NABOKV-L discussion

Has anyone already mined the last sentence of each translated-Russian Foreword for, for instance, anagrams? The last sentence in each case is usually a little off in some way. For instance, looking at the last line in the Foreword to The Gift, "The epilogic poem mimicks an Onegin stanza," could have easily been conflated with the sentence before it. Trying to find anagrams, one possible start is "I am happiest seeking zoologic..." with macenim still left.

Hi all,

The Sydney Review of Books has just published my long-ish review essay of Insomniac Dreams, so I thought I'd share it here on the new forum too.

https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/insomniac-dreams-experiments-with-time-vladimir-nabokov/

 WILLIAM MORRIS

I’d like to share a “find” for another possible source for Pale Fire.  (see my post of July 20 for Laughten Osborn’s Visions of Rubeta as possible source. I don’t see these conflicting in any way; an Indra’s Net of multiple allusions reflecting each other seems to be a major motif in PF)

Zachary Ross (my son) has just come across a very interesting article that I believe suggests an important source for Pale Fire:

https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/ass-foretold

Kinbote’s commentary 149 mentions two islands, “Nitra and Indra” (meaning ‘inner’ and outer’), “two black islets that seemed to address each other in cloaked parley…”

I believe these refer to two Hindu gods, Nidra and Indra.  Nabokov may have used a different transliteration for Nidra (Nitra), or he may have decided to play a little word-golf in order to obfuscate the meaning in order to have the reader dig deeper into the fact that ‘Nidra” and “Indra” are anagrams.

From Eric Naiman:

For those of us who teach or admire Lolita, Anne Dwyer (Pomona College) has published an eloquent defense of the novel.

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/14/teaching-lolita-still-appropriate-opinion

Subject: great beaver, Sudarg of Bokay, Italian despot, consonne d'appui & Pope in Pale Fire

This  message  was originally  submitted  by  alainfchamplain@GMAIL.COM 

Who did/do you think Gerald Emerald was referring to when he said “I guess
Mr. Shade has already left with the Great Beaver," in the Foreword?

I always thought the joke was obvious, but I've come across several
theories involving Castor and Pollux, Castro, Shakespearean armor — none of
which have mentioned the heart of the bit.

At this risk of stating the obvious: