Vladimir Nabokov: The Enchanter

[pontalba]

Three cheeers for the talisman! Never thought of that!


Pontalba,
That reverie of his goes from page 54 to 57, almost four full pages!
And I think anyone knowing of it would say "Arthur, you are out of your bleeping mind to think anything remotely like that is ever going to happen! You will be on the run from here 'til Doomsday, and you'll never have a moment's rest!"

I've heard of reveries, and then there are reveries and there are reveries, but that one absolutely takes the cake!

I've been wondering if that counts as VN's parody of a reverie.
Or if Nabokov was using it to indicate just how far out of his mind Arthur was with his scheme.
It goes beyond anything I have read in terms of fable-like quality (i.e. fabulous in the literal meaning of the word).
And it certainly sets the backdrop for how differently things will soon be turning out.
On that train, Arthur is certainly riding for a fall.

Totally amazing!
Humbert was much more realistic,
Peder

Peder, remember that Breaca found that reference on p.65 about Arthur's sister? The whole reverie has the childish quality about it of playing, perhaps with ones sister or at least of 2 children. Was he perhaps trying to recapture childhood happenings?

And in re-reading the last scenes, he has 'flash-backs' of items recently seen. Such as p.73:

....fleeting glimpses of incidental epherma--some bridge over speeding railway cars, an air buble in the glass of some window, the dented fender of a car, some other object, a waffle-patterned towel seen somewhere not long ago--and meanwhile.....

That just struck me as...odd. You'd think his mind would be strictly on the girl at that point. One reason that was included that I can think of is that sort of a premonition? Partially at least.

 

[Peder]

Pontalba,
Did you post here at 6:54 this morning, as my Today's Posts show, but this thread does not (at least for me)?
Oh, evanescent Pontalba!
Peder

Hah! Suddenly it's there. forget the question.

 

[Peder]

Peder, remember that Breaca found that reference on p.65 about Arthur's sister? The whole reverie has the childish quality about it of playing, perhaps with ones sister or at least of 2 children. Was he perhaps trying to recapture childhood happenings?

And in re-reading the last scenes, he has 'flash-backs' of items recently seen. Such as p.73:

That just struck me as...odd. You'd think his mind would be strictly on the girl at that point. One reason that was included that I can think of is that sort of a premonition? Partially at least.

Pontalba,
You are way ahead of me in pages of my rereading, and also in thought!
So I'll be carefully looking at the things you just mentioned.
But "sort of a premonition?" Not at all impossible, because there was a pre-indication of his ultimate demise much earlier in the story, p16 lines 4-7.

Nabokov still working at showing Arthur's state of mind? Or way of sensing reality? Just as in the opening internal reverie? Or Arthur's way of living in his thoughts and not only in the here and now?

Brothers and sisters wil have to stand aside,
Time for coffee and TE reread,
And haven't you heard it is unhealthy to get up this early
Peder

 

[SFG75]

Even if she didn't fully realize the extent of his design, it might now seem that she had now suddenly concluded what his target must be. But I still wonder whether she wouldn't wonder about a grown man being that interested in her twelve-year-old daughter, if that was what she saw. Kids are nice, but....

Excellent point, I guess the question now is about whether or not she would be a callous enough mother to leave her child with a pedophile. While it's hinted at that she is a selfish mother to a degree, for the most part, she is spared criticism and looks like mother of the year compared to Big Haze.

 

[Peder]

Excellent point, I guess the question now is about whether or not she would be a callous enough mother to leave her child with a pedophile. While it's hinted at that she is a selfish mother to a degree, for the most part, she is spared criticism and looks like mother of the year compared to Big Haze.

SFG,
How elusive the answers!
I thought I had seen a mention of a gleam of jealousy in her eye, but now I can't find it. Anyway that was what cauaed me to conclude that her jealousy alone could be sufficient engine to drive the story. Namely, I want you here to attend to me, and I want her there because I don't like the thought of you two together (i,e I'm jealous of her). Now even without finding that gleam, jealousy still sounds like the minimal thing (beyond noisiness) that fits with the story,. I don't think she would leave her daughter with a pedophile, but it's those in-between possibilities that are difficult to nail down. And now since I can't even nail down jealousy maybe it was really just noisiness, as she said.

That means a big re-read
Peder

 

[Peder]

Pontalba,
I have no further insight into how his mind wanders, but I did come across the final answer to the Big Question. Proving that Breaca was right all along!

