Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0019278, Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:41:51 -0200

Subject
Re: Russian allusions in LATH
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Victor Fet on Triplets: "the most revered Celtic god, identified by Caesar as a "Gaulish Mercury" and named Lug [VERY close to Ada's Log!], who had a caduceus with a pair of snakes, also sometimes had three faces or three phalli, or was the sole survivor of triplets; Lugdunum (Lyons) comes from this name."
A.Sklyarenko:"To return briefly to Gumilyov: no, it seems that Odoevtseva wasn't his mistress. In her "On the Banks of the Neva" she writes in detail how Gumilyov composed Заблудившийся трамвай ("The Stray Streetcar") in early spring, 1921. He did it after a night of gambling and drinking. Hence Le Tramway ivre. By the way, Gumilyov was one of the first Russian translators of Rimbaud's Voyelles. Re drancunculi (thanks to Victor for his learned comments): this word also occurs in LATH: "my grumble is repetitious, I know, but the matter rankles - a word which comes from dracunculus, a 'baby dragon'" (Part Two, 8)."
A.Bouazza [to AS: The episode in LATH, when Vadim meets his last love ("you" of the book) for the first time, seems to parody the real episode as recounted by Irina Odoevtseva...] : "The same situation was used much earlier in The Defense, on page 86 (1st US ed.)"

JM: Without Sklyarenko's aid the Russian veritable connection between Gumilyov, Rimbaud and LATH (additional insertion: AR's colored vowels) would have eluded common readers, like me. Thanks, Alexey (I hope you'll excuse me for mentioning Gumilyov again).
Since a distracted professor losing papers and pencils, or a lady dropping handkerchief and golden apples is a standard situation, both in fiction and in life, the writer's talents will show itself in the details ( Luzhin's dirty handkerchief, the reversed perspectives...).
The two-dracunculied caduceus was first held by the winged varicolored goddess Iris ("Irida"), before it passed onto Mercury/Hermes: both represented the connection between the Gods and the humans. Victor's connections (Lug's trilingual phalli in ADA and a lot more) are fascinating.
Perhaps one of you can explain if the link of dracunculi in ADA and LATH should there be a wordplay at play with "the matter rankles" ("a word which comes from dracunculus...")

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