Subject
Charski,
Lunacharski & Mortus in The Gift; moon & Leningradus in Pale Fire
Lunacharski & Mortus in The Gift; moon & Leningradus in Pale Fire
From
Date
Body
In Chapter Four of “The Gift” (1937) Fyodor quotes Charski’s words to the
improvvisatore in Pushkin’s story “The Egyptian Nights” (1835):
?Вот вам тема, \xa8C сказал ему Чарский: \xa8C поэт
сам избирает предметы для своих песен: то
лпа не имеет права управлять его вдохнове
нием?.
"Here is a theme for you," said Charski to the improvvisatore. "The poet
himself chooses the subjects for his poems; the multitude has no right to
direct his inspiration."
In “The Life of Chernyshevski” (Chapter Four of “The Gift”) Fyodor
mentions Lunacharski, the minister of enlightenment in Lenin’s government
whose name consists of luna (moon) and Charski:
Ленин считал, что Чернышевский ?единствен
ный действительно великий писатель, кото
рый сумел с пятидесятых годов вплоть до
1888 (скостил ему один) остаться на уровне ц
ельного философского материализма?. Как-т
о Крупская, обернувшись на ветру к Лунача
рскому, с мягкой грустью сказала ему: ?Вря
д ли кого-нибудь Владимир Ильич так люби
л… Я думаю, что между ним и Чернышевским б
ыло очень много общего?. ?Да, несомненно бы
ло общее, \xa8C добавляет Луначарский, сначал
а было отнесшийся к этому замечанию скепт
ически. \xa8C Было общее и в ясности слога, и в
подвижности речи… в широте и глубине сужд
ений, в революционном пламени… В этом сое
динении огромного содержания и внешней с
кромности, и наконец в моральном облике о
боих этих людей?.
Lenin considered Chernyshevski to be "the one truly great writer who managed
to remain on a level of unbroken philosophical materialism from the fifties
right up until 1888" (he knocked one year off). Once, on a windy day,
Krupskaya turned to Lunacharski and said to him with soft sorrow: "There was
hardly anyone Vladimir Ilyich liked so much… I think he had a great deal in
common with Chernyshevski." "Yes, they undoubtedly had much in common," adds
Lunacharski, who had tended at first to treat this remark with skepticism.
"They had in common both clarity of style and mobility of speech… breadth
and depth of judgement, revolutionary fire… that combination of enormous
content with a modest exterior, and finally their joint moral makeup."
In Pale Fire Kinbote mockingly calls Gradus (Kinbote’s double who
accidentally kills Shade) Vinogradus and Leningradus:
All this is as it should be; the world needs Gradus. But Gradus should not
kill things. Vinogradus should never, never provoke God. Leningradus should
not aim his peashooter at people even in dreams, because if he does, a pair
of colossally thick, abnormally hairy arms will hug him from behind and
squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. (note to Line 171)
In “The Life of Chernyshevski” Fyodor mentions the critic Dudyshkin who
aimed his dudeen at Chernyshevski:
Журналы по мере сил теребили его. Дудышки
н ("Отечественные Записки") обиженно напра
влял на него свою тростниковую дудочку: "П
оэзия для вас -- главы политической эконом
ии, переложенные на стихи".
The other literary reviews picked at him as much as they could. The critic
Dudyshkin (in The National Commentator) huffily aimed his dudeen at him:
“Poetry for you is merely chapters of political economy transposed into
verse.”
The mad commentator of Shade’s poem, Kinbote is “the man of the
moonlight” (as Rozanov would have called him). In his review of Koncheyev’
s Soobshchenie (“Communication”) Christopher Mortus mentions the author of
Lyudi lunnogo sveta (“People of the Moonlight,” 1911).
"Не помню кто -- кажется, Розанов, говорит г
де-то", -- начинал, крадучись, Мортус; и, при
ведя сперва, эту недостоверную цитату, по
том какую-то мысль, кем-то высказанную в п
арижском кафе после чьей-то лекции, начин
ал суживать эти искусственные круги вокр
уг "Сообщения" Кончеева, причём до конца т
ак и не касался центра, а только изредка н
аправлял к нему месмерический жест с внут
реннего круга -- и опять кружился.
