Subject
Re: Cunning Stunts: the un & Kenneth Tynan's paly "Oh,
Calcutta" (fwd)
Calcutta" (fwd)
From
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:49 PM -0700
From: willtato <willtato@pacbell.net>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Cunning Stunts: the un & Kenneth Tynan's paly "Oh,
Calcutta"
to answer Akiko's question, "cul" - which means buttocks, or, more in the
spirit of the context, ass, is masculine in French. Therefore the article
must conform and is therefore quel, not quelle.
will
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:36 PM
Subject: Cunning Stunts: the un & Kenneth Tynan's paly "Oh, Calcutta"
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
> Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 1:00 AM +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> To: chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu
> Subject: Cunning Stunts
>
>
>
> Dear Don,
>
> This could be the biggest find we made. BTW, I found it funny that the
> word "cul" was not a proper word to print even in 60s.
> I think "quelle" in the blurb should be "quel," right?
>
> Best, Akiko
>
> -----------------------------
>
> This is Tadashi Wakashima's thought: *Cunning Stunts*, the title with a
> spooneristic obscene joke, must be a parody of *Oh! Calcutta!* The title
> of the revue originated from *O! quel cul t'as!* a painting by Clovis
> Trouille (1889-1975). The surrealist contributed the painting for the
> revue.
>
>
>
> From the blurb on the back of Kenneth Tynan's *OC!* (New York: Grove,
> 1969):
> In Oh! Calcutta! Mr Tynan has assembled a group of sketches which deal
> with almost every conceivable erotic fantasy and sexual reality that
> Western man has dreamt up or experienced. The distinguished roster of
> authors includes Samuel Beckett, Edna O'Brien, Jules Feiffer, Leonard
> Melfi, John Lennon, and, not to be outdone, Kenneth Tynan himself.
> The title of this revue, which is taken from the title of a painting by
> the French surrealist painter Clovis Trouille, contains a phonetic French
> pun: 'Oh! Quelle ... t'as!' Or, freely translated: 'Oh! What a lovely ...
> you have!'
>
>
> Brian Boyd kindly reminded me of a brief exchange between VN and KT. In
> the summer of 1969, KT invited VN to "contribute to an anthology of
> anonymous pornographic pieces to be commissioned from well-known writers.
> . . Nabokov replied curtly: 'I have no interest whatever in pornography
> and cannot imagine myself being titillated by what I write." (VNAY 569).
>
> *OC!* was first performed at Eden Theatre off-Broadway on June 17, 1969.
> "'[I]n the radiance of an Edenic simplification of mores" (as R. wrote in
> another connection)" (Ch. 11) is a broad hint.
>
> Akiko Nakata
>
>
>
> ---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
>
>
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
Date: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:49 PM -0700
From: willtato <willtato@pacbell.net>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Cunning Stunts: the un & Kenneth Tynan's paly "Oh,
Calcutta"
to answer Akiko's question, "cul" - which means buttocks, or, more in the
spirit of the context, ass, is masculine in French. Therefore the article
must conform and is therefore quel, not quelle.
will
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:36 PM
Subject: Cunning Stunts: the un & Kenneth Tynan's paly "Oh, Calcutta"
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
> Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 1:00 AM +0900
> From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> To: chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu
> Subject: Cunning Stunts
>
>
>
> Dear Don,
>
> This could be the biggest find we made. BTW, I found it funny that the
> word "cul" was not a proper word to print even in 60s.
> I think "quelle" in the blurb should be "quel," right?
>
> Best, Akiko
>
> -----------------------------
>
> This is Tadashi Wakashima's thought: *Cunning Stunts*, the title with a
> spooneristic obscene joke, must be a parody of *Oh! Calcutta!* The title
> of the revue originated from *O! quel cul t'as!* a painting by Clovis
> Trouille (1889-1975). The surrealist contributed the painting for the
> revue.
>
>
>
> From the blurb on the back of Kenneth Tynan's *OC!* (New York: Grove,
> 1969):
> In Oh! Calcutta! Mr Tynan has assembled a group of sketches which deal
> with almost every conceivable erotic fantasy and sexual reality that
> Western man has dreamt up or experienced. The distinguished roster of
> authors includes Samuel Beckett, Edna O'Brien, Jules Feiffer, Leonard
> Melfi, John Lennon, and, not to be outdone, Kenneth Tynan himself.
> The title of this revue, which is taken from the title of a painting by
> the French surrealist painter Clovis Trouille, contains a phonetic French
> pun: 'Oh! Quelle ... t'as!' Or, freely translated: 'Oh! What a lovely ...
> you have!'
>
>
> Brian Boyd kindly reminded me of a brief exchange between VN and KT. In
> the summer of 1969, KT invited VN to "contribute to an anthology of
> anonymous pornographic pieces to be commissioned from well-known writers.
> . . Nabokov replied curtly: 'I have no interest whatever in pornography
> and cannot imagine myself being titillated by what I write." (VNAY 569).
>
> *OC!* was first performed at Eden Theatre off-Broadway on June 17, 1969.
> "'[I]n the radiance of an Edenic simplification of mores" (as R. wrote in
> another connection)" (Ch. 11) is a broad hint.
>
> Akiko Nakata
>
>
>
> ---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
>
>
>
> D. Barton Johnson
> NABOKV-L
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L