Subject
Pnin and the Slovo (a.k.a. "The Igor Tale"
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 16:10:34 -0700
To: NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu
Subject: Pnin and the Slovo
From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
I would like to raise a question about one statement in Galya Diment's
fine article in Nabokov Studies 3, "Timofey Pnin, Vladimir Nabokov, and
Mark Szeftel." At the beginning of the article, in listing biographical
correspondences between Pnin and Szeftel, Diment writes: "...both devoted
much of their lives to the unfinished study of the 'great work on Old
Russia, a wonderful dream mixture of folklore, poetry, social history and
_petite histoire_' (_Pnin_ 39), which is an obvious, albeit not spelt-out,
reference to _The Lay of Igor's Campaign_ ("Slovo o Polke Igoreve," 12th
century), a famous Russian epic." (54)
I have never taken that quoted passage from _Pnin_ 39 as a reference to
the _Slovo_, but rather as a description of a more general study of Old
Russia in which Pnin was engaged, and I would like to give my reasons for
doubting Professor Diment's interpretation. First, it should be said that
the first part of the sentence quoted above does present significant
correspondences between Pnin and Szeftel: "Thus both Pnin and Szeftel were
born in February, both studied sociology, both got their university degrees
in 1925 in the countries of Eastern Europe (Pnin in Prague, and Szeftel in
Warsaw), and..." And it would be tempting to extend the list by assuming
that Pnin, like Szeftel, was studying the _Slovo_, but the wording in
_Pnin_ does not seem to me to support this. The words which most plausibly
might be seen as pointing to the _Slovo_ are "a wonderful dream mixture of
folkore, poetry..." The _Slovo_ could certainly be described as a
"wonderful mixture" of disparate elements, including folklore and poetry
(much of the scholarship on the work is concerned with establishing what
genres are fused within it and how), and some elements of its style and
structure, e.g. rapid transitions, and an "all-pervading sense of magic"
(Nabokov's Foreword, 9, to _The Song of Igor's Campaign_, VN's translation
of the _Slovo_) suggest a kind of "dream" logic in its architecture. And
another element in the mixture, to be sure, is history, since the work is
based on an actual historical event (recorded in the medieval Russian
annals) -- but political and military history, not social history, and
certainly not "petite histoire," which Boyd glosses as "History on the
small scale [one of the most prominent characteristics of the _Slovo_ is
the _grandness_ of scale, magically achieved within the compass of a
relatively small text - ES], of everday life and customs" (Library of
America editon, 886), and Barabtarlo, similarly, as "French for history of
daily life, mores, customs" (_Phantom of Fact_, 136). The phrase is at the
center of the second and fuller description of Pnin's scholarly project, in
the next, third chapter: "He contemplated writing a _Petite Histoire_ of
Russian culture, in which a choice of Russian Curiosities, Customs,
Literary Anecdotes, and so forth would be presented in such a way as to
reflect in miniature _la Grande Histoire_ - Major Concatenations of
Events." (77) Nothing here points to the _Slovo_.
To return to the exact wording in the _Pnin_ 39 passage: "The great work
on Old Russia, a wonderful dream mixture of folklore, poetry, social
history, and _petite histoire_, which for the last ten years or so he had
been fondly planning, now seemed accessible at last..." The _Slovo_ could
accurately be described as the great work _of_ Old Russia, but Pnin is said
to be planning a great ("great" in Pnin's fond imagination, i.e. grandiose,
masterful) work _on_ Old Russia, not a _study of_ a great work _of_ Old
Russia.
Much ado about not very much, I guess, given the high quality of
Professor Diment's article, but what are we pedants for?
Earl Sampson
Boulder, CO
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 16:10:34 -0700
To: NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu
Subject: Pnin and the Slovo
From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
I would like to raise a question about one statement in Galya Diment's
fine article in Nabokov Studies 3, "Timofey Pnin, Vladimir Nabokov, and
Mark Szeftel." At the beginning of the article, in listing biographical
correspondences between Pnin and Szeftel, Diment writes: "...both devoted
much of their lives to the unfinished study of the 'great work on Old
Russia, a wonderful dream mixture of folklore, poetry, social history and
_petite histoire_' (_Pnin_ 39), which is an obvious, albeit not spelt-out,
reference to _The Lay of Igor's Campaign_ ("Slovo o Polke Igoreve," 12th
century), a famous Russian epic." (54)
I have never taken that quoted passage from _Pnin_ 39 as a reference to
the _Slovo_, but rather as a description of a more general study of Old
Russia in which Pnin was engaged, and I would like to give my reasons for
doubting Professor Diment's interpretation. First, it should be said that
the first part of the sentence quoted above does present significant
correspondences between Pnin and Szeftel: "Thus both Pnin and Szeftel were
born in February, both studied sociology, both got their university degrees
in 1925 in the countries of Eastern Europe (Pnin in Prague, and Szeftel in
Warsaw), and..." And it would be tempting to extend the list by assuming
that Pnin, like Szeftel, was studying the _Slovo_, but the wording in
_Pnin_ does not seem to me to support this. The words which most plausibly
might be seen as pointing to the _Slovo_ are "a wonderful dream mixture of
folkore, poetry..." The _Slovo_ could certainly be described as a
"wonderful mixture" of disparate elements, including folklore and poetry
(much of the scholarship on the work is concerned with establishing what
genres are fused within it and how), and some elements of its style and
structure, e.g. rapid transitions, and an "all-pervading sense of magic"
(Nabokov's Foreword, 9, to _The Song of Igor's Campaign_, VN's translation
of the _Slovo_) suggest a kind of "dream" logic in its architecture. And
another element in the mixture, to be sure, is history, since the work is
based on an actual historical event (recorded in the medieval Russian
annals) -- but political and military history, not social history, and
certainly not "petite histoire," which Boyd glosses as "History on the
small scale [one of the most prominent characteristics of the _Slovo_ is
the _grandness_ of scale, magically achieved within the compass of a
relatively small text - ES], of everday life and customs" (Library of
America editon, 886), and Barabtarlo, similarly, as "French for history of
daily life, mores, customs" (_Phantom of Fact_, 136). The phrase is at the
center of the second and fuller description of Pnin's scholarly project, in
the next, third chapter: "He contemplated writing a _Petite Histoire_ of
Russian culture, in which a choice of Russian Curiosities, Customs,
Literary Anecdotes, and so forth would be presented in such a way as to
reflect in miniature _la Grande Histoire_ - Major Concatenations of
Events." (77) Nothing here points to the _Slovo_.
To return to the exact wording in the _Pnin_ 39 passage: "The great work
on Old Russia, a wonderful dream mixture of folklore, poetry, social
history, and _petite histoire_, which for the last ten years or so he had
been fondly planning, now seemed accessible at last..." The _Slovo_ could
accurately be described as the great work _of_ Old Russia, but Pnin is said
to be planning a great ("great" in Pnin's fond imagination, i.e. grandiose,
masterful) work _on_ Old Russia, not a _study of_ a great work _of_ Old
Russia.
Much ado about not very much, I guess, given the high quality of
Professor Diment's article, but what are we pedants for?
Earl Sampson
Boulder, CO