Subject
Re: angels and demons II
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Carolyn Kunin: Airplane accident? did you say 'airplane accident'? Didn't Papa Veen die in an airplane 'accident'? Oh, yes - I see you mention that....You know I have always blamed Ada for that 'airplane accident' - but then I blame her for all unexplained deaths in Ada - even the explained ones!
Jansy Mello: Nabokov never crossed the Atlantic in an airplane. I cannot remember where he mentions it, perhaps in SO.* In PF and in ADA there are different references to flying machines (jiggers, libelula wings probably associated to Dumont's Demoiselle, a chocolate toy enjoyed by young prince Charles...) and there are two deathly accidents (Demon Veen's and King Alfin's**). Did Nabokov ever travel to continents situated below the equator?
Mike Marcus: The OED has a quote from Blackwood's in the entry for ululation: "The women..burst forth in a shrill scream, with a quaver or ululation resembling the note of the screech-owl." That's why it's called a ululation. Didn't see anything about the Med, Asia or Portugal. "Usually applied"? By Nabokov?
Jansy Mello: Brazilian are familiar with the word "ululation"in its various uses. It was once applied to corruption in politics (its being something so "obvious" that it became noisily visibly "ululating") Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues coined the term that he chose for a title of his collected essays ( "O obvio ululante e outros ensaios"). I remember two movie scenes with ululations ( "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The sheltering sky") See also Ululation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ululation
I don't know if the image of the ululating sound of the wind is used in English, in French or in Russian. It appears in Portuguese and I thought Nabokov applied it in this sense.
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* A slight attempt to check about VN's complicated relationship with airplanes, from Brian Boyd's AY, led me to two sentences:
"After a pleasant crossing -Nabokov always found the leisurely pace and the uncrowded space of transatlantic liners much more soothing than he imagined air travel must be - the Libertte docked at Le Have on October 5." (393)
"Since Nabokov did not care to fly, the trip from Menton to Beverly Hills took twelve days by train and boat and train again" (405)
l
* "My friend could not evoke the image of his father. Similarly the King, who also was not quite three when his father, King Alfin, died, was unable to recall his face, although oddly he did remember perfectly well the little monoplane of chocolate that he, a chubby babe, happened to be holding in that very last photograph (Christmas 1918) of the melancholy, riding-breeched aviator in whose lap he reluctantly and uncomfortably sprawled."
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Jansy Mello: Nabokov never crossed the Atlantic in an airplane. I cannot remember where he mentions it, perhaps in SO.* In PF and in ADA there are different references to flying machines (jiggers, libelula wings probably associated to Dumont's Demoiselle, a chocolate toy enjoyed by young prince Charles...) and there are two deathly accidents (Demon Veen's and King Alfin's**). Did Nabokov ever travel to continents situated below the equator?
Mike Marcus: The OED has a quote from Blackwood's in the entry for ululation: "The women..burst forth in a shrill scream, with a quaver or ululation resembling the note of the screech-owl." That's why it's called a ululation. Didn't see anything about the Med, Asia or Portugal. "Usually applied"? By Nabokov?
Jansy Mello: Brazilian are familiar with the word "ululation"in its various uses. It was once applied to corruption in politics (its being something so "obvious" that it became noisily visibly "ululating") Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues coined the term that he chose for a title of his collected essays ( "O obvio ululante e outros ensaios"). I remember two movie scenes with ululations ( "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The sheltering sky") See also Ululation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ululation
I don't know if the image of the ululating sound of the wind is used in English, in French or in Russian. It appears in Portuguese and I thought Nabokov applied it in this sense.
..........................................................................................................
* A slight attempt to check about VN's complicated relationship with airplanes, from Brian Boyd's AY, led me to two sentences:
"After a pleasant crossing -Nabokov always found the leisurely pace and the uncrowded space of transatlantic liners much more soothing than he imagined air travel must be - the Libertte docked at Le Have on October 5." (393)
"Since Nabokov did not care to fly, the trip from Menton to Beverly Hills took twelve days by train and boat and train again" (405)
l
* "My friend could not evoke the image of his father. Similarly the King, who also was not quite three when his father, King Alfin, died, was unable to recall his face, although oddly he did remember perfectly well the little monoplane of chocolate that he, a chubby babe, happened to be holding in that very last photograph (Christmas 1918) of the melancholy, riding-breeched aviator in whose lap he reluctantly and uncomfortably sprawled."
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/