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Re: Fwd: Spring in Elsinore? Violets
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Very interesting! The visual aspect of the opposition seems highly
significant. Violet, the color, is probably associated for VN with fog,
vague Symbolic suggestiveness, horizontality, perhaps femininity in its
vaguest, most abstract (again, as per Symbolism--I see images of Kuznetsov
paintings!). "Iarkost'," the gaze, the gramophone needle (!), all suggest
the piercing of the fog, of the trance-like--the masculine and vertical.
Well, forgive the overgeneralization--just the general contours here! BTW,
in this context, "naprotiv" should probably be "on the contrary," rather
than "on the other hand."
David Powelstock
Asst. Prof. of Russian & East European Literatures
Chair, Program in Russian & East European Studies
Brandeis University
GREA, MS 024
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
781.736.3347 (Office)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Donald B. Johnson
> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:52 AM
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Subject: Re: Fwd: Spring in Elsinore? Violets
>
>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from naiman@socrates.berkeley.edu -----
> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:01:18 -0800
> From: Eric Naiman <naiman@socrates.berkeley.edu>
>
>
> To this very interesting observation by Sandy Drescher, we could add the
> link made between Ophelia and violets in Nabokov's Universitetskaia poema:
>
> "Ne shlo ei imia Violeta
> (vernee: Vaiolet, -- no eto
> edva li my proiznesem).
> S fialkoi ne bylo v nei skhodstva,
> naprotiv: iarko, do urodstva
> glaza blesteli
>
> The name Violeta didn't suit her (to be sure, her name was Violet, but we
> can hardly pronounce that). She had nothing of the violet in her; on the
> other hand, it was ugly how brightly her eyes flashed
>
> Later, the narrator is on the river with her -- he will soon abandon her.
> He sees a tear on her cheek and adds in the next stanza:
> "i tikho my poplyli
> v tuman, -- gde plakala ne ty li,
> Ofeliia, -- il' to byla
> lish' grammofonnaia igla
>
> and quietly we floated in the fog -- wasn't that where you cried, Ophelia,
> or was that just a grammophone needle.
>
> I'm sorry for the quick translation -- has one been published somewhere?
> Eric Naiman.
>
>
>
> >EDNOTE. Violets occur a lot in VN. Any ideas?
> >
> >----- Forwarded message from bunsan@direcway.com -----
> > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:45:06 -0500
> > From: Alexander Drescher <bunsan@direcway.com>
> >Dear Don and List Members-
> >
> >Can someone direct me to a paper in which Nina's violets [Spring in
> >Fialta] and are related to Laertes's protest of Ophelia's innocence?
> >
> >Spring in Fialta
> >At the next corner we were attracted by an old stone stairway, and we
> >climbed up [428 Vintage]
> >with a cluster of bone-white flecks (some hamlet) [428]
> >we stood for a little longer by the stone parapet [429]
> > From somewhere a firm bouquet of small dark, unselfishly smelling
> >violets appeared in her hands [429]
> >
> >Hamlet ACT V, Scene 1
> >LAERTES:
> >Lay her i' the earth:
> >And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
> >May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
> >A ministering angel shall my sister be,
> >When thou liest howling
> >
> >If such a connection exists, it adds to the view that Victor
> >progressively recognizes Nina's vulnerable innocence [a lost child] in
> >addition to her outrageousness [a street row] or her heroic struggle [a
> >train station accident]; just as he comes out of his fog and finally
> >recognizes that he has seen the circus poster [six times] previously.
> >Further, it would suggests that his timid withdrawal of his offer of
> >love - and perhaps more - contributes, Hamlet-like, to her death.
> >
> >-Sandy Drescher 1/21/05
> >
> >----- End forwarded message -----
> >
> >Don -Apologies if this is a duplicate, the originial mailing appears to
> >have disappeared into the ether-S.D.
> >
> >Dear Don and List Members-
> >
> >Can someone direct me to a paper in which Nina's violets [Spring in
> >Fialta] and are related to Laertes's protest of Ophelia's innocence?
> >
> >Spring in Fialta
> >At the next corner we were attracted by an old stone stairway, and we
> >climbed up [428 Vintage]
> >with a cluster of bone-white flecks (some hamlet) [428]
> >we stood for a little longer by the stone parapet [429]
> >>From somewhere a firm bouquet of small dark, unselfishly smelling
> violets
> >>appeared in her hands [429]
> >
> >Hamlet ACT V, Scene 1
> >LAERTES:
> >Lay her i' the earth:
> >And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
> >May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
> >A ministering angel shall my sister be,
> >When thou liest howling
> >
> >If such a connection exists, it adds to the view that Victor
> progressively
> >recognizes Nina's vulnerable innocence [a lost child] in addition to her
> >outrageousness [a street row] or her heroic struggle [a train station
> >accident]; just as he comes out of his fog and finally recognizes that he
> >has seen the circus poster [six times] previously. Further, it would
> >suggests that his timid withdrawal of his offer of love - and perhaps
> more
> >- contributes, Hamlet-like, to her death.
> >
> >-Sandy Drescher 1/21/05
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----