Subject
Golliwogs, Camera Obscura, Names
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Date
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[ JM.. It would be nice if I were able to retribute D.Machu's comprehensive information in connection to the golliwoggs...I would never have guessed its presence in "Laughter in the Dark" nor in "KQKn" ...I'll check it in the Brazilian-Portuguese edition to find out how the translators cope with it or, at least, how they render the "doggy-woggy" alusion.]
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JM While I was reading "Laughter in the Dark"* from its very beginning I realized that a great part of its initial chapters had been totally erased from my memory by the sudden change in Margot, after Axel Rex (Herr Miller) abandoned her. The first two or three chapters are delicate renderings of Albert Albinus' life and the very young Margot's ordeals in a harsh world (not much later, starting on ch 4 and more definitely on ch.7, this same story shall be used in a cynical way to extract money from her so-called protectors). Margot is often described as a school-girl at first, but she is no Lolita-nymphet and she seems closer to the late Laura in TOoL.
Except for the last chapter, in which a dying Albinus drops on his side like a big soft doll, I found no allusion nor suggestion of a golliwogg impersonation, or wordplay, in the Portuguese translation of this novel. There are two direct references to Wagnerian operas (Lohengrin and Sigfried) but the overall theme suggested to me the temptations of Venusberg and the purity of a girl named Elizabeth (the name of Albinus' pale wife) from Tannhäuser, but without a final redemption for its main character.
Axel Rex is almost always referred to by his surname, Rex, and Albert Albinus, by Albinus. However, most females (Elizabeth, Margot and various maids) are mentioned by their first name, as does Elizabeth's brother, Paul Hochenwart, who remains "Paul" throughout the entire novel.**
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* Camera Obscura/Laughter in the Dark was first translated by Winifred Roy and published in England in 1936. Displeased with its quality, Nabokov worked on a new translation which was published two years later and under a new title. Other names were also altered (according to www.enotes.com/topic/Laughter_in_the_Dark_(novel) ). I quote: " The characters were given different names in the English translation. In the following list the names of the main characters of the English translation are given first with the original names in parentheses. Albert Albinus (Bruno Krechmar) - a middle-aged art-critic; Margot Peters (Magda Peters) - a 18-year-old aspiring actress, common worker, model, seductress; Axel Rex (Robert Gorn, probably Robert Horn) - A painter from New York and Margot's first lover and molester)".
** - Among the coleoptera (Lucanoidea, Aesalidae) we find a "C. chrysomelinus Hochenwart" ( but that allusion is too far-fetched!)
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JM While I was reading "Laughter in the Dark"* from its very beginning I realized that a great part of its initial chapters had been totally erased from my memory by the sudden change in Margot, after Axel Rex (Herr Miller) abandoned her. The first two or three chapters are delicate renderings of Albert Albinus' life and the very young Margot's ordeals in a harsh world (not much later, starting on ch 4 and more definitely on ch.7, this same story shall be used in a cynical way to extract money from her so-called protectors). Margot is often described as a school-girl at first, but she is no Lolita-nymphet and she seems closer to the late Laura in TOoL.
Except for the last chapter, in which a dying Albinus drops on his side like a big soft doll, I found no allusion nor suggestion of a golliwogg impersonation, or wordplay, in the Portuguese translation of this novel. There are two direct references to Wagnerian operas (Lohengrin and Sigfried) but the overall theme suggested to me the temptations of Venusberg and the purity of a girl named Elizabeth (the name of Albinus' pale wife) from Tannhäuser, but without a final redemption for its main character.
Axel Rex is almost always referred to by his surname, Rex, and Albert Albinus, by Albinus. However, most females (Elizabeth, Margot and various maids) are mentioned by their first name, as does Elizabeth's brother, Paul Hochenwart, who remains "Paul" throughout the entire novel.**
...........................................................................................................................................................
* Camera Obscura/Laughter in the Dark was first translated by Winifred Roy and published in England in 1936. Displeased with its quality, Nabokov worked on a new translation which was published two years later and under a new title. Other names were also altered (according to www.enotes.com/topic/Laughter_in_the_Dark_(novel) ). I quote: " The characters were given different names in the English translation. In the following list the names of the main characters of the English translation are given first with the original names in parentheses. Albert Albinus (Bruno Krechmar) - a middle-aged art-critic; Margot Peters (Magda Peters) - a 18-year-old aspiring actress, common worker, model, seductress; Axel Rex (Robert Gorn, probably Robert Horn) - A painter from New York and Margot's first lover and molester)".
** - Among the coleoptera (Lucanoidea, Aesalidae) we find a "C. chrysomelinus Hochenwart" ( but that allusion is too far-fetched!)
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/