Russian 348
Nabokov in Film and Literature
Lolita Revisited Fifty years Later
Welcome to Nabokov in English! My syllabus is to be found below. Much of the heavily bolded material is for the accrediting bureaucracy which Tulane is having to undergo; please bear with me.
We meet MWF at 2:00 - 2:50. \You may reach me at cummins.g@gmail.com or gcummins@tulane.edu or call cell 504-895-3877. You may call at any time and leave a message which I will return.
I am really looking forward to this!
Thanks,
Gmc
Original Poster for Stanley Kubrick's Lolita
The original Olympia Press edition of Lolita, 1955
Russian 348 syllabus
Assignment for Weds 14 Jan and Fri 16 Jan: Spring in Fialta. I believe you can print out the pdf I enclose here (17 pp.)
Assignment for Week 2, Jan 19-23. Read Despair (rapidly). Wednesday, Jan 21, we will have some impromptu presentations. Here are some topics:
Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment, Notes from Underground.
Pushkin, Aleksandr. The Bronze Horseman. Lyrics: 'Tis time, my dear, 'tis time.
Mirrors, mirror symmetry, enantiomorphism; Narcissus
Psychosis, dissociation. Lying, fantasizing. Self-image. Beard, moustache (related to mirrors).
Sexuality in Despair
Parody of the murder mystery. The perfect murder: the murderer is the victim. The mu rderer is Dr. Watson.
The artist and his art. Jealousy of Hermann toward Ardalion.
Film acting. Playing a part. Reality and stage invention.
Or... any theme you'd like! Five to ten minutes, informal, no deep research needed. This week I'm not assigning anybody anything.
Assignment for Week Three. Jan 25-Jan 30.
Lolita, Part I, chapter 1-22.
Topics: HH's style, his personality, his despair, his refuge in words; lyricism and grotesquerie
The movies: movie idols, crooners, actors, plays; the theater; see the Encyclopedia, chapter 8
colors: red, roux, lilac, blue, purple, ecru, ocher
Humbert the king theme; the fairy tale theme; Pisky, Elphinstone
overarching sources of humor
Nabokov: "Satire is a lesson, poetry is a game." V. in Sebastian Knight: "...parody as a kind of springboard for leaping into the highest regions of serious emotions."
Monday: More Despair, if you like. Weds begin reports on Lolita. Friday: view conclusion of the film Despair.
Assignments for Lolita reports: Anne, Billie, Emily, Avery, Kiah, please present something you are interested in (or see me!) Take your time.
Week Four (into Five), Feb 2-Feb 9
Lolita, I. Chapter 23 - II. Chapter 18
Topics: potential movie scenes (Charlotte’s death, the
‘opening night’ in the motel “The Enchanted Hunters”,
the veranda conversation in the dark with HH’s shadow); HH’s jealousy
of L and young men; the movies they watch together (II.3)
Humbertian language, poetry and archness; (the mask collapses, as in I.26);
tour book descriptions, motel signs; Lolita’s language; what is a nymph?
immature form of insect, a larva; a mythological spirit; the poetry of love
(this is a love story, not so?)
On the road: the Crazy Quilt people and the landscape
visual art in Lolita
the ‘suddenly she was missing’ theme -- each time we believe this
is it
the shadow theme (umbra)
parody of jargon: headmistress Pratt; HH’s private puns and jargon: “All
right, she may take part in that play, provided male parts are taken by female
parts.”
Joseph, Erik, Derrick, Catherine, Yvette, Evian, and anyone else may present. Use your imagination and read the text closely.
Week Five. Feb 9-13
Complete Lolita, II.19 to conclusion, and the afterword, "On a Book Entitled Lolita."
Topics: Lolita disparue. Perception and memory, the temper of despair. HH foolings the reader, while L. and Q are fooling HH. The notion of deception. Deep literary echoes: Goethe's Erlkönig.
Is there evidence of HH's understanding of his crime? remorse? 'love' ~ obsession.
Note the phantom gun HH sees at the end of (34), a prelude to the key chapter (35), death of Q. Close analysis.
Pink bubble bursts on the dead Q's lips (not quite dead!). Sunburst theme.
The vision of the valley sounds in (36), with L.'s voice absent from that concord.
Afterword: what is meant by "nerves of the novel" and what are they? Where here do we find Nabokov's definition of art?
