Subject
Out of the Blue Sources
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I was perusing old photographic archives and came across the backcover of Walter Slezak's book C.Kunin mailed to me a few years ago.
I checked the List Archives ( Google is a marvelous tool) and noticed that this picture had not been posted, nor was the question about VN's quote fully discussed.
At the same time I learned that CHW found news about the Juniper Blues in the quad ( Berkeley's posting on Rev. Knox), which are equally confusing as to what is more trustworthy: an Oxford dictionary or Time Magazine interviews, in relation to the latter.
Abstract from 30 Oct. 2004:
CK: "...discussing Lohengrin as a grail story and Jansy told me how funny she found Nabokov's joke about missing the swan (-boat) in Laughter in the Dark.
But that's not Nabokov's joke, it is a famous anecdote from the career of the wonderful tenor Leo Slezak (1873 - 1946).
Laughter in the Dark: Miller...smiled, and in a new good-natured manner launched into a funny story about some friend of his, an opera singer who once, in the part of Lohengrin, being tight, failed to board the swan in time and waited hopefully for the next one.
What Time's the Next Swan? by Walter Slezak (as told to Smith-Corona Model 88E): Papa told ... about a Lohengrin performance...He was ready to step into the boat. Somehow the stagehand on the other side got his signals mixed, started pulling, and the swan left without Papa. He quietly turned around [to the audience] and said: "What time's the next swan?"
Former Ed, DBJ added under EDMusing. I wonder if the Slezak family anecdote occurs in the original Russian version. Easily determined by searching the on-line text. And what year did Walter publish his book.
listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0410&L=nabokv-l - 45k -
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
I checked the List Archives ( Google is a marvelous tool) and noticed that this picture had not been posted, nor was the question about VN's quote fully discussed.
At the same time I learned that CHW found news about the Juniper Blues in the quad ( Berkeley's posting on Rev. Knox), which are equally confusing as to what is more trustworthy: an Oxford dictionary or Time Magazine interviews, in relation to the latter.
Abstract from 30 Oct. 2004:
CK: "...discussing Lohengrin as a grail story and Jansy told me how funny she found Nabokov's joke about missing the swan (-boat) in Laughter in the Dark.
But that's not Nabokov's joke, it is a famous anecdote from the career of the wonderful tenor Leo Slezak (1873 - 1946).
Laughter in the Dark: Miller...smiled, and in a new good-natured manner launched into a funny story about some friend of his, an opera singer who once, in the part of Lohengrin, being tight, failed to board the swan in time and waited hopefully for the next one.
What Time's the Next Swan? by Walter Slezak (as told to Smith-Corona Model 88E): Papa told ... about a Lohengrin performance...He was ready to step into the boat. Somehow the stagehand on the other side got his signals mixed, started pulling, and the swan left without Papa. He quietly turned around [to the audience] and said: "What time's the next swan?"
Former Ed, DBJ added under EDMusing. I wonder if the Slezak family anecdote occurs in the original Russian version. Easily determined by searching the on-line text. And what year did Walter publish his book.
listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0410&L=nabokv-l - 45k -
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
