end by putting the rest of my notes from the book on here. I wrote my paper on the use of the words "old world" and the way H.H. describes things as such- which is the majority of my notes since those words were used nearly once every other page.

Another idea I would have liked to have written about for the paper was Humbert's draw to the scenery of Ramsdale. He thought it was really beautiful, noting "(elms, white church)" on page 35 when he first arrived. On 288, when he returns for the last time, he speaks of the beautiful elms again. It seems he had found a comfortable place in Ramsdale.

The other paper topic I was grappling with was the play on names he would give himself. In my annotations blog, I wrote about "Humbert the Small" and "Humbert the Terrible"- and all of the maddening complex circles of discoveries that entailed. Here are just a few of what I had written down:
-Humbert he Hummer (57)
-Humbert the Hoarse (48)
-Humbert the Hound (60)
-Humbert the Wounded Spider (54)
-Humbert the Cubus (71)
-Humbert the Humble (55)
-Humbert the the popular butcher (108)
...etc.
These names began to take on a life of their own on each page he placed them- allowing your mind to take on what Humbert wanted you to see him as in that scene. They were also really comical- it was funny to envision a man with such distinction calling himself such names.
***
Lolita's hygiene was also another topic encountered throughout, which was also very comical.
On page 43,
"She should wash her hair once in awhile."
Page 49,
"Is she still brushing her teeth (the only sanitary act Lo preforms with real zest)?"
...And also while staying in Enchanted Hunters, Humbert said Lo is taking a much-needed shower.
***
Other incredibly humorous bits:

On page 187 he calls the boys Lo "sees" by their apparel:
"There was for instance Red Sweater who one day...saw her home"
"There was Windbreaker who talked to her in front of a restaurant"

Humbert's view of marriage throughout:
"Should I marry Pratt and strangle her?" (197)...upon her "advice" on Lolita

His hatred of dogs:
"I loathe dogs" (73)
"There she was, playing with a damned dog" (236)

His idea of "jokes":
"The tour of your thigh, you know, should not exceed seventeen and a half inches. More might be fatal (I was kidding of course)." (209)
"We must remember that a pistol is the Freudian symbol of Ur-Father's central forelimb" (216) HA-HA

Lolita smokes while she's pregnant: 275
Sicilians sexuality between father and daughter: 150 (so untrue!)

Anyway, there were lots more- but these were the highlights. Overall, Lolita was a good read....again!

An “Old-World” Humbert Humbert

Humbert Humbert, being the detestable character he was, still managed to carry himself with a distinct European swagger in Lolita. Throughout his perverse journey, H.H. maintained a peculiar code of ethics, given to him by Vladimir Nabokov. In this, Humbert recognized “old-world” when he saw it- for it was the highest of all acknowledgment or compliment he gave, despite his own troubling ventures. His European disposition gave him the ability to recognize the value and significance of the “old-world” manners he believed to have embodied, and also referenced in others so often.
The first time readers encounter Humbert’s idea of commendable action, he is in an already unusual situation: while his newly ex-wife gathers her belongings to leave for good, her taxi-driving boyfriend makes himself comfortable in Humbert’s abode. However crude the driver truly was, Humbert still “[could not] say [Taxovich] behaved insolently or anything like that; on the contrary, he displayed, as a small sideshow in the theatricals [H.H.] had been inveigled in, a discreet old-world civility” (29). H.H. seems to acclaim Mr. Taxovich’s antics perhaps because his Russian “ethics” are familiar, in the European sense, as well as completely blithe in the chaotic situation, as if he had known the Humberts for years.
Humbert also enjoys noting his own very “old-world” characteristics, probably to make himself seem more alluring. Upon arriving at 342 Lawn Street, Charlotte Haze showed Mr. Humbert around her home, while Humbert remained disinterested, and yet, “old-world politeness…obliged [him] to go on with the ordeal” (38). Charlotte Haze, soon after, even writes H.H. about his “old-world reticence [and] sense of decorum” (68), proving to readers that Humbert truly does radiate the European way he admires most.
After marrying Charlotte, Humbert tries his utmost to be sure she is satisfied so as to not interfere with his Lolita obsession. In this, H.H. “amply compensated her by a fantastic display of old-world endearments” (74).
Upon his abduction of Lolita from Camp Q, Humbert learns Lolita’s sexual past is not all-together virginal. “Of course,” in Humbert’s “old-fashioned, old-world way…[he] had taken for granted, when [he] first met her, that she was as un-ravished as the stereotypical notion of ‘normal child’ had been since the lamented end of the Ancient World B.C.” (124). Humbert feels the need to blame his naivety on the “old-world way” in attempts to not seem ignorant to modern affairs.
Lastly, whilst meeting with Pratt, Lolita’s principal, she, too, noted Humbert as “an old-fashioned Continental father” (193). His obsession with keeping the affair quite created sternness, mistaken by others as being “old-fashioned”. Pratt also began to describe Lolita’s sexual development in “zones”, which neither the reader nor Humbert could understand- however, she dismissed his misunderstanding of the entire thought as “the old-fashioned European in [Humbert]” (194).
It is clear that Humbert Humbert truly values an old-world attitude unique to the European ethic he had grown up with. Other characters saw the “old” traits in him, as he saw and admired in other characters. Without this repeated factor, Humbert might not have been the charming character that enticed his audience one old-world affair at a time.

Thursday's Notes for class (10/01)

Does anyone happen to have notes from Thursday's class that they have posted? I think I'm following every one's blog in the class, but just in case I missed a person that happened to have updated with notes from Thursday, I thought I'd make a post about it. Thanks!