J.Aisenberg:When JM says that one can follow a "Gogol" style ghost story in Ada, presumably he refers to N.'s lectures on the "Overcoat"? I don't remember precisely how that one worked. "Bout-bouteille-butler-Blanche-Cinderella-Sores-Ben Wright-Fartukov"--This word chain, while I recognize the words from the book, and the word play, I don't know why these should all be run..
 
J.Mello : I was not offering a "word chain" but a list of "entries" that might indicate the world of servants, their habits, lore, songs aso as they unfold in a secondary, or tertiary sub-story when they are placed in this specific context.
VN considered Gogol's  prose as "four-dimensional, at leat. He may be compared to his contemporary, the mathematician Lobachevsky..." (  a biography of  Nikolai Gogol by Vladimir Nabokov, New Directions Paperbook,l961 (page 145).
The Cinderella/Blanche/pumpkin carriage, as it changes shape in "ADA", reminded me of Nabokov's comments in the same book ( I couldn't locate this example now). 
Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.