Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin

[steffee]

Mine is really small too, but the book is small.

Maybe it would be best to stick to Chapters and sub-chapters(??)?

 

[pontalba]

Thanks Pontalba. When I first bought this book I pronounced it as Pee-nin, which I realised wasn't very Russian-sounding, especially when I saw the "Dzeefeecultee" bit. It probably doesn't matter but since his name is mentioned a lot throughout the book, I wanted to get it right

LOL Steffee!

As far as the page # vs. chapter citing, I've been trying to do both, as Madeline's is different, but I was unsure as to which one you had, and I am pretty sure that Peder has the same one I have. Confuselating isn't it?

The question of the number of narrators is brought up by Brian Boyd in his Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years. Even if we know who the "narrator" seems to be, what about the episodes that no one else could have known? Such as the report of the onset of Pnin's seizure in the beginning of the story. Could someone else have known the interior workings of Pnin's mind? Or could it just have been Authorial License? Real or invented?

 

[Madeline]

Mine is really small too, but the book is small.

Maybe it would be best to stick to Chapters and sub-chapters(??)?

In the front of mine is says, This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf. An Everyman's Library on the cover.
Don't worry about me, i'll find the information

 

[pontalba]

In the front of mine is says, This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf. An Everyman's Library on the cover.
Don't worry about me, i'll find the information

That sounds like one of those cloth covered ones. Nice. I have the trade paperback by Vintage International.

 

[steffee]

I have a Penguin paperback.

 

[StillILearn]

Steffee According to this article: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nab-r-pnin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

it is pronounced Pnin*pronounced P'neen.

Great link, pontalba! You guys are amazing with your links. (It's as if you keep a bunch of them handy in your pockets, and what did we ever do without the internet?)

I loved this particular bit of trivia -- it makes it more fun to know how Pnin might have pronounced (did pronounce) things:

He [Pnin] teaches classic Russian literature at Waindell (pronounced, by him, Vandal) ...

I think I got "Pun-neen" right at the beginning from Laurence Clements when Pnin was calling about renting the Clements's room, but darned if I can find it now. No doubt Clements was being mean.

 

[pontalba]

.....and what did we ever do without the internet?)

Hah! Probably read a little more, but didn't read the variety we (at least I) read now. Quality vs. Quantity I doubt seriously that I would have ever read Nabokov without a little prodding. And I'm grateful for it.

 

[StillILearn]

Hah! Probably read a little more, but didn't read the variety we (at least I) read now. Quality vs. Quantity I doubt seriously that I would have ever read Nabokov without a little prodding. And I'm grateful for it.

Same here, pontalba. And I never would have appreciated him as much as I do now. God knows I never would have read Pnin (or Pale Fire.)

 

[steffee]

Morning everyone (it's not morning here, but never mind)

I've finished Pnin and wow, how fantastic!! I think Pnin is my favourite Nabokovian book so far. Poor poor Pnin, he certainly didn't have an easy ride, did he?

I'm struggling a little with working out who the narrator was... maybe it is more than one

The language stuff was really interesting, and the discussion of Victor Wind (did it sound like he was autistic or something to you?) and in fact all the Winds, and some of the scenes were just so vivid, like Pnin washing the dishes after the party and breaking the glass... who else but Nabokov could write a page and a half description of someone doing the dishes and still make it sound interesting and funny!!

Great stuff, I'm going to reread now

 

[pontalba]

I liked Victor, he was a caring and sweet young man. I didn't get the vibes that he was autistic but more that he was a genius. Ordinary things simply did not interest him. His interests were specialized, and remember he did work at parttime jobs, such as the one out west to pay for Timofey's precious glass bowl. Until I counted back and read the passages of Liza coming back to Pnin (temporarily) for the trip to America, I thought there was a possibility that Victor was Pnin's child. Oh How I Wish! But no, alas. That would have been fitting (to me).

Its just so infuriating that a sweet, simplistic/complex man like TP would fall so hard for a witch like Liza! And to keep it in his mind for all those years. What loyalty, and to what.............? 'Tis a puzzlement.

