Subject
Re: Pale Fire,
Kinbote and Misprints: using the "search tool" on the digital
text of PF
Kinbote and Misprints: using the "search tool" on the digital
text of PF
From
Date
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Dear Jansy,
The joke had to do with the Russian word for crown,
korona, (stress on the second syllable). During the coronation
ceremony the Metropolitan voslozhil,
places or installs or invests the crown on the head of the
about-to-become Czar. The joke is that the Metropolitan first places a
crow (vorona, stress also on the second syllable) the the Czars head,
then when trying to correct the misprint the newspaper advises: instead
to crow, please read it as: cow (korova, stress also on the second
syllable). So there are two misprints and the Czar starts his reign with
a cow balanced on his head.
Best regards,
Jerry Katsell
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
Behalf Of jansymello
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 11:58 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Pale Fire, Kinbote and Misprints: using the "search
tool" on the digital text of PF
Victor Fet responded to DBJ's query on Vorona (crow), Korona (crown)
,Korova (cow) : "Yes, indeed, it is a well-known typing-error story,
which existed well
before PF. It is told about various newspapers and various tsars; it was
quoted e.g. by V. Pikul' in his "historical novel" "Nechistaya sila"
with
reference to newspaper "Novoye vremya" from 1896 (Nicholas II
coronation).Other sources assign it to 1883 and coronation of Alexander
III.
Others even to Nicholas I. It seems to be a legend, however. At least
the Russian researcher of typing errors' history Dmitri Sherikh
could not find any such newspaper in reality.
Jansy Mello: Kinbote's wonder links this legend about the Russian
misprints ( apparently an invented joke on "coronation") to the
wonderful coincidence of its being rendered into English, with no
alteration in its spirit. Kinbote will return to this issue not under
any heading about a "misprint" ( see below the sentences that bear the
word or are referred to "misprint")., but when he discusses Goethe's
poem on the "Erlkönig" *.
1. Introduction:
Frank has acknowledged the safe return of the galleys ...and has asked
me to mention in my Preface...that I alone am responsible for any
mistakes in my commentary. Insert before a professional. A professional
proofreader has carefully rechecked the printed text of the poem against
the photo type of the manuscript, and has found a few trivial misprints
I had missed; that has been all in the way of outside assistance...
2. Poem:
He took his article from a
steel file:
800 "Its accurate. I have not
changed her style.
Theres one misprint not
that it matters much:
Mountain, not fountain. The
majestic touch."
Life Everlasting based on
a misprint!
I mused as I drove homeward:
take the hint,
And stop investigating my
abyss?
3. Commentary:
(a) Line 98: On Chapmans Homer: not a misprint
A reference to the title of Keats famous sonnet (often quoted in
America) which, owing to a printers absent-mindedness, has been drolly
transposed, from some other article, into the account of a sports event.
For other vivid misprints see note to line 802.
(b) Line 782: your poem
An image of Mont Blancs "blue-shaded buttresses and sun-creamed domes"
is fleetingly glimpsed through the cloud of that particular poem which I
wish I could quote but do not have at hand. The "white mountain" of the
ladys dream, caused by a misprint to tally with Shades "white
fountain," makes a thematic appearance here, blurred as it were by the
ladys grotesque pronunciation.
(c) Line 803: a misprint
Translators of Shades poem are bound to have trouble with the
transformation, at one stroke, of "mountain" into "fountain": it cannot
be rendered in French or German, or Russian, or Zemblan; so the
translator will have to put it into one of those footnotes that are the
rogues galleries of words. However! There exists to my knowledge one
absolutely extraordinary, unbelievably elegant case, where not only two,
but three words are involved. The story itself is trivial enough (and
probably apocryphal). A newspaper account of a Russian tsars coronation
had, instead of korona (crown), the misprint vorona (crow), and when
next day this was apologetically "corrected," it got misprinted a second
time as korova (cow). The artistic correlation between the
crown-crow-cow series and the Russian korona-vorona-korova series is
something that would have, I am sure, enraptured my poet. I have seen
nothing like it on lexical playfields and the odds against the double
coincidence defy computation.
