Pnin's party

I think Pnin's party was overall a success. Pnin seems to be happy throughout it, and although he is perhaps not the most entertaining or gracious host, people generally seem to have a good time. The night, however, is of course brought to an unhappy ending when Pnin learns he is losing his job, a clearly unhappy bit of a news.

Describe Liza. What are her views, and how does she interact with the Underground Man?

Liza does not have a highly honed moral sense, whereas the Underground Man has a set idea of how the world should be and to what morals people should adhere. She treats him with respect in a certain sense by talking to him about his ideas, but they can’t really interact in a way either of them would find meaningful.

Why do you think Woland has come to Moscow? Why does he give the Black Magic Show?

I think Woland is ultimately driven by the desire to create as much chaos as possible in the world. Coming to a city like Moscow seems an appropriate action given that motive. The Black Magic Show is just another manifestation of this as well, causing such mayhem.

joe turner's come and gone

Please post a response to the play we saw today.

I wasn’t thrilled with Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. I thought it was a good production that was well acted, but the story and subject didn’t really strike a chord with me. I thought parts of it were powerful, like the end of the first act, but overall didn’t really hold very well. I also didn’t like the set design and thought it was cluttered and ugly.

What is Pnin like when he is with other emigres?
Pnin is sociable, talkative, funny, at ease. I think this says a great deal about Pnin -- he is much more functional and able to relax when he is comfortable. His obsession with the perfect apartment free of “sonic disturbances” is demonstrative of this as well.

post for January the 10th

the role of the squirrels in the novel is the fact that they serve as an all seeing eye of God. in times of great need for help and stability they are either a very helpful presence or a daunting, looming one that neither helps nor hurts.

Pnin's party was successful. Everyone behaved accordingly, and the narrator mentions Pnin's happiness more than once. It is, however, the occasion of Pnin's discovery of his impending termination. The loss of his job is extrememly significant for Pnin, who relies upon his colleagues and his studies not only for their intellectual pleasures, but also for the little social interaction he engages in.

I think Pnin and Victor are relatively similar in the sense that they are both outsiders. Pnin seems more constrained by his outsider qualities than Victor, who uses his outsider qualities to his advantage to understand people and things. Pnin is clearly more socially constrained whereas Victor seems simply to choose not to be very social.

the party that pnin throws is pretty much a failure and basically exactly what kellon and leslie said in their posts. he fails to keep the interest of guests and is a failure of imagination in this instance.

Pnin's party was a failure. Nabokov took an aspect of life that is typically considered to be joyous and with it produced a negative outcome. Pnin is harassed in both confrontational and "behind the back" ways. Pnin learns later on that his job is in jeapordy which causes the party to become less and less of a celebratory event and more of Pnin's downfall. Nabokov likes to play with extremes, and although having unfortunate things occur at a party is not a revolutionary idea, I believe his (Nabokov's) intention was once again to depict the bad happening within the "good".

Pnin's party is kind of suck because it's boring and Pnin fails at keeping the people entertained. The party at the end was kind useless because everyone gets bored and they say stuff to Pnin and insult him. During this event of the book, we learn furthermore that the chracters of the book don't really like Pnin and perhaps to them, Pnin is an unlikeable character.

I think that Victor is the American Pnin. If Pnin was born in the United States Victor is who he would be. Both men enjoy reading and silence, and both do things that others find to be useless, in Victors case he is seen as being phychologically useless to Dr. Eric Wind, and Pnin is seen as bing academically useless buy most of the faculty at his college.

Pnin and Victor are uncannily similar; They are both relatively reserved and take pleasure in observing the world rather than taking part in it. However the huge distinction between the two is that one is a victim to the narrator and the observers (both characters and reader) and one is immune. Victor is spared the fate of his step father because of the obscurity of his nature.