"...she was looking and screaming, but the enchanter did not yet hear her screams; he was deafened by his own horror..." (p74)

As Boyd and others have said, the details are all there; they just need the finding.

And VN asks,"It took you that long?"
Shaking his head
Peder

 

[SFG75]

SFG,
How elusive the answers!
I thought I had seen a mention of a gleam of jealousy in her eye, but now I can't find it. Anyway that was what cauaed me to conclude that her jealousy alone could be sufficient engine to drive the story. Namely, I want you here to attend to me, and I want her there because I don't like the thought of you two together (i,e I'm jealous of her). Now even without finding that gleam, jealousy still sounds like the minimal thing (beyond noisiness) that fits with the story,. I don't think she would leave her daughter with a pedophile, but it's those in-between possibilities that are difficult to nail down. And now since I can't even nail down jealousy maybe it was really just noisiness, as she said.

That means a big re-read
Peder

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Ze 'zame gendered members of ze family competing for possession of ze male in de family. Exactly what I would've diagnosed. Arthur envy!
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[Peder]

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Ze 'zame gendered members of ze family competing for possession of ze male in de family. Exactly what I would've diagnosed. Arthur envy!
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SFG,

Arthur Envy! ROTFALOLTIC

You sure have a way with finding the right phrase!

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Mornin' All, LOL Peder! I think it must have been my evil twin that was posting this morning! Insanity!
One could almost feel sorry for Arthur, since we've worked out some of his background from VN's breadcrumbs. You know, I hadn't noticed that phrase "The Enchanter" on p.74. Amid all the screaming it just slipped right by me!

 

[Peder]

Mornin' All, LOL Peder! I think it must have been my evil twin that was posting this morning! Insanity!
One could almost feel sorry for Arthur, since we've worked out some of his background from VN's breadcrumbs. You know, I hadn't noticed that phrase "The Enchanter" on p.74. Amid all the screaming it just slipped right by me!

Pontalba,
Hi!
Well it slid by me about four times, til I put earplugs in my ears and stared hard.
But your question about the stray images that cross Arthur's mind has me intrigued. I don't remember much of that in Lolita, except of course for the big recollection of Annabel that occurs as soon as Humbert sees Lo the first time to kick off the whole story.
I'm wondering if that was VN's actual way of having flash associations with his own memories of past events. The reason I mention is because he and Vera (and I think his mother?) were synesthetes they say(sp?), people who heard sounds in color, and saw different colors for each of the individual letters they looked at. (And they each saw different colors for the same letter, and would compare colors!) Sounds strange, but there was clearly an extra dimension to the way VN's brain worked in assimilating images. And it seems to go beyond merely having a vast memory of past experiences and immediately being able to pluck similar thoughts out of it. With the talk here lately of what was on his mind when he wrote these stories, I wonder if these flash associations were part of his own mind. Just one more thing to wonder about as one wanders through the enormous literature by and about him.
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder p.42:

....he had the sensation that some vague, tiny, almost subconscious ember of jealousy had suddenly enlivened her hitherto nonexistent eyes.

This was in the last stage of her illness when he suggested he could visit the child when at a nearby city or town.
He hoped she'd forgotten that slip of the tongue, but I wonder, could we connect this to her momentary jealousy/worry? p.45:

She made him swear twice--yes twice--that he would treat the girl as if he were her real...And that he would see to it that she bore no ill feelings toward her late mother.

Hmmm, was she haveing second thoughts? Although it was too late by that time to really do anything about it if she did. I strongly suspect that she did in fact sense Arthur's plans for the child, but as it is with us humans, we think, in spite of all evidence and knowledge that we will live on. Of course she did not, and at the end knew (maybe knew is too strong a word) or was afraid of what she had let the child in for. And thus the attempt to extract the promise from him as above.

 

[Peder]

Peder p.42:
This was in the last stage of her illness when he suggested he could visit the child when at a nearby city or town.
He hoped she'd forgotten that slip of the tongue, but I wonder, could we connect this to her momentary jealousy/worry? p.45:
Hmmm, was she haveing second thoughts? Although it was too late by that time to really do anything about it if she did. I strongly suspect that she did in fact sense Arthur's plans for the child, but as it is with us humans, we think, in spite of all evidence and knowledge that we will live on. Of course she did not, and at the end knew (maybe knew is too strong a word) or was afraid of what she had let the child in for. And thus the attempt to extract the promise from him as above.

