Chapter 8 Section five

There are lovely women whose eyes, as they happen to be bright and handsome, do not move us in a moment, not in a coy glance, but in the absence of this merciless man, and The magical charm still exists, and the scorching eyes are always stored in the dark, so that a burst of blazing light bursts out over time, which makes us moved.Whatever Lisa Pnin, now Lisa Wind, those eyes were, if you just meditate on them, they seemed to reveal their essence, clear as gems, and then blazed with blue crystals and water. The barking light stares at you, as if the sun and sea water splashed in your own eye sockets.Her eyes are transparent light blue, set off by black eyelashes and pink eye corners, the sides are slightly raised, and a few fine wrinkles fan out inconspicuously.There is a head of dark brown hair on Liang Liang's forehead, her complexion is rosy, and her lips are painted with light lipstick. Except for a little fatter ankle and wrist, she has a plump, lively, natural, and not overly modified beauty. is spotless.

At that time, Pnin was a young and promising scholar, and she was a more beautiful mermaid than now, but her personality was almost the same as now. They met in Paris around 1925.He had a sparse tawny beard (which now grows white bristles if left unshaven--poor Pnin, poor albino porcupine!), and an ascetic moustache with a With a fat, bald nose and two innocent eyes, he was the perfect physical representation of an old-school Russian intellectual.He had a small job at the Aksakov Institute on Green Street and a part-time job at a Russian bookstore run by Saul Bagrove on Glaser Street, which he made his living from.Lisa Bagolepov, a medical student, just turned twenty, looked very handsome in her short black silk blouse and tailor's skirt, she was already working at the Morton Sanitarium, the superintendent In addition to a remarkable and formidable old lady, Dr. Rosetta Stone, one of the most devastating psychiatrists living; indeed, Pnin met her for the first time at a literary evening given by some young exiled poets who had left Russia in their pale, joyless youth, and now recited some nostalgic elegy for their homeland. To a country that means more to a country than a lousy pop toy, a bauble found in an attic, a crystal ball that throws sparkles in it whenever you shake it The light snow fell on a small fir tree and a small house made of cardboard.Pnin wrote her an affectionate letter—now preserved in a private collection—and she read it with tears of self-pity, when she had just been rescued from a suicide by poison Had a rather foolish love affair with a man of letters who is now—well, I needn't mention him here.Her close friends, the five laboratory technicians, all said: "Punin—well, a baby will be born in no time."

