Subject
Note to note 12 of Boyd's _VN:The Russian Years_
Date
Body
From: Sergey Sakun <sersak@chat.ru>
B.Boyd at the beginning of section 7 of chapter 11 ("Lolita"), pp. 237-8,
vol. II writes:
"Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately
that his subject was the threefold formula of human life:
the irretrievability of the past, the insatiability of the present,
and the unforeseeability of the future." (12) He then writes about
the refraction of this formula in LOLITA.
Then in note 12 (p. 694) he writes: "Gift has a similar formulation,
but not exact one I recall but cannot locate".
In connection with the particular value a metamorphoses of this formula
for decoding the texts VN will note: In the "Gift" this formula is
similarly involved with the theme of Pushkin and presented as a quote from
nonexistent "Ocherki proshlogo" ("Essays on past"), by invented
A.N.Suhoshokov. It located in first half of 2 chapters of novel, several
lines above 2 quatrains by Pushkin "O, net mne zhizn' ne nadoela, "
(Oh, no me life did not pester ). However in the Russian text of the
"Gift"
this formula is somewhat different in sense from that mentioned by
Boyd.
"Troi'naia formula chelovecheskogo bytija: nevozvratimost',
nesbytochnoct', neizbezhnost' - byla emu horosho znakoma" (The threefold
formula of human life: irrevocability, unrealizability, inevitability -
was him well known) (Whom? - Of Pushkin? Of Godunov-Cherdynsev? Of Sirin?)
Regretably I do not have not the English text of the novel "Gift", but
interesting hear as BN has translated it on English. This all the more
important in that this formula, as it exists in Russian text of the "Gift"
presents itself, it seems to me, a universal key to triune debut of
V.Sirin. It points to main subjects, ("Zvon putevodnoi' noty" (ringing
guiding note)) of its first three novels: "Mary" - "nevozvratimost'"
irrevocability (of past love) "King, Queen, Knave" - " nesbytochnoct'"
unrealizability (of criminal daydream) "The Defense" - "neizbezhnost'"
inevitability (of fall and deaths).
Best regards,
Sergey Sakun mailto:sersak@chat.ru
B.Boyd at the beginning of section 7 of chapter 11 ("Lolita"), pp. 237-8,
vol. II writes:
"Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately
that his subject was the threefold formula of human life:
the irretrievability of the past, the insatiability of the present,
and the unforeseeability of the future." (12) He then writes about
the refraction of this formula in LOLITA.
Then in note 12 (p. 694) he writes: "Gift has a similar formulation,
but not exact one I recall but cannot locate".
In connection with the particular value a metamorphoses of this formula
for decoding the texts VN will note: In the "Gift" this formula is
similarly involved with the theme of Pushkin and presented as a quote from
nonexistent "Ocherki proshlogo" ("Essays on past"), by invented
A.N.Suhoshokov. It located in first half of 2 chapters of novel, several
lines above 2 quatrains by Pushkin "O, net mne zhizn' ne nadoela, "
(Oh, no me life did not pester ). However in the Russian text of the
"Gift"
this formula is somewhat different in sense from that mentioned by
Boyd.
"Troi'naia formula chelovecheskogo bytija: nevozvratimost',
nesbytochnoct', neizbezhnost' - byla emu horosho znakoma" (The threefold
formula of human life: irrevocability, unrealizability, inevitability -
was him well known) (Whom? - Of Pushkin? Of Godunov-Cherdynsev? Of Sirin?)
Regretably I do not have not the English text of the novel "Gift", but
interesting hear as BN has translated it on English. This all the more
important in that this formula, as it exists in Russian text of the "Gift"
presents itself, it seems to me, a universal key to triune debut of
V.Sirin. It points to main subjects, ("Zvon putevodnoi' noty" (ringing
guiding note)) of its first three novels: "Mary" - "nevozvratimost'"
irrevocability (of past love) "King, Queen, Knave" - " nesbytochnoct'"
unrealizability (of criminal daydream) "The Defense" - "neizbezhnost'"
inevitability (of fall and deaths).
Best regards,
Sergey Sakun mailto:sersak@chat.ru