Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003041, Mon, 20 Apr 1998 13:40:57 -0700

Subject
Query: C. Bronte's _Jane Eyre_ and VN's PF?
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. A quick check of Boyd, the VN-EW Letters, and SO shows no
references to Bronte. Can anyone help on this one. Intriguing.
There is, BTW, a Bewick's Wren nesting next to my house.
---------------------------------------
From: David Bellos <dbellos@princeton.edu>

I would be most grateful to know if there is any
literature (from a thesis to a footnote) on Nabokov's reading of _Jane
Eyre_. A student has brought to my notice the suspiciously interesting
reading of the aforementioned Jane as she sits in a window seat behind
"clear panes of glass separating but not protecting me from the drear
November day": - Bewick's _History of British Birds_, in which she "could
not pass unnoticed the suggestion of the bleak shores of Lapland, Siberia,
Spitzberg, Nova Zembla... with the vast sweep of the Atlantic Zone"
(Penguin edition, p. 40).
Thanks in advance for any scraps, tidbits or birdseed.

David Bellos
Romance Languages
Princeton University
fax 609 238 4535