-
Welcome
to BookAndReader! We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!
Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.
Vladimir Nabokov: The Real Life Of Sebastian Knight
- Thread starter Peder
- Start date
Peder
Well-Known Member
Hi Steffee,steffee said:Anything will do, Peder. Solution, puzzle, tiny clue. I'm lost, wah!!
(Hi Still, glad to see you back with our Vladimir
It has taken me a little longer to get my version of the puzzle together than Pontalba, but it will soon be posted as a large spoiler. However, I type slowly, so patience please. And maybe instead of calling it the Ninka puzzle as I did, I could have better called it the Lecerf Puzzle, or even more neutrally, the Puzzle of the Mystery Woman. But you shall see.
Peder
Peder
Well-Known Member
Here is a close outline of "The Ninka Puzzle," as it develops in the text. Perhaps is would be better named "The Lecerf Puzzle," or perhaps best of all:
Introduction: V has found the names of four women who were at the Blauberg Hotel at the same time as his brother Sebastian Knight. They include a Madame de Rechnoy and one Helene Graun, both of whose addresses he knows.
1. V looks up Helene Rechnoy at her address and ends up speaking with Pahl Pahlich Rechnoy, Madame Rechnoy's husband. Pahl Pahlich tells V it is probably his first wife that V is interested in. She was Nina Toorovets, "Ninka," before they were married, and visited the Blauberg Hotel in the waning days of their marriage. V decides at first that Ninka definitely sounds like the mystery woman, but then decides against her, because she doesn't seem to be Sebastian's type at all.
2. V then looks up Helene Graun at her address and ends up speaking to a friend of hers, a Madame Lecerf, who is friends with Madame Graun and stays at her place while Madame Graun is away. Madame Lecerf indicates that perhaps Madame Graun may indeed have the answers to V's questions about the mystery woman. And she goes further to intimate that her friend did indeed have a relationship with a man recognizable to V, and the reader, as Sebastian, and then jilted him.
3. V begins to notice that the friend Madame Lecerf is describing and the former wife that Pahl Pahlich described, Ninka, are sounding very similar.
4. It is when Madame Lecerf mentions kissing a man who could write upside down, that V's demeanor suddenly changes and he seriously begins thinking things over. So he devises the strategem of the spider and uncovers Madame Lecerf as knowing Russian.
5. Whereupon he announces:
6. So the question is who did V realize was the mystery woman? And how can that be possible?
At least that was the set of circumstances I wrestled with. Others will likely see it differently and all views are earnestly solicited, because it drove me to near distraction. My understanding of the solution follows separately.
OTOH if this simplified rendition of the puzzle makes the solution seem too simple, then I urge the reader who hasn't done so, to read the text and just look at the stratagems that VN used to delude the reader and conceal the clues. They deluded me completely and made for a very enjoyable challenge.
Peder
The Puzzle of the Mystery Woman.
- A Definite Spoiler for the Solution -
- A Definite Spoiler for the Solution -
Introduction: V has found the names of four women who were at the Blauberg Hotel at the same time as his brother Sebastian Knight. They include a Madame de Rechnoy and one Helene Graun, both of whose addresses he knows.
1. V looks up Helene Rechnoy at her address and ends up speaking with Pahl Pahlich Rechnoy, Madame Rechnoy's husband. Pahl Pahlich tells V it is probably his first wife that V is interested in. She was Nina Toorovets, "Ninka," before they were married, and visited the Blauberg Hotel in the waning days of their marriage. V decides at first that Ninka definitely sounds like the mystery woman, but then decides against her, because she doesn't seem to be Sebastian's type at all.
2. V then looks up Helene Graun at her address and ends up speaking to a friend of hers, a Madame Lecerf, who is friends with Madame Graun and stays at her place while Madame Graun is away. Madame Lecerf indicates that perhaps Madame Graun may indeed have the answers to V's questions about the mystery woman. And she goes further to intimate that her friend did indeed have a relationship with a man recognizable to V, and the reader, as Sebastian, and then jilted him.
3. V begins to notice that the friend Madame Lecerf is describing and the former wife that Pahl Pahlich described, Ninka, are sounding very similar.
4. It is when Madame Lecerf mentions kissing a man who could write upside down, that V's demeanor suddenly changes and he seriously begins thinking things over. So he devises the strategem of the spider and uncovers Madame Lecerf as knowing Russian.
5. Whereupon he announces:
"It was very clever of you to make me believe you were talking of your friend when all along you were talking of yourself. This little hoax would have gone on for quite a while [but] I happen to have met your former husband's cousin, the one who could write upside down."
6. So the question is who did V realize was the mystery woman? And how can that be possible?
At least that was the set of circumstances I wrestled with. Others will likely see it differently and all views are earnestly solicited, because it drove me to near distraction. My understanding of the solution follows separately.
OTOH if this simplified rendition of the puzzle makes the solution seem too simple, then I urge the reader who hasn't done so, to read the text and just look at the stratagems that VN used to delude the reader and conceal the clues. They deluded me completely and made for a very enjoyable challenge.
