Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011723, Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:55:56 -0700

Subject
Query: Dromedaries, Dromes and the Neva
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----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 18:46:03 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Dromes and the Neva
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum

Dear Don and List,

I was reading a translation of poems written by Maiakovski and came accross one
about St. Petersburg. I don´t know if in Russian Maiakovski writes about "the
two camel humps of the Neva", since the emphasis on two swellings is
unnecessary and the redundancy was a problem of translation.
I was reminded of Nabokov´s amusement in Lolita at the advertisement for Camel
cigarettes since its image depicts one single hump, like a dromedary´s, instead
of a camel. Humbert Humbert refers to them as "dromes". I had always thought
that VN´s attention to detail was the only factor lying behind the "dromes" but
now I thought that he might also be either referring indirectly to the Neva or
to Maiakovski. Has anyone more information about that?
Jansy

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