Alexey
Sklyarenko: ...In his article Suvorin and
Chekhov (1914) Merezhkovsky quotes practically the full text of "Лесной царь" (Zhukovsky's version of Goethe's
Erlkoenig): Какое-то
наваждение, злая чара, колдовство проклятое, напоминающее сказку о «Лесном царе»
[...] According to Antonina Pavlovna..., the night is wild and
windy. But Troshcheykin finds it odd: there is no wind at all.(**) Antonina
Pavlovna: "then it is the hum in my ears." Troshcheykin sarcastically suggests
that it is the Muse's whisper. // (**) cf. Goethe's Wanderers
Nachtlied (1780): "Kaum einen
Hauch"
JM: Following Alexey Sklyarenko's quotes from Zhukovsky's version,
it should be possible to check if Charles Kinbote is
referring to a special Russian translation, or if he,
Shade and Nabokov read Goethe in the original. This interests me because CK's commentary sustains that "Goethe's
two lines opening the poem come out... with the bonus of an unexpected
rhyme"*. After
all, in Goethe's original rhymes ("Wind/Kind") are to be expected.
Kinbote seems inclined to deny his
familiarity with German and only mentions Zemblan "vett/dett," and
the French "vent/enfant."
His commentary can make readers
uncertain if he is referring to the German Erlkönig
(even though, later
on, he'll praise Shade's rendering of its rythm**).
CK indicates that he works for a
distinguished Zemblan scholar, Oscar Nattochdag but can we be sure that
Zembla is a real fictional place in Nabokov's novel?
What do
Nattochdag, Kinbote and Botkin teach? to what departments do they
belong?
We know that Prof. V. Botkin, "an American scholar of Russian
descent," doesn't work under Prof. Pnin, who is Head of the Russian
Department.
On re-reading Goethe's poem I
noticed that the boy's complaints about eerie noises and rappings are explained
away by his father and that this dynamic is repeated two times in John
Shade's poem in his contact with his wife. Sybil is the one who is
behaving like the frightened boy. Her husband, like the sick
boy's father, ignores her ominous intuitions and offers
only trivial explanations. The association of the Erlkönig
with Hazel is equally misplaced.
btw: the link to Goethe's
Wanderers Nachtlied ("kaum einen Hauch") is not directly
related to the Erlkönig poem and, even more so, to its use by
Shade and Kinbote in Pale Fire. However, just like in the
exchanges bt. the Shade couple, Antonina Pavolovna complains about the
wind, admits it might come from a hum in her ears,
but receives a sarcastic answer about a whispering muse...
...........................................................................................
* (Note to line
662) "Goethe’s two lines opening the poem come out most exactly and
beautifully, with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme (also in French:
vent-enfant), in my own language."
** (idem):"This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to
the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the
elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a
belated traveler. One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which
Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballad (a
trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse..".