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Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
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Re: Fw: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of
----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Miale
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
...."the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan..."
What does this mean?
EDNOTE. 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'
Yes, that's it.
Actually, I have never quite understood why hitching a ride on a swan to impress a girl is any more poshlustish than any other foolish daredevil stunt. . . (Would someone please tell me why this story so epitomizes poshlust.)
There is a joke about catching the next swan ( Lohengrin ) in "Laughter in the Dark"
Yes, the image in Gogol, like the new text, does have the ring of grand German opera: "And since that time a curse lies on the family. The women all give birth to a daughter, and within weeks of their child's birth, they always go mad. . . ." But perhaps Nabokov did not steal the image from Lichberg; a closer reading of the texts suggests it could have been planted in him by a ghost.
Unfortunately (speaking of "a closer reading"), I see Nabokov attributes the story to Gogol himself, but I'll hang on to my notions like a crackpot.
Walter Miale
----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Miale
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: Fw: Translation of German Lolita -- page 3 of 4
...."the prelude to the adventure of riding the swan..."
What does this mean?
EDNOTE. 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'
Yes, that's it.
Actually, I have never quite understood why hitching a ride on a swan to impress a girl is any more poshlustish than any other foolish daredevil stunt. . . (Would someone please tell me why this story so epitomizes poshlust.)
There is a joke about catching the next swan ( Lohengrin ) in "Laughter in the Dark"
Yes, the image in Gogol, like the new text, does have the ring of grand German opera: "And since that time a curse lies on the family. The women all give birth to a daughter, and within weeks of their child's birth, they always go mad. . . ." But perhaps Nabokov did not steal the image from Lichberg; a closer reading of the texts suggests it could have been planted in him by a ghost.
Unfortunately (speaking of "a closer reading"), I see Nabokov attributes the story to Gogol himself, but I'll hang on to my notions like a crackpot.
Walter Miale