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Fw: character named It in VN
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EDNOTE. And the IT prize goes to Sergey Karpukhin!
----- Original Message -----
From: Sergey Karpukhin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:33 AM
Subject: character named It in VN
Nezhnyy i smertoboyaznennyy Graf It (Grafitski in the English version) was the protagonist of "Zan'atoy chelovek" (A Busy Man), a short story written in September 1931. But the name is a pun on "grafit", which is Russian for graphite or pencil-lead. It is a pseudonim working almost the same way as Caran d'ache ("karandash" is Russian for pencil), also mentioned in the story. (Caran d'ache was the pen name of a Russian-born French caricaturist Emmanuel Poire (1858-1909), and Caran d'Ache S.A. is a Swiss firm which makes "some of the world's most beautiful pens since 1924..." [from their website].)
Best, Sergey
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To the above would add that a further pun is involved. The "graf-" of GRAFIT becomes in Russian the title GRAF, meaning Count or the German title Graf. Also, The Russian word for pencil is one of the rare words in that language that comes from Turkic sources Kara=black & dash=stick.
----- Original Message -----
From: Sergey Karpukhin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:33 AM
Subject: character named It in VN
Nezhnyy i smertoboyaznennyy Graf It (Grafitski in the English version) was the protagonist of "Zan'atoy chelovek" (A Busy Man), a short story written in September 1931. But the name is a pun on "grafit", which is Russian for graphite or pencil-lead. It is a pseudonim working almost the same way as Caran d'ache ("karandash" is Russian for pencil), also mentioned in the story. (Caran d'ache was the pen name of a Russian-born French caricaturist Emmanuel Poire (1858-1909), and Caran d'Ache S.A. is a Swiss firm which makes "some of the world's most beautiful pens since 1924..." [from their website].)
Best, Sergey
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To the above would add that a further pun is involved. The "graf-" of GRAFIT becomes in Russian the title GRAF, meaning Count or the German title Graf. Also, The Russian word for pencil is one of the rare words in that language that comes from Turkic sources Kara=black & dash=stick.