Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011915, Sun, 18 Sep 2005 08:19:31 -0700

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Re: Fwd: Re: Nabokovian blunders
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----- Forwarded message from tacolquhoun@btopenworld.com -----
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 10:16:01 +0100 (BST)
From: TA Colquhoun <tacolquhoun@btopenworld.com>
Reply-To: TA Colquhoun <tacolquhoun@btopenworld.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Nabokovian blunders
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum

This may be a purely British English angle, but 'Vivian' at least in the UK is a
boy's name. The female form is 'Vivien' (fx Vivien Leigh).

>Another dimension to VN's 'gender-bending' strategy involved VN himself
dressing up in anagram guise as Vivian Darkbloom, the silent mistress of
Lolita's early abuser, Clare Quilty. The autobiographical reverberations
attached to this particular cryptic crossword style clue are, I would
suggest, highly significant.

Jo Morgan
Sydney<

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