To: JANSY MELLO

 

Dear Jansy Mello,

 

Many thanks for your comments.

 

In Russian there is “obez’iana” (singular) or “obez’iany” (plural), just like in Portuguese. (Incidentally, “obez’iana” is derived from a word, which is met in the Levant and Persia — “abuzine”.) There is also a scientific term “gominidy” (from “hominidae”) or “chelovekoobraznye obez’iany”. “In my younger and more vulnerable years” I always connected this word with the Russian way of pronouncing the Kuomintang (“Gomindan”), though my perception has been never as acute as that of Godunov-Cherdyntsev.

 

All the best,

 

Grigori

 

To: SERGEI

 

Dear Sergei,

 

Thank you for your remarks, and a truly inspiring reference to Russian anti-Darwinists.

 

As to the style of the passage… well, I might have overinterpreted the passage as a whole, yet something tells me if we have two identical epithets in one and the same sentence, they both should be equally neutral, equally derogatory or equally complimentary. Do you presume VN was sarcastic when he wrote about “the brain, an even more monstrous achievement”?

 

Best regards,

 

Grigori

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of NABOKV-L
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:21 AM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS: Creationism and VN

 

Dear Jansy,

 

I think Russian in this sense is closer to Portuguese: most common is

the word "obesyany" which covers both apes and monkeys.

 

And Grigory: your quotation seems to me unconclusive, because

the adjective "monstrous" may be a sign of sarcasm w. r. t.

evolution theory. By the way, between creationism and evolution theory

in its "extreme" form (random changes produce evolution) there is a whole

lot of intermediate theories, assuming some form of "local" creativity

and/or nomogenesis. (No "global plan" of creation, but many "local" laws

and symmetries.) Curiously, the proponents of these theores

often were lepidopterists themselves (Shvanvitch in Russia - I am not

sure what is the correct spelling) or used lepidoptera as examples.

I mentioned once at this list the academician L. Berg, and another Russian

anti-evolutionist, Lubishev.

 

Best regards,

 

Sergei

 

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