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Jenny Petherbridge
The elder Guido Volkbein is Felix Volkbein’s father and Hedvig’s husband. Guido’s personal history is something of a mystery. He is Jewish, but he tries to pass himself off as a Christian baron, the last of an old Austrian family. He even buys portraits of strangers that he bears a likeness to in order to prove that he came from a noble family. Guido goes out of his way to show reverence to people who he thinks belong to the nobility, and sometimes he unwittingly humiliates himself by showing too much deference to a relatively minor personage. Guido was instantly attracted to Hedvig and she agreed to marrying him blindly, believing that he was, in fact, a baron. Guido was desperate to have a son, but unfortunately he developed a fever and died shortly before Hedvig delivered Felix.
Guido Volkbein (senior) Quotes in Nightwood
The Nightwood quotes below are all either spoken by Guido Volkbein (senior) or refer to Guido Volkbein (senior) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Bow Down Quotes
Childless at fifty-nine, Guido had prepared out of his own heart for his coming child a heart, fashioned on his own preoccupation, the remorseless homage to nobility, the genuflexion the hunted body makes from muscular contraction, going down before the impending and inaccessible, as before a great heat. It had made Guido, as it was to make his son, heavy with impermissible blood.
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He was usually seen walking or driving alone, dressed as if expecting to participate in some great event, though there was no function in the world for which he could be said to be properly garbed; wishing to be correct at any moment, he was tailored in part for the evening and in part for the day.
From the mingled passions that made up his past, out of a diversity of bloods, from the crux of a thousand impossible situations, Felix had become the accumulated and single—the embarrassed.
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La Somnambule Quotes
There was something pathetic in the spectacle. Felix reiterating the tragedy of his father. Attired like some haphazard in the mind of a tailor, again in the ambit of his father’s futile attempt to encompass the rhythm of his wife’s stride, Felix, with tightly held monocle, walked beside Robin, talking to her, drawing her attention to this and that, wrecking himself and his peace of mind in an effort to acquaint her with the destiny for which he had chosen her—that she might bear sons who would recognize and honour the past.
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Guido Volkbein (senior) Character Timeline in Nightwood
The timeline below shows where the character Guido Volkbein (senior) appears in Nightwood. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Bow Down
...the disapproval of the people.” Immediately after delivering and naming Felix, Hedvig dies. Her husband, Guido Volkbein (senior), unfortunately died six months earlier of a fever. Guido was Jewish and was...
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Guido chose not to live in a Jewish community but instead decided to strike out on...
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...however, is a mystery—he simultaneously seems to have come from everywhere and nowhere. Like his father, Felix goes by Baron Volkbein and nobody knows how he makes his money (although he...
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La Somnambule
Felix finds himself repeating his father’s tragic story, trying desperately to make Robin understand the great destiny he has already chosen...
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...labor during which Robin seems furious, she gives birth to their baby, whom they name Guido after Felix’s father. Within a week of leaving her bed, however, Robin seems lost, as...
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Where the Tree Falls
...sees. He’s written about different noblemen, but his articles are never printed. When Felix realized Guido (junior) was unwell (he’s very small, obsessed with death, and “Mentally deficient”), he began collecting...
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...with Felix, she finally mentioned Robin by name. When Felix turned around, he realized that Guido (junior) had heard everything. This was okay because Felix has always encouraged Guido to expect...
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Felix asks if Robin is damned. Matthew, recognizing Felix’s hidden meaning, replies that Guido is not damned but blessed, and that aristocracy is a state of mind. He also...
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Go Down, Matthew
...accepts this but says Nora should know the worst. He reminds her of Felix and Guido, whose best hope is for Guido to die early. Matthew questions if there’s a reason...
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...him to keep their secrets. He rails against Felix for keeping so much quiet while Guido searches in vain for his mother, Robin. Other people in the bar listen while Matthew...
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