Vladimir Nabokov: Pnin

[steffee]

I loved the stories of his father too. The way he spoke to his father was quite strange though, kind of in the third person. The story is brilliant... I'm glad you're enjoying it, and won't spoil it for you, lol

 

[Peder]

There you go again! Leading me down the Nabokovian Garden Path. I was, in the back of my mind thinking about Sebastian Knight for the next Nabokov, but since you mentioned bridges and towers, and of course there is your new signature to tempt me /marytered sigh/ j/k j/k j/k. So! As soon as I finish The Remains of the Day I'll start Ada.

Plus both you and Steffee have already read it.............

SIL! We'd better get on our horses and Read!

Pontalba,
Nuh, nuh, nuh, no. That was not my intention at all. I'll read anything that anyone wishes to read. I'll even read two different things that two different people want to read -- especially if I have read one of them already Sebastian Knight sounds great! Ada is great. Transparent Things is short and great. I'll follow any suggestions. So let the pot bubble and let's see what comes up. Whatever anyone wants.
Seriously,
Peder
PS I thought you, or someone, might ask what tower and bridge meant. In which case Steffee or I could have answered without in any way spoiling the story for you. So, see next post.
P.

 

[Peder]

Ada, the girl, coined two terms, or exclamations:

Tower, for when three unexpected things occur simultaneously.

Bridge, for when three unexpected things occur in close succession.

Very simple,
Peder

 

[steffee]

The Gift?

I say that because it's all I have left unread. Wah... and I'm completely skint until mid-April. The guardians of my credit cards are under strict instructions not to let me have it back to purchase books.

But the uni library has the Harlequin one and Sebastian Knight.

Or there's Ada, of course.

 

[pontalba]

I suppose, as Peder says, lets see what bubbles to the surface. We're not finished with Timofey yet, and it will take me awhile to finish Ada. If thats what we do next. Sometimes planning too far ahead is not a good thing.

Peder I wasn't going to ask, as I thought it may be integral to the story and give something away. Pretty cute though!

Steffee I have The Gift too, so we shall see what we shall see. Now get some sleep!

 

[Peder]

Glory sounds good too.

Said a voice from off stage

Peder

 

[steffee]

I've had some sleep. It's now 12.51am and I'm itchy and I've royally knackered my body clock. Eeek.

But yeah, this weekend I am sans husband, sans children, and I shall reread both Pnin and Ada.

And post, post, post.

PS. The tower and the bridge, ah! Peder, I love your siggie, too.

 

[pontalba]

Glory sounds good too.

Said a voice from off stage

Peder

rotfaloltic..........

 

[steffee]

Did I miss Pale Fire?

That sounds very very good. I may even forget my self-imposed book-buying ban to get hold of Pale Fire.

{wondering why we are discussing Nabokov Open Spoiler topics in the Pnin thread}

 

[pontalba]

Did I miss Pale Fire?

That sounds very very good. I may even forget my self-imposed book-buying ban to get hold of Pale Fire.

{wondering why we are discussing Nabokov Open Spoiler topics in the Pnin thread}

No, you didn't miss it. I didn't bring it up, as I was hoping to leave it till last. But whatever works for all is fine with me.

Good Point. I don't know how we did that.
Anything else on anything unpininian, shall get thee to Everything Nabokov!

 

[pontalba]

I was just rereading over the section when Timofey is staying at the Castle, and has just been spoken to by Madam Shpolyanski regarding Mira. When Susan calls them in for tea, Pnin tells Madam Shpolyanski he will follow her in a moment. The way VN so seamlessly blends the present summer evening with the long ago summer evening is delightful. One moment Pnin is clasping the croquet mallet, and the next moment he is transported back decades and we are flies on the wall so to speak, as his relationship with the true love of his life is revealed. its p. 132-136. Chap 5.5

The Civil War of 1918-22 separated them: history broke their engagement. Timofey wandered southward, to join briefly the ranks of Denikin's army, while Mira's family escaped from the Bolsheviks to Sweden and then settled down in Germany, where eventually she married a fur dealer of Russian extraction.