 

[steffee]

I loved the whole Liza theme though. I think it added something special to the book. There was her, with her promiscuity(?) and whatnot, and gentle old Pnin, and yeah, Victor was sweet... it was the references to his drawings, how advanced he was, and then those tests he did which showed that in certain areas he was very mature, and in others, very immature, which is typical of sufferers of some types of autism, like Aspergers Syndrome, I think... though again, I don't know how long these have been around, and Pnin isn't a newly written book.

Between the pleasantly pedantic Pnin (try saying that when you've had a few drinks!) and Liza, and the Winds, and whoever the narrator(s) was/were, it was a great read... where else in a book of this age, can you find a reference to "Lesbian" as an insult

 

[pontalba]

Liza certainly added a lot to the story, no doubt about it. If only the girl Mira hadn't been taken away from him. p.134, or Chapter 5, sub section 5 (near the end):

The Civil War of 1918-22 separated them: history broke their engagement.

They were drawn/thrown in opposite directions geographically, and it wasn't until the early thirties that they encountered each other again. and:

but the pang of tenderness remained, akin to the vibrating outline of verses you know you know but cannot recall.

/sigh/ And to know how she died, or really not know the exact manner of death, was one of the worst tortures for Timofey.

It was right after that, or during really that he had what was termed "That strange spasm". Stress and nerves........and longing for what wasn't.

EDIT: I mean the spasm was right after his remembering of Mira while he was at the house party.

 

[steffee]

So it's possible Pnin has some kind of psychological disorder caused by the anxiety of losing Mira and dealing with Liza.

I hadn't considered that before, but Nabokov's central characters all have the loss of a significant other in common, if I recall correctly, and also HH and Pnin both had to deal with troublesome females subsequent to the departure of their "on and only", so to speak.

 

[pontalba]

Thats true Steffee, HH lost his Annabel, The Enchanter (arthur) lost his sister, his coeval, who had died long ago, and now Timofey, his Mira. I suppose one could call the wife in Enchanter "troublesome" LOL, and Charlotte certainly was, plus Valeria (sp), and now Liza.

Well, VN certainly had a share of troublesome females before he found Vera. He was engaged several times that fell thru, and he had an affair during their marriage while still in Europe. The Last Affair I might add!

But regarding Victor, here is a passage on p.89 (chap 4, sub 3)

Genius is non-conformity. At two, Victor did not make little spiral scribbles to express buttons or portholes, as a million tots do, why not you? Lovingly he made his circles perfectly round and perfectly closed.

Plus above that quote it says:

Both Eric and Liza Wind were morbidly concerned with the heredity, and instead of delighting in Victor's artistic genius, they used to worry gloomily about its genetic cause.

Now if thats not Nabokov taking a dig at Freud, I don't know what is! What the Wind's don't take into consideration IMO is that everyone is a genetic mix of their parents, grandparents........et als. The way it is mixed is anyones guess. And certainly beyond our understanding/analysis.

 

[pontalba]

So it's possible Pnin has some kind of psychological disorder caused by the anxiety of losing Mira and dealing with Liza.

I don't know the terminology, but I don't think its an out of the way or abnormal reaction to the losses in his life. I expect his heart was weak from the fevers he had as a child, whatever their cause was, and stress will attack whatever is weakest in the physical body.

 

[steffee]

Absolutely.

That's the passage I meant. It goes on to say...

"Or was Victor's almost pathalogical precision of pencil and pen a by-product of Bogolepov's science?"

and then the "at two..." passage goes on to say...

"To the Winds, Victor was a problem child insofar as he refused to be one. From the Wind point of view, every male child had an ardent desire to castrate his father and a nostalgic urge to re-enter his mother's body"

Which is so Freudian, I'm surprised he had the nerve! And got away with it! But it's not surprising then, that VN should choose Eric and Liza Wind to have these (dumb) beliefs, he he he.

Naughty, naughty, Nabokov!

 

[steffee]

Can we do a kind of character linking...

