Subject
Ada & Adolphe
From
Date
Body
Benjamin Constant's Adolphe (apologies for misspelling the title in my previous post) is not mentioned in Ada, but Chateaubriand’s Rene (a story by Chateaubriand about a pair of romantic siblings, 1.21; admirable short novel, whose art and charme veloute only Senancour's Oberman, 1804, can approach*) is very important in VN's Family Chronicle. Suffice is to say that Ada sometimes calls Van "cher, trop cher Rene". (1.21)
The Foreword to the Soviet edition of Chateaubriand’s Rene and Constant’s Adolphe (1932) was written by Maxim Gorky, the author of, among other plays, Vragi ("Enemies", 1906). Gorky ends his prefave with a dictum: Для того, чтобы смертельно бить врага, необходимо хорошо знать врага ("In order to mortally beat one’s enemy, one has to know one’s enemy well").
At the beginning of his obituary essay on Lenin's death, "V. I. Lenin" (the first unabridged version, 1924), Gorky quotes the Latin saying "the corpse of one's enemy always smells good". By 1969 (when Ada appeared) Adolf Hitler (a namesake of Constant's hero) and Joseph Stalin (whose name brings to mind Constant's friend Mme de Staёl) were long dead. Yet, the characters like "Colonel St Alin, a scoundrel" (1.2), Khan Sosso, the ruler of the "ruthless Sovietnamur Khanate" (2.2), "Athaulf the Future, a fair-haired giant in a natty uniform" (2.2), who becomes "Athaulf Hindler (also known as Mittler - from 'to mittle,' mutilate)" in Victor Vitry's film based on Van's novel Letters from Terra (5.5) - all of them unmistakably hint at Stalin and Hitler, whose corpses smell good to Nabokov.
that pale Poland** is at least pale, and the artist [Benjamin Constant] has managed to outwit history. (EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 100)
*EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 98
**Ellenore ("a niece of Rousseau's Wolmar") is a more or less Polish lady whom the hero [Adolphe] courts, adores, and torments
Alexey Sklyarenko
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/
The Foreword to the Soviet edition of Chateaubriand’s Rene and Constant’s Adolphe (1932) was written by Maxim Gorky, the author of, among other plays, Vragi ("Enemies", 1906). Gorky ends his prefave with a dictum: Для того, чтобы смертельно бить врага, необходимо хорошо знать врага ("In order to mortally beat one’s enemy, one has to know one’s enemy well").
At the beginning of his obituary essay on Lenin's death, "V. I. Lenin" (the first unabridged version, 1924), Gorky quotes the Latin saying "the corpse of one's enemy always smells good". By 1969 (when Ada appeared) Adolf Hitler (a namesake of Constant's hero) and Joseph Stalin (whose name brings to mind Constant's friend Mme de Staёl) were long dead. Yet, the characters like "Colonel St Alin, a scoundrel" (1.2), Khan Sosso, the ruler of the "ruthless Sovietnamur Khanate" (2.2), "Athaulf the Future, a fair-haired giant in a natty uniform" (2.2), who becomes "Athaulf Hindler (also known as Mittler - from 'to mittle,' mutilate)" in Victor Vitry's film based on Van's novel Letters from Terra (5.5) - all of them unmistakably hint at Stalin and Hitler, whose corpses smell good to Nabokov.
that pale Poland** is at least pale, and the artist [Benjamin Constant] has managed to outwit history. (EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 100)
*EO Commentary, vol. III, p. 98
**Ellenore ("a niece of Rousseau's Wolmar") is a more or less Polish lady whom the hero [Adolphe] courts, adores, and torments
Alexey Sklyarenko
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/