Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008123, Thu, 17 Jul 2003 10:13:22 -0700

Subject
NABOKOV & OED: concertinaed analysis a la fourchette ==
Date
Body
EDNOTE. Tom Bolt, author of the brilliant long poem "Dark Ice" (available, I
believe on ZEMBLA), offers the Nabokov citations from among the 2.5 million
in the current
20-vol. Oxford English Dictionary. Bolt's poem offers a vertiginous
interplay with Shade's "Pale Fire."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Bolt" <bolt@tbolt.com>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (90
lines) ------------------
> I have the OED 2nd Edition on my hard drive. Three kinds of
> searches turned up the following:
>
>
> appraisive
> 1967 Nabokov Speak, Memory (ed. 2) ii. 40 Her grim father
> would..give the heaviest racket an appraisive shake.
>
> concentratedly
> 1964 Nabokov Defence xiii. 215 Luzhin silently and
> concentratedly fed chocolates to little Ivan, and Ivan silently
> and concentratedly ate them.
>
> concertinaed
> 1963 Nabokov Gift iv. 266 From beneath the overcoat his black
> trousers concertinaed over his rubbers.
> Hence
> concer£tinaed ppl. a., closed or folded in a manner resembling a
> concertina; wrinkled; collapsed.
> 1905 Westm. Gaz. 4 July 6/3 A concertinaed opera-hat.
> 1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling iii. ß4 Fold after fold of
> concertina-ed flannel gathered about his ankles.
> 1962 Listener 8 Mar. 435/2 His concertina-ed syntax is more
> dutiful than magical.
>
> simultaneous
> 1964 Nabokov & Scammell tr. Nabokovís Defence v. 77 An onlooker
> knowing nothing about simultaneous chess would be utterly
> baffled at the sight of these elderly men in black sitting
> gloomily behind boards that bristle thickly with curiously cut
> manikins, while a nimble..lad..walks lightly from table to
> table.
>
> ? la fourchette
> 1957 V. Nabokov Pnin 157 A supper ? la fourchette.
>
> analysis
> 1963 V. Nabokov Gift iii. 188 In the final analysis all girls
> aspire to be beauties.
>
> ankle
> 1962 V. Nabokov Pale Fire 123 In those days growing boys of
> high-born families wore on festive occasions..sleeveless
> jerseys, white ankle-socks with black buckle shoes, [etc.].
>
> Berliner
> 1963 V. Nabokov Gift i. 35 The perpetual fetters that chain a
> Berliner to the door lock.
>
> blacked
> 1967 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (ed. 2) xiv. 292 Opaque curtains
> separated me from blacked-out Paris.
>
> bong
> 1960 V. Nabokov Invit. Beheading iv. 43 The merciless bong of
> the clock.
>
>
> (Blacked Bong!)
>
> ============
> Nabokovian (nÊb3£k#f=3n, n3£b#k#f=3n), a.
> [f. the name Nabokov (see below) + -ian.]
> Of, pertaining to, resembling, or characteristic of the
> Russian-born novelist and poet Vladimir Nabokov (1899ñ1977) or
> his writings.
> 1959 Observer 1 Nov. 21/6 There is a Nabokovian poignancy in
> leaving such delicate things to be destroyed, as he says with a
> rueful smile, ëby such booted peopleí.
> 1965 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Jan. 68/4 Mr. Nabokovís Eugene Onegin
> will be read not for the learning. It will be read for the
> brilliant fireworks of his prose and for the beauty of the
> Nabokovian phrase.
> 1968 Punch 25 Dec. 932/3 Mr. Stegner chooses instead to invest
> detail with significance, and he overwrites in truly Nabokovian
> manner.
> 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 10 June 68/2, I found myself searching for
> Nabokovian anagrams in the names.
> 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 1285/1 The narrative manner
> similarly alternates between abruptly functional stage or
> screen-direction and a Nabokovian obliquity in which words take
> on an energy of their own and skitter away from the matter in
> hand.
> ============
>
>
> ~ Tom
> http://tbolt.com
>
>
>