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Fw: Meaning of "Enchanter" J-2
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----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:19:02 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Fw: Meaning of "Enchanter" J-2
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Dear Don ( now in NY ) and List
A special question for those who have already felt misgivings about how the
"enchanters" are seen by VN.
Although I knew that the character in the pre-Lolita story "The Enchanter" was
far from winsome and magical, I always considered the meaning of "enchanter"
as suggestive of positive qualities.
I had in mind, particularly, VN´s own description of the qualities found in a
good writer who had to be, first of all, an enchanter.
Now, while reading VN´s Lectures on Don Quixote I came across the word
"enchanter" used only negatively in association with "mystification and
cruelty". The enchanters were those that practiced and enjoyed torturing
someone, mainly by causing extreme mental pain.
I doubt that VN referred to this kind of "enchantment" when speaking about the
charms of nymphet Lolita ( although she was a deceiver i.e also an "enchanter"
in the second sense of the word ) or even when describing the play about "The
enchanted hunters" or...as the principal talent in a good writer.
Is there a clear double meaning in the Russian word that may escape the
intuitive first grasp of those that don´t speak Russian?
----- End forwarded message -----