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Quilty, Nabokov: cryptogrammicc paper-chases
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Who is Clare Quilty? If he spread false cues, in different hotels, during his pursuit of Lolita, is there anything to be discovered about what HH described as a cryptogrammic paper chase (ch 23)? .
Humbert refers to "cryptochromism" to describe his pursuer's mimetic abilities: "A veritable Proteus of the highway, with bewildering ease he switched from one vehicle to another. This technique implied the existence of garages specializing in "stage-automobile" operations, but I never could discover the remises he used. He seemed to patronize at first the Chevrolet genus, beginning with a Campus Cream convertible, then going on to a small Horizon Blue sedan, and thenceforth fading into Surf Gray and Driftwood Gray. Then he turned to other makes and passed through a pale dull rainbow of paint shades, and one day I found myself attempting to cope with the subtle distinction between our own Dream Blue Melmoth and the Crest Blue Oldsmobile he had rented; grays, however, remained his favorite cryptochromism, and, in agonizing nightmares, I tried in vain to sort out properly such ghosts as Chrysler's Shell Gray, Chevrolet's Thistle Gray, Dodge's French Gray.." I'm not sure that the term "cryptochromism" is a neologism Nabokov applied to an animal's ability to blend into its background. My two modest dictionaries didn't mention this word. However, I found a reference to a "cryptic coloration of animals." Cars aren't animals.. but then, it's unusual to see them classified by their "genus" and follow their differentiation according to their nuanced colors.
The second time HH will apply the radical "crypt" (hidden) is when he describes his "cryptogrammic" paper chase. Could this choice reveal anything metafictionally indicative about the identity of Lolita's abductor? Is it really Quilty? Is it Nabokov? By sheer chance I found out that this word is closely related to Americana by means of a theory that maintains that there is a great cryptogram inserted in Shakespeare's plays and that this cryptogram provides convincing proof that their author is not Shakespeare, but someone else (Sir Francis Bacon).
Could Nabokov have been acquainted with one of its versions? Its original proponent was Ignatius L. Donnelly and he influenced people whose names are sometimes mentioned close to Nabokov's. True or false, it might still have caught VN's fancy. If the fake names signed in the various hotel registers were not created by Clare Quilty, who could their hidden author be? Humbert or Nabokov?
This clue might be helpful to fuel my conjectures concerning VN's "intromissions,"through Quilty, and to my tentative conclusion that Nabokov is consistently claiming the authorship of this novel in "cryptogrammic" idiosynchratic ways. It also creates a distance betweeen Nabokov and the novel's nymphet. Besides, by having granted immortality to an abused child, this implies in lending a voice to silent sexually exploited children. :
(a)"Philadelphia-born Ignatius Loyola Donnelly, to further exploit American public interest in the authorship story, published evidence suggesting that within Shakespeare's plays lay "The Great Cryptogram" (48) its existence providing proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of the plays; Donnelly's thesis was later substantially recycled in a book by Sir George Greenwood, and it was this book that reportedly inspired Mark Twain's subsequent enthusiastic mock autobiography, provocatively entitled 1601, and Is Shakespeare Dead? Cf. Shakespeare and the American nation, Kim C Sturtgess. 2004 - Fiction Shakespeare and the American nation - books.google.com.br/books?isbn=0521835852...Kim C. Sturgess -
(b) Cf. also North Star Sage: The Story of Ignatius Donnelly Sullivan, Oscar M. New York Vantage Press, Inc., 1953 [description: "This is a peculiar book, attempting to tell the story of one of Minnesota's most interesting and complicated figures through the eyes of a fictional protagonist. It seems to be more of a hagiography than a biography. (Donnelly was a U.S. Congressman, land speculator, newspaperman, and author of several well known works including Atlantis and The Great Cryptogram, a contribution to the Bacon-Shakespeare debate.) ..."
(c)Wiki: Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831 - January 1, 1901) was a U.S. Congressman, populist writer and amateur scientist, known primarily now for his theories concerning Atlantis, Catastrophism (especially the idea of an ancient impact event affecting ancient civilizations), and Shakespearean authorship, all of which modern historians consider to be pseudoscience and pseudohistory. Donnelly's work had important influence on the writings of late 19th and early 20th century figures such as Helena Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, and James Churchward and has more recently influenced writer Graham Hancock... In 1888, he published The Great Cryptogram" in which he proposed that Shakespeare's plays had been written by Francis Bacon, an idea that was popular during the late 19th and early 20th century. He then travelled to England to arrange the English publication of his book by Sampson Low, speaking at the Oxford (and Cambridge) Union after which his thesis "Resolved, that the works of William Shakespeare were composed by Francis Bacon" was put to an unsuccessful vote. The book was a complete failure and Donnelly was discredited."