Pnin's glass bowl came from Victor, and is important to him for that, for the connection it represents. To others, it is valuable because it is beautiful and would cost a lot of money. Pnin doesn't really like that others think of it that way, and consequently acts gruff and tries to change the subject when his guests discuss the bowl. Instead, it is precious to him as a symbol. (Not a literary symbol, a personal symbol. Pnin's symbol, not Nabokov's. He doesn't do symbols, right? ^.~)

Pnin's party is similar to many other components of the story in that the reader sees it as a disappointment, though Pnin does not realize it immediately. The guests don't all get along terribly well and the Clements get extremely bored. He is insulted more than once in cruel ways, once in front of him and again as his guests are leaving (though he may not have been able to hear it). The night grows even worse as he discovers he is about to be fired. I believe that Nabokov purposefully almost broke the glass bowl only so he could give it back and regain the trust of the reader.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

Please read to page 173 in Pnin.

Please comment on Pnin's party, or the glass bowl, or Pnin's relationship with Victor.

See you tomorrow,
Jane

Margarita is an innocent woman who is unhappy, she has no choice but to become a witch which makes her free and allows her to see the master again.

The play that we saw was interesting, but I am quite disenchanted with seeing so many plays with Maybeck. The adult woman all looked alike with their hairstyles. The romance between the two children was good though.

The black Magic show exposes the corruption of the Commuunist who shouldn't be greedy like they are.

The college town is set in a quiet, well-to-do suburb, possibly similar to early 1950s Ithaca, New York. It provides Nabokov with an opportunity to gently parody the day-to-day lives of American professors and intellectuals. As usual when dealing with bits of Norman Rockwellesque Americana, Nabokov gives the town a dreary atmosphere. The people engage in highly perfunctory social gatherings, discuss their esoteric research projects, and tout their departments above all others.

While in the company of fellow emegres Pnin is more socially adept but still functions in his Pninian way. While he is able to cammune with his fellow Russian emegres, Pnin still does things like play croquet very michanically, but with great skill. It seems that Pnin has figured out how to function in the society of his fellow Russians but is still Pnin and not totaly socially adept.

the college town

The town is a sleepy college town and I think it provides an ideal setting for Pnin to do his thing. I really like the description of being in the library, for example, the feeling of an ivory tower that Pnin hides in, dark stacks of books in the late afternoon.

Mira Belochkin was Pnin's childhood love. In some ways, she represents his youth. She and him were together as teenagers, and were probably each others' first loves. Pnin lost her due to WWII, and she married someone else, but he still found her beautiful when he saw her again. To him, she was pure goodness, which is why it was so terrible to learn she had been killed.

Mira is a cousin of Geller and past lover of Pnin. They were broken up by "history" because Mira and her family had to escape from Russia and went to Germany where Mira married another guy. She was killed at a concentration camp by an injection. Mira's death hurt Pnin a lot but he later learned to not remember her so much.

Mira Belochkin is a past lover of Pnin who abandoned him for another. She was killed in an extermination camp. Because the method of death was not specified, Pnin is victim to various visions of her death. Nabokov seems to decidedly torment Pnin with creating such an experience for him to have to bear.

Mira Belochkin is a former lover of Pnin's. They are separated because of a war and she marries someone else later on in her life. She functions in the novel to reveal how Pnin deals (or does not) with tragedy and loss. Because she is killed in an extermination camp, Pnin cannot think of her. He rejects any memory, tortured in imagining any of her possible painful deaths there. The reader learns a lot more about Pnin in what is not said in the passage refrencing her, such as his ability to hide this important part of his life from us as well as the narrator.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

Please read to page 151 in Pnin.

Please answer one of the following questions:

--What do squirrels mean in this novel? Please include a quote if you answer this question.

--Why does the novel frequently mention reflections? Please include a quote if you answer this question.

--Who is Mira Belochkin? Why is her character important?

--What is Pnin like when he is with other emigres?

--Describe the setting for the novel. What is the college town like?

See you on Monday,
Jane

i reallly do not like the character of victor because i find that he is very self centered and somewhat childish. i agree with sime of hte things that Oren had to say and i finding it really hard to comment on him just because i really dislike him

Victor is shy and quiet, he's an artist. He and Pnin have started a friendship. He is socially awkward like me.

