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Re: SKB re: Allan Ginsburg in PF
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Dear List,
Another possible model for Kinbote is Richard Burton, the famous translator of 1001 Nights, whose kinky and highly personal notes VN might have read while working on his Eugene Onegin translation/annotation. This is of course not my find. It is Robert Irwin’s view in The Companion to Arabian Nights.
Gholamreza Shafiee
--- On Tue, 8/24/10, R S Gwynn <Rsgwynn1@CS.COM> wrote:
From: R S Gwynn <Rsgwynn1@CS.COM>
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] SKB re: Allan Ginsburg in PF
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 4:28 PM
In a message dated 8/24/2010 3:49:04 PM Central Daylight Time, nabokv-l@UTK.EDU writes:
Gary: for those unconvinced by possible physiognomical resemblances between Ginsberg and Kinbote, I offer
tentative but plausible support for your suggested model:
ALLAN GINSBERG = LENIN¹S GRAB LAG. Here, Lenin is an obvious symbol for the
Zemblan revolutionary regime overthrowing and hunting down King
Charles/Kinbote. It was Lenin, recall, who, according to wide scholarly
consensus, ordered the murder of the Tsar, his entire family, his doctor and
three servants (Ekaterinburg, July 16, 1918. No, alas, Anastasia did not survive.)
Both the delay and ultimate failure in assassinating Kinbote are clearly
embedded in the phrase grab lag. QED.
Of course it could be Lenin's gal garb if we impute cross-dressing (why not?) to Kinbote.
If you're looking for poets as models for CK, try Pound, who edited the most famous long poem of the century and was full of megalomanic delusions. And who also had a beard. And was a sort of exile. Hetero, but kinky.
In my essay in the forthcoming PF book from Gingko, I do mention Lowell as a possible influence on VN's conception of JS's poem, mainly because Lowell's most recent book at the time of PF's action was The Mills of the Kavanaughs, much of which is in couplets (Life Studies appeared at about the time of Shade's death and is mostly free verse and prose). If VN was going to set his sights on a contemporary poet as one worthy of competing with, RL would have been at the top of the heap (Frost was in his decline), and he and RL, who had once been friendly, had fallen out badly over arguments about translation.
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Another possible model for Kinbote is Richard Burton, the famous translator of 1001 Nights, whose kinky and highly personal notes VN might have read while working on his Eugene Onegin translation/annotation. This is of course not my find. It is Robert Irwin’s view in The Companion to Arabian Nights.
Gholamreza Shafiee
--- On Tue, 8/24/10, R S Gwynn <Rsgwynn1@CS.COM> wrote:
From: R S Gwynn <Rsgwynn1@CS.COM>
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] SKB re: Allan Ginsburg in PF
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 4:28 PM
In a message dated 8/24/2010 3:49:04 PM Central Daylight Time, nabokv-l@UTK.EDU writes:
Gary: for those unconvinced by possible physiognomical resemblances between Ginsberg and Kinbote, I offer
tentative but plausible support for your suggested model:
ALLAN GINSBERG = LENIN¹S GRAB LAG. Here, Lenin is an obvious symbol for the
Zemblan revolutionary regime overthrowing and hunting down King
Charles/Kinbote. It was Lenin, recall, who, according to wide scholarly
consensus, ordered the murder of the Tsar, his entire family, his doctor and
three servants (Ekaterinburg, July 16, 1918. No, alas, Anastasia did not survive.)
Both the delay and ultimate failure in assassinating Kinbote are clearly
embedded in the phrase grab lag. QED.
Of course it could be Lenin's gal garb if we impute cross-dressing (why not?) to Kinbote.
If you're looking for poets as models for CK, try Pound, who edited the most famous long poem of the century and was full of megalomanic delusions. And who also had a beard. And was a sort of exile. Hetero, but kinky.
In my essay in the forthcoming PF book from Gingko, I do mention Lowell as a possible influence on VN's conception of JS's poem, mainly because Lowell's most recent book at the time of PF's action was The Mills of the Kavanaughs, much of which is in couplets (Life Studies appeared at about the time of Shade's death and is mostly free verse and prose). If VN was going to set his sights on a contemporary poet as one worthy of competing with, RL would have been at the top of the heap (Frost was in his decline), and he and RL, who had once been friendly, had fallen out badly over arguments about translation.
Search the archive
Contact the Editors
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies
Manage subscription options
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
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/