Subject
Re: EDNote: Cordiality
From
Date
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Jansy:" Is it only an impression of mine, or did Nabokov in
fact reply to some of Alfred Appel's questions with an
affectionate kind of mockery? In his fiction this happened, in a more cruel
vein, with Mr. Goodman, Sebastian Knight's secretary"
L.Hochard: This is only an aside but I don't think it fair to compare Alfred Appel and Mr Goodman.
this character stands for everything V., Sebastian Knight and VN find despicable: he is described as an inept critic, envious and self interested. It's not an affectionate kind of mockery even in a more cruel vein , but an all-out attack against a certain kind of literary criticism.
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:40:46 -0300
From: jansy@AETERN.US
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] EDNote: Cordiality
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
S. Blackwell: I have not noticed that the discussion
of "56 days" has become less than cordial...I do think Anthony Stadlen's
discovery is vital, but I do not believe that it is closed to further
questioning.
JM: Is it only an impression of mine, or did Nabokov in
fact reply to some of Alfred Appel's questions with an
affectionate kind of mockery? In his fiction this happened, in a more cruel
vein, with Mr. Goodman, Sebastian Knight's secretary.* I wonder if
the importance of the "52" is also confirmed by some other
element that can be obtained from the novel proper. While addressing
non-Russian readers Nabokov sometimes advanced special explanations (such
as in the example from RLSK, below, when he cites Chekhov's "The
Black Monk" but not "Hamlet", or those small details and nuances which he
clarifies in his Foreword to Bend Sinister), for
this suggests that he wanted certain jokes, patterns and images to be
understood, even by his not so-attentive readers. Wouldn't that have been
the case with the car-registration numbers having been emphasized by
the "Q" and "Cu" letters, and the 56-52 motif?
(Unfortunately, playing the devil's advocate has confused
me...What is the invaluable cue, after all?).
............................................................................................................................................
* - "The first of
these stories (which Mr Goodman considers to be extremely typical of 'post-war
undergraduate life} depicts Sebastian showing a girl friend from London the
sights of Cambridge. 'And this is the Dean's window,' he said; then smashing the
pane with a stone, he added: 'And this is the Dean.' Needless to say that
Sebastian has been pulling Mr Goodman's leg: the story is as old as the
University itself.
Let us look at the
second one. During a short vacation trip to Germany (1921? 1922?) Sebastian, one
night, being annoyed by the caterwauls in the street, started to pelt the
offenders with miscellaneous objects including an egg. Presently, a policeman
knocked at his door, bringing back all these objects minus the
egg.
This is from an old
(or, as Mr Goodman would say, pre-war') Jerome K. Jerome book. Leg-pulling
again.
Third story:
Sebastian speaking of his very first novel (unpublished and destroyed) explained
that it was about a fat young student who travels home to find his mother
married to his uncle; this uncle, an ear-specialist, had murdered the student's
father.
Mr Goodman misses
the joke.
Fourth: Sebastian
in the summer of 1922 had overworked himself and, suffering from hallucinations,
used to see a kind of optical ghost — a black-robed monk moving swiftly towards
him from the sky.
This is a little
harder: a short story by Chekhov.
Fifth..."
(RLSK)
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