Subject
Fw: Bunny vs Brer Rabbit
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EDNOTE. Does anyone out there know the origin of Edmund Wilson's sobriquet
"Bunny."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fet, Victor" <fet@marshall.edu>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (33
lines) ------------------
> Dear Forum,
>
> I am writing a small review (in Russian) of the 2001 revised edition of
> Nabokov-Wilson letters.
> I noticed that a few letters from the 1979 edition were translated into
> Russian and published in "Zvezda" (1996, No. 11).
>
> I also noticed that their translator (Sergei Task) translated "Bunny"
> as "Bratets Krolik", therefore forcing VN to address Wilson,
> unexpectedly, as "Brer Rabbit".
> The effect is a very funny indeed; two authors of the Notes even explain
> to the reader who Brer Rabbit of J.C. Harris was.
>
> However, it is not easy and hardly necessary to translate "Bunny" into
> Russian at all; I would rather leave it transliterated as "Banni" with
> an explanation.
>
> I just wonder if native English speakers confirm my feeling that
> Wilson's nickname does not really mean anything else but a cuddly
> personality, with a childish flavor -- and does not have much to do with
> other cultural Bunnies such as Easter and Bugs.
>
> thank you very much for your input,
>
>
> Victor Fet
> Department of Biological Sciences
> Marshall University,
> Huntington, WV 25755-2510 USA
> phone (304) 696-3116, fax (304) 696-3243
>
>
>
"Bunny."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fet, Victor" <fet@marshall.edu>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (33
lines) ------------------
> Dear Forum,
>
> I am writing a small review (in Russian) of the 2001 revised edition of
> Nabokov-Wilson letters.
> I noticed that a few letters from the 1979 edition were translated into
> Russian and published in "Zvezda" (1996, No. 11).
>
> I also noticed that their translator (Sergei Task) translated "Bunny"
> as "Bratets Krolik", therefore forcing VN to address Wilson,
> unexpectedly, as "Brer Rabbit".
> The effect is a very funny indeed; two authors of the Notes even explain
> to the reader who Brer Rabbit of J.C. Harris was.
>
> However, it is not easy and hardly necessary to translate "Bunny" into
> Russian at all; I would rather leave it transliterated as "Banni" with
> an explanation.
>
> I just wonder if native English speakers confirm my feeling that
> Wilson's nickname does not really mean anything else but a cuddly
> personality, with a childish flavor -- and does not have much to do with
> other cultural Bunnies such as Easter and Bugs.
>
> thank you very much for your input,
>
>
> Victor Fet
> Department of Biological Sciences
> Marshall University,
> Huntington, WV 25755-2510 USA
> phone (304) 696-3116, fax (304) 696-3243
>
>
>