Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0020536, Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:57:10 -0300

Subject
RES: [NABOKV-L] VNbIBLIOGRAPHY: ??? ?86,
????? ??????????? RE VN & CHESS
From
Date
Body
Steve Norquist: This is probably going to look funny to those who are fluent
in both Russian and English, but here is google's translation of the
submitted text into English.

JM: I tried to read the automatic translation, but it was a torture. One
word stood out, at first, related to chess. "Rook".

I had just asked the list about "raven" (apparently, a translation from the
Czech "kafka"). Ravens and rooks are both "corvus"

The Common Raven (Corvus corax), also known as the Northern Raven, is a
large, all-black passerine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine> bird in
the crow family <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae> ;

The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a member of the Corvidae
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae> family in the passerine
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine> order of birds. Named by Carl
Linnaeus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus> in 1758,[2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(bird)#cite_note-1> the species name
frugilegus is Latin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin> for
"food-gathering".

Can anyone inform me if "kafka" indicates the raven or the rook in czech? (
still trusting novelist Murakami's information).


A second question ( related to the original in Russian in the translation
provided by Google/Norquist): what does "elephant" mean in the poem? (cf.
the lines reproduced below)

"But lingers still dwarf.

And then pushed nail color of iodine

figure. Yes! He donates elephant

magic checkmate in four moves.

II

Movement of rhymes and dancers cruise

is a chess problem. Show...



Crows, ravens, rooks and elephants.?

A third item: TOOL's "Philidor Savage" (certainly not a dwarf!) could his
name indicate something related to a chess move?



Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en

Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com

Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/








Attachment