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
As far as I can think of, you are right Steffee, in Laughter in the Dark, Albinus is very naive and innocent about women to say the least. We know Timofey was still hung up on Liza (IMO) silly man, but sooooo sweet. Martin could not have found his way out of a brothel, and I won't even mention,steffee said:Ah! I see. Thanks Pontalba.
I cheated lol.
But aren't all of Nabokov's male characters rather foolish when it comes to matters of the heart? Have we discussed this before? Probably.
how Humbert and Arthur were.....oy.I haven't gotten far enough into Harlequins yet to access that situation.
And Sebastian.......
Peder
Well-Known Member
"Ninka"
as told by
Pahl Pahlich Rechnoy
and
Madame Lecerf
And containing plot spoilers
as told by
Pahl Pahlich Rechnoy
and
Madame Lecerf
And containing plot spoilers
Pahl Pahlich Rechnoy took Nina Toorovets as his first wife and lived to regret it the remainder of his days. "Ninka" sucked him dry in every sense of the word and left him still in a murderous mood when V came calling years later for information about Sebastian.
In the waning days of her marriage she traveled to Blauberg and registered in the same hotel where Helen Graun had registered and also Sebastian Knight.
She formed a friendship with Helene Graun that would last into later years and also, probably not so accidentally, caught the eye of Sebastian.
The two ladies left separately for Paris at the ends of their stays and shortly thereafter Sebastian followed along to Paris.
It would seem that Ninka gave Sebastian the same treatment as she did Pahl Pahlich, and jilted Sebastian when she was done with him.
Later she remarried a Monsieur Lecerf and moved with him into his country house.
One day, while she was using Helene Graun's Paris apartment in the latter's absence, a knock came on the door from a presentable gentleman asking about his brother Sebastian. She presented herself as Mme Lecerf, a friend of Helene Graun's and, by and by, acquainted V with the story of his brother's downfall, coloring it to seem that Helene Graun was the lady in question.
However, a slip of the tongue revealed her own artifice and V quickly concluded -- quicker than this reader -- that Mme Lecerf was none other than Ninka Rechnoy, formerly Nina Toorovets, and the true femme fatale for his brother's downfall and ruin.
In case anyone doubts, consider the tableau in the last paragraph, on the last page, of the last chapter of this novel, where we see that:
" ... Nina sits on a table in the brightest corner of the stage, with a wineglass of fuchsined water, under a painted palm tree ..."
waiting no doubt to hustle her next victim with her false glass of wine and entrap him the same as all the others.If one thinks about it, Marlene Dietrich played Lola memorably in the film The Blue Angel. Small world. Lola? Ninka? Makes little difference.
It is really quite simple. How can Nabokov make such a story so complicated?
/evil leer/
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Peder Thats a marvelous time line for Nina. And how simple it actually was, except of course for the Nabokovian Twist you've so neatly unraveled.
It wasn't until 20 pages after the fact that the reality of what happened sunk in all the way. And then it was....wait a minute...did what I think happened really happen?
And the train ride at the end.......BAM!
It wasn't until 20 pages after the fact that the reality of what happened sunk in all the way. And then it was....wait a minute...did what I think happened really happen?
And the train ride at the end.......BAM!
Peder
Well-Known Member
I have only one word for you Pontalbapontalba said:Just for fun...
I found this.
TOES!
How do you DO these things! Just happen to "find" the absolutely most perfect image for the most perfect film, at the most perfect moment! I had just finished reading in Before the Deluge, Otto Friedrich, p.273-275
and here are Sternberg's own words
Just look at the names: Sternberg, Jannings, Lubitsch, Murnau, Dietrich, Lola...
Music to a movie buffs ears!
Pure digression: Which incidentally brings up the name Lulu, which was the subject of an operatic composition by Alban Berg, who is more noted for his opera Wozzeck - one of the most strangely beautiful and overpowering musical dramatic works one can find.
So. Ninka, an 'elemental female' eh?
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
It was one of those passages that have me reading as fast as I can to find out will he?, won't he?............aaaarrrrggghhhh!Peder said:
And the fake ending....IOW the fact that it wasn't Sebastian that V was listening to after all, and the way it proved that it wasn't the actual fact of listening to the literal breathing of a certain person, but the feeling he was was what counted towards, what?, absolution? Maybe. Interesting all the same.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Pontalba,pontalba said:Peder Just read the link.....talk about WOW!
Nothing like a little light opera before lunch.....
Lulu.....Nina....Lola...yeah.
btw, Love the exerpt from Before the Deluge. Just the time VN was there.
Like that link huh?
Well, then Let me find some heavy opera for ya.
That Lulu was a lulu! /groan/
Peder
Peder
Well-Known Member
Hi Steffee,steffee said:
Dunno what's next, if there is a 'next' yet.
re Harlequins, It would be fine with me! I read anything and I really enjoy Nabokov. However, there are some very disgruntled Reader Reviewers over on amazon who are putting Harlequins down very seriously. So far (first 60 pages) it reads along OK for me and, as with other Nabokovs that I've read, I expect it will really pick up as it goes along. I haven't been disappointed yet in one of his. (Well, maybe Mary, his first, just a little).
