Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0018046, Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:15:46 -0300

Subject
Re: de fencing lessons
From
Date
Body
L. Hochard: "prends garde De toi doesn't mean anything in French..."

C.Kunin: Habanera, be damned! I needs most humbly and publicly beg both your pardons ...

JM: The present subject's heading is "de fencing lessons" and now we pass onto "garden fencing" in place of "en garde fencing"! Thank you for your clarificatin, L.Hochard. Off-list, Andrea offered additional information: The "s" is dropped when using imperative in the 2nd person singular, and the verb garder takes "à" rather than "de" as a preposition in the context you quote."


SK-B [to Carolyn]: I share your doubts about Alexey's (and occasionally JM's) "anagrammatic extensions" when used to interpret VN's novels. VN
scatters his own playful anagrams and puns quite freely and teasingly, providing us with ample scope for guessing his real intentions.To introduce extra-textual anagrams of our own seems an unnecessary distraction! Lots of laughs, of course, and dazzling ingenuity, but nevertheless a distraction


JM: I have no idea if Sklyarenko will agree with me, but I understand his "anagrammatic extensions" as being directed at extracting an independent wealth of information about Russian writers and poets, and it has chosen VN as a point of departure, without indicating the full-circle that would lead us necessarily back onto any VN novel. For myself, there's no discipline, no particular aim except a kind of verbal exercise for the surprises we may meeet.


CK [ to D.Zimmer about Salzman inAda] There was a little bell I thought I heard. At first I tried Bellow, then Philip Roth. Bingo? he wrote a series of "Zuckerman" novels.


JM: Carmenolyn, true or not true, your idea is "bien trouvé". I'll borrow it to contest some of SK-B's arguments against symmetries, mirrors, inversions and anagramatic extensions.
btw: he seems to have forgotten yet another Darkbloom, Vivian and it is a woman ( "Lolita").
The list of variations is enormous, ironical and funny... Perhaps someone has collected them and will offer it to the List. The only one I remember now is Baron Klim Avidov.

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