Subject
Fw: Natt och Dag
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: <Chaswe@aol.com>
>
> << The fact that it appears in two such disparate contexts shows that it
was
> a not unusual name, to a Russian or one who knew Russians. >>
>
> Natt och Dag, as I pointed out in the 1997 piece in the Nabokovian, is one
of
> the most ancient and revered of Swedish family names. There may have been
> branches of the family in Russia, as one of the present family members has
> suggested to me, but in essence it is almost synonymous with Sweden. It
means
> Night and Day, a reference to the family's coat of arms, a shield divided
> into halves, one blue, the other yellow, or gold. Karen Blixen danished
the
> name, and changed the arms into black and white, for her own literary
> purposes, I suggest. I suspect that Nabokov learnt some of the details
about
> the Natt och Dag family history from Filippa Rolf in 1961, when she
visited
> him.
>
> Charles Harrison Wallace
From: <Chaswe@aol.com>
>
> << The fact that it appears in two such disparate contexts shows that it
was
> a not unusual name, to a Russian or one who knew Russians. >>
>
> Natt och Dag, as I pointed out in the 1997 piece in the Nabokovian, is one
of
> the most ancient and revered of Swedish family names. There may have been
> branches of the family in Russia, as one of the present family members has
> suggested to me, but in essence it is almost synonymous with Sweden. It
means
> Night and Day, a reference to the family's coat of arms, a shield divided
> into halves, one blue, the other yellow, or gold. Karen Blixen danished
the
> name, and changed the arms into black and white, for her own literary
> purposes, I suggest. I suspect that Nabokov learnt some of the details
about
> the Natt och Dag family history from Filippa Rolf in 1961, when she
visited
> him.
>
> Charles Harrison Wallace