We will have a quiz on Lolita in Week Six, before beginning Pnin (the last in our string of four deceptive narrators). The quiz will be essay-choice based on topics above and discussed in class.
We will have a 5-7 page paper due sometime soon after Mardi Gras.
Could anyone locate a digutal recording of the Nabokov reading of Chapter 35, originally Spoken Arts LP 902, which Amazon.com has as casette for an absurd $96.00.
Week Six Feb 16
Monday - presentations on Lolita
Wednesday - Quiz on Lolita. Short essay, choice of several topics.
Please begin reading Pnin.
Topics:
Pnin - First half
themes: exile, the past in Russia, delicately developed
Narrative progression, asides;. heart ‘seizure’, Pnin slides back
into childhood, Fever, perception, memory.
parody of psychoanalysis, groups, fake poetry
America; its humor
Obsession with time: Pushkin’s Whether I wander
narrator’s personality slowly evinced; his language, his poetry
Notice the plethora of proper names, swarming characters everywhere, the shadow
of the narrator lurking...
Pnin at the Pines; the emigre community
Squirrels Greek skia ‘shadow’ oura ‘tail’ Russian belka
‘white (animal)’, belochka ‘little squirrel’, Czech
veverka < ver ‘to rotate’, cf. French vair ‘gray’,
German Eichenhorn ‘oak + ver’ chipmunk Cz denıka What is the Spanish?
More on this etymology to follow
Victor
Week Seven Mardi Gras
I would like to assign our first 5-7 pp paper to be due March 16, or let us say, within that week preceding Spring Break. It may address any topic; please submit proof-read hard copy. (If you are doing the writing requirement, the paper must be 10 pp and be submitted for rewriting.)
For this week, continue reading Pnin. Topics for this week and next:
Visual art (Lake; Victor) and life imitating art; life imitating
life (gas station attendant); art as the narrator’s work, e.g. 136
Pnin -- literature and life in talks with Victor
Pnin’s scholarly interests and work
all the refs to Anna Karenina in the book -- recount the plot of the novel,
assign this!!!
college students in the Russian émigrés’ minds; how have
things changed since the 1950’s?
Pnin’s heart seizures; at Whitchurch; at the Pinesm recalling Mira’s
death
Academic parody by the narrator -- he mocks humanities professors and their
discipline
The Double theme
the emblematic aquamarine bowl; its meaning
facial and hand gestures in America as seen by a Russian
die Liebelei, Arthur Schnitzler
I;d like to assign Yvette, Zach Leibman, and Emily to address the theme "visual art" and art imitating life -- you may work together or separately
I'd like to assign Michela, Joseph, and Anne to the theme 'literature and life' in Pnin, and note special attention to Anna Karenina; (summarize the themes of the novel, etc.)
Katya, if you have time, could you speak to Pushkin's poem Whether I wander? I can give y ou the Russian text, and you can find it also in translation, I'm sure
Caitlin, Billie and Aleksandra, please speak to Academic Parody
All this the week of Week Eight, March 2. Let's see what happens (ha)
Big question for all: the Evil Narrator
Week Eight March 2-6
We will proceed into Pnin. Presentations, as I have said, may be in groups or
individual, and may extend as late as Monday 9 Mar and may even include my “entertainment
day,” this Friday March 6.
Here are your revised assignments. If you have not been assigned a topic, you
may abstain or present anything you wish. Note that you can use the smart classroom
computer (with laptop also available; I think you may need a connector).
Here are your revised assignments. If you have not been assigned a topic, you
may abstain or present anything you wish. Note that you can use the smart classroom
computer (with laptop also available; I think you may need a connector).
Visual Art: Yvette, Zach L., Emily
Literature and Life: Michela, Joseph, Anne, Evian
Whether I Wander: Katya, Derrick
Academic Parody: Caitlin, Billie, Aleksandra, Zach P.
Wild Card: Erik, Kota, Avery
Avanti! (as Pnin might say).
Week Nine March 9 - March 13
Conclude presentations on Pnin. Consider the tone of the last two chapters, narrarted from the point of view of the pernicious VVN. Is the end optimistic? Where does it seem to lead?
This week begin reading The Defense. Consider Luzhin's personality as a child. How do you analyze him? What might the Viennese delegation have to say here? Note in particular the devastating first paragraph of the novel. Why so?
