Subject
Re: bathroom talk (fwd)
From
Date
Body
From Eric Naiman <naiman@violet.berkeley.edu>:
> I am curious about a remark made by Luzhin when he and his wife move into
> their new apartment. He says to her: "Gde uedinenie? -- shepnul Luzhin.
> -- Gde samaia malen'kaia komnata?" "V vannoi, vse v vannoi". This is
> obviously a significant moment, since it will be through that uedinenie
> that Luzhin will exit both novel and life. My question is whether this
> was a standard euphemism at the time (and thus, whether Nabokov is subtly
> punning), or whether the line should jump out at the reader as markedly
> strange. In the English this line is dropped, Luzhin just says: "Where's
> the little place." (Native speakers whom I have questioned have never
> heard of the term, and I don't find it in Dal'.)
>
>
> I am curious about a remark made by Luzhin when he and his wife move into
> their new apartment. He says to her: "Gde uedinenie? -- shepnul Luzhin.
> -- Gde samaia malen'kaia komnata?" "V vannoi, vse v vannoi". This is
> obviously a significant moment, since it will be through that uedinenie
> that Luzhin will exit both novel and life. My question is whether this
> was a standard euphemism at the time (and thus, whether Nabokov is subtly
> punning), or whether the line should jump out at the reader as markedly
> strange. In the English this line is dropped, Luzhin just says: "Where's
> the little place." (Native speakers whom I have questioned have never
> heard of the term, and I don't find it in Dal'.)
>
>