Vladimir Nabokov - Of the not very many ways known of shedding one's...

Of the not very many ways known of shedding one's body, falling, falling, falling is the supreme method, but you have to select your sill or ledge very carefully so as not to hurt yourself or others. Jumping from a high bridge is not recommended even if you cannot swim, for wind and water abound in weird contingencies, and tragedy ought not to culminate in a record dive or a policeman's promotion. If you rent a cell in the luminous waffle, room 1915 or 1959, in a tall business centre hotel browing the star dust, and pull up the window, and gently - not fall, not jump - but roll out as you should for air comfort, there is always the chance of knocking clean through into your own hell a pacific noctambulator walking his dog; in this respect a back room might be safer, especially if giving on the roof of an old tenacious normal house far below where a cat may be trusted to flash out of the way. Another popular take-off is a mountaintop with a sheer drop of say 500 meters but you must find it, because you will be surprised how easy it is to miscalculate your deflection offset, and have some hidden projection, some fool of a crag, rush forth to catch you, causing you to bounce off it into the brush, thwarted, mangled and unnecessarily alive. The ideal drop is from an aircraft, your muscles relaxed, your pilot puzzled, your packed parachute shuffled off, cast off, shrugged off - farewell, shootka (little chute)! Down you go, but all the while you feel suspended and buoyed as you somersault in slow motion like a somnolent tumbler pigeon, and sprawl supine on the eiderdown of the air, or lazily turn to embrace your pillow, enjoying every last instant of soft, deep, death-padded life, with the earth's green seesaw now above, now below, and the voluptuous crucifixion, as you stretch yourself in the growing rush, in the nearing swish, and then your loved body's obliteration in the Lap of the Lord.

Vladimir Nabokov

;
Of the not very many ways known of shedding one's body, falling, falling, falling is the supreme method, but you have to select your sill or ledge very carefully so as not to hurt yourself or others. Jumping from a high bridge is not recommended even if you cannot swim, for wind and water abound in weird contingencies, and tragedy ought not to culminate in a record dive or a policeman's promotion. If you rent a cell in the luminous waffle, room 1915 or 1959, in a tall business centre hotel browing the star dust, and pull up the window, and gently - not fall, not jump - but roll out as you should for air comfort, there is always the chance of knocking clean through into your own hell a pacific noctambulator walking his dog; in this respect a back room might be safer, especially if giving on the roof of an old tenacious normal house far below where a cat may be trusted to flash out of the way. Another popular take-off is a mountaintop with a sheer drop of say 500 meters but you must find it, because you will be surprised how easy it is to miscalculate your deflection offset, and have some hidden projection, some fool of a crag, rush forth to catch you, causing you to bounce off it into the brush, thwarted, mangled and unnecessarily alive. The ideal drop is from an aircraft, your muscles relaxed, your pilot puzzled, your packed parachute shuffled off, cast off, shrugged off - farewell, shootka (little chute)! Down you go, but all the while you feel suspended and buoyed as you somersault in slow motion like a somnolent tumbler pigeon, and sprawl supine on the eiderdown of the air, or lazily turn to embrace your pillow, enjoying every last instant of soft, deep, death-padded life, with the earth's green seesaw now above, now below, and the voluptuous crucifixion, as you stretch yourself in the growing rush, in the nearing swish, and then your loved body's obliteration in the Lap of the Lord. Vladimir Nabokov

Related Topics

Keywords

ways shedding ' body falling supreme method select sill ledge carefully hurt jumping high bridge recommended swim wind water abound weird contingencies tragedy culminate record dive policeman' promotion rent cell luminous waffle room tall business centre hotel browing star dust pull window gently - fall jump roll air comfort chance knocking clean hell pacific noctambulator walking dog respect back safer giving roof tenacious normal house cat trusted flash popular mountaintop sheer drop meters find surprised easy miscalculate deflection offset hidden projection fool crag rush catch causing bounce brush thwarted mangled unnecessarily alive ideal aircraft muscles relaxed pilot puzzled packed parachute shuffled cast shrugged farewell shootka chute feel suspended buoyed somersault slow motion somnolent tumbler pigeon sprawl supine eiderdown lazily turn embrace pillow enjoying instant soft deep death-padded life earth' green seesaw voluptuous crucifixion stretch growing nearing swish loved body' obliteration lap lord

Explore other Authors


If you are using this quote in any webpage , printmedia or any other places please use the following methods to cite this quotation.

MLA Style Citation
"A quote by Vladimir Nabokov" theysaidso.com, 2024. Mar 28, 2024. https://theysaidso.com/quote/vladimir-nabokov-of-the-not-very-many-ways-known-of-shedding-ones-body-falling-f
APA Style Citation
"A quote by Vladimir Nabokov" (n.d.). theysaidso.com. Retrieved Mar 28, 2024, from theysaidso.com web site : https://theysaidso.com/quote/vladimir-nabokov-of-the-not-very-many-ways-known-of-shedding-ones-body-falling-f
Chicago Style Citation
"A quote by Vladimir Nabokov". theysaidso.com, 2024. https://theysaidso.com/quote/vladimir-nabokov-of-the-not-very-many-ways-known-of-shedding-ones-body-falling-f , accessed Mar 28, 2024.

Comments

Authentication required

You must log in to post a comment.

Log in

There are no comments yet.