Eyeopening Eye Wear

 

pince-nez - noun - style of eyeglasses popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, supported without earpieces by pinching the bridge of the nose (Google).

While reading Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin (Pun-neen), a humorous, extremely articulate relic from the 1950s that blows all contemporary fiction out of the water in terms of voice, I came across a word that I hadn't seen since I taught Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest: pince-nez. As a full-time wearer of eyeglasses (The years have played havoc with my sight.), I find anything remotely related to opticals fairly interesting. Spectacles have definitely evolved, yet have also stayed somewhat the same over the years. Today, our blinkers consist of bifocals, progressives, transitional progressives–which I sport–cheaters (a.k.a. reading glasses) and shades (sunglasses with or without the prescription lenses), my favorite being President Biden's aviators. I'm sure he wears them just to look cool, and he does–look cool, I mean. even for someone pushing eighty. Pince-nez I personally associate with Teddy Roosevelt–"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"(but be careful how you use it around your fragile pince-nez). He always looked more like a teddy bear when wearing them albeit bears don't wear glasses. 

Since it was in vogue in the 1890s up until the 1920s, you would think that the pince-nez has all but disappeared. Sorry to contradict you, but by mistake while Googling "pince-nez" to uncover more information, I came across Gucci's version of the original, priced at $740 sans prescription lenses: a pretty hefty sum for a pair of pince-nez that might get into the habit of falling off of your face at will every now and again. Oh, but the Guccis do come with a fashionable strap that will prevent the glasses from dropping any farther than the chest if they should stray.–good to know if you are contemplating the investment.

What I find somewhat ironic about eyeglasses is that they correct our vision so that it is accurate, but can't remediate what we perceive in ourselves and in others. Practically never do we see ourselves for who we are, and often our judgements of others can be clouded as well since it is so hard to skip away from subjectivity. I wish someone would come up with a pair of pince-nez to rectify this human flaw. And if he or she or they did and we bought a pair and wore them, how would our life trajectory be altered? Just something profoundly eyeopening to think about on a rainy Thursday morning.

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