Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014807, Thu, 1 Feb 2007 10:56:49 -0800

Subject
High German and Low/Gregor Samsa
Date
Body


From Carolyn to the List,

Jansy pointed out to me that my grammatical point was not seconded by her
dictionary. Sure enough - - in Hoch Deutsch the singular of boy or knave is
Bube and the plural Buben. I learned what little German I have in Austria
where the language is slightly different. There the singular is dass Bub and
the plural die Bube. This is correct Southern (Low) German. In fact in
Salzburg the local dialect uses the plural Buben, (pronounced Buhren) and is
considered substandard.

So as not to make my error a total waste of time I would like to take this
opportunity to discuss Nabokov's entomological identification of Gregor
Samsa as a dung beetle. The original word used by Kafka is "Ungeziefer" - -
usually translated as "vermin." I learned the word when my cat was accused
(most unfairly) of having Ungeziefer - - the word wasn't in my dictionary
but it clearly meant fleas (literally uncountables). In other contexts it
could mean lice, bedbugs, anything of that sort.

Why would Nabokov understand this to be a dung beetle?

Carolyn


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