PS: The message went out before I duly checked.
The list of misprints Nabokov mentions in SO, are
applicable to the Putnam edition, 1962, second impression.
There is an added footnote to it, an "Errata
Department" aside, where the misprints from the Lancer Books paperback
edition of Pale Fire, 1963 are mentioned.
It is noted that "Nabokov's other books are relatively
free from misprints..." (curious, no?)
The "Litt" is not mentioned, it must be a novel thing,
or a deliberate wordplay indeed.
Cf. Strong Opinions, Vintage International
paperback,,1990, page 75.
...............................................................................
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] [NABOKOV-L] A recurrent typo or a
pun?
Eric Hyman: "One possibility is the
"Litt." alludes to D. Litt., the usual, but not universal, abbreviation
for Doctor Litterarum (Doctor of Letters, Doctor of Literature). The D.
Litt. abbreviation is more common when it is an honorary degree. D. Litt,
because it is Latin-based, is the more old-fashioned abbreviation and is the one
VN was more likely to be accustomed to." [an item that is related to S
K-B's "my Everyman's Pale Fire (1992, ll 376-7, page 46) has "English Lit", the
common abbreviation for "Literature," although picky Chicago-Stylish copy
editors would insist on adding a period/fullstop: "Lit."! The answer, of course,
lies in VN's original m/s and the subsequent, final draft approved by him. We
know VN was a super-careful prof-redder!..." in answer to JM's query: "Lines
376-377: was said in English Litt to be" ..."Pale Fire": Library of America
Nabokov, p.578; Everyman's p.194.]
JM: I dare insist that it is a persistent
typo. Somewhere in "Strong Opinions" Nabokov notifies his readers about several
mistypes he's spotted in "Pale Fire," but I haven't yet located this entry
to see if he, himself, complains about "litt."
Alexey
Sklyarenko corrected an item, related to "circumnavigation" and
Baron von Langsdorff. I should have spelled Yuri Lisyanki. He explains that
the name Yuri is a form of Georgiy and corresponds to English George. As to the
family name Lisyanski, it comes from lis, "(dog-)fox"."
I was reminded
of former discussions related to Webster's "foxes" (and Stephen Dedalus'
dog in Ulysses), because I just came across a stuffed fox ("or coyote) reposing
on a black trunk that lies on top of a bigger brown one in Shade's basement
(Shade does write about "foxed files", premonitorily
perhaps!).