Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010953, Sat, 22 Jan 2005 20:32:54 -0800

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Fwd: Spring in Elsinore? Violets
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----- 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 -----
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