PS
[ to Congs
to Alexey for the English version of "The Red Flower of
Evil..."Why did Nabokov make Lucette
describe herself as Van's "vaginal" sister?] Inspite of movies and
recorded voices, I often don't know how certain words in
English "sound." Vaginal, for example, couldn't be mistaken for
"virginal" could it?
While I was watching Stan Lee& Jack
Kirby's movie series, "X-Men", I heard the name of one of its
characters, Prof. Xavier sounding like
"Saviour". Would PF's Kinbote name (
ie, Charles Xavier, the Last King of Zembla)
equally suggest "saviour"?
Would Nabokov have been aware of this
coincidence, or employed it for some hidden purpose? ( John Shade's middle name "Francis"cannot have been
inspired by the 1963 Marvel Comics hero, because "Francis" came
as a later (1996) addition*).
..................................................................................................................................................
* - Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as
Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the
leader and founder of the X-Men. Throughout most of his comic book history,
Xavier is paraplegic, although his body houses one of the world's most powerful
mutant minds. As a high-level telepath, Xavier can read, control and influence
human minds. A scientific genius, he is also a leading authority on genetics,
mutation, and psionic powers. Professor Xavier's character development has been
inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. Writer Scott Lobdell established Xavier's
middle name to be Francis in Uncanny X-Men #328 (January 1996).Stan Lee has
stated that the physical inspiration of Professor Xavier was from Academy
Award–winning actor Yul Brynner.
Xavier’s goals are to promote the peaceful affirmation
of mutant rights, to mediate the co-existence of mutants and humans and to
protect society from antagonistic mutants, including his old friend, the
militant Magneto. To achieve these aims, he founded Xavier's School for Gifted
Youngsters (later named the Xavier Institute) to teach mutants to explore and
control their powers.In the comics' history, the X-Men rarely operate without
Xavier. He also appears in almost all of the X-Men animated series...According
to BusinessWeek, Charles Xavier is listed as one of the top ten most intelligent
fictional characters in American comics