(d) The actual note to which CK refers the reader, line 802: mountain
Where was I? Yes, trudging along again as in the old days with John, in
the woods of Arcady, under a salmon sky...."Well," I said gaily, "what
were you writing about last night, John? Your study window was simply
blazing."..."Mountains," he answered. The Bera Range, an erection of
veined stone and shaggy firs, rose before me in all its power and
pride... and would I mind very much if we started to go home though it
was only around nine so that he could plunge back into his chaos and
drag out of it, with all its wet stars, his cosmos?...How could I say
no? That mountain air had gone to my head: he was reassembling my
Zembla!
* - Line 662: Who rides so late in the night and the wind.: "This line,
and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known
poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted
alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated
traveler. One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which
Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballad
(a trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse:
, , , ,
662 Who rides so late in the night and the wind
663 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
, , , ,
664 . . . . It is the father with his child
Goethes two lines opening the poem come out most exactly and
beautifully, with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme (also in French:
vent-enfant), in my own language:
, , , ,
Ret woren ok spoz on natt ut vett?
, , , ,
Eto est votchez ut mid ik dett.
Another fabulous ruler, the last king of Zembla, kept repeating these
haunting lines to himself both in Zemblan and German, as a chance
accompaniment of drumming fatigue and anxiety, while he climbed through
the bracken belt of the dark mountains he had to traverse in his bid for
freedom..
I would like to call our attention to the fact that Kinbote doesn't
mention Goethe's original words in German, with its rhyme, like in
French for "vent-enfant" and Zemblan ( "vett-dett" ) is: "Wind-Kind".
Why did Kinbote need to mention the French,instead of going directly to
the German? What was he indicating on the matter of Erlkönig,
Alderking, Death and Boys?
The theme is the same as the difficulty of finding translations with
similar sounds as indicated for "mountain-fountain" ...( I posted
something about this in the past, since in Portuguese we can translate
"monte-fonte", perhaps in Italian or various romance languages,too. I
also discussed the translator's problems with "korona,vorona,korova"
index entries )
Search <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html> the Nabokv-L
archive at UCSB
Contact <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
both co-editors.
Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>
View Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
The joke had to do with the Russian word for crown,
korona, (stress on the second syllable). During the coronation
ceremony the Metropolitan voslozhil,
places or installs or invests the crown on the head of the
about-to-become Czar. The joke is that the Metropolitan first places a
crow (vorona, stress also on the second syllable) the the Czars head,
then when trying to correct the misprint the newspaper advises: instead
to crow, please read it as: cow (korova, stress also on the second
syllable). So there are two misprints and the Czar starts his reign with
a cow balanced on his head.
Best regards,
Jerry Katsell
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
Behalf Of jansymello
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 11:58 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Pale Fire, Kinbote and Misprints: using the "search
tool" on the digital text of PF
Victor Fet responded to DBJ's query on Vorona (crow), Korona (crown)
,Korova (cow) : "Yes, indeed, it is a well-known typing-error story,
which existed well
before PF. It is told about various newspapers and various tsars; it was
quoted e.g. by V. Pikul' in his "historical novel" "Nechistaya sila"
with
reference to newspaper "Novoye vremya" from 1896 (Nicholas II
coronation).Other sources assign it to 1883 and coronation of Alexander
III.
Others even to Nicholas I. It seems to be a legend, however. At least
the Russian researcher of typing errors' history Dmitri Sherikh
could not find any such newspaper in reality.
Jansy Mello: Kinbote's wonder links this legend about the Russian
misprints ( apparently an invented joke on "coronation") to the
wonderful coincidence of its being rendered into English, with no
alteration in its spirit. Kinbote will return to this issue not under
any heading about a "misprint" ( see below the sentences that bear the
word or are referred to "misprint")., but when he discusses Goethe's
poem on the "Erlkönig" *.
1. Introduction:
Frank has acknowledged the safe return of the galleys ...and has asked
me to mention in my Preface...that I alone am responsible for any
mistakes in my commentary. Insert before a professional. A professional
proofreader has carefully rechecked the printed text of the poem against
the photo type of the manuscript, and has found a few trivial misprints
I had missed; that has been all in the way of outside assistance...
