Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010263, Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:50:46 -0700

Subject
Re: Cunning Stunts, "Oh, Calcutta" and other stuff (fwd) (fwd)
Date
Body
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Inspired by Eric's stimulating comments, I thought of a
few things.

Perhaps the J boys--Jack, Jake, Jacque, Jimmy--could be genitals too. That
is not only from my fantasy, but also from ADA: "Marina knew aroma and
hombre, and an anatomical term with a "j" hanging in the middle" (I. 6).
Brian Boyd's note: El ojo means "the eye" and was the title of the 1967
Spanish translation of Nabokov's novella The Eye; cojon means "testicle"
(from ADAonline).
It cannot be said about Julia, though.

> "This is, I believe, IT (italicized); not the crude anguish of physical
death but the
> incomparable pangs of the mysterious mental maneuver needed to pass fro
> mone state of being to another. Easy, you know, does it, son". Is the
> final maneuver akin to a proofreader's, replacing fit with it?

Very interesting. Then HP might be required to change IT to TT, the ultimate
proofreading. When he accomplishes it, he can enter another world, the world
of TT. I thought and think that "IT" alludes to the unnamable, "what we
cannot speak about" of Wittgenstein. But HP's last proofreading is also
tempting. I think in this novel there can be plural things layering
translucently over the text, and it is possible that more than one thing
hidden in the same place. But this is the crucial point...

Akiko



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D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L