V. Fet informs that
"pueritus scribendi" (Lat. childhood graphomania)" is a "Latin
term, obviously invented by VN," and that it had been translated that
way. From Wikipedia he extracted a "nice quote on graphomania,
applicable to many of us":See full text at: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5353/
JM:... Oh,
dear! At least there is safety in numbers.
In a second posting, on birch-trees, as one of
the favorite items of Russian nostalgia, V.Fet added:
"Oh, but this is such a classical example of
clicheed poshlust! Just add some troika sleighs and vodka
shots..."
JM:Yes,
the commentator was being slightly ironic ( I'll try to retrieve her sentence to
quote it correctly, I'm still uncertain of its authorship). Also
thanks for
the information about Dostoyevsky: "in part I of "Brothers
Karamazov" Fyodor Pavlovich declares "The strength of Russia is in the birch" -
but what he means are "rozgi", i.e. birch rods used for a popular corporal
punishment (children as well as adults!).These were known also as "birch
porridge" ("berezovaya kasha"). I bet Dostoyevsky had little use for
sparkling snow either." - even if this time the irony was
served on me, it was a great read, also for the additional clarification on
conifers and landscape-forming species.
The interesting item I
secondarily gleaned from the quotes was the proximity of birches, bikes
and lost loves as mentioned in Lolita and TRLSK.
And to lost landscapes and their "wondrously subtle scent" in
general. I saw my first birch-tree in New
Hampshire when seventeen - it was love at first sight.In Brazil the one
that might come closest to it is popularly
named "pau-ferro": its scientific name carries an alpine whiff:
"caesalpinia ferrea" and it requires many years to become fully
grown.
M.Wildish:"A blend, by the looks of it,
of 'scribendi peritus', meaning 'experienced, expert, or skilled
at writing'; 'furor scribendi', 'a mania for writing'; and 'puer',
'child, boy' - thus 'an expert boyhood mania for writing' - or some such
permutation."
JM: I liked your
conjecture on " scribendi peritus"because, even after V.F's
information that this Latin term had been invented by VN, it
still puzzled me. "Pueritus" came together with
Gogol's childhood diseases and I'd have expected something
like "pueritis" for some kind of inflammation, or at least
a "pruritus" (for the "itch")."Peritus" clinched it (even if only in my
eyes and ears).