Subject
Re: golova
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Alexey: it’s quite a natural and common metonymy. We say, e.g., “He has a
head on his shoulders,” and “he has a head for mathematics.” You continue to
have a head for diverting word-plays! I can add that “pouf/poof/pooftah” are
discouraged terms for male homosexuals, but am reluctant to make any
connections with Ivan Ilyich’s after-life orientation! Also, that Ivan
spelt backwards is a 19th century Irish canal digger. Canal points to Lacan,
whose mirror-stage resonates with Nabokov’s fruitful symmetries.
SKB
On 11/02/2010 12:38, "Alexey Sklyarenko" <skylark05@MAIL.RU> wrote:
> In Ilf and Petrov's "The Golden Calf" the word голова is used idiomatically,
> in the sense "good brains:"
>
> – Бриан! – говорили они с жаром. – Вот это голова! Он со своим проектом
> пан-Европы...
>
> Briand!* - they [old men in the pique waistcoats] said with animation - He has
> good brains indeed! With his project of pan-Europe... (Chapter XIV: "The First
> Rendezvous")
>
> The setting of "The Golden Calf" is Chernomorsk. The villain in Pushkin's
> "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is an evil dwarf Chernomor. He has a brother, Golova
> (the still alive gigantic head that was chopped off by Chernomor).
>
> Château + Briand = Châteaubriand; Golova (head) + Veen = Golovin. Ivan Ilyich
> dies in Tolstoy's story, but he lives on as a pouf ("ivanilich, a kind of
> sighing old hassock upholstered in leather:" 1.37) and as Van Veen (whose
> first name needs but the initial I to become Ivan and whose family name looks
> as if it were the Englished last syllable of Ivan Ilyich's surname) in Ada.
>
> *Aristide Briand, 1862-1932, a French statesman
>
> Alexey Sklyarenko
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head on his shoulders,” and “he has a head for mathematics.” You continue to
have a head for diverting word-plays! I can add that “pouf/poof/pooftah” are
discouraged terms for male homosexuals, but am reluctant to make any
connections with Ivan Ilyich’s after-life orientation! Also, that Ivan
spelt backwards is a 19th century Irish canal digger. Canal points to Lacan,
whose mirror-stage resonates with Nabokov’s fruitful symmetries.
SKB
On 11/02/2010 12:38, "Alexey Sklyarenko" <skylark05@MAIL.RU> wrote:
> In Ilf and Petrov's "The Golden Calf" the word голова is used idiomatically,
> in the sense "good brains:"
>
> – Бриан! – говорили они с жаром. – Вот это голова! Он со своим проектом
> пан-Европы...
>
> Briand!* - they [old men in the pique waistcoats] said with animation - He has
> good brains indeed! With his project of pan-Europe... (Chapter XIV: "The First
> Rendezvous")
>
> The setting of "The Golden Calf" is Chernomorsk. The villain in Pushkin's
> "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is an evil dwarf Chernomor. He has a brother, Golova
> (the still alive gigantic head that was chopped off by Chernomor).
>
> Château + Briand = Châteaubriand; Golova (head) + Veen = Golovin. Ivan Ilyich
> dies in Tolstoy's story, but he lives on as a pouf ("ivanilich, a kind of
> sighing old hassock upholstered in leather:" 1.37) and as Van Veen (whose
> first name needs but the initial I to become Ivan and whose family name looks
> as if it were the Englished last syllable of Ivan Ilyich's surname) in Ada.
>
> *Aristide Briand, 1862-1932, a French statesman
>
> Alexey Sklyarenko
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/