This book is Nabokov's third, and his first great masterpiece on the theme of the personality of the artist. The narrative is third-person impersonal, for a change. Read carefully but note developing motifs: Luzhin's father and his profession, his maternal grandfather and his profession; Luzhin's aunt. Country and city. School. Consciousness. What accounts for the overriding aura of melancholy and helplessness in this book? How is it so beautiful?
On Mondary, March 16 falls due the first 5-7 pp. paper. Topic free. Chose an argument, produce data, and derive a conclusion. Proofread, write gracefully and form your personal responses to the reading of any of our texts. Be clear and forceful. Avoid tautologous statements such as "Nabokov was a master of prose style," "Nabokov uses vivid imagery," "Nabokov writes with such complex interwoven themes...."
Weei Ten - March 16 - Mar 20
This week we will discuss Nabokov's chess novel, The Defense.
Themes to consider: Luzhin (rhymes with illlusion) and consciousness
art as a refuge and escape -- cf. the same themes in previous books
music and chess
physical reality and the 'reality' of the mind; the nature of Luzhin's illness
Today the first 5-7 pp paper falls due!
Week Eleven -- March 30 - April 3
Thank you for your excellent and original papers.
This week we will continue with the somber tale spun by Adrian Lyne, and on another dark note, make concluding thoughts on Luzhin. Consider the metonymic fragmentation of Luzhin as he undergoes the ceremony of dropping out of the game. Consider the connections between Luzhin, Sr. and Luzhin's fiancée, between his maternal grandfather, music, and chess. In general, consider synecdochal close-ups in the novel and the play of light and darkness
We will begin The Gift later this week. Our second and fiinal quiz will take place one day the week of April 20th, and will present a choice of a question on (1) either Pnin or Luzhin, and (2) a question on The Gift. Our second and final paper will be due the date and time of what would have been our final examination -- May 7.
This book is difficult -- try to be in class often these last few weeks so as not to miss anything.
Week Twelve -- April 6 - April 10
Friday 10 April and Monday 13 April are Easter holidays.
This week we begin The Gift, a complex and apparently meandering book, often Joycean in flavor, which offers a uniquely autobiographical look at Russian émigré life in Berlin in the '20's and '30's, at Nabokov's creative distillation of Russian literature, and at the gradual development and maturation of a fictional writer very much like — but not identical to — Nabokov himself.
This week I will introduce you to Part I (of five parts). I will talk a lot, but will entertain digressions and questions. Please come to class this week and to the end!
We will schedule our individual presentations for the final weeks sof the course.
Topics: Avery: Chernyshevsky
Billie: Pushkin's prose, especially The Captain's Daughter
Aleksandra: Nekrasov
Zack Poche: Herzen
Anne: Aleksandr Blok, especially his lyric Neznakomka
Evian: Belyj, and Silver Age poetry; Belyj's theory of versification
Katya: Gogol's "The Overcoat"
Caitlin, Emiily,. Katya: Gogol
Erik: Pushkin"s Voyage to Arzrum
Dobrolyubov: Yvette
Nihilism: Derrick
Pushkin's Egyptian Nights: Michela
Zach Leibman: Free topic!
Joseph: Free Topic
Kota: Free topic
Quiz on Pnin, Luzhin, and The Gift is tenatively scheduled for Friday April 24. If indeed we decide this will be take-home, I will ask that it be submitted on the last day of class, Mon 27 April, in hard-copy printed form. (We will discuss this.)
Week Thirteen April 15 - April 17
We continue with individual presentations and discussion of the first three chapters of The Gift.
Some topics to consider for a paper on The Gift or for the up-coming quiz:
The maturation of the writer. How does he develop, what changes mark his art
The all-pervasiveness of Gogol in The Gift: the notion of transformation, diisguise, deception, nobility clothed in grotesque veils
Chernyshevski as a negative portrait of the artist
The short story "The Aurelian" and butterflies in The Gift
Art that Nabokov approves and art that he rejects: the roles these play in a novel about art; the "flattering hostility of artifice" (Fyodor ruminating on Christopher Mortus's review of Koncheyev's book
the Russian emigre adrift in Germany
Week Fourteen: April 20 - April 24
Discussion of the Gift continued. Monday: Chernyshevsky Live --- my modest recitation of Chernysh, as Zina called it
Weds April 22 -- can you bring your laptops to class so that we may do the course evaluation onlline?
Fri April 24 -- Quiz on Pnin/Luzhin and the Gift. Take-home or in-class?
Week Fifteen: Finale, MOnday April 27
Final Papers due May 7 Thursday