Subject
Re: LATH query response
From
Date
Body
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: LATH query response.]
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 20:32:28 -0800
From: "John A. Rea" <j.rea2@insightbb.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
References: <3CA60E1C.6F6AACE0@gte.net>
>From way out in left field, I recall that in Anatole France's
_La revolte des anges_ There is the really great simile about
the cathedral spires pointed toward heaven, "comme des clysteres
gigantesques ver les culs des anges."
John A. Rea
"D. Barton Johnson" wrote:
>
> ------------------
> __ Cassel's French-English Dictionary__ gives 'enema' as a translation
> for
> 'clystere'. Surely the association of that word with anal penetration
> would be another suggestion of 'the nature of the relationship' between
> the two spies.
> -----------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: D. Barton Johnson <chtodel@gte.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 8:05 PM
> Subject: LATH query response.
>
> > EDITOR's NOTE. Below is the note I wrote to Sergey Il'in in response to
> > his LATH speculation. Comments anyone?
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Re: LATH
> > Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 16:00:56 -0800
> > From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gte.net>
> > Organization: International Nabokov Society
> > To: "Sergey B. Il'in" <sbil@online.ru>
> > References: <3.0.5.32.20020322144805.0079a5a0@pop.online.ru>
> >
> > Dear Sergey,
> >
> > I have been pondering your note. You may well be right in your
> > "literary"
> > explication but the more I look at the passage, the stranger it seems.
> > Incidentally, is that "clystere de Tchekhov" a set phrase in Russian or
> > VN's "translation of the French "violin d'Ingres"? i.e., a secondary
> > skill that is itself of great brilliance? And why is the "spy" motif
> > introduced here? It thematically echoes, I suppose, the (real) life
> > behind the imagined one as in Sogliadatai and in LATH itself. The
> > introduction of the ash tree is bizarre--very weakly motivated by the
> > spy reference. As well as the Pushkinian love letter "drop," holes in
> > trees for secret messages are still used in spycraft.
> > I don't find any references (via the WWW) to such events occuring around
> > San Bernadino. Nor do the two names appear real or obvious anagrams. But
> > recall -- VN does have a couple of cases of dunderhead Soviet agents (PF
> > for one). The "blueflowering ash" is the Olea europaea (common olive)
> > but I can't see that that leads anywhere--apart from the tree names of
> > the two agents.
> >
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: LATH query response.]
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 20:32:28 -0800
From: "John A. Rea" <j.rea2@insightbb.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
References: <3CA60E1C.6F6AACE0@gte.net>
>From way out in left field, I recall that in Anatole France's
_La revolte des anges_ There is the really great simile about
the cathedral spires pointed toward heaven, "comme des clysteres
gigantesques ver les culs des anges."
John A. Rea
"D. Barton Johnson" wrote:
>
> ------------------
> __ Cassel's French-English Dictionary__ gives 'enema' as a translation
> for
> 'clystere'. Surely the association of that word with anal penetration
> would be another suggestion of 'the nature of the relationship' between
> the two spies.
> -----------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: D. Barton Johnson <chtodel@gte.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 8:05 PM
> Subject: LATH query response.
>
> > EDITOR's NOTE. Below is the note I wrote to Sergey Il'in in response to
> > his LATH speculation. Comments anyone?
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Re: LATH
> > Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 16:00:56 -0800
> > From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@gte.net>
> > Organization: International Nabokov Society
> > To: "Sergey B. Il'in" <sbil@online.ru>
> > References: <3.0.5.32.20020322144805.0079a5a0@pop.online.ru>
> >
> > Dear Sergey,
> >
> > I have been pondering your note. You may well be right in your
> > "literary"
> > explication but the more I look at the passage, the stranger it seems.
> > Incidentally, is that "clystere de Tchekhov" a set phrase in Russian or
> > VN's "translation of the French "violin d'Ingres"? i.e., a secondary
> > skill that is itself of great brilliance? And why is the "spy" motif
> > introduced here? It thematically echoes, I suppose, the (real) life
> > behind the imagined one as in Sogliadatai and in LATH itself. The
> > introduction of the ash tree is bizarre--very weakly motivated by the
> > spy reference. As well as the Pushkinian love letter "drop," holes in
> > trees for secret messages are still used in spycraft.
> > I don't find any references (via the WWW) to such events occuring around
> > San Bernadino. Nor do the two names appear real or obvious anagrams. But
> > recall -- VN does have a couple of cases of dunderhead Soviet agents (PF
> > for one). The "blueflowering ash" is the Olea europaea (common olive)
> > but I can't see that that leads anywhere--apart from the tree names of
> > the two agents.
> >