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Re: Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
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Don B. Johnson: Food for (s)peculation. "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither of us knows"... None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.Tennis, anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol#Etymology_of_the_name
JM: I was reminded of Rimbauds oft-quoted lines: " Je est un autre" ( "I is another").
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[Page Stegner links the name in RLSK to the Portuguese king, Dom Sebastião. The origin of "Sebastianism" is described by John Dryden (another writer of "The Restauration.") and Nabokov's novel is a "transmutation" of sorts.]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol#Etymology_of_the_name
JM: I was reminded of Rimbauds oft-quoted lines: " Je est un autre" ( "I is another").
...............................................................................................................................
[Page Stegner links the name in RLSK to the Portuguese king, Dom Sebastião. The origin of "Sebastianism" is described by John Dryden (another writer of "The Restauration.") and Nabokov's novel is a "transmutation" of sorts.]
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/