Subject
VN's explanation of the pronunciation of "Nabokov."
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Date
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Please forgive me if I'm repeating information here, but I was looking
through TriQuarterly's edition in honor of VN's 70th birthday (No. 17,
Winter, 1970), and then through the supplement, which contains VN's
notes/corrections/responses, and I came across the following:
In a very pretty little poem, Mr. Neugeboren seems to rhyme, somewhat
surprisingly, "Nabokov" and "love." I would suggest "talk of" or "balk
of" as more closely conforming to the stressed middle vowel of that
awkward name ("Nabawkof"). I once composed the following rhyme for my
students:
The querulous gawk of
A heron at night
prompts Nabokov
to write.
Sincerely,
Molly Peeney
Ph.D. candidate, UW-Madison
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