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FW: Speaking of Ties and "Os" and Bows [originally sent 7/2/06]
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Katsell [mailto:jerry3@adelphia.net]
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:50 PM
To: 'NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU'
Subject: Speaking of Ties and "Os" and Bows
Dear List, Dmitri and Bill Delaney,
Sorry if I've been misleading or unclear. Nabokov, of course, was not
known as a wearer of bow ties. I've never ever seen a picture of him
wearing one, at Cornell or elsewhere. I made up the sentence: "Nabokov,
wearing his signature butterfly blue bow tie, spoke off the cuff about
the difficulties of pronouncing his family name." My purpose was to
illustrate the near twinning of the last two syllables of the surname,
Nabokov, and "spoke off". Also, I tried to hide, apparently all too well
because I was obscure, the name Nabokov in ".his signature butterfly
blue bow tie, spoke off." [signature. bow. spoke off] I thought I was
giving a hint with "signature," in the word's other meaning of one's
signed name. As to "blue bow tie," I was thinking of the enlightening
book Nabokov's Blues by Kurt Johnson and Steve Coates, as well as the
strikingly beautiful picture of a male Karner Blue butterfly (aka
Lycaeides samuelis Nabokov) in the book Nabokov at Cornell.
Once again, I apologize for any confusion. My intent was to come up with
near equivalents in English that would aid an English speaker with no
Russian to pronounce "Nabokov" as closely as possible to the way the
surname should be pronounced.
Best wishes to all,
Jerry Katsell
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