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Re: Mascodagama
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Alexey Sklyarenko: Van's stage name, Mascodagama, is a play on Vasco da Gama, the name of the Portuguese navigator. As I pointed out before, it is garbled Vas'ka gde gamma ("Vaska, where is the gamut?") by a character in Skitalets' story Oktava ("The Low Bass")...
JM: Whenever the parallels between Mascodagama and the Portuguese navigator are mentioned in the list, I forget to remind Nab-L readers that, just as "El Cantar de Mio Cid (anonymous)" is an epic poem related to a heroic quest (VN in "Lolita" quotes Corneille's "Le Cid")*, the Portuguese epic "Os Lusiadas," describes Vasco da Gama's deeds in the service of the Portuguese Crown. Camoes, in this XVIth Century poem, introduced an ingenious "time-machine" to sing both past and present kings. He detailed Vasco da Gama's deeds ( which had taken place a hundred years before) as present conquests, whereas Camoes own present days would be turned into Gama's visions of the future.
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* - Romantic epic poems which represent a quest for national identity and a legendary hero, are a favorite theme of Nabokov's (no need to enter here into the disputes about "The Song of Igor's Campaign", "Ossian" or the Arthurian legends with Malory, Chetien de Troyes, the Edda, The Ring cycle, etc...). It is Appel Jr. who identifies the reference to Corneille's classical work.
On p.415 we find to note 223/1 "Ne manque...Qu'il t'y..": an allusion to Quilty and a parody of the classical alexandrine verse of seventeenth-century France, specifically of "Le Cid" (1636), by Pierre Corneille..." Do not fail to tell your suitor, Chimene, how beautiful the lake is, because he should take you there." Chimene is from Le Cid, but the line itself is inventes. See also Keys, p.71."
From the original: "We are going to New York after to-morrow...With one thing and another, one being you know who, and the other not being who you think you know, Dad wants me to go to school in Paris for one year...As expected, poor Poet stumbled in Scene III when arriving at the bit of French nonsense. Remember? Ne manque pas de dire a ton amant, Chimene, comme le lac est beau car il faut qu'il t'y mene. Lucky beau! Qu'il t'y — What a tongue-twister! Well, be good, Lollikins. Best love from your Poet, and best regards to the Governor. Your Mona."
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JM: Whenever the parallels between Mascodagama and the Portuguese navigator are mentioned in the list, I forget to remind Nab-L readers that, just as "El Cantar de Mio Cid (anonymous)" is an epic poem related to a heroic quest (VN in "Lolita" quotes Corneille's "Le Cid")*, the Portuguese epic "Os Lusiadas," describes Vasco da Gama's deeds in the service of the Portuguese Crown. Camoes, in this XVIth Century poem, introduced an ingenious "time-machine" to sing both past and present kings. He detailed Vasco da Gama's deeds ( which had taken place a hundred years before) as present conquests, whereas Camoes own present days would be turned into Gama's visions of the future.
.................................................................................................................
* - Romantic epic poems which represent a quest for national identity and a legendary hero, are a favorite theme of Nabokov's (no need to enter here into the disputes about "The Song of Igor's Campaign", "Ossian" or the Arthurian legends with Malory, Chetien de Troyes, the Edda, The Ring cycle, etc...). It is Appel Jr. who identifies the reference to Corneille's classical work.
On p.415 we find to note 223/1 "Ne manque...Qu'il t'y..": an allusion to Quilty and a parody of the classical alexandrine verse of seventeenth-century France, specifically of "Le Cid" (1636), by Pierre Corneille..." Do not fail to tell your suitor, Chimene, how beautiful the lake is, because he should take you there." Chimene is from Le Cid, but the line itself is inventes. See also Keys, p.71."
From the original: "We are going to New York after to-morrow...With one thing and another, one being you know who, and the other not being who you think you know, Dad wants me to go to school in Paris for one year...As expected, poor Poet stumbled in Scene III when arriving at the bit of French nonsense. Remember? Ne manque pas de dire a ton amant, Chimene, comme le lac est beau car il faut qu'il t'y mene. Lucky beau! Qu'il t'y — What a tongue-twister! Well, be good, Lollikins. Best love from your Poet, and best regards to the Governor. Your Mona."
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/