Vladimir Nabokov: The Enchanter

[pontalba]

Pontalba,

How did VN do it? I can only think of that Persuasion chapter in Pifer for a close reading of his techniques.

I think by far the most charming Humbert scene is the one where he crawls to her on all fours, and then, when she says Oh no, not again, he desists. That scene sounds so much like he wanted acceptance from her, the same way a puppy would. If my memory has it right.

Charles

Yes, of course you are right. VN leads us around by the nose, and we like it! Persuasion, what an apt title! My casebook had been buried under another pile in here. But I have it again. Clutching it frantically.

 

[pontalba]

Breaca Right, but in the end it is VN's seduction. You have to read this Casebook!

 

[Peder]

Segue of the Day!

After a veiled allusion, whch is so veiled that I, at least, can only understand it in retrospect. the Mother launches into a whole-page-long catalog of complaints, aches, pains, disclaimers and dissusasions, the longest speech in the book,

Now let's discuss things rationally.......First of all my friend, as you know, I am a sick, a seriously sick woman .....Let's even assume I last a few more years. What change can their be?..........my attention is totally focused on my stomach and my nerves ............ I am a bad mother ..... I am poor .....fasting and all the other rules I live by.... And all for what -- a widower in six months or so with someone else's child on your hands?

In response to all of which, Arthur simply says

"Which leads me to conclude that my proposal has been accepted."

And fast forward we go!

Peder

 

[Peder]

Breaca You have to read this Casebook!

Pontalba,
Right on!
I have to get back to it!
A chapter a day will keep Mary away.
Two chapters a day will keep Ada away.
And did I mention Transparent Things?
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder You know that whole exchange was a bit bizarre to say the least. When he said that meant he'd been accepted, I about fell over! We know why he wanted to marry her, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why she wanted to marry him!

The only thing I can think of that would be practical, would be that he would take care of her daughter financially after her death. But she didn't seem to give her daughter any other thought besides how much the child's noisyness irritated her (because of her illness). But at the end of her little speech to Arthur, she did mention the daughter.

How could she not have been in the least suspicious???

 

[pontalba]

Pontalba,
Right on!
I have to get back to it!
A chapter a day will keep Mary away.
Two chapters a day will keep Ada away.
And did I mention Transparent Things?
Peder

is right, but also

 

[Peder]

Peder You know that whole exchange was a bit bizarre to say the least. When he said that meant he'd been accepted, I about fell over! We know why he wanted to marry her, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why she wanted to marry him!

The only thing I can think of that would be practical, would be that he would take care of her daughter financially after her death. But she didn't seem to give her daughter any other thought besides how much the child's noisyness irritated her (because of her illness). But at the end of her little speech to Arthur, she did mention the daughter.

How could she not have been in the least suspicious???

Pontalba,
Bizarre is a good word for that exchange! In fact I was never convinced that she was even remotely thinking seriously of marrying him. I thought that maybe she was toting up the pros' and con's, all con's, and going to conclude that it couldn't be. And that she was preparing a nice way of letting him down. I likewise gaped when I saw his repsonse. I thought to myself, "Now Vlad! You can write a better transition than that! But when I looked at it again, I thought, "Well, why not? Stroke of genius! Why shilly shally?"

Why not suspicious? Best I can think of is that she never heard the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it is!" Perhaps her head was turned by his (feinged) show of interest in her despite all her accurately self-perceived negatives. Perhaps her heart went all a-fluttering, "Who? Me?!" (or "Moi?!" ) and she realized, realistically, that another proposal was not about to arrive for a long time. As for the money, I could imagine her seeing that as a handy thing, even for her current life, long before any thoughts it would also be useful for her surviving daughter. She had been missing payments to the governess, we had learned. So, money talks, would be my guess. Plus, as we have seen, he was con-man at least as much as he was stalker, and they sure do gull the gullible, eveyday of the week in real life.

But even before that bizarre conversation began, I didn't know what was going on. Arthur made these cryptic remarks about joint ownership of furniture when he was clearly buying furniture only for himself, and she said "You pick strange times for this kind of talk."

And there I was, standing like a fool, asking "Huh? What kind of talk? When? Did I miss something? What did I miss? Somebody please tell me what is going on here?"

In fact, that last question still stands, if some one can draw me pictures to explain that earlier bit of conversation

Peder

 

[pontalba]

The story begins in July, by late fall "the task proceeded swimmingly" (p.26). He'd called on her, listened to her complaints, etc. Then

....one rainy, late-fall evening, she heard out--impassively, without a single bit of feminine advice--his vague complaints about the yearnings of a bachelor who looks with envy at the tailcoat and misty aura of another's wedding and thinks involuntarily of the lonely grave at the end of his lonely road, he concluded the time had come to call the packers.

What a wonderful reason to marry!

Thats when he brought the furniture he'd bought from her back and made his proposal:

you don't understand. All it means is that a married couple's belongings are owned jointly.

What a romantic! How could she not have known something was fishy....Ye Gods!

In other words, I offer you both the contents of the cuff...

the furniture??

the live ace of hearts.

and himself...

