Subject
Re: QUERY: Bend Sinister poem?
From
Date
Body
Tim Henderson: Anybody have a copy of Bend Sinister handy? There's a poem I wanted to quote -- I remember it as some version of the Shakespeare Timon of Athens passage from which the title of Pale Fire is drawn -- "The moon is an arrant thief" -- but different. Can someone help me? Thanks!
JM: I have a copy handy, but I fear this is not all that is needed to find the quote. There's a lot on Ophelia, Hamlet, Fortinbras which I could discern, not Timon of Athens, though.
I tried to follow VN's hint in his Foreword but I'm not informed enough to identify most of his allusions. What I read in Ch.3, was: "The unfinished translation of his favourite lines in Shakespeare's greatest play -
follow the perttaunt jauncing 'neath the rack
with her pale skeins-mate.
crept up tentatively but it would not scan because in his native tongue 'rack' was anapaestic. Like pulling a grand piano through a door. Take it to pieces..."
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/
JM: I have a copy handy, but I fear this is not all that is needed to find the quote. There's a lot on Ophelia, Hamlet, Fortinbras which I could discern, not Timon of Athens, though.
I tried to follow VN's hint in his Foreword but I'm not informed enough to identify most of his allusions. What I read in Ch.3, was: "The unfinished translation of his favourite lines in Shakespeare's greatest play -
follow the perttaunt jauncing 'neath the rack
with her pale skeins-mate.
crept up tentatively but it would not scan because in his native tongue 'rack' was anapaestic. Like pulling a grand piano through a door. Take it to pieces..."
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/