“I do not remember who said―perhaps Rozanov said it somewhere,” began
Mortus stealthily; and citing first this unauthentic quotation and then some
thought expressed by somebody in a Paris café after someone’s lecture, he
began to narrow these artificial circles around Koncheyev’s Communication;
but even so, to the very end he never touched the center, but only directed
now and then a mesmeric gesture toward it from the circumference―and again
revolved. (“The Gift,” Chapter Three)
The name Gradus brings to mind the critic’s “Latin” penname in “The
Gift.” Shade’s, Kinbote’s and Gradus’ real name seems to be Botkin.
Nabokov + Bog + nikto + ladon’ = bok + Botkin + Aldanov + ogon’ (see my
posts of 4-5 Oct., 2015). In the closing lines of his poem Net, ya ne
Bayron, ya drugoy… ("No, I'm not Byron, I'm another..." 1832) Lermontov
mentions Bog (god), nikto (nobody) and tolpa (crowd; multitude, the word
used in “The Egyptian Nights” by Charski):
Кто
Толпе мои расскажет думы?
Я - или бог - или никто!
Who
will tell the crowd my thoughts?
Myself - or God - or nobody!
The real name of Hazel Shade (the poet’s poor daughter who drowned herself)
seems to be Nadezhda Botkin. In his poem Lermontov mentions nadezhd
razbitykh gruz (a load of wrecked hopes) that lies in his soul, like in an
ocean:
В душе моей, как в океане,
Надежд разбитых груз лежит.
Кто может, океан угрюмый,
Твои изведать тайны?
A load of wrecked hopes
Lies in my soul, like in an ocean.
The gloomy ocean, who can
come to know your secrets?
In his poem Kak v Gretsiyu Bayron - o, bez sozhalen’ya… (“Like Byron to
Greece, oh, without regret…” 1927) G. Ivanov mentions blednyi ogon’ (pale
fire; according to Shade, Pale Fire is “a moondrop title”). In his abusive
review in Chisla (“The Numbers” No. 1, 1930) of VN’s novels and stories
G. Ivanov mentions ladon’ (palm of the hand):
Но увы - кроме этих двух романов у Сирина е
сть "Машенька". И, увы, кроме "Машеньки" ест
ь лежащая сейчас передо мной, только что в
ышедшая книга рассказов и стихов "Возвращ
ение Чорба". В этих книгах, до конца, как на
ладони, раскрывается вся писательская су
ть Сирина.
In these books [Mary and The Return of Chorb] the whole essence of Sirin as
a writer comes to light in its entirety, as on a palm.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L
improvvisatore in Pushkin’s story “The Egyptian Nights” (1835):
?Вот вам тема, \xa8C сказал ему Чарский: \xa8C поэт
сам избирает предметы для своих песен: то
лпа не имеет права управлять его вдохнове
нием?.
"Here is a theme for you," said Charski to the improvvisatore. "The poet
himself chooses the subjects for his poems; the multitude has no right to
direct his inspiration."
In “The Life of Chernyshevski” (Chapter Four of “The Gift”) Fyodor
mentions Lunacharski, the minister of enlightenment in Lenin’s government
whose name consists of luna (moon) and Charski:
Ленин считал, что Чернышевский ?единствен
ный действительно великий писатель, кото
рый сумел с пятидесятых годов вплоть до
1888 (скостил ему один) остаться на уровне ц
ельного философского материализма?. Как-т
о Крупская, обернувшись на ветру к Лунача
рскому, с мягкой грустью сказала ему: ?Вря
д ли кого-нибудь Владимир Ильич так люби
л… Я думаю, что между ним и Чернышевским б
ыло очень много общего?. ?Да, несомненно бы
ло общее, \xa8C добавляет Луначарский, сначал
а было отнесшийся к этому замечанию скепт
ически. \xa8C Было общее и в ясности слога, и в
подвижности речи… в широте и глубине сужд
ений, в революционном пламени… В этом сое
динении огромного содержания и внешней с
кромности, и наконец в моральном облике о
боих этих людей?.
Lenin considered Chernyshevski to be "the one truly great writer who managed
to remain on a level of unbroken philosophical materialism from the fifties
right up until 1888" (he knocked one year off). Once, on a windy day,
Krupskaya turned to Lunacharski and said to him with soft sorrow: "There was
hardly anyone Vladimir Ilyich liked so much… I think he had a great deal in
common with Chernyshevski." "Yes, they undoubtedly had much in common," adds
Lunacharski, who had tended at first to treat this remark with skepticism.
"They had in common both clarity of style and mobility of speech… breadth
and depth of judgement, revolutionary fire… that combination of enormous
content with a modest exterior, and finally their joint moral makeup."
