Subject
Re: TT-17 Pere Igor?
From
Date
Body
Yes, the implied parallel is between HP and Goriot.
Instead of the Japanese translation I read many many years ago and I cannot
locate, I found the English e-text of Goriot:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/frgrt11.txt.
I remembered him as a baker, but actually, he was a vermicelli maker. The
special kind of pasta seems to me to shed a new light on "as if it retained
the shape of an earthworm's digestive tract" (Ch. 3). Vermicelli originates
in vermi, i.e., worms, isn't it? "It issues in one continuous appetizing
rodlet" sounds like a process of making pasta. And "Julia (now Lady X); an
American girl (now Lady X)" (Ch. 25) might be an allusion to his daughters
who marry into the upper class.
The following is the passage describing how he made his fortune (sorry, I
forgot most of the episode). There is no reference to sandwiches, though.
Akiko
----------------------
In the days before the Revolution, Jean-Joachim Goriot was simply a
workman in the employ of a vermicelli maker. He was a skilful, thrifty
workman, sufficiently enterprising to buy his master's business when
the latter fell a chance victim to the disturbances of 1789. Goriot
established himself in the Rue de la Jussienne, close to the Corn
Exchange. His plain good sense led him to accept the position of
President of the Section, so as to secure for his business the
protection of those in power at that dangerous epoch. This prudent
step had led to success; the foundations of his fortune were laid in
the time of the Scarcity (real or artificial), when the price of grain
of all kinds rose enormously in Paris. People used to fight for bread
at the bakers' doors; while other persons went to the grocers' shops
and bought Italian paste foods without brawling over it. It was during
this year that Goriot made the money, which, at a later time, was to
give him all the advantage of the great capitalist over the small
buyer; he had, moreover, the usual luck of average ability; his
mediocrity was the salvation of him. He excited no one's envy, it was
not even suspected that he was rich till the peril of being rich was
over, and all his intelligence was concentrated, not on political, but
on commercial speculations. Goriot was an authority second to none on
all questions relating to corn, flour, and "middlings"; and the
production, storage, and quality of grain. He could estimate the yield
of the harvest, and foresee market prices; he bought his cereals in
Sicily, and imported Russian wheat. Any one who had heard him hold
forth on the regulations that control the importation and exportation
of grain, who had seen his grasp of the subject, his clear insight
into the principles involved, his appreciation of weak points in the
way that the system worked, would have thought that here was the stuff
of which a minister is made. Patient, active, and persevering,
energetic and prompt in action, he surveyed his business horizon with
an eagle eye. Nothing there took him by surprise; he foresaw all
things, knew all that was happening, and kept his own counsel; he was
a diplomatist in his quick comprehension of a situation; and in the
routine of business he was as patient and plodding as a soldier on the
march. But beyond this business horizon he could not see. He used to
spend his hours of leisure on the threshold of his shop, leaning
against the framework of the door. Take him from his dark little
counting-house, and he became once more the rough, slow-witted
workman, a man who cannot understand a piece of reasoning, who is
indifferent to all intellectual pleasures, and falls asleep at the
play, a Parisian Dolibom in short, against whose stupidity other minds
are powerless.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: TT-17 Pere Igor?
> ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:13:47 +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
>
> Don, Yes, it must be Le Pere Goriot. If my memory is
> correct, he made a fortune selling bread during a famine.
> Akiko
> --------------------------------------------------
> DBJ: Aha! NOW "the little sandwiches" and "special shop" make sense. As
does
> also the implied parallel of HP's unaccountable love for Armande (which
ends by
> destroying him) and Goriot's ruin & death from his ungrateful daughters.
> It might be helpful if someone could add a bit of detail,e.g., did Goriot
own a
> store or bakery? (Cf the sandwiches.)
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Donald B. Johnson
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 1:26 PM
> Subject: TT-17 Pere Igor?
>
>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> Date:Thu, 23 Sep 2004 11:18:16 +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jpe
>
> 4.01: Pere Igor: puns on Prince Igor?
>
> EDNOTE. Perhaps, but also possibly to Balzac's 1834 _Le Pere Goriot_ who
> squanders his fortune to advance his daughters and ends up dying alone
and
> pennyless. Does anyone recall how Goriot made his fortune?
