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[NABOKV] {BIRTHDAY] Gloating Uncle and..."nothing will ever
change, nobody will ever die".
change, nobody will ever die".
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The reference to the Bibliothèque Rose is there on page 76 of “Speak,
Memory.” It will reappear in ADA and in “A Russian Beauty.” Here is a
selection of annotations by Brian Boyd (Ada Online) with the correct
information*:
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/ada18.htm#55.30> 55.30-31: At ten or earlier
the child had read--as Van had--Les Malheurs de Swann: Darkbloom: “cross
between Les malheurs de Sophie by Mme de Ségur (née Countess Rostopchin) and
Proust’s Un amour de Swann.” [ ] As a child Nabokov himself read
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/553031malheurs.htm> Les Malheurs de Sophie
(1859) and others in the Bibliothèque Rose series, by
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/553031sophie.htm> Sophie Rostopchine,
Comtesse de SĂ©gur (1799-1874) (SM105); Rivers and Walker comment that these
books are aptly fused with Proust here because despite what Nabokov calls
their “awful combination of preciosity and vulgarity” (SM 76) they “had the
power of evoking later in [his] life involuntary, Proustian memories of his
childhood in Russia.” (269) MOTIF:
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/motifs.htm#segur> SĂ©gur.
The series <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102filles.htm> Bibliothèque
rose illustrée <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102filles.htm>
(Illustrated Pink Library), was founded by the publisher Hachette (a
homophone of “Ashette” below, 114.16-17) in 1859, the year Les Malheurs de
Sophie was published. Cf. “A Russian Beauty” (1934): “Her childhood passed
festively, securely, and gaily, as was the custom in our country since the
days of old. A sunbeam falling on the cover of a Bibliothèque Rose volume at
the family estate, the classical hoarfrost of the Saint Petersburg public
gardens. . . . ” (SoVN 381) Cf. also VN’s reminiscence of the “‘Bibliothèque
RoseÂ’ volumes, with their <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102kiss.htm>
stories about boys and girls who led in France an idealized version of the
vie de château which my family led in Russia . . . ” (SM 76).
.....................................
*- The Brazilian collection “Menina e Moça” seems to be unrelated to “La
Bibliothèque Rose,” but to belong to the “Bibliothèque de Suzette”(A
recurrent misapprehension of mineÂ…My bad!) Mme de SĂ©gurÂ’s books in
Portuguese are in different collection (Aillaud & Co. Lisbon/1903). In later
years, by “Livraria do Brasil S.A”, “Melhoramentos,” and various others & up
to the present days).
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
Memory.” It will reappear in ADA and in “A Russian Beauty.” Here is a
selection of annotations by Brian Boyd (Ada Online) with the correct
information*:
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/ada18.htm#55.30> 55.30-31: At ten or earlier
the child had read--as Van had--Les Malheurs de Swann: Darkbloom: “cross
between Les malheurs de Sophie by Mme de Ségur (née Countess Rostopchin) and
Proust’s Un amour de Swann.” [ ] As a child Nabokov himself read
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/553031malheurs.htm> Les Malheurs de Sophie
(1859) and others in the Bibliothèque Rose series, by
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/553031sophie.htm> Sophie Rostopchine,
Comtesse de SĂ©gur (1799-1874) (SM105); Rivers and Walker comment that these
books are aptly fused with Proust here because despite what Nabokov calls
their “awful combination of preciosity and vulgarity” (SM 76) they “had the
power of evoking later in [his] life involuntary, Proustian memories of his
childhood in Russia.” (269) MOTIF:
<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/motifs.htm#segur> SĂ©gur.
The series <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102filles.htm> Bibliothèque
rose illustrée <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102filles.htm>
(Illustrated Pink Library), was founded by the publisher Hachette (a
homophone of “Ashette” below, 114.16-17) in 1859, the year Les Malheurs de
Sophie was published. Cf. “A Russian Beauty” (1934): “Her childhood passed
festively, securely, and gaily, as was the custom in our country since the
days of old. A sunbeam falling on the cover of a Bibliothèque Rose volume at
the family estate, the classical hoarfrost of the Saint Petersburg public
gardens. . . . ” (SoVN 381) Cf. also VN’s reminiscence of the “‘Bibliothèque
RoseÂ’ volumes, with their <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/1140102kiss.htm>
stories about boys and girls who led in France an idealized version of the
vie de château which my family led in Russia . . . ” (SM 76).
.....................................
*- The Brazilian collection “Menina e Moça” seems to be unrelated to “La
Bibliothèque Rose,” but to belong to the “Bibliothèque de Suzette”(A
recurrent misapprehension of mineÂ…My bad!) Mme de SĂ©gurÂ’s books in
Portuguese are in different collection (Aillaud & Co. Lisbon/1903). In later
years, by “Livraria do Brasil S.A”, “Melhoramentos,” and various others & up
to the present days).
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/