Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002265, Mon, 4 Aug 1997 09:27:36 -0700

Subject
Nabokov in Hofstadter's _Le Ton beau (fwd)
Date
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To: nabokv-l@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu
Subject: Nabokov in Le Ton bea

From: mary.krimmel@sdcs.org

Subject: Nabokov references found in Le Ton beau/by Douglas Hofstadter.

Note 4, pp 255-278.

Chapter 9 is titled "A Vile Non-verse"; its topic is Nabokov's translation of
*Eugene Onegin*. There are sixteen sections; the first, titled "Marvin
Validbook's Eerie Pseudo-Disappearance", includes short quotations from *Brash
Attacks*, *La, o Lit?*, *Spout, Mind*, etc. This section closely parallels the
next one, "Vladimir Nabokov's Baffling Pseudo-Onegin".

Hofstadter gives a good bit of attention to VN's reactions to criticism of his
work. The chapter closes with the short paragraph:

"Underneath all his bitter bluster, I suspect, Nabokov somehow sensed how
weak and wanting was his austere anglicization, and his own sonnet --completing
the 1955 *New Yorker* pair -- poignantly conveys (despite one subtly flawed
feminine rhyme) a sense of inchoate despair: "

[The sonnet *Reflected words...* follows.]

The index entry "Nabokov, Vladimir" has many sub-indexed references to specific
subtopics in Chapter 9. Entries "Darkbloom, Vivian", "Vainblood, Vikram" and
"Validbook, Marvin" also refer to pages of this chapter.

Mary Krimmel

mary.krimmel@sdcs.org