But Timofey has also married during the interim and when they meet again in Berlin in the 1930s.....

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

And.......

In order to exist rationally, Pnin had taught himself, during the last ten years, never to remember Mira Belochkin--not because, in itself, the evocation of a youthful love affair, banal and brief, threatened his peace of mind (alas, recollections of his marriage to Liza were imperious enough to crowd out any former romance), but because, if one were quite sincere with oneself, no conscience, and hence no consciousness, could be expected to subsist in a world where such things as Mira's death were possible.

Mira was killed in Buchenwald, and her exact manner of death was never known for sure. Which was worse for Pnin, as his imagination ran riot with possible scenarios.

IMHO, Mira, if she had not been separated from Pnin, first of all would not have been killed in the camps, and secondly dear, slimy Liza would not have sunk her claws into Timofey.

 

[Peder]

IMHO, Mira, if she had not been separated from Pnin, first of all would not have been killed in the camps, and secondly dear, slimy Liza would not have sunk her claws into Timofey.

Pontalba,
Right, girl!
And yet he loved Liza, as far as I can tell, and even though it seems strange in retrospect. Makes me wonder why. Her appealing figure in that black sweater (not the first time that has done it to a man )? Her artistic/literary interest (which VV absolutely could not stand, but mocked instead)? Not rebound, I don't think.
Gonna reread, but I need help here. (From a woman's intuition /running and ducking/).
It's just too early for me,
And this puzzle is too difficult,
But Liza was clearly no bargain.
Peder

 

[Peder]

Woman of the Century

It was Joan Clements who really swept me off my feet.

It was she who wanted to clear the house so Timofey and Liza could have the place to themselves as Timofey's happiness and anticipation blossomed at the prospect of a reconciliation. And it was she who first saw that something was truly wrong when she arrived home from shopping and saw Timofey so glum with a tear-stained face; and who distracted him from 'viscous and sawdust' to tea instead; and who then tried to further distract into an impromptu language lesson from one of her magazines. However, when Timofey was clearly too distracted for that, and his shoulders continued to shake,

"Doesn't she want to come back? asked Joan softly.

That is such an empathetic question, asked so gently, that I am awed to see it on the page, so deftly written by Nabokov with just a few words. It melts me completely and fills me with no end of admiration that Nabokov could write the woman so beautifully.

Later on; after Timofey's party; after Hagen admires the sky and all the stars as separate worlds; after her husband Laurence quips that he thinks the heavens instead are one large fluorescent corpse, and all of them are inside it; her rejoinder is

Come my fluorescent corpse, let's be moving.

Once again she shows her gentle and good-natured friendly personality in another imaginative line of remarkably unstilted and natural sounding dialog from Nabokov.
At the beginning, after Timofey has once again used the forbidden washer, this time with a pair of sneakers[!], we hear Joan's sadness expressed only in

Again Timofey?

followed with the further explanation that

...she forgave him, and liked to sit with him at the kitchen table, both cracking nuts or drinking tea.

We occasionally read the advice to writers "show, don't tell," and I can't think of better examples of that advice than Nabokov's filling out the wonderful personality of Joan Clements with just those few beautifully crafted lines of dialogue.

The question is also occasionally heard as to how well an author, male or female, can write the opposite gender. Seemingly not a problem for Nabokov!

So I would say that, if VN is one of the greatest writers of the past century, then Joan Clements, so far, is certainly the most appealing woman that he has created in that century.

While we must of course await reading an earlier novel -- where I understand his homage to Vera lurks -- nevertheless, and for the moment, Joan has it in my book. She's the one for me!

Peder

 

[steffee]

So I would say that, if VN is one of the greatest writers of the past century, then Joan Clements, so far, is certainly the most appealing woman that he has created in that century.

Wow Peder, excellent post!

You're absolutely right, of course. Joan is a lovely character. VN can succeed in writing female characters, and Joan is brilliant in Pnin.

I dislike Hagen though. And Eric Wind, though I suppose he hasn't really done anything to warrant that.

