Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010565, Fri, 12 Nov 2004 09:11:29 -0800

Subject
Fwd: TT-22 Introductory Notes
Date
Body


----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 21:08:49 +0900
From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>


85.11: Brig: exists in Switzerland though Witt is not a real place. Brig is
"located at an ancient European crossroads where the Simplon Pass crosses
the high Alps into Italy, the small and picturesque town of Brig boasts many
architectural treasures, . . . . As well as excellent skiing from Rosswald
immediately aove the town . . . reached by gondola, . . . ." From
"SkiEurope Report" by Louis Bignami:
http://www.finetravel.com/skiing/ski_switzerland/brig.htm .

85.12-13: Nothing is ever wrapped up with such diabolical neatness as a
shoebox: Why the adjective "diabolical" is used but suggesting the Eden
theme? Just warning HP about the torturing sentimental journey?

85.20-21: The climb he contemplated could not be accomplished in town shoes:
The first day of Ch. 14. HP ignored Jacques's advice that he should change
into sturdier brogues.

86.29-30: a French ancestor of his, a Catholic poet and well-nigh a saint:
Brian Boyd notes, "French poet and diplomat St. John Perse (1877-1975)."
"Perse" is also related with the Eden theme.

87.03-04: without stopping to listen to the vulgar noise of the stream which
could tell him nothing: HP usually fails to hear the messages from water in
various shapes.

87.11: Villa Nastia, which still retained a dead old woman's absurd Russian
diminutive: I wonder why "absurd"?

87.16-17: a woman was selling vegetables: She is the same woman selling
apples in Ch. 12, who also helped HP who was lost on the way to Villa
Nastia. The apples lead to the Eden theme as well as "yabloni" and
"Diablonnet" in Ch. 12 while we only see vegetables here. That might show HP
vainly looking for the lost Eden. On the other hand, we might glimpse the
vegetables appearing in Chs. 24 and 26.

87.19-24: a large, white, shivering dog crawled from behind a crate and with
a shock of futile recognition Hugh remembered that eight years ago he had
stopped right here and had noticed that dog, which was pretty old even then
and had now braved fabulous age only to serve his blind memory: A piece of
the Mcfate puzzle put in a proper place. Though, as I wrote before, the dog
did not look pretty old when HP first saw him eight years ago.

87.27-28: A blond little girl with a badminton racket crouched and picked up
her shuttlecock from the sidewalk: As if the same shuttlecock as HP saw and
ignored eight years ago had been left there for these years was being picked
up by a girl who had been playing badminton since then. The girl also looks
like Armande in her childhood.

87.29: now painted a celestial blue: Cf. A blue haze sufficient for paradise
(Ch. 15). A heaven motif.

87.29-30: All its windows are shuttered: As if announcing HP that he would
not be able to find anything there. Cf. Not all of them [the red shutters of
the Ascot Hotel] shut (Ch. 2).

Akiko Nakata

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