Subject
Re: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Swooners?]] Could a mockery have been
intended by the link with "bloomers" ?
intended by the link with "bloomers" ?
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In the novel "ADA" bloomers appear in playful variegated senses ( from "internal dialogues" to flowers and blunders and undergarments...). While collecting some for the List I got the impression that VN might have set a trap for Lolita's future translators by suggesting the bloomer with a swooner! This word in "Ada" usually comes up while Ada or Van are mocking the work of translators...
Examples:
1. 'As in the case of many flowers,' Ada went on, with a mad scholar's quiet smile, 'the unfortunate French name of our plant, souci d'eau, has been traduced or shall we say transfigured -'
'Flowers into bloomers,' punned Van Veen.
'Je vous en prie, mes enfants!' put in Marina, who had been following the conversation with difficulty and now, through a secondary misunderstanding, thought the reference was to the undergarment.
'By chance, this very morning,' said Ada, not deigning to enlighten her mother, 'our learned governess, who was also yours, Van, and who -'...'- is pretty hard on English-speaking transmongrelizers - drew my attention - my wavering attention - to some really gorgeous bloomers, as you call them, Van, in a Mr Fowlie's soi-disant literal version - called "sensitive" in a recent Elsian rave (...) 'Angel moy,' pleaded Marina, 'I'm sure Van cannot be interested in Lucette's nightdress!'
2. Ada, who amused herself by translating ...John Shade into Russian and French, often read to Van...the bloomers of inept scholarship blend with the whims of flowery imitation.
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Examples:
1. 'As in the case of many flowers,' Ada went on, with a mad scholar's quiet smile, 'the unfortunate French name of our plant, souci d'eau, has been traduced or shall we say transfigured -'
'Flowers into bloomers,' punned Van Veen.
'Je vous en prie, mes enfants!' put in Marina, who had been following the conversation with difficulty and now, through a secondary misunderstanding, thought the reference was to the undergarment.
'By chance, this very morning,' said Ada, not deigning to enlighten her mother, 'our learned governess, who was also yours, Van, and who -'...'- is pretty hard on English-speaking transmongrelizers - drew my attention - my wavering attention - to some really gorgeous bloomers, as you call them, Van, in a Mr Fowlie's soi-disant literal version - called "sensitive" in a recent Elsian rave (...) 'Angel moy,' pleaded Marina, 'I'm sure Van cannot be interested in Lucette's nightdress!'
2. Ada, who amused herself by translating ...John Shade into Russian and French, often read to Van...the bloomers of inept scholarship blend with the whims of flowery imitation.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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