Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011369, Fri, 22 Apr 2005 05:16:41 -0700

Subject
Fwd: Re: Meaning of "Enchanter" and a new question about "Rast"
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----- Forwarded message from STADLEN@aol.com -----
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 07:22:26 EDT
From: STADLEN@aol.com
Reply-To: STADLEN@aol.com
Subject: Re: Meaning of "Enchanter" and a new question about "Rast"
To: In a message dated 22/04/2005 01:55:17 GMT Standard Time,
chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu writes:

> Dear List and Anthony Stadlen,
>
> Nabokov never ceases to surprise us and show how inattentive one can be. I
> saw
> Kubrick´s movie several times and never noticed the "hunted enchanters"
> inversion. Would Nabokov have suggested it? You say it was not in his
> screen-play.
>

Dear Jansy and List,

I forget now whether the hotel was referred to in speech in the film as "The
Hunted Enchanters", but I think it probably was. I know that it was not
referred to in speech as "The Enchanted Hunters" (I specifically checked for
this).
I also know that there was a large, clearly visible written sign for the hotel
naming it as "The Hunted Enchanters".

I also know that in his published screenplay the hotel is named, as in the
novel, "The Enchanted Hunters".

At the time I did suspect that this was VN's little joke, perhaps about
himself being an "enchanter" (as he said a novelist should be) who was "hunted"
by
the press, Kubrick, etc. It seemed, if so, just a little off as the hotel was
the scene of HH's sordid seduction of Lolita ("she seduced me"). And all the
more so when one considers the title of his subsequently published novella. But
perhaps I am too priggish.

Anthony Stadlen

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