No declaration of affection, its almost presented as a businss deal. I think his point after her spiel regarding all her ailments was, well, if you will tell me all of that, it must be acceptable to you.

creepy.

 

[Peder]

OH!

page 26

Home came two chairs, the couch, the lamp.

To her home came the two chairs, couch, lamp, back again.

I thought the movers had rung to finally move the furniture out to his home!

Thank you for thwacking me on the front of the forehead with your hand to set the gears in motion and save my hand the effort! I missed that sentence totally absolutely completely!

Now even your post makes sense, because all of that is what had me utterly confused. I got the offer of his live ace of hearts, but nothing else made any sense at all. (Except contents of the cuff==the gamblers hidden cards, maybe)

Be back in a bit! I need a walk and a coffee to shake off the effects of that stunning realization (and the sun just came out too )

I tell ya, I may not always know when I am confused , but when I know I am confused, then I am really confused!

Thank you for the loan of the lantern,
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Well I didn't get the gambler/cuff reference either.......!

He told her without telling her! Wow!

 

[SFG75]

Is that a woodchuck, SFG? A groundhog? Are we getting any spring fever yet?

Better believe it. Life lesson #1: Never buy a book via third party at Amazon. I should've received the book yesterday. Today, they sent an e-mail announcing they are shipping it. That's it, giant mega-chain buing for me only, I'll help any business crush the little guy from now on.

 

[Peder]

He told her without telling her! Wow!

Pontalba,
Well he sure told her without telling me!
I'm back but my head is still spinning! I must have read that story with my eyes open and my eyelids shut! First, it came down to trying to figure out who lived where, and why they were traveling back and forth, when the story didn't make real sense. Now I find out that the furniture was also traveling back and forth without making a lot of sense. Or "the furniture, for Pete's sake!" as Holden Caulfield would say.

However, I just reread pages 19-28 and, if things stand still for a minute, I have to say that is the most unusual courtship I have ever read or seen anywhere! And now, moreover, all the little details fit!

And finally the details end up with another sentence I really hadn't noticed, I was so overwhelmed by his proposal.

"And he shook out into his hand from a chamois pouch, a splendid uncut stone that seemed illuminated from within by a rosy flame gleaming through a winy-bluish cast."

What a craftsman is VN!
What a magician!
What an Enchanter!
Peder

 

[Peder]

Better believe it. Life lesson #1: Never buy a book via third party at Amazon. I should've received the book yesterday. Today, they sent an e-mail announcing they are shipping it. That's it, giant mega-chain buing for me only, I'll help any business crush the little guy from now on.

And SFG,
To paraphrase Arthur from recent discussion

So then things are looking up!

But really, that's a shame! However it does sound like it should now arrive pretty fast! And you will have your chance for revenge when amazon sends you an evaluation form to rate the seller! Or if you are inclined you can try to extract a pound of remorse from the seller by telling them how little you think of their service and what your rating of them will be. Most of them are pretty jealous of that rating and keeping it unblemished. I would, being me, but also because your experience sounds unprecedented in my experience. I've never had any trouble with a third party seller.
Crush 'em!!!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Better believe it. Life lesson #1: Never buy a book via third party at Amazon. I should've received the book yesterday. Today, they sent an e-mail announcing they are shipping it. That's it, giant mega-chain buing for me only, I'll help any business crush the little guy from now on.

Miserable! I rarely buy from a third party, I buy directly from Amazon. That way it can be here in 2 days.

 

[pontalba]

Yeah, now the diamond was not too shabby. I wonder if the girl got it in the final analysis!? Hope so.

Peder wrote: Well he sure told her without telling me!

rotfalol!

 

[steffee]

I love your new sig, pontalba!!

 

[pontalba]

You can always depend on Nabokov for something interesting!

And I have to say I look at mediocrity a whole new way! LOL

 

[pontalba]

Peder
Here is something you might find amusing. Vera p.179-VN at Cornell-

....he was teaching them how to read Nabokov. Caress the details, he directed. Art is a deception; the great artist a deceiver. Read for the tingle, the shiver up the spine. Do not read but--here he feigned a stutter--re-re-read a book.

(italics mine).

So, we are simply following the great ones direction.........re-read.
On the previous page he said

He had no use for plot or psychology; he taught that literature was in the images, not the ideas.

 

[Peder]

Peder
Here is something you might find amusing. Vera p.179-VN at Cornell-
(italics mine).

So, we are simply following the great ones direction.........re-read.

Pontalba,
Fascinating quotes. They make the man himself more fascinating.
"Caress the details ... Art is a deception ..... re-read ...." Sounds YES.
"No use for plot ..... or psychology" Sounds NO, not for books I've been reading. Puzzled a bit.
But you are going to inveigle me back into rereading Vera.
That sounds YES.
I wonder what kind of a story he would have produced if he ever had gotten interested in plot or psychology? To echo his words in what sounds to me like a false question. Bosh! Humbug!

Oh, to have been in his lectures!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Pontalba,
But you are going to inveigle me back into rereading Vera.
That sounds YES.

Oh, to have been in his lectures!
Peder

We have ignition!