----- Original Message -----
From:
DN
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 3:09 PM
Subject: aiguillon, Colline, hawl, anedocte, Augustine,
VN
Dear
list,
One last little
batch, if I may, to clear my head for RTR-Planeta TV, who are coming tomorrow to
ask "why DN moved from Switzerland to Italy" (they got it inside out), "why VN
never went to Russia" (sic), i tak dalee, and to get an earful about
the L Disaster and the upcoming "trial of DN in Moscow." Now the fun
starts. Of course L will not be named, ce qui va le conduire bananes
(guidarlo banane), Carolyn. Jansy, your
anedocte brought on by Phil's hawl moth, and the
cute quote from old Augustine, remind me of a favorite saying of Father's:
Si la jeunesse savait, si la vieillesse pouvait! And oh yes -- you
omitted one meaning of "Colline": the philosopher in Henri Murger's Scènes
de la vie de bohème (1848), which became Puccini's opera La
Bohème, in which I made my debut in the role of Colline, and Luciano
Pavarotti simultaneously made his as Rodolfo.
Best salutations to
all,
Dmity
Nabkov
PS: I quite forgot
-- about the aiguillon rouge: aiguillon does indeed mean
the stinger of hymenoptera, in their mature state, such as bees,
wasps, etc. It can also be a rod with a point for herding cattle, OR,
figuratively, something that stimulates or excites, in various senses.
Since caterpillars can be prickly but, to the best of my layman's
knowledge, have no stingers, my guess is that the name was inspired by
appearance only, and is as innocent of function as the peak called Sex
Rouge on the Diablerets or the clitoris. Good night before my tongue goes
through my cheek.