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ADA paper/thesis/dissertation/article/book suggestion]
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A Gentle Suggestion
On page 136 of _Ada_ we are told that Van and Ada's "tastes and
titters proved to be much the same. They liked Rabelais. "
So far as I know, this hint (by one of the narrators) has not been
followed up, more's the pity. A study of the verbal fun and games they
share would make a fine article, or even a thesis. However, I'll not
be undertaking this, and my wife (whose PhD dissertation involved a
comparative study of word play in Joyce and Rabelais) says she won't
either.
I note that the top of that same page has a "macaronic" passage
describing Van's methods of contraception, and recall that Rabelais
used similar tactics, with a fake medical Latin clear to a speaker of
French. (Moliere did this beautifully too in the ballet at the end of
his _Malade Imaginaire_). Besides invented languages, both Rabelais
and Nabokov have fun with imaginary book titles; incorporate foreign
words and phrases as well as archaic and technical and rare words;
use wild puns (Bacchus = bas culs) and "spoonerisms" (A Beaumont
le Vicomte > a beau con the vit monte -- reminding one of "cunning
stunts"), as well as anagrams (_Gargantua_ first appeared in print as
written by "Alcofribas Nasier"); and both sprinkle their works with
argot, often sexual: Rabelais uses "balane" (as well as the commoner
"pine") for penis; "chose" (and "pote", and of course "conil") for
pudendum; "labourer" (plow) for that "monosyllabic verb" known to all
men. And Rabelais attacks quacks with slashing wit.
One might want to have handly Sainean's _La langue de Rabelais_
(2 vols, crumbly French paper). Enjoy!
John
A Gentle Suggestion
On page 136 of _Ada_ we are told that Van and Ada's "tastes and
titters proved to be much the same. They liked Rabelais. "
So far as I know, this hint (by one of the narrators) has not been
followed up, more's the pity. A study of the verbal fun and games they
share would make a fine article, or even a thesis. However, I'll not
be undertaking this, and my wife (whose PhD dissertation involved a
comparative study of word play in Joyce and Rabelais) says she won't
either.
I note that the top of that same page has a "macaronic" passage
describing Van's methods of contraception, and recall that Rabelais
used similar tactics, with a fake medical Latin clear to a speaker of
French. (Moliere did this beautifully too in the ballet at the end of
his _Malade Imaginaire_). Besides invented languages, both Rabelais
and Nabokov have fun with imaginary book titles; incorporate foreign
words and phrases as well as archaic and technical and rare words;
use wild puns (Bacchus = bas culs) and "spoonerisms" (A Beaumont
le Vicomte > a beau con the vit monte -- reminding one of "cunning
stunts"), as well as anagrams (_Gargantua_ first appeared in print as
written by "Alcofribas Nasier"); and both sprinkle their works with
argot, often sexual: Rabelais uses "balane" (as well as the commoner
"pine") for penis; "chose" (and "pote", and of course "conil") for
pudendum; "labourer" (plow) for that "monosyllabic verb" known to all
men. And Rabelais attacks quacks with slashing wit.
One might want to have handly Sainean's _La langue de Rabelais_
(2 vols, crumbly French paper). Enjoy!
John