As for "next," don't know what to say. As usual I would hope for a book that gathered the interest of the greatest number of people in order to have a lively discussion. But the SK discussion has been a little thin lately, in terms of number of contributors, so I'm not sure that so many are up for a next book just yet or what it might be.
I guess the only thing to do, as usual, is to talk it around and see who's interested in what, and on what sort of time schedule. Lolita started with a bang (I think) because so many people knew of it or had read it and had thoughts about it. We seem now to be getting into books where time has to be allowed for everyone (me too) to read before a discussion can start. And maybe the books don't just grab people's interest as well as Lolita did (Heresy!) So it's just as well to start early thinking about the next book. Like now! Even though there is yet some mileage left in the SK discussion IMO.
So, I'm open to Harlequins and anything else. I have them all and intend to read them all. And I am definitely Yay! for a next book to read. And if Harlequins is it, then that's a Yay! too.
What all are anyone else's thoughts for a next book to read and discuss?
Overlapping reading it with discussing Sebastian Knight, perhaps? Or not?
Anyone?
Anything?
Floor's open.
Peder
PS Maybe I should have put that all down in Everything Nabokov. Maybe I will.
C
StillILearn
New Member
I just had to pipe up to say that I'm enjoying this thread immensely (albeit from the sidelines.) (The Real Life of Still I. Learn has been keeping me pretty much on my own toes lately but I am checking in on as regular a basis as can be managed.)
Thank you all so much for keeping up the side.
Go Team!
The wonderful explanations in the invisible ink have been of invaluable assistance to this thick-headed and oft-and-easily-baffled Nabokovian novice.
Thank you all so much for keeping up the side.
Go Team!
The wonderful explanations in the invisible ink have been of invaluable assistance to this thick-headed and oft-and-easily-baffled Nabokovian novice.
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Peder Which ever everyone wants is ok with me. I have started Harlequins, but was sidetracked by McCarry, but I'll be finished him either today or tomorrow or so, and can and will (and want to) get back to VN. I have all of his as well, and intend to read all eventually, so whatever the consensus is, I'm OK with it.
It has been thin on here lately, so I did wonder how or when more VN would go, but I look forward to whatever discussions we can get going on Our Lad.
I hope everything is going ok with you SIL, and that you can come back soon.
It has been thin on here lately, so I did wonder how or when more VN would go, but I look forward to whatever discussions we can get going on Our Lad.
I hope everything is going ok with you SIL, and that you can come back soon.
steffee
Active Member
Oh, forgot to comment on the next choice...
Um, I don't have Harlequins, but that gives me an excuse to go back to Amazon (oh dear). Or actually, I think my uni library has it...
Have Despair and Pale Fire and Invitation to a Beheading...
And need to get Laughter in the Dark, you've all done that one, if I recall correctly?
Um, I don't have Harlequins, but that gives me an excuse to go back to Amazon (oh dear). Or actually, I think my uni library has it...
Have Despair and Pale Fire and Invitation to a Beheading...
And need to get Laughter in the Dark, you've all done that one, if I recall correctly?
Peder
Well-Known Member
Scorecard
But "done" is a very loose term in among us starter-and-non-(yet)-book-finishers.
I have done started Laughter. i think Pontalba may have done finished it. But no we have not done done a discussion of it.
As I recall our Discussion Threads, they have been
Lolita,
Enchanter,
Pnin,
Glory,
Sebastian Knight
Everything Nabokov
in addition I have read:
Mary
Transparent Things
Pale Fire
Ada, or Ardor
and started:
Look at the Harlequins
Laughter in the Dark
Speak Memory
and I have all the rest, except for the political two:
Bend Sinister
Invitation to a Beheading
---
Books that I recall that have been mentioned for reading include:
The Gift (long ago)
Pale Fire (recently)
Harlequins (yesterday)
So there we stand,
I'll gladly put up back-cover descriptions for any that anyone wishes, to help in the deciding.
Peder
Done? Done? We are never done around here. j/ksteffee said:
But "done" is a very loose term in among us starter-and-non-(yet)-book-finishers.
I have done started Laughter. i think Pontalba may have done finished it. But no we have not done done a discussion of it.
As I recall our Discussion Threads, they have been
Lolita,
Enchanter,
Pnin,
Glory,
Sebastian Knight
Everything Nabokov
in addition I have read:
Mary
Transparent Things
Pale Fire
Ada, or Ardor
and started:
Look at the Harlequins
Laughter in the Dark
Speak Memory
and I have all the rest, except for the political two:
Bend Sinister
Invitation to a Beheading
---
Books that I recall that have been mentioned for reading include:
The Gift (long ago)
Pale Fire (recently)
Harlequins (yesterday)
So there we stand,
I'll gladly put up back-cover descriptions for any that anyone wishes, to help in the deciding.
Peder