Dear Jansy,

Give me a break! The correspondence between Wilson and VN was only published in 1979, more than a decade after PF (1962): 

Author/Name:Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
Title:The Nabokov-Wilson letters : correspondence between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson, 1940-1971 / edited, annotated and with an introductory essay by Simon Karlinsky.
Edition:1st ed.  
Published/distributed:New York : Harper & Row, c1979.

What would VN's motive be in making reference to something in his private correspondence?  Or does it simply mean that powder/red wop is without any hidden intention, which I guess is what we all assumed before Matt Roth asked the question? But the problem remains - - what's so "wonderful" about that? Or does VN simply give Hazel a joke that had meaning only for himself and possibly Wilson? It just doesn't add up. 

Carolyn

p.s. "supreptitious"? 


On Feb 19, 2010, at 11:35 AM, jansymello wrote:

C. Kunin:I fail to see what is the link between the apparently explosive powder/red wop and Hazel?
 
JM: Once in a while I've the feeling that Kinbote bears traits inspired in how Nabokov sees critic E.Wilson.
By his own admission, Kinbote notices that he has something in common with Hazel (twisting of words). 
Hazel twists T.S. Eliot into "Toilest" and "Powder" into "Red Wop."  This practice is part of Bunny-Volodya exchanges, long before Hazel was born. Perhaps this element shared by Hazel and Kinbote is a jest with E.Wilson and their supreptitious envious "ban"s? 
 
I'll quote only from page 249 (letter 192, Feb.1949) VN addressed to Bunny: 
           Do you still work upon such sets
           as for example "step" and "pets,"
           as "Nazitrap" and "partizan,"
           "Red Wop" and "powder," "nab" and "ban"?
 
(And gosh! here we find "pets" and "powder" exploding in the same "quadruplets"... more amusing coincidences?) 
More about "amphisbaeniae" on page 241 ( VN's: stupor/Proust) and E.Wilson's comment on pg. 244 ("stupor fits, not Proust, but reputes, or better, rope Utes...")
 
 
    
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