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Fwd: Re: QUERY: puzzle in Laughter in the Dark
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It's always been my impression that what Nabokov
was trying to evoke in that last scene is not a
painting but the kind of freeze-frame often seen
at the end of movies. The whole novel is, by
Nabokov's own statement, cinematic; see Barbara
Wyllie's _Nabokov at the Movies_ (McFarland,
2003), 68-75 (and passim -- see the index) for a
discussion based on a comment made many years
later by Nabokov to Alfred Appel: "I wanted to
write the entire book as if it were a film ... The
scenes and dialogue ... follow a cinematic pattern
... it's a verbal imitation of what was then
termed a 'photoplay.'" See also Appel's _Nabokov's
Dark Cinema_ (Oxford, 1974), 257-69 and passim.
I do think you're right that the opening
description of a painting coming to life as an
animated film is a controlling metaphor for the
novel, and I'm not sure how this fits with the
cinematic intent. Another puzzle.
Best,
Mary Bellino
iambe@rcn.com
"Donald B. Johnson" wrote:
>
> I am not a Nabokov scholar, but rather a visual artist who is pursuing
> a writing project for the magazine Cabinet, and this is my first
> posting to Nabokov-L. My query concerns what seems to me to be a
> puzzle planted in the text of Laughter in the Dark: at the very
> beginning of the novel Albinus has a "beautiful idea"-- that a
> hand-drawn animated film could be made in which a famous painting,
> "preferably of the Dutch school," is brought to life, its actors moving
> gradually into position through the implicit landscape of the painting.
> It is in trying to realize this idea that Albinus meets his future
> "friend" Axel Rex.
>
> At the end of Laughter, after Margot shoots Albinus, Nabokov's
> description of the murder scene is a rather forensic set of "stage
> directions": "Chair--lying close by dead body of man in a purplish
> brown suit and felt slippers. Automatic pistol not visable. It is
> under him." And etc.
>
> It occurs to me that the final crime scene description might be, in
> some perversely dark manner, the realization of Albinus' "beautiful
> idea." In other words, the entire novel might take the form of a
> tableau vivant which leads up to all the objects in the scene finding
> their precise position. Noting also that the gun is not visible, it
> seems that much more likely that the tableau might be based on a
> painting of an earlier age--if not the Dutch school, perhaps something
> more recent (the original novel, Kamera Obscura as well as the two
> English translations were done in the 1930's.)
>
> I have not yet found a painting with the required characteristics, but
> am beginning to search through the Nabokov literature for clues. Any
> helpful comments will be much appreciated. First and foremost: has
> this puzzle been explored elsewhere?
>
> Thank you,
> David B. Brody
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
was trying to evoke in that last scene is not a
painting but the kind of freeze-frame often seen
at the end of movies. The whole novel is, by
Nabokov's own statement, cinematic; see Barbara
Wyllie's _Nabokov at the Movies_ (McFarland,
2003), 68-75 (and passim -- see the index) for a
discussion based on a comment made many years
later by Nabokov to Alfred Appel: "I wanted to
write the entire book as if it were a film ... The
scenes and dialogue ... follow a cinematic pattern
... it's a verbal imitation of what was then
termed a 'photoplay.'" See also Appel's _Nabokov's
Dark Cinema_ (Oxford, 1974), 257-69 and passim.
I do think you're right that the opening
description of a painting coming to life as an
animated film is a controlling metaphor for the
novel, and I'm not sure how this fits with the
cinematic intent. Another puzzle.
Best,
Mary Bellino
iambe@rcn.com
"Donald B. Johnson" wrote:
>
> I am not a Nabokov scholar, but rather a visual artist who is pursuing
> a writing project for the magazine Cabinet, and this is my first
> posting to Nabokov-L. My query concerns what seems to me to be a
> puzzle planted in the text of Laughter in the Dark: at the very
> beginning of the novel Albinus has a "beautiful idea"-- that a
> hand-drawn animated film could be made in which a famous painting,
> "preferably of the Dutch school," is brought to life, its actors moving
> gradually into position through the implicit landscape of the painting.
> It is in trying to realize this idea that Albinus meets his future
> "friend" Axel Rex.
>
> At the end of Laughter, after Margot shoots Albinus, Nabokov's
> description of the murder scene is a rather forensic set of "stage
> directions": "Chair--lying close by dead body of man in a purplish
> brown suit and felt slippers. Automatic pistol not visable. It is
> under him." And etc.
>
> It occurs to me that the final crime scene description might be, in
> some perversely dark manner, the realization of Albinus' "beautiful
> idea." In other words, the entire novel might take the form of a
> tableau vivant which leads up to all the objects in the scene finding
> their precise position. Noting also that the gun is not visible, it
> seems that much more likely that the tableau might be based on a
> painting of an earlier age--if not the Dutch school, perhaps something
> more recent (the original novel, Kamera Obscura as well as the two
> English translations were done in the 1930's.)
>
> I have not yet found a painting with the required characteristics, but
> am beginning to search through the Nabokov literature for clues. Any
> helpful comments will be much appreciated. First and foremost: has
> this puzzle been explored elsewhere?
>
> Thank you,
> David B. Brody
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----