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Humbert refers to "cryptochromism" to describe his pursuer's mimetic abilities: "A veritable Proteus of the highway, with bewildering ease he switched from one vehicle to another. This technique implied the existence of garages specializing in "stage-automobile" operations, but I never could discover the remises he used. He seemed to patronize at first the Chevrolet genus, beginning with a Campus Cream convertible, then going on to a small Horizon Blue sedan, and thenceforth fading into Surf Gray and Driftwood Gray. Then he turned to other makes and passed through a pale dull rainbow of paint shades, and one day I found myself attempting to cope with the subtle distinction between our own Dream Blue Melmoth and the Crest Blue Oldsmobile he had rented; grays, however, remained his favorite cryptochromism, and, in agonizing nightmares, I tried in vain to sort out properly such ghosts as Chrysler's Shell Gray, Chevrolet's Thistle Gray, Dodge's French Gray.." I'm not sure that the term "cryptochromism" is a neologism Nabokov applied to an animal's ability to blend into its background. My two modest dictionaries didn't mention this word. However, I found a reference to a "cryptic coloration of animals." Cars aren't animals.. but then, it's unusual to see them classified by their "genus" and follow their differentiation according to their nuanced colors.
The second time HH will apply the radical "crypt" (hidden) is when he describes his "cryptogrammic" paper chase. Could this choice reveal anything metafictionally indicative about the identity of Lolita's abductor? Is it really Quilty? Is it Nabokov? By sheer chance I found out that this word is closely related to Americana by means of a theory that maintains that there is a great cryptogram inserted in Shakespeare's plays and that this cryptogram provides convincing proof that their author is not Shakespeare, but someone else (Sir Francis Bacon).
Could Nabokov have been acquainted with one of its versions? Its original proponent was Ignatius L. Donnelly and he influenced people whose names are sometimes mentioned close to Nabokov's. True or false, it might still have caught VN's fancy. If the fake names signed in the various hotel registers were not created by Clare Quilty, who could their hidden author be? Humbert or Nabokov?
This clue might be helpful to fuel my conjectures concerning VN's "intromissions,"through Quilty, and to my tentative conclusion that Nabokov is consistently claiming the authorship of this novel in "cryptogrammic" idiosynchratic ways. It also creates a distance betweeen Nabokov and the novel's nymphet. Besides, by having granted immortality to an abused child, this implies in lending a voice to silent sexually exploited children. :
(a)"Philadelphia-born Ignatius Loyola Donnelly, to further exploit American public interest in the authorship story, published evidence suggesting that within Shakespeare's plays lay "The Great Cryptogram" (48) its existence providing proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of the plays; Donnelly's thesis was later substantially recycled in a book by Sir George Greenwood, and it was this book that reportedly inspired Mark Twain's subsequent enthusiastic mock autobiography, provocatively entitled 1601, and Is Shakespeare Dead? Cf. Shakespeare and the American nation, Kim C Sturtgess. 2004 - Fiction Shakespeare and the American nation - books.google.com.br/books?isbn=0521835852...Kim C. Sturgess -
(b) Cf. also North Star Sage: The Story of Ignatius Donnelly Sullivan, Oscar M. New York Vantage Press, Inc., 1953 [description: "This is a peculiar book, attempting to tell the story of one of Minnesota's most interesting and complicated figures through the eyes of a fictional protagonist. It seems to be more of a hagiography than a biography. (Donnelly was a U.S. Congressman, land speculator, newspaperman, and author of several well known works including Atlantis and The Great Cryptogram, a contribution to the Bacon-Shakespeare debate.) ..."
(c)Wiki: Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831 - January 1, 1901) was a U.S. Congressman, populist writer and amateur scientist, known primarily now for his theories concerning Atlantis, Catastrophism (especially the idea of an ancient impact event affecting ancient civilizations), and Shakespearean authorship, all of which modern historians consider to be pseudoscience and pseudohistory. Donnelly's work had important influence on the writings of late 19th and early 20th century figures such as Helena Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, and James Churchward and has more recently influenced writer Graham Hancock... In 1888, he published The Great Cryptogram" in which he proposed that Shakespeare's plays had been written by Francis Bacon, an idea that was popular during the late 19th and early 20th century. He then travelled to England to arrange the English publication of his book by Sampson Low, speaking at the Oxford (and Cambridge) Union after which his thesis "Resolved, that the works of William Shakespeare were composed by Francis Bacon" was put to an unsuccessful vote. The book was a complete failure and Donnelly was discredited."
Search archive with Google:
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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/