I think it is a Poe/Nobokov reference. I also think it is highly sinister. I think he's obsessed with her and she is indifferent. It sounds to me he wants to drown her so he can have her.
While anabel Lee is a respectful and beutiful ode to Poe's wife, Nabokov's use is more sinister as it's sited as the start of his sexual obsession, and Poe's stories repeatedly reference a morbid sexual interest in the dead. Ligea and Berenice anyone?
I think it is a Poe/Nobokov reference. I also think it is highly sinister. I think he's obsessed with her and she is indifferent. It sounds to me he wants to drown her so he can have her.
While anabel Lee is a respectful and beutiful ode to Poe's wife, Nabokov's use is more sinister as it's sited as the start of his sexual obsession, and Poe's stories repeatedly reference a morbid sexual interest in the dead. Ligea and Berenice anyone?