I wrote in a previous blog about two children's stories - The Napping House and Bears In the Night - and how they are similar to memory palaces (and therefore are connected to Pale Fire). I recently reread a third children's story, Beedle the Bard's The Tale of the Three Brothers, and found remarkable connections with Pale Fire's own connection with The Erlking.
The most basic and obvious similarity between Pale Fire, The Erlking, and The Tale of the Three Brothers is that we once again have someone trying to escape death. After escaping death, the oldest brother tries to taunt Death by asking for the most powerful wand in the world. Death makes the wand from the wood of a nearby elder (or alder) tree. This brother then uses the wand to bring death to others, in much the same way that the Alder King brings death to the child in the alder wood. Shade mentions The Erlking in his poem in the first place because he sees himself as the father and Hazel as the child. Hazel, the child, and the oldest brother all die.
The second brother wants to taunt Death even further by asking for the power to bring back people from the dead, so Death picks up a stone and instructs the brother to turn it in his hand and he will be able to bring back whomever he chooses from the dead. He brings back his late fiance, but she is more a ghost than a real person. This ghost figure is similar to the ghost in the barn that Hazel wants to see. In the same way that Gradus comes to life through the poem, in a way Hazel comes back to life because Shade writes quite a bit about her and brings her back to life as a character. The second brother also dies because he lives in despair with his ghost-like betrothed.
The third brother is neither arrogant nor believes himself invincible, so he wants to become invisible to Death. Death gives the brother his Cloak of Invisibility, and the third brother evades death until he is old and ready to die. The brother was able to avoid an untimely death by hiding, just as Kinbote tries to do by leaving Zembla, then eventually going into hiding in Utana. Both Hazel and John Shade do not live their lives in hiding, so both die of unnatural causes.
While escaping from Zembla, Kinbote continuously recites the first two lines from The Erlking: Who rides to late in the night and the wind?/It is the father with his child. Kinbote uses this mantra as his own Cloak of Invisibility to hide from the political extremists, Gradus in particular. Kinbote sees himself as riding through the night to escape death, and carries himself to safety as the father is trying to carry his child to safety.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Alder Tree and Celtic folklore
The alder tree is important to Celtic folklore as a place of hiding and secrecy. In the story of Deirdre of the Sorrows, Deirdre elopes with Naoise, son of Usna, and they hide together from King Conchobar mac Nessa, Deirdre's betrothed, in the alder woods of Glen Etibhe. They eventually leave the forest, and are then discovered by one of King Conchobar's spies. Naoise throws a golden chess piece at the spy and puts out one of his eyes, but he is still able to report to the king where the lovers are. (As in all good tragedies, both lovers die and everyone else lives.) This story relates to Kinbote's own escape and hiding, except Kinbote is the king that is hiding from Gradus, the person of lower status, rather than the lower Naoise hiding from King Conchobar.
The alder tree is considered a place of hiding in Celtic folklore primarily because it is believed that the trunk of the alder tree conceals doorways into the fairy realm. Alice goes through the looking glass, the crazy Kinbote immerses himself in Shade's poem while in Utana, and the father and his child ride "through the night, dark and drear." It is in the alderwood that the child is transported from life into the dark oblivion afterward, and it is the Alder King who transports the boy to his fairy kingdom with his fairy wife and fairy daughters.
The alder tree is considered a place of hiding in Celtic folklore primarily because it is believed that the trunk of the alder tree conceals doorways into the fairy realm. Alice goes through the looking glass, the crazy Kinbote immerses himself in Shade's poem while in Utana, and the father and his child ride "through the night, dark and drear." It is in the alderwood that the child is transported from life into the dark oblivion afterward, and it is the Alder King who transports the boy to his fairy kingdom with his fairy wife and fairy daughters.
Presentations Day 1
Madeleine: I like the connection you made between Prospero and Kinbote. I'd like to see more of a connection between Kinbote's relationships with the other characters and Prospero's relationships with the other characters.
Michael: I like your idea of the window chess board, and Nabokov on one side and us on the other. I think it would be interesting to consider Kinbote on one side of the glass and Shade on the other. Shade knows the details of his own life and the poem, as well as the details of Kinbote's life that he has chosen to share with Shade. Kinbote, on the other hand, knows only his own life and pretends to understand Shade when really he doesn't.
Breanna: I still can't get the image of the reversing spiral out of my head. It sounds like your paper focuses primarily on other things, but I think there could potentially be a lot to this image - the circular pattern, the reversal, every point on the spiral leading both to and away from the center (including the center itself).
Sarah: When I read your abstract I told you it would be too much, but now I have to eat my words. Nice work fitting everything in!
