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Animation in LATH and a Pushkin quote
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In LATH, Nabokov makes reference to a common-place animation in the poetry of Pushkin: "recite that Pushkin thing about waves lying down in adoration at her feet.," with an ironical twist. Another example, also focusing on reverent waves, is simply delightful and it can be read in VN's short-story "Ultima Thule" (one that I was unwilling to read in full, despite its links to PF and northern lands and kings*)
"..I sat on the pebbles of the beach, where once your golden legs had been extended; and, as before, a wave would arrive, all out of breath, but, as it had nothing to report, it would disperse in apologetic salaams."
And, again, Pushkin enters the picture but this time, the quote has him dismiss the secret soul of things: "Ah, yes-everything around me kept warily, attentively silent, and only when I looked at something did that something give a start and begin ostentatiously to move, rustle, or buzz, pretending not to notice me. "Indifferent nature," says Pushkin. Nonsense! A continuous shying-away would be a more accurate description." Or, on the contrary, both he and Nabokov are dealing with the opacity of the world, the ineffable noumena, with a distinct emotional response to their silence. * .
............................................................
* Here are E.A. Poe's lines, personificating ghostly Night in his approach to an "ultimate dim Thule" and Night's sovereignty over Fiction ("out of Space - out of Time.")
"Where an Eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule -
From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime,
Out of Space - out of Time."
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"..I sat on the pebbles of the beach, where once your golden legs had been extended; and, as before, a wave would arrive, all out of breath, but, as it had nothing to report, it would disperse in apologetic salaams."
And, again, Pushkin enters the picture but this time, the quote has him dismiss the secret soul of things: "Ah, yes-everything around me kept warily, attentively silent, and only when I looked at something did that something give a start and begin ostentatiously to move, rustle, or buzz, pretending not to notice me. "Indifferent nature," says Pushkin. Nonsense! A continuous shying-away would be a more accurate description." Or, on the contrary, both he and Nabokov are dealing with the opacity of the world, the ineffable noumena, with a distinct emotional response to their silence. * .
............................................................
* Here are E.A. Poe's lines, personificating ghostly Night in his approach to an "ultimate dim Thule" and Night's sovereignty over Fiction ("out of Space - out of Time.")
"Where an Eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule -
From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime,
Out of Space - out of Time."
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/