Pontalba,
I am so glad you found that hidden ember of jealousy in her eye! You can't imagine! I was beginning to think I was dreaming Enchanter when I was asleep and forgetting it while I was awake.

Her behavior all could have been an intense desire simply to be reassured. But there seem to be a number now of those not quite explainable subliminal hints that came to mind when Arthur was around. The door is definitely left open for reader interpretation it seems to me, although by and large I don't tend to be suspicious.

But thanks for the jealousy!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Quite welcome I am sure...

I've finally finished Vera and have made a small start on Pnin.
Poor fella, he's stuck in a strange place on a strange cement bench, and can't get up.....

Even though I knew and had read some of the ending of Vera I still cried. Must be getting soft in my old age.............
When Vera told DN that she wanted to rent or get a plane, and crash it.....tooo much.

 

[Peder]

Quite welcome I am sure...

I've finally finished Vera and have made a small start on Pnin.
Poor fella, he's stuck in a strange place on a strange cement bench, and can't get up.....

Even though I knew and had read some of the ending of Vera I still cried. Must be getting soft in my old age.............
When Vera told DN that she wanted to rent or get a plane, and crash it.....tooo much.

Pontalba.
'Poor fella' is sort of the story of his life. Yet he is VN's favorite character for the way he sticks with it and goes doggedly onward. An endearing guy. Guess I'll fall in step and start rereading. Just reread the end of Enchanter so that opens up a slot, alongside Ada.

And Vera did pull at my heart strings also. Real life sorrow. And she kept at their work to her very end, no letting up.

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Pontalba.
'Poor fella' is sort of the story of his life. Yet he is VN's favorite character for the way he sticks with it and goes doggedly onward. An endearing guy. Guess I'll fall in step and start rereading. Just reread the end of Enchanter so that opens up a slot, alongside Ada.

And Vera did pull at my heart strings also. Real life sorrow. And she kept at their work to her very end, no letting up.

Peder

Thats why I chose Pnin, I believe it is considered the closest to VN in actuality. It'll be a nice calm break until Ada.

 

[Peder]

To all,
I decided to do some research into a pre-Enchanter 'nymphet' usng the link that StillILearn unearthed from an early thread by Sitaram at
Short Story Tutorials

The particular short story with Nabokov's earlier 'prototype' nymphet for Enchanter/Lolita is "A Nursery Tale" and the tutorial for that short story is among the preceding at
A Nursery Tale - Tutorial

There one can read in the tutoral that

This story is of interest mainly for the early appearance of a Humbert-like figure who strolls through the later pages with a nymphet at his side.

Looking into the "Nursery Tale" itself, we read what Nabokov himself wrote in 1926,

[Erwin] saw before him a tall elderly man in evening clothes with a little girl walking beside -- a child of fourteen or so in a low-cut party dress. The whole city knew the elderly man from his portraits. He was a famous poet, a senile swan, living all alone in a distant suburb.....Erwin's glance lit on the face of the child mincing along at the old poet's side; there was something odd about that face, odd was the flitting glance of her much too shiny eyes, and if she were not just a little girl -- the old man's granddaughter, no doubt -- one might suspect that her lips were lightly touched up with rouge. She walked swingng her hips very, very slightly, her legs moved closer together, she was asking her companion something in a ringing voice....."Of course, of course," replied the old man coaxingly, bending toward the child."

So this little nymphet is 14 yers old and walks along swinging her hips slightly in a low-cut party dress and wearing makeup when out with her much older escort.

The daughter in The Enchanter, on the other hand, is portrayed as a completely innocent 12-year old throughout, who roller skates when first seen, and who then waits in line at a game of hopscotch with one leg extended to the side, her blazing arms crossed on her chest, her misty head inclined.

Lolita is of course the 12-year old who is first seen "on a mat in a pool of sun, half naked, kneeling, turning about on her knees, .... [Humbert's] Riviera love peering at [him] over dark glasses." And her personality rapidly reveals many additional facets after that.

So the character of the nymphet varies as Nabokov works and reworks her into longer and more interesting stories.

The author of the tutorial concludes that "middle-aged pedophilia was alive and well in Nabokov's work long before" the excuse of a chimpanzee behind bars "was offered to -- and swallowed by -- a gullible public" as an inspiration for Lolita. [!]