Marriage had changed little in their way of life, except that she had moved into that dingy apartment in Pnin.He went on with his Slavic studies, and she went on to do her psychodrama experiments, and spawn poetry, and her poems were spread all over the place like Easter eggs, and Every tone, every image, every metaphor in the poems about the children she was expecting, the lovers she wanted, and the splendor of St. Got other poetry guys used it.Among her admirers was a banker, an outspoken patron of the arts, who chose among the Russian exiles in Paris an influential literary critic Zolchiko Ulansky, and invited him to A nice dinner with champagne at the "Ugolok" and told the old boy to praise Lisa's poetry in his next column for a Russian newspaper, Zorchi Coe took his time to place Akhmatova's laurel crown on Lisa's curly chestnut head, and Lisa wept with joy-it was like the elected "Miss Michigan" or "Oregon Rose Queen". "Same.Pnin, who didn't know the inside story, cut out that shameless boasting article, folded it and put it in his serious notebook, and often took it out and read a few passages to this or that interested friend innocently, until Then the clipping was crumpled and dirty before I gave it up.He was also ignorant of more serious matters. One day in December 1938, when he was pasting the incomplete review article in a scrapbook, Lisa suddenly called from Merton. Called to say she was going to Montpellier with a man who knew her "organic self," Dr. Eric Wind, so she was not coming back to Timofe.An unknown red-haired french woman came and took Lisa's things away, and said to him, it's all right now, you cellar mouse, there won't be any poor girl taper dessus in the future A month or two later, Wende sent a letter in German with a little sympathy and apology, assuring lieber Herr Pnin that he, Dr. woman" married.Of course Pnin would have agreed to divorce her, as willingly as offering her his life, and at the same time offered some wet clippings of flowers, with a little green leaf, neatly bound up, like a mirror in the rain. Made in an earthy florist during a gray-to-green Easter season.However, Dr. Wende already had a wife in South America. She was unpredictable and had a fake passport. She didn't want to be disturbed until some of her own plans were in the dark.Meanwhile, the New World was calling for Pnin, and a good friend of his, Professor Constantine Shadow, was willing to offer him all assistance in emigrating to America from New York.Pnin informed Dr. Wind of his plan, and sent Lisa the latest issue of a magazine run by the exiles, since her name was mentioned on page 202.Anyone who holds a Nansen passport issued by European bureaucratic lords (like a parole certificate for Russian exiles) must encounter various obstacles set up by those lords when applying for departure, just like going through a gloomy hell (This made the Soviet officials very happy.) Pnin had already walked halfway through hell, when suddenly, on a damp day in April 1940, the bell at his door rang loudly, and Lisa dragged her tired feet. , came in with a seven-months-pregnant belly like a cupboard, panting with exhaustion, taking off her hat and kicking off her shoes, declaring that it was all a big mistake and that she was still Pnin's from now on. A faithful and lawful wife, she was ready to follow him wherever he went—even across the ocean.At that time, it was probably the happiest time in Pnin's life--a long-lasting, heavy and painful passion for happiness--so he hastened his pace to apply for a visa and prepare his luggage. A physical examination, listening to Pnin's unevenly beating heart with a sham stethoscope placed over several of his clothes, was provided by the kind Russian lady (a relative of mine) who worked at the American consulate. A great help, plus a trip to Bordeaux, on that nice, clean ocean liner—all with a lot of mythology.Not only was he prepared to raise the child as his own as soon as it was born, but he really wanted to do so with all his heart, and Lisa listened to him with a satisfied, somewhat cowlike expression as he explained his plans for the future education of the child. , because he seemed to have actually heard the baby's wails and the first words that would be spoken soon.She was always fond of dragees, and now she consumes prodigious amounts (two pounds on the way from Paris to Bordeaux), ascetic Pnin, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, watching her devour them with delight and awe those dragees' silky coats, with her taut skin, her complexion, and her teeth without gaps, were imprinted forever on his mind.

Somewhat disappointingly, as soon as she boarded the boat, she glanced at the surging sea, said "Nu, eto izvinite (nothing to do)", and immediately retreated to the cabin. During the journey, she lay flat on the bed most of the time.In the same cabin were three wretched wives of three terse-tongued Poles—a wrestler, a gardener, a barber—in Pnin's cabin again. partner.On the third night, Lisa had already gone to bed, and Pnin was sitting alone in the lounge, when a former Frankfurt newspaper editor, an elderly man in a turtleneck and knickerbockers, with puffy eyes and a melancholy expression, It was suggested to play a game of chess with him, which he happily accepted.Neither of them is a good player at chess, but they like to boldly discard pieces when they are not accurate in calculations, and they are anxious to win the victory; Wenn Sie so, dann ich so, und Pferd fliegt.”).It didn't take long for another passenger to come over and say entschuldigen Sie, can he watch the battle from the sidelines?Then sit down next to them.He had cropped red hair and long, pale lashes that looked like saccharids, and wore a ragged double-breasted jacket.Within a short while, whenever the elder took a hesitant step after solemn consideration, he would let out a soft cry and shake his head.Finally, the obviously expert and helpful spectator, involuntarily pushing back one of his compatriot's just-moved pawns, pointed with a trembling middle finger at the rook - which the old Frankfurter had already rammed into the armpit of Pnin's defense.Of course our friend lost, he was leaving the lounge when the specialist came up and said entschuldigen Sie, can he speak to Herr Pnin for a moment? ("You see, I even know your first name," he added, holding up his useful middle finger)--he proposed that the two of them go down to the bar for a beer.Pnin agreed, and when the mug was placed before them both, the courteous stranger went on: "Life is like a game of chess, and it is good to analyze a man's motives and purposes. , I was like a naughty child. But the next morning I began to fear that a shrewd husband--this is by no means a compliment, but a deliberate assumption--will sooner or later check the passenger list. Today, My conscience is already interrogating me and convicting me. I can't stand this deceit any longer. I wish you good health. Well, it's not our German sweet drink at all, but it's better than Coca-Cola. My lord, Eli Dr. C. Wind; I am sure you are familiar with this name."

