Subject
Re: TT, Homer, Baseball
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Date
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Dear Don and List,
While re-reading old postings stimulated by Alain Andreu, I came across a
discussion about VN´s "Chapman´s Homer " and instead of linking baseball to
Keats and a famous translation, I went from Ulysses back to baseball (
towards a "homerun" and the return of Homer´s "Ulysses") . From there I
travelled on to J.Joyce, but then to Finnegan´s Wake first line:
" riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend 1
of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to 2
Howth Castle and Environs".
To find an excuse for dropping in a Joycean question ( actually, about
the moves in a baseball game ), I´ll try to link Ulysses return home to
"Transparent Things", by the re-appearance of a very old dog soon after
Hugh returned to Witt.
The narrator seems to have established a special contrast bt. that dog
and Ulysses´s ( which had been the first to recognize his wizened master ) -
since it was Hugh who suffered from a "blind memory".
Hugh Person also didn´t live in Villa Nastia to be able to achieve a
"homerun" ( despite the aid of a "shuttle" ). Armande did!
Actually Armande, as the living narrator at this point ( but it is
impossible ) would then be responsible for a peculiar wording: isn´t the use
of "here" instead of "there" a little curious as it appears in the sentence
below?
End of ch.22: " Hugh hesitated at a street corner (...)... a large,
white, shivering dog crawled from behind a crate and whith 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".
My "Joycean" question requires a knowledge of baseball, which I
completely lack: could the "riverrun" which also suggests Homer, homer and
a "homerrun", get an additional reinforcement of any kind by a description
of baseball moves along the rest of the paragraph in which it appears? ( "s
werve of shore to bend of bay", "brings us back to...", "recirculation"... )
Thank you.
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 3:29 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: Theater group namede NABOKOV
> Dear Don and List,
>
> As a keen Nabokovian, I am always surprised by these odd uses of a known
> name. I am puzzled as to how can one be a Nabokov afficionado, and use the
> same name for a theater group, or -why not- a football team or a cat
> (without connection with the celebrity).
> That reminds me some art galleries or stores in my city using extensively
> the name Gauguin. Obviously, the aim is commercial and the way an utter
> absurdity.
>
> Seasons greetings,
>
> Alain ANDREU
> Institut Louis MALARDE
> Papeete
> TAHITI
While re-reading old postings stimulated by Alain Andreu, I came across a
discussion about VN´s "Chapman´s Homer " and instead of linking baseball to
Keats and a famous translation, I went from Ulysses back to baseball (
towards a "homerun" and the return of Homer´s "Ulysses") . From there I
travelled on to J.Joyce, but then to Finnegan´s Wake first line:
" riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend 1
of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to 2
Howth Castle and Environs".
To find an excuse for dropping in a Joycean question ( actually, about
the moves in a baseball game ), I´ll try to link Ulysses return home to
"Transparent Things", by the re-appearance of a very old dog soon after
Hugh returned to Witt.
The narrator seems to have established a special contrast bt. that dog
and Ulysses´s ( which had been the first to recognize his wizened master ) -
since it was Hugh who suffered from a "blind memory".
Hugh Person also didn´t live in Villa Nastia to be able to achieve a
"homerun" ( despite the aid of a "shuttle" ). Armande did!
Actually Armande, as the living narrator at this point ( but it is
impossible ) would then be responsible for a peculiar wording: isn´t the use
of "here" instead of "there" a little curious as it appears in the sentence
below?
End of ch.22: " Hugh hesitated at a street corner (...)... a large,
white, shivering dog crawled from behind a crate and whith 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".
My "Joycean" question requires a knowledge of baseball, which I
completely lack: could the "riverrun" which also suggests Homer, homer and
a "homerrun", get an additional reinforcement of any kind by a description
of baseball moves along the rest of the paragraph in which it appears? ( "s
werve of shore to bend of bay", "brings us back to...", "recirculation"... )
Thank you.
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 3:29 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: Theater group namede NABOKOV
> Dear Don and List,
>
> As a keen Nabokovian, I am always surprised by these odd uses of a known
> name. I am puzzled as to how can one be a Nabokov afficionado, and use the
> same name for a theater group, or -why not- a football team or a cat
> (without connection with the celebrity).
> That reminds me some art galleries or stores in my city using extensively
> the name Gauguin. Obviously, the aim is commercial and the way an utter
> absurdity.
>
> Seasons greetings,
>
> Alain ANDREU
> Institut Louis MALARDE
> Papeete
> TAHITI