Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0022054, Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:45:05 -0300

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Antidulcinist
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Alexey Sklyarenko: One of the guests at Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party, the famous writer Pyotr Nikolaevich, says that he is an antidulcinist, a person who doesn't like sweets ("The Event," Act Two). According to A. Babikov, "antidulcinist" hints at Dolce stil novo (the literary movement of the 13th century in Italy) and at Eugene Onegin... More likely, though, the allusion is to Don Quixote's Dulcinea...

JM: In his lectures on Quixote, Nabokov carefully discerns a host of circunstancial details. In contrast JLBorges refers to the complete absence of any feeling for natural things in it ("I think that in Quixote it never rains") or actual geographical locations besides the conventional brooks and lakes. It all depends on how we look at it...A link to Cervantes' Dulcinea may simply derive from the sweet meaning of her name, but we may equally keep in my who Dulcinea is.
To save time, I'll merely reproduce a google shosrt-cut to her: "In Cervantes' book we never meet Dulcinea. She exists only in Alonso Quixano's mind...after he stepped into some rusty armor in 1605... to become the immortal Don Quixote de la Mancha.Believing himself to be a knight and a peasant girl of his village to be the magnificent Princess Dulcinea, every deed, every journey and every quest is made in her name. But the girl, Aldonza Lorenzo by name, is utterly unaware of these events as Don Quixote never speaks to her and loves her only from afar. But his 'Lady Dulcinea' plays a vital role in Alonso's life and her presence is felt throughout the book."
"Her name is Dulcinea, her kingdom, Toboso, which is in La Mancha, her condition must be that of princess, at the very least, for she is my queen and lady, and her beauty is supernatural, for in it one finds the reality of all the impossible."


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