Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0018379, Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:01:11 -0400

Subject
Re: "Nabokov's Code",
wa s made es p ecially fo r the Nabo kov Museum ...
Date
Body
FROM THE POST: 'The image opening this series is a sphere which does not fit
into a unified network of square cells. This image corresponds to the
restless hero from the play "To the Mountains from the Mind" by Alexander
Griboyedov, a Russian diplomat who was killed in Teheran.'



Powelstock: Something has gone hilariously wrong in translation here, it
seems. "To the Mountains from the Mind," which sounds like it should be a
1960s American folk song, translates "Gore ot uma," which actually means
"woe from the mind," often translated as "Woe from Wit." I would be tempted
to translate it as "The Misfortune of Intelligence." The error occurs
because the nominative singular of 'woe' and the dative singular of mountain
('gora') are both spelled 'gore.' VN would have been amused, I think.



Cheers to all,



David Powelstock


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