Subject
Nabokov's Butterflies. A comment for Jansy.
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Date
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[EDNOTE. DN responds here to Jansy's queries on first looking into
Chapman in Nabokov's Butterflies. -- SES]
>While perusing an old encyclopaedia to learn about "cicadas" ( here
they
are now singing by the hundreds: it is Spring in Brazil ) I found out
about Chapman ( mentioned in Godunov- Cherdyntsev's recollections on
"Father's Butterflies"):
Frank Milcher Chapman [ ( 1864-1945),US Ornithologist who did pioneer
work in popularizing bird study, etc...] No entomologist Chapman.
Following DN's Commentaries to the sentence, on page 208, "(as did
Chapman and...)", I reached note 54: "VN had not yet invented a
co-author" .
Searching the Index I found in "C" Chapman's Green Hairstreak, 218,
leading to a sentence about Chapman's "pathological specimen of avis"
(i.e: ornithology)
There was no other entry for the intriguing Chapman on page 208.
-------------
Jansy:
There are other instances as well of as-yet-uninvented co-authors for
real scientists. As for avis, it pertains here not to birds but to
butterflies, of the hair-streak variety, genus Thecla. You can check
that in any specialized text, and even in Vol. XI of the OED.
DN
-----------
Dear Jansy,
I am delighted that you have plunged into Nabokov's ButterfIies. What
follows is a word of caution, with absolutely no offense intended. In
perusing this volume, particularly the section titled "Father's
Butterflies" (which, originally, was "The second addendum to Dar", and
which I translated for this volume), you will find yourself in tricky
territory. The personal and hypothetical view of the universe and its
development of the fictional elder Godunov-Cherdyntsev, recorded to the
best of his ability by the naturalist's son, the poet Fyodor, is, by
Fyodor's admission, imperfect. It also contains many intricacies, and
combinations of reality and invention, on the part of VN himself. In
other words, as you have seen from your initial attempt at comment, the
text is filled with booby traps. In some such cases but not all,
expertise in several kindred fields may help. Many months were devoted
to its preparation, which entailed deciphering the manuscriipt, a
palimpsest that wavered between the barely legible and the illegible
(here I had precious assistance from Alexandr Dolinin and Brian Boyd);
and translating the most difficult material I had ever encountered. The
English version is the fruit of much research, much thought, and much
translational effort. A rare bloomer may have slipped through the net
(such as my absent-minded confusion of storks with ostriches).
Otherwise, the text has undergone much checking and, I'd say, is pretty
dependable. In, in fact, I used part of it as the basis of a symposium
on translation at a major American university. Nevertheless, things are
not always what they seem. So, if you feel comment is needed, I
recommend that you be as sure as possible of what you say. I wish I
could say I am always available to help.
DN
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
Chapman in Nabokov's Butterflies. -- SES]
>While perusing an old encyclopaedia to learn about "cicadas" ( here
they
are now singing by the hundreds: it is Spring in Brazil ) I found out
about Chapman ( mentioned in Godunov- Cherdyntsev's recollections on
"Father's Butterflies"):
Frank Milcher Chapman [ ( 1864-1945),US Ornithologist who did pioneer
work in popularizing bird study, etc...] No entomologist Chapman.
Following DN's Commentaries to the sentence, on page 208, "(as did
Chapman and...)", I reached note 54: "VN had not yet invented a
co-author" .
Searching the Index I found in "C" Chapman's Green Hairstreak, 218,
leading to a sentence about Chapman's "pathological specimen of avis"
(i.e: ornithology)
There was no other entry for the intriguing Chapman on page 208.
-------------
Jansy:
There are other instances as well of as-yet-uninvented co-authors for
real scientists. As for avis, it pertains here not to birds but to
butterflies, of the hair-streak variety, genus Thecla. You can check
that in any specialized text, and even in Vol. XI of the OED.
DN
-----------
Dear Jansy,
I am delighted that you have plunged into Nabokov's ButterfIies. What
follows is a word of caution, with absolutely no offense intended. In
perusing this volume, particularly the section titled "Father's
Butterflies" (which, originally, was "The second addendum to Dar", and
which I translated for this volume), you will find yourself in tricky
territory. The personal and hypothetical view of the universe and its
development of the fictional elder Godunov-Cherdyntsev, recorded to the
best of his ability by the naturalist's son, the poet Fyodor, is, by
Fyodor's admission, imperfect. It also contains many intricacies, and
combinations of reality and invention, on the part of VN himself. In
other words, as you have seen from your initial attempt at comment, the
text is filled with booby traps. In some such cases but not all,
expertise in several kindred fields may help. Many months were devoted
to its preparation, which entailed deciphering the manuscriipt, a
palimpsest that wavered between the barely legible and the illegible
(here I had precious assistance from Alexandr Dolinin and Brian Boyd);
and translating the most difficult material I had ever encountered. The
English version is the fruit of much research, much thought, and much
translational effort. A rare bloomer may have slipped through the net
(such as my absent-minded confusion of storks with ostriches).
Otherwise, the text has undergone much checking and, I'd say, is pretty
dependable. In, in fact, I used part of it as the basis of a symposium
on translation at a major American university. Nevertheless, things are
not always what they seem. So, if you feel comment is needed, I
recommend that you be as sure as possible of what you say. I wish I
could say I am always available to help.
DN
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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