Subject
PNIN QUERIES
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. The more or less definitive work on PNIN is Gennadi
Barabtarlo's PHANTOM OF FACT: A GUIDE TO NABOKOV'S PNIN (Ann Arbor, Ardis,
1989). As well as the dating problem, it covers the "motuweth frisas"
(Monday, Tues., Weds., Thurs. etc p. 124) question and a great many others.
-------------------------------------
I am doing a dissertation on rhythms and repetition in Nabokov, and would
like your help with a few matters in Pnin. My tiny undergraduate brain
cannot get round the issue of Pnin's birthday. It is clear that his
birthday is on Feb 15th and that part of his misery at the end of chapter
three is because there is nobody that seems to know or care. The notion
of the 'future anniversary' of his death is also raised, (and linked with
Pushkin's "in fight, in travel or in waves?", which recurs twice in the
chapter), and I know that VN originally intended to kill of Pnin at the
end - are these bits the rusting shell of an unused plot echo? But what
am I missing, particularly in relation to the following bits?
"Tuesday - true; but what day of the month, we wonder. Pnin's birthday
for instance fell on February 3, by the Julian calendar into which he had
been born in St Petersburg in 1898. He never celebrated it nowadays,
partly because, after his departure from Russia, it sidled by in a
Gregorian disguise (thirteen - no, twelve days late), and partly because
during the academic year he existed mainly on a motuweth frisas basis."
(ch.3, section 3, p55/6 in Penguin)
[motuweth frisas??]
"As usual he marched to the Periodicals Room and there glanced at the
news in the latest (Saturday, February 12 - and this was Tuesday, O
Careless Reader!) issue of the Russian-language daily published, since
1918, by an emigre group in Chicago.
(ch. 3, section 6, p62 in Penguin)
I have a few more questions:
1. My help and hero Brian Boyd claims in The American Years (no page ref,
sorry!) that it is a squirrel that is shot at in the first section of
chapter five (Penguin p 96) just before "everything happens at once", but
I can find no evidence for this, although a twig does move and I have
found out a lot about twigs (anyone who's interested, do contact me).
2. "Yosemite hotel" "A what?" (again no ref. sorry) Opposite of
anti-semite???
3. What has Pnin "half heard in the course of the day" (ch.3, sec. 6,
Penguin p.66) that oppresses him?
4. The Egg and We ... (ch.2, sec.2, p29, and elsewhere) I cannot believe
this name is without allusive powers, but my brain's cogs are stuck.
I would be very grateful for any answers, or other information about
rhythms (eg. repeated motifs or phrases, like the squirrels) especially
in Lolita, Pale Fire, Pnin, Ada and Speak, Memory, preferably before
March 18th when I will have to have a final draft ready. Thanks,
Peter
Peter Clasen
85 Wellington Road
Manchester M14 6BN
U.K.
tel. 0161 225 5721
e-mail MFCX4PLC@fs1.art.man.ac.uk
Barabtarlo's PHANTOM OF FACT: A GUIDE TO NABOKOV'S PNIN (Ann Arbor, Ardis,
1989). As well as the dating problem, it covers the "motuweth frisas"
(Monday, Tues., Weds., Thurs. etc p. 124) question and a great many others.
-------------------------------------
I am doing a dissertation on rhythms and repetition in Nabokov, and would
like your help with a few matters in Pnin. My tiny undergraduate brain
cannot get round the issue of Pnin's birthday. It is clear that his
birthday is on Feb 15th and that part of his misery at the end of chapter
three is because there is nobody that seems to know or care. The notion
of the 'future anniversary' of his death is also raised, (and linked with
Pushkin's "in fight, in travel or in waves?", which recurs twice in the
chapter), and I know that VN originally intended to kill of Pnin at the
end - are these bits the rusting shell of an unused plot echo? But what
am I missing, particularly in relation to the following bits?
"Tuesday - true; but what day of the month, we wonder. Pnin's birthday
for instance fell on February 3, by the Julian calendar into which he had
been born in St Petersburg in 1898. He never celebrated it nowadays,
partly because, after his departure from Russia, it sidled by in a
Gregorian disguise (thirteen - no, twelve days late), and partly because
during the academic year he existed mainly on a motuweth frisas basis."
(ch.3, section 3, p55/6 in Penguin)
[motuweth frisas??]
"As usual he marched to the Periodicals Room and there glanced at the
news in the latest (Saturday, February 12 - and this was Tuesday, O
Careless Reader!) issue of the Russian-language daily published, since
1918, by an emigre group in Chicago.
(ch. 3, section 6, p62 in Penguin)
I have a few more questions:
1. My help and hero Brian Boyd claims in The American Years (no page ref,
sorry!) that it is a squirrel that is shot at in the first section of
chapter five (Penguin p 96) just before "everything happens at once", but
I can find no evidence for this, although a twig does move and I have
found out a lot about twigs (anyone who's interested, do contact me).
2. "Yosemite hotel" "A what?" (again no ref. sorry) Opposite of
anti-semite???
3. What has Pnin "half heard in the course of the day" (ch.3, sec. 6,
Penguin p.66) that oppresses him?
4. The Egg and We ... (ch.2, sec.2, p29, and elsewhere) I cannot believe
this name is without allusive powers, but my brain's cogs are stuck.
I would be very grateful for any answers, or other information about
rhythms (eg. repeated motifs or phrases, like the squirrels) especially
in Lolita, Pale Fire, Pnin, Ada and Speak, Memory, preferably before
March 18th when I will have to have a final draft ready. Thanks,
Peter
Peter Clasen
85 Wellington Road
Manchester M14 6BN
U.K.
tel. 0161 225 5721
e-mail MFCX4PLC@fs1.art.man.ac.uk