Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002763, Thu, 29 Jan 1998 19:57:18 -0800

Subject
Re: Nabokov's poem (fwd)
Date
Body
The Russian version of the poem can be found in the 1979 Ardis edition of
VN's STIKHI (p. 317-318), the very same volume where Vera Nabokov sends
the reader to this poem and its notion of "potustoronnost'" (the
otherworldly") as a crucial key to understanding her husband's works. The
poem reads:

My zabyvaem, chto vliublennost'
ne prosto povorot litsa,
a pod kupavami bezdonnost',
nochnaia panika plovtsa.

Pokuda snitsia, snis', vliublennost',
no probuzhdeniem ne much',
i luchshe nedogovorennost',
chem eta shchel' i etot luch.

Napomonaiu, chto vliublennost'
ne iav', chto metiny ne te,
chto, mozhet byt', potustoronnost'
priotvorilas' v temnote.


Galya Diment