EDNOTE. I suppose that "Cora Day" refers to
Charlotte Corday who stabbed the French revolutionary Marat to death in
his bath (1793). It is the subject of a famous painting. For detail, see the
URL
VN refers to Corday elsewhere. ADA? Someone should
look into the contexts and find out why.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 9:02 PM
Subject: The name LOLITA -- but why Cora Day?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sergey
Karpukhin
>
> I would like to contribute to the Lolita thread. In
Julian Barnes's Flaubert's
> Parrot, chapter 6 "Emma Bovary's Eyes",
there is a short discussion of
> mistakes in literature, and among his
examples the narrator Geoffrey
> Braithwaite mentions Nabokov: "Nabokov
was wrong - rather surprising, this -
> about the phonetics of the name
Lolita." I wonder what made him think so?
Dear Sergey
Karpukhin,
Regarding the name Lolita:
It is a Spanish name (and
Nabokov's pronunciation of it is not Russian as suggested by Mr Olson). I don't
find the reference now, but I seem to recall that "Mr Haze" came up with the
name during a (honeymoon?) visit to Mexico.
I have asked a
Spanish-speaking friend about the pronunciation. She says Nabokov got the three
positions of the tongue correct. Her only "correction" would be that "lee"
is not quite the Spanish pronunciation which slightly shortens the vowel.
Still, this is certainly no "mistake." Barnes must be -- rather
surprising this -- barking.
It turns out that Lola/Lolita are
short/diminuative forms of both Dolores and Charlotte.
The name
Charlotte recalls "Cora Day" who seems to pop up every so often in VN -- but
why?
Carolyn Kunin