Subject
Personification in LATH
From
Date
Body
Personifications, in LATH, are not as common as I thought because the emphasis has shifted from attributing human feelings and motion to inanimate objects, to dwell on human movements acting onto specific body-parts (as the tongue steping down the palate, in "Lolita" and "... down the marble steps of memory's front porch, here sheslowly comes, sideways, sideways, the poor lame lady..." in LATH)
I think that Nabokov considers them, simply, stylized images:: "Only by projecting thus on the screen of my mind those stylized images, could I allay the anguish of carnal jealousy.."
A host of trite examples with a moon looking down, a smiling sun and lapping waves seem to have escaped his scrutiny* - perhaps even those in which we find again variations about "the stunned look on the face of a clock that has stopped."
There are many delightful and joyous motion-images: "the performance that a breeze was giving above a street sufficiently narrow for three pairs of long drawers to cross over on a string in as many strides or leaps" and multiple variations about typography that may belong to a separate category, probably related to the movement-body-thought kind: "Then I drew a thick line underneath and a caravan of question marks...," one that has not been used simply as a rich dream-state analogy:"I saw my pages and notes flash past like the bright windows of an express train that did not stop at my station, with a battery-operated green engine that emitted at realistic intervals puffs of imitation smoke, pursued a circular course through a brambly picturesque nightmare grove whose dizzy flowers nodded continuous assent to al the horrors of childhood and hell."
:
I'll continue my search and, please, remember that I humbly welcome corrections and suggestions!
............................................................................................................................................
* However, Nabokov indicates one that stems from the poetry of Pushkin: "recite that Pushkin thing about waves lying down in adoration at her feet." and in this case it might be an ironical move. .
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I think that Nabokov considers them, simply, stylized images:: "Only by projecting thus on the screen of my mind those stylized images, could I allay the anguish of carnal jealousy.."
A host of trite examples with a moon looking down, a smiling sun and lapping waves seem to have escaped his scrutiny* - perhaps even those in which we find again variations about "the stunned look on the face of a clock that has stopped."
There are many delightful and joyous motion-images: "the performance that a breeze was giving above a street sufficiently narrow for three pairs of long drawers to cross over on a string in as many strides or leaps" and multiple variations about typography that may belong to a separate category, probably related to the movement-body-thought kind: "Then I drew a thick line underneath and a caravan of question marks...," one that has not been used simply as a rich dream-state analogy:"I saw my pages and notes flash past like the bright windows of an express train that did not stop at my station, with a battery-operated green engine that emitted at realistic intervals puffs of imitation smoke, pursued a circular course through a brambly picturesque nightmare grove whose dizzy flowers nodded continuous assent to al the horrors of childhood and hell."
:
I'll continue my search and, please, remember that I humbly welcome corrections and suggestions!
............................................................................................................................................
* However, Nabokov indicates one that stems from the poetry of Pushkin: "recite that Pushkin thing about waves lying down in adoration at her feet." and in this case it might be an ironical move. .
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/