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Re: [NABOKOV-L] [ Sighting] [QUERY] Ada's first lines: Pontius
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Dear Jensy,
The title of Leo Tolstoy's trilogy
in question has been partly omitted, partly
mistranslated. It should read Childhood. Adolescence (or Boyhood).Youth.
Best,
Gavriel Shapiro
At 02:26 PM 10/7/2009, you wrote:
>In a Brazilian writer's blog a small contest was
>created concerning the choice for best first
>lines. The winner was Tolstoi's Anna Karenin,
>followed by Nabokov's "Lolita" and, next. Camus
>("L' Étranger").
><http://colunistas.ig.com.br/sergiorodrigues/2009/10/07/comecos-inesqueciveis-tolstoi-e-o-campeao/>Começos
>inesquecíveis: Tolstoi é o campeão: Sérgio Rodrigues, 07/10/2009.
>
>The first lines in "Ada or Ardor" are more or
>less dissimilar to Tolstoy's winning sentence: "
>All happy families are more or less dissimilar;
>all unhappy ones are more or less alike, says a
>great Russian writer in the beginning of a
>famous novel (Anna Arkadievitch Karenina,
>transfigured into English by R.G. Stonelower,
>Mount Tabor Ltd., 1880). That pronouncement has
>little if any relation to the story to be
>unfolded now, a family chronicle, the first part
>of which is, perhaps, closer to another Tolstoy
>work, Detstvo i Otrochestvo (Childhood and Fatherland, Pontius Press, 1858)."
>Curious about the added information on Tolstoy's
>work, by Pontius Press, I googled for more data.
>I was unable to discover to which work Nabokov was referring.
>One of Tolstoy's first writings, in 1852, signed
>with the initials L.N, was "Dietstvo" (
>Childhood), which he sent to N. A. Niekrassov to
>get it published in the magazine
>"Sovriemiênik." He was very displeased with the
>title, as it came out ( as about other editorial alterations).
>Two other entries were intriguing:
>
>1.<http://www.archive.org/stream/selectedessayswi00schu/selectedessayswi00schu_djvu.txt>Full
>text of "Selected essays; with a memoir"
>Childhood " (Dietstvo)
>EUGENE SCHUYLER: SELECTED ESSAYS; WITH A MEMOIR BY EVELYN SCHUYLER SCHAEFFER
>NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - 1901
>
> 2.
> <http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/thorez_cin/bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.html>Thorez,
> Maurice Thorez Staline Enfance et adolescence
> Épopée Livre
> <http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/thorez_cin/bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.html>...
>
>Titre (en vo), Stalin Dietstvo i otrotchestvo
>Èpopeya Kniga piervaya. Auteur, LEONIDZE,
>Gueorguiï. Autres collaborateurs, TIKHONOVA, N.
>[traduit du géorgien
>...
><http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/.../bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.ht>www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/.../bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.ht...
>-
>Lieu d'édition Moscou Pays d'édition Russie : ex-URSS Année1947
>
>Is there a Pontius (Pilate) press?
> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
><http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en>Search
>the archive
><mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>Contact
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><http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>Visit
>Zembla
><http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>View
>Nabokv-L Policies <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>Manage subscription options
>
>All private editorial communications, without
>exception, are read by both co-editors.
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Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
The title of Leo Tolstoy's trilogy
in question has been partly omitted, partly
mistranslated. It should read Childhood. Adolescence (or Boyhood).Youth.
Best,
Gavriel Shapiro
At 02:26 PM 10/7/2009, you wrote:
>In a Brazilian writer's blog a small contest was
>created concerning the choice for best first
>lines. The winner was Tolstoi's Anna Karenin,
>followed by Nabokov's "Lolita" and, next. Camus
>("L' Étranger").
><http://colunistas.ig.com.br/sergiorodrigues/2009/10/07/comecos-inesqueciveis-tolstoi-e-o-campeao/>Começos
>inesquecíveis: Tolstoi é o campeão: Sérgio Rodrigues, 07/10/2009.
>
>The first lines in "Ada or Ardor" are more or
>less dissimilar to Tolstoy's winning sentence: "
>All happy families are more or less dissimilar;
>all unhappy ones are more or less alike, says a
>great Russian writer in the beginning of a
>famous novel (Anna Arkadievitch Karenina,
>transfigured into English by R.G. Stonelower,
>Mount Tabor Ltd., 1880). That pronouncement has
>little if any relation to the story to be
>unfolded now, a family chronicle, the first part
>of which is, perhaps, closer to another Tolstoy
>work, Detstvo i Otrochestvo (Childhood and Fatherland, Pontius Press, 1858)."
>Curious about the added information on Tolstoy's
>work, by Pontius Press, I googled for more data.
>I was unable to discover to which work Nabokov was referring.
>One of Tolstoy's first writings, in 1852, signed
>with the initials L.N, was "Dietstvo" (
>Childhood), which he sent to N. A. Niekrassov to
>get it published in the magazine
>"Sovriemiênik." He was very displeased with the
>title, as it came out ( as about other editorial alterations).
>Two other entries were intriguing:
>
>1.<http://www.archive.org/stream/selectedessayswi00schu/selectedessayswi00schu_djvu.txt>Full
>text of "Selected essays; with a memoir"
>Childhood " (Dietstvo)
>EUGENE SCHUYLER: SELECTED ESSAYS; WITH A MEMOIR BY EVELYN SCHUYLER SCHAEFFER
>NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - 1901
>
> 2.
> <http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/thorez_cin/bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.html>Thorez,
> Maurice Thorez Staline Enfance et adolescence
> Épopée Livre
> <http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/thorez_cin/bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.html>...
>
>Titre (en vo), Stalin Dietstvo i otrotchestvo
>Èpopeya Kniga piervaya. Auteur, LEONIDZE,
>Gueorguiï. Autres collaborateurs, TIKHONOVA, N.
>[traduit du géorgien
>...
><http://www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/.../bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.ht>www.fonds-thorez.ivry94.fr/.../bibliotheque-2004-maurice_thorez__staline_enfance_et_adolescence__popee_livre_premier.ht...
>-
>Lieu d'édition Moscou Pays d'édition Russie : ex-URSS Année1947
>
>Is there a Pontius (Pilate) press?
> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
><http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en>Search
>the archive
><mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>Contact
>the Editors <http://www.nabokovonline.com>Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
><http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>Visit
>Zembla
><http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>View
>Nabokv-L Policies <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>Manage subscription options
>
>All private editorial communications, without
>exception, are read by both co-editors.
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/