Subject
Re: THOUGHTS: Kim "Beauharnais" in ADA
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VN might also be alluding to Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoléon
Bonaparte's
first wife. She was of French and English ancestry and 6 years older
than
her husband who was nevertheless intensely in love with her until he was
informed of her love affairs in Paris while he was in Egypt with his
army;
after that, his feelings were never the same and he started having
affairs
with women of his wife's entourage and she surprised him too (the spying
theme). However, she was crowned empress but had to accept to be
divorced a
few years later as the marriage produced no heir.
Her life and numerous love affairs were full of not very savoury
episodes;
this might be why, as an ironical comment on erotically "paradaisal"
Ardis,
VN gave her name to Kim, providing him with a very apt ancestry.
laurence hochard
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Bonaparte's
first wife. She was of French and English ancestry and 6 years older
than
her husband who was nevertheless intensely in love with her until he was
informed of her love affairs in Paris while he was in Egypt with his
army;
after that, his feelings were never the same and he started having
affairs
with women of his wife's entourage and she surprised him too (the spying
theme). However, she was crowned empress but had to accept to be
divorced a
few years later as the marriage produced no heir.
Her life and numerous love affairs were full of not very savoury
episodes;
this might be why, as an ironical comment on erotically "paradaisal"
Ardis,
VN gave her name to Kim, providing him with a very apt ancestry.
laurence hochard
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/