on 30/7/06 6:53 PM, Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> wrote: > Fortunately John Shade only burned what were rejected cards in his backyard > "auto da fé" ( and even kept twelve among his finished draft). I still > wonder, though, why did Kinbote use such a strong image for it ( Spanish and > Portuguese inquisition and witch burnings) > > Jansy > >>'One Japanese writer, Ihara Saikaku (1642-93), wanted to be a great > novelist. He was said to have destroyed his entire collection of haiku — > thousands of them.' > > > Jansy: I think Kinbote's (via VN) use of 'auto da fe' is just ironic exaggeration -- poetic OFF-licence as we say in Scouse pubs. To be precise, Wikipedophiles can confirm that 'auto da fe' applies (via Medieval Spanish) to the 'act of faith' ritual -- the public penance of condemned heretics. The actual burning at the stake (if that was the sentence) very seldom took place during the official 'auto da fe.' Nevertheless, one can accept that writers burning their own works have figuratively condemned them as unworthy & heretical. Stan Kelly-Bootle [SKB MESSAGE TWO FOLLOWS HERE] --------- Message requiring your approval (34 lines) ------------------ on 30/7/06 11:11 PM, Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> wrote:

> The quantity of Scottish blood in my veins greatly
> exceeding that of Slavic, presumed therefore that
> Scots spelling exceeded Slavic in correctness .
>
> Or, as chess players might say, "Czeck"
>
> John
>
> NABOKV-L wrote:
>

>> A correction for John Rea:
>>
>> The correct spelling is "Jan Masaryk."
>>
>> DN

VN might have enjoyed the cartoon of the Cockney chess player: "I said Check, mite, not Check mite, mite" skb

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