Dear Don, Carolyn, Jansy,
I would suggest a very
interesting article where G. Barabtarlo maintains that:
SEBASTIAN KNIGHT = KNIGHT
IS ABSENT.
Only one letter couldn’t
be included, and, interestingly, it corresponds to the indefinite article “a”.
It is then possible, in my opinion, to generalize the sentence, obtaining:
A KNIGHT IS ABSENT.
Here’s the link:
http://magazines.russ.ru/km/2003/3/barabtablo-pr.html
I must warn the list that
the article is in Russian, and I don’t think it has been translated.
I believe that Barabtarlo’s
intuition is an incredible interpretation both of the character’s name
and of the whole novel. In fact, I quote his reasoning very often.
Regards,
Irina Marchesini
Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature
University of Bologna, Italy.
Da: Vladimir Nabokov
Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] Per
conto di NABOKV-L
Inviato: lunedì 24 maggio 2010
5.00
A: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Oggetto: [NABOKV-L] THOUGHTS: Idle
note on Sebastian (Knight)
Dear Don,
I'm game with a little time to spare. Have you tried
anagramming? i.e. S E B I A + S T A N K N I G H T. I don't see anything there
(too few vowels and not a dr or mr in sight), but perhaps Alexey will? On
second glance I do think there's a holy man lurking around ... is there a
martyr in the house?
Carolyn
p.s. One possible solution:
SEBIA THANKING S(ain)T (ili naoborot). But what does it
mean? (I) Don 't remember the book well enough to say.
p.p.s. OR, it could be "thanking st. sebia"?
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