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Re: [NABOKOV-L] A watermark for TOoL ? A miscellany of quotes
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B.W (off-list to JM) Speak, Memory, the final paragraph of the first chapter's second section: "Neither in environment nor in heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the anonymous roller that pressed upon my life a certain intricate watermark whose unique design becomes visible when the lamp of art is made to shine through life's foolscap." (p. 25 in the Vintage paperback)
JM: Thank you! This is the quote I had in mind. A unique design made visible by the lamp of art.
There are two corrections to my last posting: Wild's name in Ivan's novel is "Philidor Sauvage".* And his novel is "My Laura."
"My Laura" is contained in TOoL, along with Hubert Hubert, but (...and that one is risky) it seems that TOoL is, paradoxically, enclosed in "My Laura." I haven't yet figured out how this works ( I'm all in a tangle).
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* - The original article by Edmund Wilson which VN discusses in SO, in connection to the French word "Sauvage," is found in Volume 4, Number 12 · July 15, 1965 The Strange Case of Pushkin and Nabokov. Excerpt from one paragraph: "In the commentary, you find "a not-too-trust-worthy account that a later friend of Pushkin's.left us," where the English requires "has left"; but there is only one past tense in Russian where we have three, and Russians often make these mistakes. The handling of French is peculiar. The heroine of La Nouvelle Héloïse is given on one page as Julie and on the next as Julia; and he always speaks of "the monde," instead of either "the world" or "le monde." And why "his sauvage nature" when no French word exists in the Russian? As for the classics: his Eol and Zoilus ought to be Aeolus and Zoïlus; and his "automatons and homunculi" ought to be "automata," etc. And although he quotes Virgil in Latin, his speaking of the eclogues of "the overrated Virgil" as "stale imitations of the idyls of Theocritus" would seem to demonstrate that he cannot have had any very close acquaintance with this poet in the original, since Virgil, unlike Theocritus, is particularly accomplished in those qualities-tight verbal pattern and subtle effects of sound-which Nabokov particularly admires." (retrieved from: nybooks/articles/12829 )
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JM: Thank you! This is the quote I had in mind. A unique design made visible by the lamp of art.
There are two corrections to my last posting: Wild's name in Ivan's novel is "Philidor Sauvage".* And his novel is "My Laura."
"My Laura" is contained in TOoL, along with Hubert Hubert, but (...and that one is risky) it seems that TOoL is, paradoxically, enclosed in "My Laura." I haven't yet figured out how this works ( I'm all in a tangle).
.....................................................................
* - The original article by Edmund Wilson which VN discusses in SO, in connection to the French word "Sauvage," is found in Volume 4, Number 12 · July 15, 1965 The Strange Case of Pushkin and Nabokov. Excerpt from one paragraph: "In the commentary, you find "a not-too-trust-worthy account that a later friend of Pushkin's.left us," where the English requires "has left"; but there is only one past tense in Russian where we have three, and Russians often make these mistakes. The handling of French is peculiar. The heroine of La Nouvelle Héloïse is given on one page as Julie and on the next as Julia; and he always speaks of "the monde," instead of either "the world" or "le monde." And why "his sauvage nature" when no French word exists in the Russian? As for the classics: his Eol and Zoilus ought to be Aeolus and Zoïlus; and his "automatons and homunculi" ought to be "automata," etc. And although he quotes Virgil in Latin, his speaking of the eclogues of "the overrated Virgil" as "stale imitations of the idyls of Theocritus" would seem to demonstrate that he cannot have had any very close acquaintance with this poet in the original, since Virgil, unlike Theocritus, is particularly accomplished in those qualities-tight verbal pattern and subtle effects of sound-which Nabokov particularly admires." (retrieved from: nybooks/articles/12829 )
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/