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
----- End forwarded message -----
Instead of the Japanese translation I read many many years ago and I cannot
locate, I found the English e-text of Goriot:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/frgrt11.txt.
I remembered him as a baker, but actually, he was a vermicelli maker. The
special kind of pasta seems to me to shed a new light on "as if it retained
the shape of an earthworm's digestive tract" (Ch. 3). Vermicelli originates
in vermi, i.e., worms, isn't it? "It issues in one continuous appetizing
rodlet" sounds like a process of making pasta. And "Julia (now Lady X); an
American girl (now Lady X)" (Ch. 25) might be an allusion to his daughters
who marry into the upper class.
The following is the passage describing how he made his fortune (sorry, I
forgot most of the episode). There is no reference to sandwiches, though.
Akiko
----------------------
In the days before the Revolution, Jean-Joachim Goriot was simply a
workman in the employ of a vermicelli maker. He was a skilful, thrifty
workman, sufficiently enterprising to buy his master's business when
the latter fell a chance victim to the disturbances of 1789. Goriot
established himself in the Rue de la Jussienne, close to the Corn
Exchange. His plain good sense led him to accept the position of
President of the Section, so as to secure for his business the
protection of those in power at that dangerous epoch. This prudent
step had led to success; the foundations of his fortune were laid in
the time of the Scarcity (real or artificial), when the price of grain
of all kinds rose enormously in Paris. People used to fight for bread
at the bakers' doors; while other persons went to the grocers' shops
and bought Italian paste foods without brawling over it. It was during
this year that Goriot made the money, which, at a later time, was to
give him all the advantage of the great capitalist over the small
buyer; he had, moreover, the usual luck of average ability; his
mediocrity was the salvation of him. He excited no one's envy, it was
not even suspected that he was rich till the peril of being rich was
over, and all his intelligence was concentrated, not on political, but
on commercial speculations. Goriot was an authority second to none on
all questions relating to corn, flour, and "middlings"; and the
production, storage, and quality of grain. He could estimate the yield
of the harvest, and foresee market prices; he bought his cereals in
Sicily, and imported Russian wheat. Any one who had heard him hold
forth on the regulations that control the importation and exportation
of grain, who had seen his grasp of the subject, his clear insight
into the principles involved, his appreciation of weak points in the
way that the system worked, would have thought that here was the stuff
of which a minister is made. Patient, active, and persevering,
energetic and prompt in action, he surveyed his business horizon with
an eagle eye. Nothing there took him by surprise; he foresaw all
things, knew all that was happening, and kept his own counsel; he was
a diplomatist in his quick comprehension of a situation; and in the
routine of business he was as patient and plodding as a soldier on the
march. But beyond this business horizon he could not see. He used to
spend his hours of leisure on the threshold of his shop, leaning
against the framework of the door. Take him from his dark little
counting-house, and he became once more the rough, slow-witted
workman, a man who cannot understand a piece of reasoning, who is
indifferent to all intellectual pleasures, and falls asleep at the
play, a Parisian Dolibom in short, against whose stupidity other minds
are powerless.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: TT-17 Pere Igor?
> ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:13:47 +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
>
> Don, Yes, it must be Le Pere Goriot. If my memory is
> correct, he made a fortune selling bread during a famine.
> Akiko
> --------------------------------------------------
> DBJ: Aha! NOW "the little sandwiches" and "special shop" make sense. As
does
> also the implied parallel of HP's unaccountable love for Armande (which
ends by
> destroying him) and Goriot's ruin & death from his ungrateful daughters.
> It might be helpful if someone could add a bit of detail,e.g., did Goriot
own a
> store or bakery? (Cf the sandwiches.)
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Donald B. Johnson
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 1:26 PM
> Subject: TT-17 Pere Igor?
>
>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> Date:Thu, 23 Sep 2004 11:18:16 +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jpe
>
> 4.01: Pere Igor: puns on Prince Igor?
>
> EDNOTE. Perhaps, but also possibly to Balzac's 1834 _Le Pere Goriot_ who
> squanders his fortune to advance his daughters and ends up dying alone
and
> pennyless. Does anyone recall how Goriot made his fortune?
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
----- End forwarded message -----