Vladimir Nabokov: Glory

[pontalba]

As I recall it, the very dismissive remark Nabokov made about Dostoevsky was on one of the radio interviews on the BBC that SIL posted awhile back. (Thanks again SIL!) It was dismissive to the point of not even giving Dostoevsky the courtesy of sarcasm. Ouch!

I read some King Arthur and the Round Table stories when I was a kid, but don't even remember which versions. But I think a very nice adult version was written by Mary Stewart, beginning with The Crystal Cave. Then The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment. They are told from a very human version of Merlin the Magician.

As far as Martin, I don't think he needs Herr Doktor, he needs a swift kick. :crossedeyes:

 

[Peder]

As I recall it, the very dismissive remark Nabokov made about Dostoevsky was on one of the radio interviews on the BBC that SIL posted awhile back. (Thanks again SIL!) It was dismissive to the point of not even giving Dostoevsky the courtesy of sarcasm. Ouch!

I read some King Arthur and the Round Table stories when I was a kid, but don't even remember which versions. But I think a very nice adult version was written by Mary Stewart, beginning with The Crystal Cave. Then The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment. They are told from a very human version of Merlin the Magician.

As far as Martin, I don't think he needs Herr Doktor, he needs a swift kick. :crossedeyes:

Pontalba,
re Dostoevsky, I'm pretty sure that, in addition, one can find VN's thoughts in more detail and probably in full Technicolor in his Lectures on Russian Literature, (different from his other plain Lectures on Literature). But if one scouts around among the amazon reviews over there, one can also find a reviewer who gives a time-saving summary scorecard of who's a winner and who's a loser in VN's view.

re King Arthur: So now you heap them on my to-be-purchased-list three at a time, eh? But they sound good, so I'll have a look at them over at Borders before long, oy! But good oy, and many thanks for the titles.

But Martin? That young man gets a separate post of vexation!!!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

re King Arthur: So now you heap them on my to-be-purchased-list three at a time, eh? But they sound good, so I'll have a look at them over at Borders before long, oy! But good oy, and many thanks for the titles.

I do my best to keep up my side.

posted by Peder-- re Dostoevsky, I'm pretty sure that, in addition, one can find VN's thoughts in more detail and probably in full Technicolor in his Lectures on Russian Literature

Yes, I too needed another Nabokov.....

posted by Peder--But Martin? That young man gets a separate post of vexation!!!
Peder

Hmmm.....this could go either way.....

 

[Peder]

As far as Martin, I don't think he needs Herr Doktor, he needs a swift kick. :crossedeyes:

Pontalba.
Just as you say! That Martin? He is a vexation! And I really can't figure out some of the words that are written about him and Glory. They truly make me wonder.
We have VN's word for it in the Introduction, p xi, that:

Martin is the kindest, uprightest and most touching of all my young men.

But the back cover tells us

Glory is the wryly ironic story of Martin Edelweiss .....

I can't figure whether VN was slyly smiling when he paid those compliments to Martin, or not.

And ironic? That word always confused me, but I'm having trouble figuring which way the story is ironic. I can understand that the good man's virtues are shown as not being beneficial to him. But more exactly I wonder what VN's attitude toward Martin really is/was. Does VN truly admire Martin's virtues, but use the book to show what they come to in the real world? Or is VN the sardonic one who suggests that such virtues are foolish because here is how they work out in the real world? The latter doen't really sound like VN to me, so why "ironic?"

So when VN was saying "kindest, uprightest, most touching..." was he at the same time also quietly thinking "and most foolish?"

And so now VN, go ahead and chuckle! Because you sure have me perplexed.
Peder

 

[Breaca]

I have no idea what "in the European manner" means either. Hmmm maybe our British contingent would know?
Breaca?
Steffee?

Having been put on the spot Dunno your honour. But if I let my imagination take over I can only think that perhaps the great man was alluding to the use of said walking cane as a fashion accessory rather than an aid to walking. At some point in history no gentleman worth his salt would have been seen without one. And it brings to mind the rather exagerated use of the walking cane you see in dem der old movies - standing tall with shoulders held back, quick flip of the wrist bringing cane out in an arc before bringing to rest lightly and quickly on ground...... Hehehe then there's Charlie Chaplins use of walking cane

 

[pontalba]

Peder I think Nabokov did have an affection and liking for Martin and his noble intentions. Remember the foreword wasn't written until 1970. I suspect that VN was looking back on the youthful Nabokov writing about the innocent youth Martin and shaking his head in part exasperation, part admiration. So I think you are right in VN thinking Martin foolish, but not in a mean way, just in the way a father looks at his son, and sees the son making the same mistake he (the father) made so long ago.

Ironic can be used and misused. On the back it says "wryly ironic".
Wry: 1. Having a bent or twisted shpe or condition (a ~ smile); also turned abnormally to one side (a ~ neck) 2. WRONGHEADED 3. cleverly and often ironically or grimly humorous.
Ironic: 1. relating to, containing, or constituting irony. rolleyes: )
Irony: 3. Incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.

Now the all caps in wrongheaded above are not mine, but the dictionarys. But it certainly fits Martin doesn't it? And I thought the #3 definition fit Martin best of all in the story line. Nothing Martin did came out the way he wanted or intended.

 

[pontalba]

Peder Yes as VN says

Martin is the kindest, uprightest and most touching of all my young men.

But he was "soft" and didn't have the discipline given in youth that was needed for he dreamy sort of fellow he was. Soft is fine, but it not tempered with 'sensible' it can get one into a world of trouble. We have the evidence.

