Subject
Sudarg of Bokay
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As I have pointed out before, Bokay in Zemblan mountains (cf. Sudarg of Bokay) reminds one of Tokay, Kinbote's favorite wine that Shade agrees to sample but is killed by Gradus as he goes from his to Kinbote's place:
'A suggestion,' I said, quivering. 'I have at my place half a gallon of Tokay. I'm ready to share my favorite wine with my favorite poet. We shall have for dinner a knackle of walnuts, a couple of large tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas. And if you agree to show me your 'finished product,' there will be another treat: I promise to divulge why I gave you, or rather who gave you, your theme.' (note to line 991)
Thus Shade never learns who Kinbote is, even if he claims to have guessed Kinbote's secret.
As to numerical symbolism in the excerpt from A. N. Tolstoy's play quoted in my previous post, I would have never thought of it. Not that it isn't there, but unlike Anna Vyrubov (a lady in waiting and best friend of the Empress, a character in Tolstoy's play), the author (whose stepfather Alexey Bostrom was, by the way, a Russian of Swedish stock) was no mystic. I think he would have objected to that kind of reading.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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'A suggestion,' I said, quivering. 'I have at my place half a gallon of Tokay. I'm ready to share my favorite wine with my favorite poet. We shall have for dinner a knackle of walnuts, a couple of large tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas. And if you agree to show me your 'finished product,' there will be another treat: I promise to divulge why I gave you, or rather who gave you, your theme.' (note to line 991)
Thus Shade never learns who Kinbote is, even if he claims to have guessed Kinbote's secret.
As to numerical symbolism in the excerpt from A. N. Tolstoy's play quoted in my previous post, I would have never thought of it. Not that it isn't there, but unlike Anna Vyrubov (a lady in waiting and best friend of the Empress, a character in Tolstoy's play), the author (whose stepfather Alexey Bostrom was, by the way, a Russian of Swedish stock) was no mystic. I think he would have objected to that kind of reading.
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/