Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010411, Wed, 6 Oct 2004 12:05:19 -0700

Subject
Re: Fw: [Fwd: TT-15 / sending again
Date
Body
I'll be less longwinded on this chapter:
John

Donald B. Johnson wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
> To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 2:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [Fwd: TT-15 Introductory Notes (corrected)]
>
> Hi, Don perhaps I´m way off the mark but "greetings" in German, " Gruss Gott"
(
> from what I remember) are very typical in the Austria and in some rural
areas
> in Germany.

In spring 1950, during one of my two visits to Liechtenstein, when
walking along the road out of town, whenever we met locals, mostly
rural, they would smile and greet us, "Gruss Gott". So that custom
goes as far east of that 3.5 mile wide country, wedged between Austria
and eastern Switzerland.

54.23 "Orange peel marked the place" [where Hugh was about to "make
love" to Armande.] -- These are presumably the remains of the four
oranges Hugh refused from Armande and her three "Jocks" who were
leaving him behind on the way up the mountain at 51.24: and presumably
thus mark the spot where a similar act or acts had taken place then.

54.28 the thick=knit black tights she wore -- The garments that
Americans call "Panty-hose", are in British English "tights", just
as American "panties" are British "knickers", {Which Ada, like
Marilyn Monroe, Jean Harlowe and apparently Carmen Miranca did not wear.)

54.35 "One will go home now" Another non-English utterance, directly
translating the French, wherein standard popular language uses "on"
plus a third singular in place of a first person plural 'nous' This
serves to simplify the verb paradigm nicely.

55.16 "brief vibration in which she dissolved" -- I shall, in my
shyness, let one of our female scholars explicate this bit of poetry.
>
John

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