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[NABOKOV-L] Grand D. du Mont: Santos Dumont?
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In Ada we read that " Marina's friend, the theatrical big shot, Gran D. du Mont (the 'D' also stood for Duke, his mother's maiden name, des hobereaux irlandais, quoi), traveling discreetly on the next Mediterranean Express..." There are frequent references to airplanes in this novel, but I don't think that Nabokov mentions Santos Dumont directly, as he does in "Pale Fire." ("King Alfin's absent-mindedness was strangely combined with a passion for mechanical things, especially for flying apparatuses. In 1912, he managed to rise in an umbrella-like Fabre "hydroplane" and almost got drowned in the sea between Nitra and Indra. He smashed two Farmans, three Zemblan machines, and a beloved Santos Dumont Demoiselle. A very special monoplane, Blenda IV, was built for him in 1916 by his constant "aerial adjutant," Colonel Peter Gusev (later a pioneer parachutist and, at seventy, one of the greatest jumpers of all time), and this was his bird of doom.")* Demon, like King Alfin, dies in a plane-crash. There are the magicarpets "the jikkers", Van's grand-father Dedalus Veen, there's also Van's wrestling instructor's name ( King Wing).
I don't know if the insertion of "Gran D.du Mont" is related to Santos Dumont. His inventiveness was not only related to balloons and airplanes (his record flight around the Tour Eiffel is disputed with the Brothers Wright, who also gain indirect reference in Ada, in a coach-driver named Ben Wright). Santos Dumont also created the first wrist-watch (he needed his hands free and at the same time, have easy access to a good timepiece...) and Van's wrist-watch,worn by Ada once ( we are told that Van forgot he'd lent it to her and looked for it among the forget-me-nots) or also hanging from the net of a hammock (Van had to return in a haste to retrieve it before catching a train) is often mentioned.
Time, of course, is fundamental in "Ada". Van can be very precise: " Today is Monday, July 14, 1922, five-thirteen p.m. by my wrist watch, eleven fifty-two by my car's built-in clock, four-ten by all the timepieces in town," although his "time" has no relation to any watch or clock. The role of cuff-links, in Ada, or her stocking-band (I forgot how it's called) is clear, not Dumont's wrist-watches nor his Demoiselle (libellula**) inventions.
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* In "Pale Fire" we algo find young Charles...unable to recall his father's face, "although oddly he did remember perfectly well the little monoplane of chocolate that he, a chubby babe, happened to be holding in that very last photograph (Christmas 1918) of the melancholy, riding-breeched aviator in whose lap he reluctantly and uncomfortably sprawled." Nabokov never crossed the Atlantic by plane. There's apparently no personal recollection linked to his reference about King Charles II's chocolate monoplane and aviators.
** This link with the insect/airplane has been explored a few years ago in the List, by Don B. Johnson.
In "Ada" we also find that Aqua's "real destination was Terra the Fair and thither she trusted she would fly on libellula long wings when she died."
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I don't know if the insertion of "Gran D.du Mont" is related to Santos Dumont. His inventiveness was not only related to balloons and airplanes (his record flight around the Tour Eiffel is disputed with the Brothers Wright, who also gain indirect reference in Ada, in a coach-driver named Ben Wright). Santos Dumont also created the first wrist-watch (he needed his hands free and at the same time, have easy access to a good timepiece...) and Van's wrist-watch,worn by Ada once ( we are told that Van forgot he'd lent it to her and looked for it among the forget-me-nots) or also hanging from the net of a hammock (Van had to return in a haste to retrieve it before catching a train) is often mentioned.
Time, of course, is fundamental in "Ada". Van can be very precise: " Today is Monday, July 14, 1922, five-thirteen p.m. by my wrist watch, eleven fifty-two by my car's built-in clock, four-ten by all the timepieces in town," although his "time" has no relation to any watch or clock. The role of cuff-links, in Ada, or her stocking-band (I forgot how it's called) is clear, not Dumont's wrist-watches nor his Demoiselle (libellula**) inventions.
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* In "Pale Fire" we algo find young Charles...unable to recall his father's face, "although oddly he did remember perfectly well the little monoplane of chocolate that he, a chubby babe, happened to be holding in that very last photograph (Christmas 1918) of the melancholy, riding-breeched aviator in whose lap he reluctantly and uncomfortably sprawled." Nabokov never crossed the Atlantic by plane. There's apparently no personal recollection linked to his reference about King Charles II's chocolate monoplane and aviators.
** This link with the insect/airplane has been explored a few years ago in the List, by Don B. Johnson.
In "Ada" we also find that Aqua's "real destination was Terra the Fair and thither she trusted she would fly on libellula long wings when she died."
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/