Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010594, Thu, 18 Nov 2004 13:02:10 -0800

Subject
Fwd: Re: TT-19 Pauline anide
Date
Body
Don
I hope this message gets through.
A clumsy word, such as ' Pauline anide ' ( that carries the indigo sound of
"aniline"), must have been added on purpose to suggest a word-play open to
various interpretations, including anatomical terms such as a "heartless
fetus" ( in French, like the name Pauline) or for naming insects or pupae
( which could take us to entomologist Prof. Nabokonidus in "Ada" ). Any way,
I don´t think any interpretation is better than the next one and its "truth"
will depend on the associative inroads into TT that it can explore.
Jansy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 4:00 PM
Subject: TT-19 Pauline anide


> EDNOTE. You are right. I can not recall why I assumed "anide" was French.
But it
> clearly derives from Greek/Latin antecedents and means "shapeless,
formless" as
> in undifferentiated embryo. This seems to fit the "obese"
Pauline-as-model. I
> still like my suggestion of sculptor Henry Moore, Nabokov bete noir, whose
> works were often "undiferentiated."
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:13:50 +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> Reply-To: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> Subject: Re: Fwd: Turgenev and Pauline anide
> To: chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu
>
> Dear Don,
>
> Thank you for the Ednote.
> Is "anide" really a French word for "formless"? In French
dictionaries--and
> several dictionaries
> of some other languages--I have consulted, I could not find the word. If
it
> is a French word, I will be happy free from the "anide" for which I could
> not find a perfect solution.
>
> For your reference, I pasted my note to "anide" below.
>
> 73.10: *anide*: Brian Boyd explains "anide" in the LoA edition notes as
> "Anidian, formless, lacking differentiation (of an embryo or fetus). I
found
> that in Webster 3 as the definition of "anidian," and I think the meanings
> Brian cites matches the text, but I could not find that "anide" equals
> "anidian." A website has "anide" as a synonym of "acardiaque," i. e.,
> "acardiac" in English. Cf. Vulgaris-Medical:
>
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:SGeEfe-j_QcJ:www.vulgaris-medical.com/v1/%3Fp%3Dindex_fiche%26id_article%3D5331+anide&hl=ja
> .
> The other "anide" hit was in a Spanish verb conjugation table.
> "Anidar">"anide" means 1. to nest, 2. to live. I would be grateful if
> someone would explain the Spanish verb. I do not understand why the
Belgian
> sculptor named his work made from a French (or Belgian) woman in Spanish,
> though.
>
> Later, I found "Pauline anide" in Spanish is not grammatically correct as
> you may know.
>
> Brian wrote to me that W2 gives "anidean" as a variant of "anidian" with
the
> meanings he cited in AoL, and in a technical polysyllable that "-an"
suffix
> could be superfluous, which he thought was what both VN and he were going
> on.
>
> I was almost persuaded by Brian because there was no better explanation.
But
> if "anide" is a French word commonlly used, it must be better than Brian's
> definition. It would be natural that a Belgian artist named his work in
> French.
>
> Best wishes,
> Akiko
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>

----- End forwarded message -----