2. Poem:
He took his article from a
steel file:
800 "Its accurate. I have not
changed her style.
Theres one misprint not
that it matters much:
Mountain, not fountain. The
majestic touch."
Life Everlasting based on
a misprint!
I mused as I drove homeward:
take the hint,
And stop investigating my
abyss?
3. Commentary:
(a) Line 98: On Chapmans Homer: not a misprint
A reference to the title of Keats famous sonnet (often quoted in
America) which, owing to a printers absent-mindedness, has been drolly
transposed, from some other article, into the account of a sports event.
For other vivid misprints see note to line 802.
(b) Line 782: your poem
An image of Mont Blancs "blue-shaded buttresses and sun-creamed domes"
is fleetingly glimpsed through the cloud of that particular poem which I
wish I could quote but do not have at hand. The "white mountain" of the
ladys dream, caused by a misprint to tally with Shades "white
fountain," makes a thematic appearance here, blurred as it were by the
ladys grotesque pronunciation.
(c) Line 803: a misprint
Translators of Shades poem are bound to have trouble with the
transformation, at one stroke, of "mountain" into "fountain": it cannot
be rendered in French or German, or Russian, or Zemblan; so the
translator will have to put it into one of those footnotes that are the
rogues galleries of words. However! There exists to my knowledge one
absolutely extraordinary, unbelievably elegant case, where not only two,
but three words are involved. The story itself is trivial enough (and
probably apocryphal). A newspaper account of a Russian tsars coronation
had, instead of korona (crown), the misprint vorona (crow), and when
next day this was apologetically "corrected," it got misprinted a second
time as korova (cow). The artistic correlation between the
crown-crow-cow series and the Russian korona-vorona-korova series is
something that would have, I am sure, enraptured my poet. I have seen
nothing like it on lexical playfields and the odds against the double
coincidence defy computation.
(d) The actual note to which CK refers the reader, line 802: mountain
Where was I? Yes, trudging along again as in the old days with John, in
the woods of Arcady, under a salmon sky...."Well," I said gaily, "what
were you writing about last night, John? Your study window was simply
blazing."..."Mountains," he answered. The Bera Range, an erection of
veined stone and shaggy firs, rose before me in all its power and
pride... and would I mind very much if we started to go home though it
was only around nine so that he could plunge back into his chaos and
drag out of it, with all its wet stars, his cosmos?...How could I say
no? That mountain air had gone to my head: he was reassembling my
Zembla!
* - Line 662: Who rides so late in the night and the wind.: "This line,
and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known
poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted
alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated
traveler. One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which
Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballad
(a trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse:
, , , ,
662 Who rides so late in the night and the wind
663 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
, , , ,
664 . . . . It is the father with his child
Goethes two lines opening the poem come out most exactly and
beautifully, with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme (also in French:
vent-enfant), in my own language:
, , , ,
Ret woren ok spoz on natt ut vett?
, , , ,
Eto est votchez ut mid ik dett.
Another fabulous ruler, the last king of Zembla, kept repeating these
haunting lines to himself both in Zemblan and German, as a chance
accompaniment of drumming fatigue and anxiety, while he climbed through
the bracken belt of the dark mountains he had to traverse in his bid for
freedom..
I would like to call our attention to the fact that Kinbote doesn't
mention Goethe's original words in German, with its rhyme, like in
French for "vent-enfant" and Zemblan ( "vett-dett" ) is: "Wind-Kind".
Why did Kinbote need to mention the French,instead of going directly to
the German? What was he indicating on the matter of Erlkönig,
Alderking, Death and Boys?
The theme is the same as the difficulty of finding translations with
similar sounds as indicated for "mountain-fountain" ...( I posted
something about this in the past, since in Portuguese we can translate
"monte-fonte", perhaps in Italian or various romance languages,too. I
also discussed the translator's problems with "korona,vorona,korova"
index entries )
Search <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html> the Nabokv-L
archive at UCSB
Contact <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by
both co-editors.
Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>
View Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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