Victor

Victor seems to be a kid highly doted upon child... the description of his parents talking about using the most modern psychological techniques to raise him strikes me as a very controlling parent type thing to do, and I imagine this creates perhaps a sense of empowerment and specialness within Victor. All the psychological tests, for example, that are given to him. The name and number of tests I think creates a comical effect in terms of how much his parents dote on him.

Victor is a calm, polite somewhat shy boy. He's not perfectly behaved however, which we see as he is caught smoking cigars in he attic at school. He goes to a rich private school, though his mother is struggling to let him feel like he is of the same class as his peers. Since his father left, he's been anticipating meeting Pnin. It is unclear to the reader if the meeting lets him down, for the encounter is mainly Pnin's rant and Victor listening politely.

Victor is creative and insightful. Like Pnin, Victor is gifted in a specific area (art) and is able to recognize that gift early on. I think Pnin sympathizes with Victor's social situation but (Pnin) also appreciates Victor's unique characteristics.

Victor is a young boy fascinated with art and endowed with a talent for it. Since he was a child he showed signs of incredibly advanced artistic skill. He has few friends, but aside from that he is rather adverse to social contact. Not sure whether he is Pnin's biological son, but I believe so. Pnin seems fond of him at first sight.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

Please read to page 121 in Pnin by Friday.

Please post an answer to the previous question (about Victor's character) if you haven't already. There is no new question.

See you tomorrow,
Jane

Victor is a very intelligent young boy and he loves art. His parents sort of judge him too hard and had different expectations from him. Eric Wind thinks Victor has a problem because Victor doesn't follow the "customs" of Dr. Wind's family like: "Victor did not reveal any behavior disorder, did not pick his nose, did not suck his thumb, was not even a nail biter"(90) . Victor is not that sociable and he doesn't like playing games and instead prefers art.

Victor is an extended counterexample to those archetypal figures in Freud's case histories. Victor is employed by Nabokov for the simple reason that he avoids (or has been created to avoid) all psychoanalytic categorizations/interpretations. This is apparent in Victor's refusal to assume the Oedipal role, and the inconclusive/inscrutable results of his many psychological tests (themselves parodies of free-association and other psychoanalytic techniques). In short, Victor furthers Nabokov's invective against Freudianism.

Victor is an artistic child. He is smart, but he has parents who expect something entirely different from him. He is consequently a bit detached from them, and from most others, instead living in his own world of art and fantasy.

I feel like I understand Victor because, his life is seems to be like many people in Berkeley's lives. He is the product of overbearing parents who judge every action and trait that Victor has, much like alot of parents who live around here.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

Please read to page 99 in Pnin.

Please describe Victor's character.

See you tomorrow,
Jane

Pnin's character is generally that of a newcomer - not just to America, but to many aspects of life. He is understandably ill-equipped (lacking the English language, along with other American essentials) in his day-to-day activities, (recall his train mix-up, misunderstandings due to communication problems etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) but also seems to run afoul of the agreed-upon condunct pertaining to things like romantic relationships and interpersonal encounters. The episode involving his ex-wife (the abandonment and return) displays Pnin's inability to comprehend love, or adequately intuit the emotions/psychological states of his companions.

Pnin strives for individuality yet needs to feel socially acceptable at the same time. In both his appearance and his attitude Pnin comes off as resolute and consistent. However, his determination to occupy a unique teaching position portrays him (contradictorily) as vulnerable. Similarly, Pnin's attemps to Americanize himself signify a somewhat submissive nature within him.

Pnin is very much the academic professor from in this case Russia, who never really became Americanized. he has set up a routine, and is relatively happy with that, but is still much more comfortable with Russian, and longs for the Russia of his youth. He encompasses many 'professor' types, such as the absent-minded professor, the grumpy old professor, the deeply academic professor... Pnin is very much wrapped up in his own private world, and his mannerisms and ways of being are still so foreign to everyone else that no one disturbs him in his little world.

Pnin is a strange character who seems to always have errors. He gets on the wrong train. He tries to master English despite his impossibility to do it and had a beautiful wife though he wasn't attractive.

Homework

Hi Everyone,

Please read through page 83 in Pnin tonight.

To post here: please describe Pnin's character.

See you tomorrow,
Jane