Michael: I like your idea of the window chess board, and Nabokov on one side and us on the other. I think it would be interesting to consider Kinbote on one side of the glass and Shade on the other. Shade knows the details of his own life and the poem, as well as the details of Kinbote's life that he has chosen to share with Shade. Kinbote, on the other hand, knows only his own life and pretends to understand Shade when really he doesn't.
Breanna: I still can't get the image of the reversing spiral out of my head. It sounds like your paper focuses primarily on other things, but I think there could potentially be a lot to this image - the circular pattern, the reversal, every point on the spiral leading both to and away from the center (including the center itself).
Sarah: When I read your abstract I told you it would be too much, but now I have to eat my words. Nice work fitting everything in!
Alder Tree and colors
Research into the alder tree (in the original story of the elverkonge datter, the Elf King and his daughter lived in a forest of alder trees) has led me to some startling realizations of the connection between the alder tree and Pale Fire.
The dyes extracted from the alder tree are green and red in color. The greed dye is associated with fairy clothing (most notably the Green Man, the Green Giant, the Green Knight, etc) and therefore, of course, it is associated with the Elf King. It is also seen in Pale Fire in a few places. Iris Aucht's painting is in the green room of a theater, and one of the professors at Wordsmith is Gerald Emerald. In folklore, the red dye from the alder tree was used to paint the paces of the sacred kings, of which the Elf King would certainly be included. Red is found in line 398 of Shade's poem when he writes about Hazel's death. She sees the neon-barred puddles in the street after her date leaves her but before she dies.
The alder tree itself has several references to the words 'pale fire.' When freshly cut, the wood is a very pale color, then turns red (like fire) after time. The wood is not good for large flame, but it is the best wood to use for charcoal, and the embers are like a pale fire. In the Celtic lunar year, alder is the third tree of the calendar, and coincides with the Fire Moon. (And Fire Moon is just Pale Fire backwards, like redips and redwop.) This is why the alder tree was considered by the Celts as a tree of fire, even though it is not used to produce flame. Since the moon steals its pale fire from the sun, the alder is an appropriate tree for Pale Fire.
The dyes extracted from the alder tree are green and red in color. The greed dye is associated with fairy clothing (most notably the Green Man, the Green Giant, the Green Knight, etc) and therefore, of course, it is associated with the Elf King. It is also seen in Pale Fire in a few places. Iris Aucht's painting is in the green room of a theater, and one of the professors at Wordsmith is Gerald Emerald. In folklore, the red dye from the alder tree was used to paint the paces of the sacred kings, of which the Elf King would certainly be included. Red is found in line 398 of Shade's poem when he writes about Hazel's death. She sees the neon-barred puddles in the street after her date leaves her but before she dies.
The alder tree itself has several references to the words 'pale fire.' When freshly cut, the wood is a very pale color, then turns red (like fire) after time. The wood is not good for large flame, but it is the best wood to use for charcoal, and the embers are like a pale fire. In the Celtic lunar year, alder is the third tree of the calendar, and coincides with the Fire Moon. (And Fire Moon is just Pale Fire backwards, like redips and redwop.) This is why the alder tree was considered by the Celts as a tree of fire, even though it is not used to produce flame. Since the moon steals its pale fire from the sun, the alder is an appropriate tree for Pale Fire.
Most of my information about alder trees comes from this site:
http://www.druidry.org/obod/trees/alder.html
Friday, November 25, 2011
Kinbote's Mistranslation of The Erlking
Kinbote praises Shade for his translation of Der Erlkonig, saying in his commentary, "One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballade (a trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse: Who rides so late in the night and the wind... It is the father with his child." What Kinbote fails to realize is that this is a literal translation of the poem. Shade does not come up with the wording that fits his poem perfectly. This is a literal translation of the original German words. Rather than changing Goethe's poem to fit Pale Fire, Shade writes his poem Pale Fire to fit in around this literal translation.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Abstract
In my final paper I will discuss Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “The Erlking” as it relates to Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pale Fire (particularly in regard to Hazel). I will incorporate the many mistranslations of the title of the poem and Kinbote’s misinterpretations of the substance of the poem. I will discuss the erlking’s role as a scavenger in the woods on a scavenger hunt for humans and compare this to the reader’s role in a similar scavenger hunt through the commentary of Pale Fire.
I will show Gradus’ connection to “The Erlking.” I will delve into his representation of and similarities to the erlking as death and how Gradus has several inhuman qualities—his physical description, his journey through the prose, and his invisibility to all except Kinbote. I will also discuss his connection to the father in Goethe’s poem. Gradus, like the father, is on a journey and is hurried on that journey by death. Kinbote, as the son, is the only one who can see the killer approaching.
