Subject
Re: SIGNS: First paragraph & the next...
From
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Those ten different fruit jellies don't seem trifling or innocent, not even--on reflection--to outsiders. To take such a gift to one who reacts so strongly to man-made gifts or gross comforts strikes me as malicious or unthinking. Sober Freudians look out.
----- Original Message ----
From: jansymello <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, 27 April, 2008 12:11:38 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] SIGNS: First paragraph & the next...
SES: Hello everyone,We've received huzzahs and thanks for the suggestion to
engage in a group discussion of the story, so start your engines if you haven't
already. Questions, annotations, and speculations about the probable
reason for anything that appears in the first paragraph are welcome. Hurry
up . . . tomorrow we'll move on to the second paragraph!
First paragraph:
(a) "For the fourth
time in as many years..." Only four times did these parents have trouble to choose a birthday present for their
incurably deranged son who had no desires and lived in an abstract world?
(b) "Man-made objects were
to him either hives of evil[...] or gross comforts[...]his parents chose a
dainty and innocent trifle: a basket with ten different fruit jellies in ten
little jars" (later we learn that
the jellies were inside colored jars with
"eloquent" labels and five of the different
jellied fruits were: apricot, grape, beech plum, quince, crab apple...
The jars reflected "luminous yellow, green, red" ... like traffic
lights?)
Why were these somehow
extraordinary man-made basket, jars and jellies acceptable
as gifts?
Second paragraph:
(a) "She wore cheap, black
dresses. Unlike other women of her age( such as Mrs. Sol,...)she presented a
naked white countenance to the fault-finding light of spring days.[...] her
husband...was now wholly dependent on his brother Isaac, a real American of
almost forty years standing..."
Although the couple was "quite old" only "a
score of years had elapsed" since their boy was born, perhaps in Leipzig or
in Berlin, perhaps Minsk. The three fled Nazi Europe when he was
ten. His uncle Isaac, nicknamed "the Prince" was already "a real"
American for forty years.
Ten other characters: Mrs. Sol, Aunt Rosa, the
maid Elsa and her "bestial" fiancé , Rebecca Borisovna, the
Soloveichiks, Herman Brink, Dr.Solov, a girl, Charlie...make a
quick appearance like the ten little jars...
And...?????
Search
the Nabokv-L archive with Google
Contact
the Editors
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exception, are
read by both co-editors.
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View Nabokv-L Policies
__________________________________________________________
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
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Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Search archive with Google:
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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
----- Original Message ----
From: jansymello <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, 27 April, 2008 12:11:38 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] SIGNS: First paragraph & the next...
SES: Hello everyone,We've received huzzahs and thanks for the suggestion to
engage in a group discussion of the story, so start your engines if you haven't
already. Questions, annotations, and speculations about the probable
reason for anything that appears in the first paragraph are welcome. Hurry
up . . . tomorrow we'll move on to the second paragraph!
First paragraph:
(a) "For the fourth
time in as many years..." Only four times did these parents have trouble to choose a birthday present for their
incurably deranged son who had no desires and lived in an abstract world?
(b) "Man-made objects were
to him either hives of evil[...] or gross comforts[...]his parents chose a
dainty and innocent trifle: a basket with ten different fruit jellies in ten
little jars" (later we learn that
the jellies were inside colored jars with
"eloquent" labels and five of the different
jellied fruits were: apricot, grape, beech plum, quince, crab apple...
The jars reflected "luminous yellow, green, red" ... like traffic
lights?)
Why were these somehow
extraordinary man-made basket, jars and jellies acceptable
as gifts?
Second paragraph:
(a) "She wore cheap, black
dresses. Unlike other women of her age( such as Mrs. Sol,...)she presented a
naked white countenance to the fault-finding light of spring days.[...] her
husband...was now wholly dependent on his brother Isaac, a real American of
almost forty years standing..."
Although the couple was "quite old" only "a
score of years had elapsed" since their boy was born, perhaps in Leipzig or
in Berlin, perhaps Minsk. The three fled Nazi Europe when he was
ten. His uncle Isaac, nicknamed "the Prince" was already "a real"
American for forty years.
Ten other characters: Mrs. Sol, Aunt Rosa, the
maid Elsa and her "bestial" fiancé , Rebecca Borisovna, the
Soloveichiks, Herman Brink, Dr.Solov, a girl, Charlie...make a
quick appearance like the ten little jars...
And...?????
Search
the Nabokv-L archive with Google
Contact
the Editors
All private editorial communications, without
exception, are
read by both co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies
__________________________________________________________
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Email http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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