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Fw: Fw QUOTE QUERY?
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EDITOR's NOTE. Eric Naiman is the author, inter alia, of the lead article in
the new issue of NABOKOV STUDIES. In re the translation question, I should
add that the quotation being sought is being translated from Serbo-Croatian,
not Russian ,as I suggested.
----- Original Message -----
From: <naiman@socrates.Berkeley.EDU>
----------------- Message requiring your approval (29
lines) ------------------
I don't know the origin of the quotation, but I would suggest that "trivial"
is the exact opposite of poshlost' -- at least as Nabokov uses
these words. Where Nabokov is concerned, a synonym for "trivial" would be
"aesthetic." One could say the same thing for "accidental" and "chance."
e.naiman
> On Thu, 14 Dec 2000, D. Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> > EDITOR's COMMENT. CAn any one identify this approximately rendered
quote.
> > It is apparently rendered from the Russian (?) into English, so it may
well
> > vary substantially from it original formulation?
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 07:07:25 +0000
> > From: Celia Hawkesworth <c.hawkesworth@ssees.ac.uk>
> >
> > Could you help me out with a translation I'm working on, please? It
contains
> > a reference to a Nabokov quote something along the following lines -
> >
> > In the "empire of the trivial" wrote Vladimir Nabokov, "it is not the
book
> > that brings success, but the reading public."
> >
> > I've used 'the trivial' as a rendering of poshlost'. I am assuming that
this
> > is quite a well-known quotation? If so, can you advise on appropriate
> > wording? Very many thanks.
> >
> > Celia
> >
>
the new issue of NABOKOV STUDIES. In re the translation question, I should
add that the quotation being sought is being translated from Serbo-Croatian,
not Russian ,as I suggested.
----- Original Message -----
From: <naiman@socrates.Berkeley.EDU>
----------------- Message requiring your approval (29
lines) ------------------
I don't know the origin of the quotation, but I would suggest that "trivial"
is the exact opposite of poshlost' -- at least as Nabokov uses
these words. Where Nabokov is concerned, a synonym for "trivial" would be
"aesthetic." One could say the same thing for "accidental" and "chance."
e.naiman
> On Thu, 14 Dec 2000, D. Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> > EDITOR's COMMENT. CAn any one identify this approximately rendered
quote.
> > It is apparently rendered from the Russian (?) into English, so it may
well
> > vary substantially from it original formulation?
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 07:07:25 +0000
> > From: Celia Hawkesworth <c.hawkesworth@ssees.ac.uk>
> >
> > Could you help me out with a translation I'm working on, please? It
contains
> > a reference to a Nabokov quote something along the following lines -
> >
> > In the "empire of the trivial" wrote Vladimir Nabokov, "it is not the
book
> > that brings success, but the reading public."
> >
> > I've used 'the trivial' as a rendering of poshlost'. I am assuming that
this
> > is quite a well-known quotation? If so, can you advise on appropriate
> > wording? Very many thanks.
> >
> > Celia
> >
>