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Re: THOUGHTS: Gradus anagrams
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Matt: I suspect that we both feel in our bones that pulling out arbitrary
strings of text and juggling their letters is unlikely to contribute to
serious literary analysis? Nabokov indulges in many forms of word play
(puns, mis-allusions, rhyming-slang, acrostics, spoonerisms, anagrams) but
they are served with donnish knowing winks, nudges (and even the occasional
embarrassing smirk) aimed at his prefered target audience. But, this
audience of creative re-readers really disserve the Master if they overly
dwell on these amusing but insignificant and short-lived tics and tricks.
Future generations will be as puzzled as we are today by Shakespeare¹s dated
verbal jokes!
On 11/06/2010 23:47, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> In the spring 2010 Nabokovian, Alex Roy points out that according to the Index
> to PF, Gradus should appear in the note to line 12; however, he is not
> explicitly mentioned there. Roy finds him in an anagram of Angus MacDiarmid,
> which he refigures as "Gradus, ici madman" (ici = institute for the criminally
> insane, Jack G's last address). Anagram-hunting is not my sport (it's hard to
> tell the difference between chance and intent) but were I to play that game, I
> would point out another anagram directly following the MacDiarmid one. Paired
> with our man Angus is "Southey's Lingo-Grande," which, anagramized, comes out
> as "see Gradus, loony thing." Or, if you prefer a more index-like entry,
> "Gradus, see loony thing." So, does this double incidence confirm intention,
> or does it make the opposite point--that anagrams occur by chance all the
> time, so we should be wary of assigning intent?
>
> Matt Roth
>
>
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strings of text and juggling their letters is unlikely to contribute to
serious literary analysis? Nabokov indulges in many forms of word play
(puns, mis-allusions, rhyming-slang, acrostics, spoonerisms, anagrams) but
they are served with donnish knowing winks, nudges (and even the occasional
embarrassing smirk) aimed at his prefered target audience. But, this
audience of creative re-readers really disserve the Master if they overly
dwell on these amusing but insignificant and short-lived tics and tricks.
Future generations will be as puzzled as we are today by Shakespeare¹s dated
verbal jokes!
On 11/06/2010 23:47, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> In the spring 2010 Nabokovian, Alex Roy points out that according to the Index
> to PF, Gradus should appear in the note to line 12; however, he is not
> explicitly mentioned there. Roy finds him in an anagram of Angus MacDiarmid,
> which he refigures as "Gradus, ici madman" (ici = institute for the criminally
> insane, Jack G's last address). Anagram-hunting is not my sport (it's hard to
> tell the difference between chance and intent) but were I to play that game, I
> would point out another anagram directly following the MacDiarmid one. Paired
> with our man Angus is "Southey's Lingo-Grande," which, anagramized, comes out
> as "see Gradus, loony thing." Or, if you prefer a more index-like entry,
> "Gradus, see loony thing." So, does this double incidence confirm intention,
> or does it make the opposite point--that anagrams occur by chance all the
> time, so we should be wary of assigning intent?
>
> Matt Roth
>
>
> Search the archive
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu=en> Contact
> the Editors <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com>
> Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View Nabokv-L
> Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage subscription
> options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/