PS: "In all his life, said stolid Greg to Van, he had
never seen such an ugly engine, surgically circumcised, terrifically oversized
and high-colored, with such a phenomenal cœur de bœuf; nor had either of
the fascinated, fastidious boys ever witnessed the like of its sustained,
strongly arched, practically everlasting stream." -
it's not the first time
that Nabokov mentions a "coeur de boeuf," is
it?
JM: I found the reference to
"Coeur de Boeuf" in Pale Fire. Harfar,
like Ada's Percy de Prey, is "phenomenally
endowed"...
Pale Fire note to lines 433-434: "A message from the Karlists containing these simple considerations
checked her progress in Stockholm, and she flew back to her perch in a mood of
frustration and fury (mainly, I think, because the message had been conveyed to
her by a cousin of hers, good old Curdy Buff, whom she loathed)...."
(p.205)
"He congratulated her on her attitude, solemnly swearing that he had
given up, or at least would give up, the practices of his youth; but everywhere
along the road powerful temptations stood at attention. He succumbed to them
from time to time, then every other day, then several times daily — especially
during the robust regime of Harfar Baron of Shalksbore, a phenomenally endowed
young brute (whose family name, "knave’s farm," is the most probable derivation
of "Shakespeare"). Curdy Buff — as Harfar was nicknamed by his admirers — had a
huge escort of acrobats and bareback riders, and the whole affair rather got out
of hand so that Disa, upon unexpectedly returning from a trip to Sweden, found
the Palace transformed into a circus."
(p.208)
.......................................................................................................................................................
Former
Nab-L posting (using the "cache" resource)
...In Pale Fire's Index
we find: Shalksbore, Baron Harfar, known as Curdy Buff, b. 1921, man of
fashion and Zemblan patriot ( 433).Queen Disa had a cousin nicknamed Curdy Buff
( ' his family name, "knave's farm," is the most probable
derivation of "Shakespeare" ', as CK informs us).
Curdy Buff, "Coeur de Boeuf": how is he related
to Shakespeare, knaves and appetizing tomatoes? What is his importance in Pale
Fire?
Former posting (with no "cache" to open it):
NABOKV-L Archives -- May 2005 (#66) Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Why did Pale
Fire's Disa laugh? ... Boyd mentioned "Curdy Buff" as a derivation from "coeur
de boeuf" (ox heart). listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0505&L=nabokv-l.....