Pnin froze there, his face twitching, one hand still resting on the wet bar, and began to slip slowly from his uncomfortable stool, but Wende grabbed it with five sensitive long fingers. his sleeves. "Lasse mich, lasse mich." Pnin howled, trying to free himself from the soft pleading hand. "Don't do that!" Wind said. "Let's be fair. The sinner always has the last word; it's his right. Even the Nazis admit it. First—I'd like you to allow me to pay at least half of the lady's travel expenses." "Ach nein, nein, nein," said Pnin, "put an end to this nightmare talk (diese koschmarische Sprache)."

"As you please," said Dr. Wind, and then emphasized the following points to Pnin, who was pinned there motionless: This was all Lisa's gimmick—"For us (the "we" sounds like There are three) children, you know, just keep things simple." Lisa should be treated as a very sick woman (pregnancy can indeed be regarded as a courtship); he (Wen Dr. Wind) would marry her in America—"I'll go there, too," added Dr. Wind for clarification; besides, at least he (Dr. Wind) should be made to pay for the beer.From then until the end of this exuberant-turned-glorious journey, Pnin apparently dived headfirst into his English handbook, treating Lisa with the same tenderness as ever, but meeting her as little as possible so as not to provoke him. her suspicions.From time to time, Dr. Wende would emerge from nowhere and greet him from afar, making gestures to reassure him.At last the great bronze statue rose out of the hazy mist, and there stood some dim, trance-like high-rises, ready to receive the blazing sun, like you in that kind of sign (Natural resources, At this moment, Dr. Wende approached the Pnins decisively and showed his identity—"Because The three of us should enter this free land with pure hearts." After a dull and boring time on Ellis Island, Timofey broke up with Lisa.

Despite the complications, Wende finally married her.During the first five years in the United States, Pnin occasionally caught a glimpse of her on certain occasions in New York; he was naturalized on the same day as the Winds; For the next six years, he didn't see her again, and he didn't write to her, but he still heard a little bit of her from time to time.His friend Shadow recently (December 1951) sent him a psychiatric journal in which Dr. Albina Dunkelburg, Dr. Eric Wind, and Dr. Lisa Win An article entitled "Group Psychotherapy Applied to Marriage Counseling" co-authored by three German physicians.Pnin, who had always been embarrassed by Lisa's deep interest in "psihooslinie" ("mental stupidity"), could have ignored it and still felt a twinge of disgust and pity.Eric and she now work in a research facility attached to a Planned Parenthood center led by the genial and great giant Bernard Meud.With the support of their protector, Eric devises a trick (not necessarily his own idea) to lure some of the more docile and stupid patients in the hospital to undergo a kind of psychiatric treatment, participate in something like A "tension-relieving" group like a meeting, where married young women gather in groups of eight in a comfortable room, and call each other by their first names informally. The atmosphere is harmonious, and several doctors Sitting behind a desk facing them, with another secretary taking notes inconspicuously, the unpleasant things that had happened to each of them as children emerged like corpses.At these gatherings, women can discuss fully and candidly the insanity of their marriages, which inevitably involves their spouses, making comparisons, and the men are invited afterwards, in a special Interviews in the "husband's group" were equally free-spirited, with cigars tossed and anatomical charts passed around.Pnin skips over specific reports and medical records, and there's really no need to dwell on the hilarious details here.Suffice it to mention the fact that this or that woman in the women's group, having come home with a new experience, had already described her newfound feelings in detail at the third session. To the unenlightened and bewitched sisters, there was an instant vivacity and cheerfulness to the discussion ("Well, girls, George last night—") and that wasn't enough.Dr. Eric Wind also wanted to develop a plan that would allow the couples to be brought together in a joint group for discussion.By the way, hearing him and Lisa babble the word "team" gave me goosebumps.Professor Shadow asserted in a long letter to the anguished Pnin that Dr. Wind even called conjoined twins "a group."The progressive and idealistic Dr. Wende really longed for a happy world of conjoined centuplets, a structurally connected community where all nations were built around a common liver. "It's nothing but a microcosm of communism—all that psychiatry," muttered Pnin, writing back to Schadow. "Why bother with personal sorrow? One asks, is life in the world The only thing you really have, isn't sadness?"