 

[pontalba]

Oh Peder, I agree, Joan Clement had real heart and empathy for all lost orphans. She had a wonderful mothering instinct that knew exactly when what was wrong. She was in fact a mirror opposite to Liza.

Steffee As far as Eric Wind is concerned...arrrggghhh! Horrible man. First he, while still married himself, has an affair with a married woman, and when she becomes pregnant, lets her go back to her husband in order to make it easier for her to get to America. Then sneakily confronts Timofey with that knowledge on the ship when no other option is viable for Timofey. Wind is a sneak, a coward and a bum in general. IMHO.

I don't think Hagen could help himself. Remember the long speech he gave Timofey about how he had given 29 years of his life to an apparently unresponsive institution? He'd just had it with that place, and felt he had to look after his future. I don't blame him at all, he was between a rock and hard place. He wasn't mean or anything. Just trapped.

And now I'd better get my tea.

 

[steffee]

I can never bring myself to dislike a man for having an affair though. A woman is different. It's crazy, I know, and until five minutes ago, I wasn't even aware I have such silly prejudices.

But Eric fell prey to Liza's charms, nobody could blame him for that... as for letting her use Timofey (see you''ve got me calling him Timofey now lol), I don't think he had much choice in the matter. He was very sly, though. And I totally agree, he has no backbone, which I think is the reason I disliked him so.

I do feel sorry for Hagen, but his conversation with Timofey I think made him a bit sly. Like a trouble maker... he wanted to leave (though yeah, he had good reasons, and he had put in a lot of work) but didn't want to do it alone. Another "no backbone" sort of man, lol.
​

 

[pontalba]

Steffee A lot of people feel that way. You are not alone in that at all! I think its a male induced imbalance on account of wanting to be sure whose baby it is. If a man cheats, well he certainly can't become pregnant. But if a woman cheats, who is the father........prove it. Well, nowadays we can, but thats only a recent wrinkle.

One thing I will give to Liza, she didn't attempt to pass her child off as Timofeys. Mostly though, because she was lazy. Not honest (in any way). And Eric "fell prey" only because he didn't think with the head on his shoulders. As you say "no backbone".

 

[Peder]

Steffee A lot of people feel that way. You are not alone in that at all! I think its a male induced imbalance on account of wanting to be sure whose baby it is. If a man cheats, well he certainly can't become pregnant. But if a woman cheats, who is the father........prove it. Well, nowadays we can, but thats only a recent wrinkle.

Ponntalba, Steffee,
I can't resist observing there may be modern-day feminist literary critics who believe that that outlook has been promulgated and fostered insidiously and self-servingly through male-dominated literature (meaning all literature, however innocent-appearing) from day one. I'm not up on it enough to know, but it sure wouldn't surprise me -- either that such belief was there, or that it might arguably be so. A little dredging could produce a few names.

There's a lot of room for arguing the point, if one starts out knowing what one wants to prove (meow) but, worse yet, there may be merit in the argument.

I take no side,
But merely point it out,
Peder

 

[steffee]

Some great points Pontalba and Peder.

Cuckoldry, it's called, when a man unknowingly raises another man's child.
​

 

[pontalba]

Ponntalba, Steffee,
I can't resist observing there may be modern-day feminist literary critics who believe that that outlook has been promulgated and fostered insidiously and self-servingly through male-dominated literature (meaning all literature, however innocent-appearing) from day one. I'm not up on it enough to know, but it sure wouldn't surprise me -- either that such belief was there, or that it might arguably be so. A little dredging could produce a few names.

There's a lot of room for arguing the point, if one starts out knowing what one wants to prove (meow) but, worse yet, there may be merit in the argument.

I take no side,
But merely point it out,
Peder

The basis for my reasoning goes back centuries, when land being inherited by the children (sons) of the land holder were the one wielding the power. Land was Power. Kingdoms and the like depended on the proper passing of the land/power. Still does as far as that goes. I wasn't only speaking of literature induced theories.

Nuttin' feminist about that can of worms.

But I wasn't clear enough in my previous post.