In Pale Fire Kinbote mockingly calls Gradus (Kinbote’s double who
accidentally kills Shade) Vinogradus and Leningradus:
All this is as it should be; the world needs Gradus. But Gradus should not
kill things. Vinogradus should never, never provoke God. Leningradus should
not aim his peashooter at people even in dreams, because if he does, a pair
of colossally thick, abnormally hairy arms will hug him from behind and
squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. (note to Line 171)
In “The Life of Chernyshevski” Fyodor mentions the critic Dudyshkin who
aimed his dudeen at Chernyshevski:
Журналы по мере сил теребили его. Дудышки
н ("Отечественные Записки") обиженно напра
влял на него свою тростниковую дудочку: "П
оэзия для вас -- главы политической эконом
ии, переложенные на стихи".
The other literary reviews picked at him as much as they could. The critic
Dudyshkin (in The National Commentator) huffily aimed his dudeen at him:
“Poetry for you is merely chapters of political economy transposed into
verse.”
The mad commentator of Shade’s poem, Kinbote is “the man of the
moonlight” (as Rozanov would have called him). In his review of Koncheyev’
s Soobshchenie (“Communication”) Christopher Mortus mentions the author of
Lyudi lunnogo sveta (“People of the Moonlight,” 1911).
"Не помню кто -- кажется, Розанов, говорит г
де-то", -- начинал, крадучись, Мортус; и, при
ведя сперва, эту недостоверную цитату, по
том какую-то мысль, кем-то высказанную в п
арижском кафе после чьей-то лекции, начин
ал суживать эти искусственные круги вокр
уг "Сообщения" Кончеева, причём до конца т
ак и не касался центра, а только изредка н
аправлял к нему месмерический жест с внут
реннего круга -- и опять кружился.
“I do not remember who said―perhaps Rozanov said it somewhere,” began
Mortus stealthily; and citing first this unauthentic quotation and then some
thought expressed by somebody in a Paris café after someone’s lecture, he
began to narrow these artificial circles around Koncheyev’s Communication;
but even so, to the very end he never touched the center, but only directed
now and then a mesmeric gesture toward it from the circumference―and again
revolved. (“The Gift,” Chapter Three)
The name Gradus brings to mind the critic’s “Latin” penname in “The
Gift.” Shade’s, Kinbote’s and Gradus’ real name seems to be Botkin.
Nabokov + Bog + nikto + ladon’ = bok + Botkin + Aldanov + ogon’ (see my
posts of 4-5 Oct., 2015). In the closing lines of his poem Net, ya ne
Bayron, ya drugoy… ("No, I'm not Byron, I'm another..." 1832) Lermontov
mentions Bog (god), nikto (nobody) and tolpa (crowd; multitude, the word
used in “The Egyptian Nights” by Charski):
Кто
Толпе мои расскажет думы?
Я - или бог - или никто!
Who
will tell the crowd my thoughts?
Myself - or God - or nobody!
The real name of Hazel Shade (the poet’s poor daughter who drowned herself)
seems to be Nadezhda Botkin. In his poem Lermontov mentions nadezhd
razbitykh gruz (a load of wrecked hopes) that lies in his soul, like in an
ocean:
В душе моей, как в океане,
Надежд разбитых груз лежит.
Кто может, океан угрюмый,
Твои изведать тайны?
A load of wrecked hopes
Lies in my soul, like in an ocean.
The gloomy ocean, who can
come to know your secrets?
In his poem Kak v Gretsiyu Bayron - o, bez sozhalen’ya… (“Like Byron to
Greece, oh, without regret…” 1927) G. Ivanov mentions blednyi ogon’ (pale
fire; according to Shade, Pale Fire is “a moondrop title”). In his abusive
review in Chisla (“The Numbers” No. 1, 1930) of VN’s novels and stories
G. Ivanov mentions ladon’ (palm of the hand):
Но увы - кроме этих двух романов у Сирина е
сть "Машенька". И, увы, кроме "Машеньки" ест
ь лежащая сейчас передо мной, только что в
ышедшая книга рассказов и стихов "Возвращ
ение Чорба". В этих книгах, до конца, как на
ладони, раскрывается вся писательская су
ть Сирина.
In these books [Mary and The Return of Chorb] the whole essence of Sirin as
a writer comes to light in its entirety, as on a palm.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L