Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010863, Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:05:08 -0800

Subject
Re: Fwd: TT-26 Introductory Notes
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 21:31:06 +0900
From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
Reply-To: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
Subject: Re: Re: Fwd: TT-26 Introductory Notes
To: chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu, John A Rea <j.rea2@insightbb.com>

Dear John,

Thank you for your notes as always.

>> 100.18: "tangled time" might be a pun on *A Tangled Tale* by Lewis
>> Carroll whose middle name, Ludwidge, appears in Ch. 12.

>I believe he spelled it "Lutwidge"

Yes, he did. I am sorry, Ludwig (Wittgenstein) and Lutwidge (Dodgson) were
tangled. Unintentionally, I made a portmanteau name!

> 102.03 Appel would surely glossed "gousset" as French for armpit.

I did not include it, but Brian Boyd glosses it as "gusset" in his notes to
the LoA edition. My French dictionaries give both "armpit" and "gusset" (and
"vest pocket" etc). As "a male whiff" is originally from the armpits and the
gussets are not always "in certain confrontations," I think "armpits" are
more probable, as you say Appel would. I was going to ask Brian why he had
chosen "gusset," but I am sorry I forgot.

Thanks again for your patience and generosity. I sometimes wondered whether
I was being helped or teased by your sophisticated notes, but I always did
appreciate them.

Best,
Akiko

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: TT-26 Introductory Notes


>
> >
>
> Some of my comments with a few patches on to Akiko's usual fine
> matrix for this ultimate chapter
>
> > ----- Forwarded message from a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp -----
> > Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 23:13:35 +0900
> > From: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
> > Reply-To: Akiko Nakata <a-nakata@courante.plala.or.jp>
>
> 100.07 "a new homely girl" -- more likely English would be
> either "a homely new girl" or perhaps "a new, homely girl"
>
> >
> > 100.18: "tangled time" might be a pun on *A Tangled Tale* by Lewis
> > Carroll whose middle name, Ludwidge, appears in Ch. 12.
>
> I believe he spelled it "Lutwidge"
> >
> > 100.21-22: if ins and outs, doors and beds still endured: "Ins and outs"
> > probably has another meaning, but I leave it to John.
>
> "ins and outs [of].. beds" seems quite clear: no need for a triple
> meaning!
>
> >
> > 101.01-02: which shone through the double kix: Brian Boyd's note to
"kix":
> > "The husk of case of a chrysalis; hence, a protective covering."
> > The double kix literally stands for the box and the wrapping paper. It
is
> > also a kind of double cocoon that warps both time (we are looking at the
> > figurine that we saw 18 years ago) and space (as if it were miniature
> > Armande ).
>
> I hear a reverberation of "double helix", but then my ears are not my
> best bit of equipment.
> >
> 101.12 Americans will first understand "commode" as "toilet"
>
> >
> > 101.13: (sericanette): Seric, archaic, "Chinese." In a "Words" file
Nabokov
> > kept, he marked off as used in TT "Sericana, region of SW China (in
Milton)"
> > (Brian Boyd's note to the LoA edition).
> >
> > Q: Why does VN use the word here?
>
> One recalls that James Joyce kept a number of notebooks containing lists
> of words and phrases (often from many other languages) names, etc.
> On part of his method of composition for Finnegans Wake was to add these
> into the earlier manuscript "preliminary" versions of the various
> sub-part, carefully crossing out the words thus used, in a variety
> of different colored pencils. Scholars engaged in "genetic criticism"
> of the Wake have industriously studied this aspect of its ontogeny'
> >
> 102.03 Appel would surely glossed "gousset" as French for armpit.
> > >
>
> 102.13 "shallow hollow in a pillow" cute word play
> >
> 102.29=30 "her...dawning through the limpid door" -- seems to invoke
> Romeo and Juliet "what light through yonder window breaks? It is the
> east and Juliet is the sun."
>
> (I think Akiko's next few items should be renumbered as being on page
> 103 -- another of my distasteful quibbles: as per 101.18 supra)
>
>
> > 102.21-22: The fire, . . . and then helped up by lighter fluid: Lighter
> > fluid is, of course, the fluid for a lighter. On the other hand,
"lighter"
> > suggests Armande, who was described as "lightly followed light Jacques"
(Ch.
> > 14).
>
> And lighter fluid is a favorite for arsonists "lighting" fires.
> >
>
> > 103.15: This is, I believe, *it*: The italicized "it" stands for
something
> > unspeakable (Wittgenstein again!). In the world of TT, where we (or
they)
> > have no mystery and everything is transparent, the only thing the
narrator
> > cannot name is this *it*. I would like to write more about that later.
>
> And of course the pronout "it" is in good company with "You" person,
> and with the Russian pronoun "Ya" -- and we might want to include the
> French "on" which is commonly used as a first person plural pronoun"
> >
>
> > Thank you very much for reading all!
> >
> > Akiko
>
> And I want to express my thanks and admiration for our "fearless leader"
> Akiko.
>
> John
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>

----- End forwarded message -----