Morning Breaca! Charlie Chaplin indeed! You might be right, it could be just as you say the unneeded cane usage. Still confused though to a degree.

 

[Breaca]

Mmmm, sorry, I am still here but I'm just mulling over a few things and flicking through a few pages.....

Oh and Good Morning

 

[pontalba]

I'm putting the kettle on.....want some?

 

[Breaca]

I'm putting the kettle on.....want some?

Very tempting - ah I can see it now.... Cup and saucer with my favourite brew, side plate of cookies, and big, fat comfy chair. And good company. And rows upon rows of books to browse. What more could a gal want

 

[Peder]

Ah, I see we need more evidence.

Next morning heroic Pnin marched to town, walking a cane in the European manner (up-down, up-down) letting his gaze ...... p.38 Pnin

The prize is now down to $32 000 and you can call one friend if you wish. Do you want to make that call?


Peder

 

[pontalba]

Ah, I see we need more evidence.



The prize is now down to $32 000 and you can call one friend if you wish. Do you want to make that call?


Peder

Brilliant!

Tea is on, come and get it!

 

[Peder]

I do my best to keep up my side.

Yes, I too needed another Nabokov.....

Oh you wit, Pontalba!
How will I ever keep up with you?!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Very tempting - ah I can see it now.... Cup and saucer with my favourite brew, side plate of cookies, and big, fat comfy chair. And good company. And rows upon rows of books to browse. What more could a gal want

LOL. No cookies, but something with peanutbutter.....

 

[pontalba]

Oh you wit, Pontalba!
How will I ever keep up with you?!
Peder

You are so far ahead of me you are rounding the curve again! And I am doin' my best to keep up.

 

[Peder]

Second clue

And the second clue, is that the walking stick appears twice in The Enchanter,

First on p.16, in the park.

All the while he calmly sat, listening, smiling, nnodding his head, pulling at a pant leg to free his knee, scrabbling lightly in the graveol with his walking stick, and saying "Is that so?" and "Yes. it happens sometimes, you know..." but comprehending his neighbor's words only when the girl was not nearby.

And then on p.61, with him seated in the back of the chauffered car while the girl sat up front.

He sat leaning back, holding his stick -- a very valuable antique thing with a thick coral head -- between his knees, gazing throuh the partition at the beret and the contented shoulders.

Clearly it is a case of don't go anywhere without it!

Peder

 

[pontalba]

You are so far ahead of me you are rounding the curve again! And I am doin' my best to keep up.

Peder

See what I mean? ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

 

[Peder]

Peder

See what I mean? ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Nah, Pontalba,
That was just page turning to find them. Actually, I was disappointed not to find him using it 'in the European manner' any place. So i'm still working the trail. Nothing in the short story.
But incidentally The Enchanter is still a pretty good read, even just skimming the pages. The convolutions and compexities in the action are numerous and truly fascinating, as VN weaves the sinister story along from beginning to end. And no car chases, no secret documents, no murders, no conspiracies. Can I say just pure Alfred Hitchcock psycho-thriller?
Peder

 

[pontalba]

The contrasts between Zilanov and Martin are interesting. Zilanov rode the trains with no thought or notice of the picturesque scenery whizzing past the windows. Yet in some ways he'd lived the dangerous life that Martin inwardly craved. p.77-78

While marveling at his inattention to landscapes, comforts, and cleanliness, Martin nevertheless admired Zilanov for that plodding dryish courage of his, and every time he saw him could not help recalling that this seemingly unathletic and unfashionable man, who probably played only billiards and perhaps bowls, had escaped from the Bolshevists by crawling through a drainpipe, and had once fought a duel with the Octobrist Tuchkov.

So on one hand, Martin...losing himself in the beauty of the scenery, craving dangerous situations, and otoh, Zilanov, ignoring beauty but survived the terrors that Martin craved. There is an odd sort of balance there. Then of course Zilanov is the father of Sophie.

 

[Peder]

The contrasts between Zilanov and Martin are interesting. Zilanov rode the trains with no thought or notice of the picturesque scenery whizzing past the windows. Yet in some ways he'd lived the dangerous life that Martin inwardly craved. p.77-78
So on one hand, Martin...losing himself in the beauty of the scenery, craving dangerous situations, and otoh, Zilanov, ignoring beauty but survived the terrors that Martin craved. There is an odd sort of balance there. Then of course Zilanov is the father of Sophie.

Pontalba,
Reading backward into the Introduction, p.xi, Zilanov seems to be one of those direct touches that are based on, but not identical with reality, that VN includes so seamlessly into his writing. In this case

The three staunch patriots dedicated to counter-Bolshevist work, Zilanov, Iogolevich and Gruzinov, belong to that group of people ... as far from Monarchists on the one side as from Marxists on the other, whom I was well acquainted with in the entourage of the very magazine which serialized Podvig, but none is an exact portrait of a specific individual.

And then he goes into lament, p.xii, as we have heard previously, that

...in the meantime American intellectuals had been conditioned by Bolshevist propaganda into utterly disregarding the vigorous existence of iberal thought among Russian expatriates.

So it sounds like VN was more intimately familiar with politics among emigres than this novel, or Vera even suggest, where he and his writing are mainly mentioned as being well-liked in the emigre literary community. It would seem however that the topic was never far from his mind, no matter how generally apolitical Glory may sound. One wonders whether in that group of actual political expatriates he, VN, was aware of a separation between his literary inclinations and their nitty-gritty activism, exactly as you point out in your post between Martin and Zilanov. It seems so likely.
Peder