I will discuss the importance of the alder tree to both Goethe’s poem and Nabokov’s novel—its mythological connections and its contribution to the characters and novel as a whole. The bark and leaves of the alder tree can be used to make red and greed dyes, so I incorporate the use of these two colors throughout the novel. I will also discuss the use of trees in general as they appear throughout the commentary (“and ‘tree’ in Zemblan is grados”).
To tie everything together, I will discuss Hazel’s connection with “The Erlking.” Her death is as mysterious to her parents as the son’s death is to his father. She is the lost child; she is the erlking’s daughter; she is the tree.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Erlking
THE ERLKING, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Looking at the poem itself, we also find many connections to Pale Fire. First and foremost, there is the death of a child. The father loses his son just as Shade loses his daughter. Shade alludes to 'The Erlking' just before talking about his grief (lines 653-667). In both 'The Erlking' and Pale Fire there is a person who sees things that aren't apparent to anyone else, though in the end what he sees actually is there. In Goethe's poem the son sees the erlking, but his father insists on it simply being the boy's imagination, and he gives a natural explanation for everything the boy claims to sense. It turns out that both son and father are neither entirely correct nor entirely incorrect. There is something that the son feels, hears, and sees, but it is not a person as the boy thinks it is. Likewise, the father insists that there is no person "with crown and with train" whispering in his son's ear, though it is not the wind and mist as he says it is. There is something that is there that is not human, and while it is not the wind and mist, it is, in a way nature. It is Death. The boy sees it, while his father cannot. In Pale Fire, Kinbote sees Jakob Gradus coming closer, approaching along the lines of Shade's poem (see Index entry 'Gradus, Jakob' for extensive list of notes on this, the most notable of which are the notes to lines 17 & 29, 209, 741, and 949), though no one else can see this. In a way Gradus is death itself. He represents death in Kinbote's mind, and brings about the death of not only Shade but of several other people he killed in the attempt to assassinate Charles the Beloved. Kinbote, like the boy in Goethe's poem, is the only one who can see Death coming.
Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?"
"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."
"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?"
"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;
'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."
"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?"
"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."
"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ."
"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last."
The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,--
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?"
"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."
"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?"
"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;
'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."
"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?"
"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."
"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ."
"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last."
The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,--
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
Looking at the poem itself, we also find many connections to Pale Fire. First and foremost, there is the death of a child. The father loses his son just as Shade loses his daughter. Shade alludes to 'The Erlking' just before talking about his grief (lines 653-667). In both 'The Erlking' and Pale Fire there is a person who sees things that aren't apparent to anyone else, though in the end what he sees actually is there. In Goethe's poem the son sees the erlking, but his father insists on it simply being the boy's imagination, and he gives a natural explanation for everything the boy claims to sense. It turns out that both son and father are neither entirely correct nor entirely incorrect. There is something that the son feels, hears, and sees, but it is not a person as the boy thinks it is. Likewise, the father insists that there is no person "with crown and with train" whispering in his son's ear, though it is not the wind and mist as he says it is. There is something that is there that is not human, and while it is not the wind and mist, it is, in a way nature. It is Death. The boy sees it, while his father cannot. In Pale Fire, Kinbote sees Jakob Gradus coming closer, approaching along the lines of Shade's poem (see Index entry 'Gradus, Jakob' for extensive list of notes on this, the most notable of which are the notes to lines 17 & 29, 209, 741, and 949), though no one else can see this. In a way Gradus is death itself. He represents death in Kinbote's mind, and brings about the death of not only Shade but of several other people he killed in the attempt to assassinate Charles the Beloved. Kinbote, like the boy in Goethe's poem, is the only one who can see Death coming.
Gradus is also akin to the father in 'The Erlking.' Both are on a journey throughout the entirety of the text. Gradus is on a journey from some mystical place (Zembla) to New Wye to assassinate Charles the Beloved, while the father is on his way home from some unnamed place. Death spurs them both on, but for two very different reasons. Gradus is going to New Wye to take the life of someone, while the father is going home in the hopes of preserving the life of his son. In each case, Death wins.
Gradus can be seen as both the erlking (Death) and the father in Goethe's poem. Each scenario has its own flaw - the erlking is neither human (as the son sees him) nor nature (as the father sees him), and, unlike the father, Gradus seeks to kill rather than to save - but that is the spirit of mistranslation. In this series of mistranslations of 'The Erlking,' Nabokov has found his place among them with Pale Fire. It is his own written translation of events in the tale of Den Elverkongen Datter.
Gradus can be seen as both the erlking (Death) and the father in Goethe's poem. Each scenario has its own flaw - the erlking is neither human (as the son sees him) nor nature (as the father sees him), and, unlike the father, Gradus seeks to kill rather than to save - but that is the spirit of mistranslation. In this series of mistranslations of 'The Erlking,' Nabokov has found his place among them with Pale Fire. It is his own written translation of events in the tale of Den Elverkongen Datter.
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