One thing clear is that Nabokov used similar characters and events from story to story, and reworked them as neceessary, to produce stories that read entirely differently.

Peder

 

[SFG75]

And now since I can't even nail down jealousy maybe it was really just noisiness, as she said.

Jealousy-I believe I found some of the things that you were mentioning.

(from page 28)

...by having a boisterous girl around, at the same time I feel a stupid, painful envy for her muscular little legs, hre rosey complexion, her healthy digestion...I may feel young spiritually, and I may not yet be a total monstrosity to look at...

Twice she's referred to as monstrous by V.N., whether it's his thoughts or the thoughts of Arthur isn't clarified. Nevertheless, we have a broken down old hag and worst of all, she knows it. She resents everything about the girl as she(i.e.-mom) is literally falling apart. Who is to say that this envy couldn't logically be carried out to spending time with Arthur? Surely somewhere, she knows deep-down that Arthur is "trading-up" so to speak.

On the same page, she talks with Arthur and lays down the negative aspects of his life with her if he were to pursue it. She did check up on his finances, but the following line leads me to conclude that she isn't one to make plans, at least intricate ones, behind the backs of others.

I stress the word 'me-what kind of existence would you have with such a wife? I may be young spiritually, and I may not yet be a ttal monstrosity to look at, but won't you get bored constantly fussing with such a fastidious person, never, never contradicting her, respecting her habits...

 

[Peder]

Jealousy-I believe I found some of the things that you were mentioning.

(from page 28)


Twice she's referred to as monstrous by V.N., whether it's his thoughts or the thoughts of Arthur isn't clarified. Nevertheless, we have a broken down old hag and worst of all, she knows it. She resents everything about the girl as she(i.e.-mom) is literally falling apart. Who is to say that this envy couldn't logically be carried out to spending time with Arthur? Surely somewhere, she knows deep-down that Arthur is "trading-up" so to speak.

On the same page, she talks with Arthur and lays down the negative aspects of his life with her if he were to pursue it. She did check up on his finances, but the following line leads me to conclude that she isn't one to make plans, at least intricate ones, behind the backs of others.

SFG,
That's mighty fine detectin' !
I had forgotten that she had made that comparison between her condition and her daughter's envious youthful condition.
And I also agree with you that she has a realistic view that she is a sick woman and largely incapacitated, and that she lays it out to Arthur on exactly that basis, that she will be a huge long-term burden to him. But he sought the marriage, and then it turned out she was in fact burdensome. He shouldn't have been surprised, nor need she have felt guilty about it. So she looks to him for attention and care, while he gets impatient with the bargain he made and looks for a way out of it. He gets no sympathy from me whatever, even ignoring his ulterior designs on the girl.
At the end when she shows real concern for her daughter and makes him promise to treat her as his own daughter, I take that as meaning "Please provide the parental care that I wan't able to." And a little later we see the pathetic truth of that in the daughter's lack of sorrow at the loss of her mother, that the governess remarks upon.
So I think the mother was basically upright about her situation and did her best to not lose an opportunity when it came along. I am certainly not going to fault her for that. And since he was so obviously interested, there was no reason for her to be devious.
All true,
Peder

 

[SFG75]

I take that as meaning "Please provide the parental care that I wan't able to." And a little later we see the pathetic truth of that in the daughter's lack of sorrow at the loss of her mother, that the governess remarks upon.
So I think the mother was basically upright about her situation and did her best to not lose an opportunity when it came along. I am certainly not going to fault her for that. And since he was so obviously interested, there was no reason for her to be devious.

Oh what a low-down, lower than a snake's belly no good rat that Arthur is!. Arthur is more than deserving of his fate at the very end. Call it karma or whatever you'd like to call it. The fact is, his low down actions certainly cannot go unpunished. The only twist VN could've done to make the writing more intriguing, if not interesting, would be to allow Arthur or Humbert to get away their actions and/or have them introduced to their next victim as the last page is completed.

 

[Peder]

.... would be to allow Arthur or Humbert to get away their actions and/or have them introduced to their next victim as the last page is completed.

OMG SFG,
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perish the thought!
Would you want readers by the hundreds to be throwing themselves off the tops of buildings or in front of speeding railroad trains? If VN were ever to do that, there's no telling what the reaction might be! I might even be one of them!
That is just too horrible to contemplate!
Peder