Subject
Query re LO: Shadowgraphs & Rengenovskie snimki
Date
Body
From: SALAZKIN@MINNIE.HOLLINS.EDU
I guess this question can be directed to A. Dolinin more so
than anyone else, but if someone has any ideas, please, help
me out:
In LOLITA, when HH asks her what they did in Camp Q, Lolita tells
him that they made shadowgraphs (p.114 of the Annotated ed.),
and later this motif is repeated in the second part, when HH
is on his way to kill Quilty. Now, I think I understand the
shadow imagery in relation to Lolita, so I was very surprized
to see that in his Russian translation of it, Nabokov translates
"shadowgraphs" as "rengenovskie snimki" - X Rays. Does anyone
know why he does it? It seems to change the nature of the
imagery quite significantly. I thought that by shadowgraphs
we meant something like the theatre of the shadows, casting
shadows on the walls that look like animals, or something like
that. So, did Lolita have her X Rays taken in Camp Q? Or could
it be that "rengenovskie snimki" here actually means something
other than that? And why?
Thank you!
Maria Salazkina
salazkin@diana.hollins.edu
I guess this question can be directed to A. Dolinin more so
than anyone else, but if someone has any ideas, please, help
me out:
In LOLITA, when HH asks her what they did in Camp Q, Lolita tells
him that they made shadowgraphs (p.114 of the Annotated ed.),
and later this motif is repeated in the second part, when HH
is on his way to kill Quilty. Now, I think I understand the
shadow imagery in relation to Lolita, so I was very surprized
to see that in his Russian translation of it, Nabokov translates
"shadowgraphs" as "rengenovskie snimki" - X Rays. Does anyone
know why he does it? It seems to change the nature of the
imagery quite significantly. I thought that by shadowgraphs
we meant something like the theatre of the shadows, casting
shadows on the walls that look like animals, or something like
that. So, did Lolita have her X Rays taken in Camp Q? Or could
it be that "rengenovskie snimki" here actually means something
other than that? And why?
Thank you!
Maria Salazkina
salazkin@diana.hollins.edu