Subject
BIRTHDAY: that nut with the net
From
Date
Body
A personal favorite...
**************
A Dirt Road in a Canyon
Humbert pulls up at the bloomy and lush wayside.
HUMBERT I should not have attempted to take a short cut. We’re lost.
LOLITA Ask that nut with the net over there.
The Butterfly Hunter. His name is Vladimir Nabokov. A fritillary settles with outspread wings on a tall flower. Nabokov snaps it up with a sweep of his net. Humbert walks toward him. With a nip of finger and thumb through a fold of the marquisette Nabokov dispatches his capture and works the dead insect out of the netbag onto the palm of his hand.
HUMBERT Is that a rare specimen?
NABOKOV A specimen cannot be common or rare, it can only be poor or perfect.
HUMBERT Could you direct me—
NABOKOV You meant “rare species.” This is a good specimen of a rather scarce subspecies.
HUMBERT I see. Could you please tell me if this roads leads to Dympleton?
NABOKOV I haven’t the vaguest idea. I saw some loggers (pointing) up there. They might know.
Lolita: A Screenplay, New York: Vintage, 1997, 127-128.
************************
Marie C. Bouchet, PhD.
University of Toulouse, France
_________________________________________________________________
Vous voulez savoir ce que vous pouvez faire avec le nouveau Windows Live ? Lancez-vous !
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/default.aspx
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/