Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016808, Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:59:11 -0300

Subject
Re: Pale Fire 'book of names' is Pnin]
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Date
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J.Friedman: I'm sorry to disagree, Matt, but I have here a book of surnames in a variety of languages: /What's in a Name:Surnames of America/ by La Reina Rule and William K.Hammond... a book in English can discuss names from other languages...

W. of R: For the benefit of old-fashioned readers who wish to follow the destinies of the "real" people beyond the "true" story, a few details may be given.
Mr."Windmuller," of "Ramsdale," desires his identity suppressed so that "the long shadow of this sorry and sordid business" should not reach the community to which he is proud to belong". Actually, my name is Allen a Dale ( we know that " Dale is often "dall"; Tindall stands for Tyne-dale. Udall is the yew-dale. Sometimes Dale is corrupted into "dow" or "daw," as Lindow or Lindaw" ) and, besides, there was an Opal Something, and Linda Hall, and Avis Chapman, and Eva Rosen, and Mona Dahl (save one, all these names are approximations, of course) -- not only the Homo pollex of science, with all its many sub-species and forms; the modest soldier, spic and span, quietly waiting, quietly conscious of khaki's viatic appeal; the schoolboy wishing to go two blocks; the killer wishing to go two thousand miles; the mysterious, nervous, elderly gent, with brand-new suitcase and clipped mustache; a trio of optimistic Mexicans; the college student displaying the grime of vacational outdoor work as proudly as the name of the famous college arching across the front of his sweatshirt; the desperate lady whose battery has just died on her; the clean-cut, glossy-haired, shifty-eyed, white-faced young beasts in loud shirts and coats, vigorously, almost priapically thrusting out tense thumbs to tempt lone women or sadsack salesmen with fancy cravings.
( quotes by real JM)


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