Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007078, Wed, 13 Nov 2002 20:13:09 -0800

Subject
Query: rozy / beryozy
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At the end of ADA, Part I, chapter 38 Van offers his translation of a quatrain"

Lights in the rooms were going out.
Breathed fragrantly the rozy.
We sat together in the shade
Of a wide-branched beryozy

Ada remarks that "birch" (beryorzy) is what leaves the translator in "the lurch" -- referring to Van's inability to find a good English translation for beryozy (birches) that rhymes with "roses." Something is funny since 'the" would have worked as well as "a." (Rozy / beryozy is a hack rhyme in Russian.)

What puzzles me is the indefinite article "a" in the last line. Beryozy is plural, not singlular.
Any ideas what's going on here? A lapse in proof reading?

Also, does any one know whether Konstantin Romanov wrote the quatrain in question?
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