Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0026120, Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:07:56 +0300

Subject
Stalin-plus-six, um-plus-zhopa anagrams
Date
Body
oblako + Stalin + blondinka + volos/slovo + shest' + povesa + dar = oblik + salat/atlas + London + volshebnik + osa + sovest' + parad
oblik + ogorod + ten' + um + zhopa = oboroten' + Lik + muzh + pogoda

oblako - cloud (cf. Oblako, ozero, bashnya)
blondinka - fair-haired girl or woman; in "The Event" Barboshin mentions Tamara Georgievna Grekov, blondinka s bolonkoy (fair-haired lady with a lap dog) of twenty three
volos - a hair
slovo - word
shest' - 6
povesa - playboy
dar - gift; the title of a novel (1937) by VN
oblik - countenance (see in my previous post the quote from Istrblenie tiranov)
salat - lettuce; salad; in "The Enchanter" the black lettuce eats the green rabbit (as seen by the protagonist)
atlas - satin; atlas
volshebnik - magician; enchanter
osa - wasp
sovest' - conscience
parad - parade
ogodod - kitchen garden (from Tyrants Destroyed, chapter 4: "He transformed my wildflowery country into a vast kitchen garden...")
ten' - shadow; shade; cf. Ten' Fonvizina ("Fonvizin's Shade," 1815), a poem by Pushkin
um - intellect; wits
zhopa - vulg., arse, buttocks
oboroten' - werewolf
Lik - the eponymous character in a story (1939) by VN; the name of Lik's second cousin and schoolmate, Koldunov, comes from koldun (sorcerer)
muzh - husband; man
pogoda - weather

In a letter of June 7, 1824, to Vyazemski Pushkin says that in order to be a publisher (or critic) one needs only zhopa (buttocks), not um (intellect):

Нынешняя наша словесность есть и должна быть благородно-независима. Мы одни должны взяться за дело и соединиться. Но беда! мы все лентяй на лентяе — материалы есть, материалисты есть, но ou est le cul de plomb qui poussera ca где найдём своего составителя, так сказать, своего Каченовского? (в смысле Милонова — что для издателя хоть Вестника Европы, не надобен тут ум, потребна только <жопа>).

At that time Pushkin lived in Odessa. In Mayakovski's poem Oblako v shtanakh ("Trousered Cloud," 1915) the action takes place in Odessa:

Вы думаете, это бредит малярия?
Это было,
было в Одессе.
«Приду в четыре»,— сказала Мария.
Восемь.
Девять.
Десять.

Do you think, it is malaria's delirium?

It happened,

it happened in Odessa.

"I'll come at four," Maria said.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.



In his Poslanie proletarskim poetam ("The Epistle to Proletarian Poets," 1926) quoted by Hodasevich in his essay Dekol'tirovannaya loshad' ("Decolletted Horse," 1927) Mayakovski asks:



Я кажусь вам академиком с большим задом?

Do I seem to you an academician with big buttocks?



Alexey Sklyarenko

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