Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0015738, Sun, 2 Dec 2007 03:34:37 +0300

Subject
Hippopotamians in Ardis (Matt Brillinger's piece in The
Nabokovian)
Date
Body
Dear all,

I just received the latest Nabokovian and read with interest Matt Brillinger's piece "Hippopotamians in Ardis." I didn't quite understand what MB meant by the "archetypal river," but he seems to have missed the fact that Hippo is the name of a river. Moreover, this river is mentioned in ADA: "Such a drought affected Hippo in the most productive months of Augustine's bishopric that clepsydras had to be replaced by sandglasses" (Part Four, "Texture of Time"). So the Mesopotamians/Hippopotamians word-play proves even more complex than most readers of Ada would take it to be. I wonder if another African river, Limpopo, could be involved in it?
Or may be I should add yet another anagram to my "charadoid:"

HIPPOPOTAMIANS + DEMOS - D = MESOPOTAMIANS + HIPPO?

best,
Alexey Sklyarenko

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