Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010020, Sat, 10 Jul 2004 14:11:46 -0700

Subject
TT-2 Trux/Chur (fwd)
Date
Body
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Date: Saturday, July 10, 2004 4:39 PM -0400
From: Alexander Drescher <bunsan@direcway.com>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: TT-2 Trux/Chur

The mis-hearings of “Fantastic” and “Blur” for Majestic and Chur, also
direct attention to Spoonerisms and other auditory word plays.

The two correctly heard place names in TT-2, Trux and Chur spoonerize to
Crux and Thur.
CRUX suggests 1] CROSSING over, which is a 2] CRUCIAL theme of the novel,
occuring at the 3] FULCRUM [crux] of the life/death, present/future seasaw.
THUR is a near-homonym, in German, for Tür = door. Nabokov later puns
“Toss and Thurn”.
THUR may also abbreviate Thursday.
As the hotel names are joined in “fantastic majesty”, so may this pair.
HP’s crucially chooses the wrong door and crosses over. This event occurs
[the chronolgy is somewhat ambiguous] very early Thursday morning. [In
contrast, in CHs 23 and 24, weekdays are provided more specifically].
Probably unmentioned as being too obvious, the narrator’s ironic
interjection - [Ascot!] - refers not to the English town [that in the next
chapter] but to the sartorial choker.

Sandy Drescher

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D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L