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Fw: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
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Re: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4EDNOTE. A good question. The faint bells it tinkles for me are: 1) I think VN in his GOGOL book uses the swan shtick as an an example of "poshlost' 2) Actor Walter Slezak used the line "What Time is the Next Swan" as the title of his autobiography as the title of his autobiography in re to a story about his opera star father in Lohengrin.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
...."the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan..."
What does this mean? There is a joke about catching the next swan ( Lohengrin ) in "Laughter in the Dark" ; there is a link between a dying swan and "Mademoiselle".
Is this some kind of sexual metaphor?
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:51 PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Miale
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
But there was something more than her beauty that attracted me -- there was a strange mystery about her that troubled me often on those moonlit nights.
When she came into my room to tidy up, she would sometimes pause in her work, her red laughing smile compressed into a narrow line, and she would stare with fear into the sunlight. She reminded me of Iphigenia as played by some great tragedienne. Then I would take the child in my arms and feel an imperative need to protect her from some unknown danger.
Surely this clinches it. This must be the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan. It's unmistakable.
Walter Miale
----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
...."the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan..."
What does this mean? There is a joke about catching the next swan ( Lohengrin ) in "Laughter in the Dark" ; there is a link between a dying swan and "Mademoiselle".
Is this some kind of sexual metaphor?
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:51 PM
Subject: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Miale
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
But there was something more than her beauty that attracted me -- there was a strange mystery about her that troubled me often on those moonlit nights.
When she came into my room to tidy up, she would sometimes pause in her work, her red laughing smile compressed into a narrow line, and she would stare with fear into the sunlight. She reminded me of Iphigenia as played by some great tragedienne. Then I would take the child in my arms and feel an imperative need to protect her from some unknown danger.
Surely this clinches it. This must be the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan. It's unmistakable.
Walter Miale