Wednesday, February 6, 2013

What does Anna’s lorgnette symbolize?

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Hugh.2 said...

As per your question about the lorgnette . . . I have to suppose this
> word in this story means something like opera glasses, i.e. small
> binoculars, since Anna Sergeevna brings them to look at the boat arriving
> at the Yalta jetty, and the later at the actual opera "The Geisha." They
> seem to be mentioned at moments when the affair is at a peak of some sort,
> just beginning, in Yalta, and about to begin again at the opera scene.
>
> Apropos of nothing in particular, I remember there is a telling detail
> about wearing glasses in Tolstoy's "War and Peace." The good-hearted hero,
> Pierre Bezuxov, wears glasses. When he is about to be manipulated into
> marrying a beautiful but dissolute fortune-hunting woman, she sees his
> hesitation to propose and reaches out to remove his glasses. He is
> confused, still hesitates, and one of the dissolute would-be bride's
> relatives walks in--having been eavesdropping--and congratulates Pierre on
> his successful proposal!!!
Marin K.

February 7, 2013 at 5:38 PM

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