Professor Timofey Pnin - the central character
Dr. Pavel Pnin - TP's father, the Dr. that gets the speck of dust from the narrator's eye when he was 12.
Dr Liza Wind - Pnin's one time lover(?)
Dr Eric Wind - Liza's husband
Victor Wind - son of L.W. and E.W.
Dr. Hermann Hagen - another professor, and jealous of Pnin(?)

Etc...

 

[pontalba]

Which is so Freudian, I'm surprised he had the nerve! And got away with it! But it's not surprising then, that VN should choose Eric and Liza Wind to have these (dumb) beliefs, he he he.

Naughty, naughty, Nabokov!

So actually VN has Pnin longing for Liza who is doubley worthless, a Freudian and a cheat. Remember back in Paris? She was cheating on Pnin alll throughout the marriage. The parties she went to were not innocent.

And even though Victor was not Pnin's child, he was similar in som ways.p.103 (chapter 4, sub 8) while Victor is on the bus to Timofey:

It rained all the way. It was raining when he arrived at the Waindell terminal. Because of a streak of dreaminess and a gentle abstraction in his nature, Victor in any queue was always at its very end. He had long since grown used to this handicap, as one grows used to weak sight or a limp. Stooping a little because of his height, he followed without impatience the passengers that filed out through the bus onto the shining asphalt......

Without impatience. How nice. A bit later he sees Pnin trying to greet the thin-necked little boy....poor Timofey! He thinks Victor should be small. Hence the football and the squirril stationary he used to correspond with Victor.

And I love the bit during the meal following the pickup when Timofey has Victor wipe the knives and forks.

Another point I found interesting was the formality of name usage. Pnin says that he has friends of 30 years or more that he has never addressed by their first name. Not thur lack of feeling or lack of true friendship. Thru mutual respect and love. To people of his time and place, first names were not to be casually if ever used. They were a totally private matter.

 

[pontalba]

Can we do a kind of character linking...

Professor Timofey Pnin - the central character
Dr. Pavel Pnin - TP's father, the Dr. that gets the speck of dust from the narrator's eye when he was 12.
Dr Liza Wind - Pnin's one time lover(?)
Dr Eric Wind - Liza's husband
Victor Wind - son of L.W. and E.W.
Dr. Hermann Hagen - another professor, and jealous of Pnin(?)

Etc...

Good! Sometimes I get the names mixed up.
btw, Liza actually married Pnin. Left him, returned 7 months pregnant, when he was preparing to come to America. But Eric (father of the baby and married at the time to another!) was on the same ship and......what a mess! She only came back to Timofey for ease of transport to America. Double Bum!

 

[steffee]

And even though Victor was not Pnin's child, he was similar in som ways.p.103 (chapter 4, sub 8) while Victor is on the bus to Timofey:
Without impatience. How nice. A bit later he sees Pnin trying to greet the thin-necked little boy....poor Timofey! He thinks Victor should be small. Hence the football and the squirril stationary he used to correspond with Victor.

And I love the bit during the meal following the pickup when Timofey has Victor wipe the knives and forks.

Yes, I loved that too. I liked the bit where... {I'm just looking for it}... Pnin says to Victor "Oh, you must eat more, much more if you want to become a footballist" and Victor replies "I'm afraid I do not much care for football. In fact I hate football. I'm not very good at any game, really". And Pnin is so upset.

And then, later when Victor is shown the guest room at Sheppard House and Pnin gives him a wrapped book on Zarinska!

Another point I found interesting was the formality of name usage. Pnin says that he has friends of 30 years or more that he has never addressed by their first name. Not thur lack of feeling or lack of true friendship. Thru mutual respect and love. To people of his time and place, first names were not to be casually if ever used. They were a totally private matter.

Yes, is that a typically Russian thing though, or a typically Pninian one?

btw, Liza actually married Pnin. Left him, returned 7 months pregnant, when he was preparing to come to America. But Eric (father of the baby and married at the time to another!) was on the same ship and......what a mess! She only came back to Timofey for ease of transport to America. Double Bum!

Ahh, I knew I would get something wrong... I remember the passage about her being 7 months pregnant, and thought she had been impregnated out of wedlock, but didn't know she had once been married to Pnin. Though the narrator, in the last chapter hints on it too, IIRC, so I obviously missed it.