Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000841, Thu, 30 Nov 1995 11:33:43 -0800

Subject
Query re KQKn (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
EDITORIAL NOTE. For the convenience of the reader I quote the last
paragraph of VN's Intro:
"Finally, the question of the title. Those three court cards, all
hearts, I have retained, while discarding a small pair. The two new cards
dealt me may justify the gamble, for I have always had an ivory thumb.
Tightly, narrowly, closely, through the smart of tobacco smoke, one
edge is squeezed out. Frog's heart--as they say in Russian Gulch. And
Jingle Bells! I can only hope that my good old partners, replete with
full houses and straights, will think I am bluffing."
-----------------------------
From: Joe Betts <Joe@Betts.com>

------------------- What is the meaning of the last paragraph in the
Author's forward to the English edition of _King, Queen, Knave? I suspect
that one clue may lurk in an earlier sentence of the same forward:
"...(the appearance of my wife and me in the last two chapters are merely
visits of inspection)..."