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Re: Fwd: Ada: ulybnuvshis' slegka (with a slight smile)
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Dear Eric,
The Darkbloom note refers mainly to Vronsky and his manner of smiling to his
interlocutor, showing his beautiful teeth, when he feels his superiority.
But I'm not sure the formula "slegka ulybnuvshis'" occurs many times in Anna
Karenin. May be, once or twice.
I haven't read Knut's poem or VN's review of Knut's book, so I cannot tell
what is wrong about that particular line. Stylistically it seems OK. Perhaps
the adveb (slegka) after the gerund (ulybnuvshis') does pain a sensitive
ear? One always has to know the whole poem, though, to be able to tell why
it is spoiled by a certain line.
best,
Alexey
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 2:51 AM
Subject: Fwd: Ada: ulybnuvshis' slegka (with a slight smile)
>
> While reading Ada and some of VN's early reviews, I stumbled on the
following:
> In Chapter 5 of Ada, Van responds to Marina's remark: "I hope you speak
> Russian?" with the words:
>
> "Neohotno no sovershenno svobodno (reluctantly but quite fluently),"
> replied Van, slegka ulybnuvshis' (with a slight smile).
>
> Darkbloom says this is "a pet formula of Tolstoy's denoting cool
> superiority, if not smugness, in a character's manner of speech.."
>
> Does anyone recall a place in Tolstoy where this formulation occurs? An
> odd thing is that the phrase surfaces in Nabokov's 1928 review of Dovid
> Knut's book of poetry, where it is part of two lines that -- according to
> Nabokov -- ruin an otherwise splendid poem. "zatem, chtob teper' na
> blestiashchem salonnom parkete ia mog poklonit'sia tebe, ulybnuvshis'
> slegka" (slegka!). Nabokov obviously draws particular attention to the
> "slegka" as absurd.
>
> Why exactly does "ulybnushis' slegka" so bad? Is the absurdity
semantic --
> the ridiculousness of doing something in order to do something else w. a
> slight smile -- or stylistic, in which case it undercuts Van as well? (or
> did VN forget he criticized this in Knut when he found in in Tolstoy). Or
> is the whole point that you can add an s to both "legkii" and "light" and
> in either case it works for a description of this smile?
> Eric Naiman
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
The Darkbloom note refers mainly to Vronsky and his manner of smiling to his
interlocutor, showing his beautiful teeth, when he feels his superiority.
But I'm not sure the formula "slegka ulybnuvshis'" occurs many times in Anna
Karenin. May be, once or twice.
I haven't read Knut's poem or VN's review of Knut's book, so I cannot tell
what is wrong about that particular line. Stylistically it seems OK. Perhaps
the adveb (slegka) after the gerund (ulybnuvshis') does pain a sensitive
ear? One always has to know the whole poem, though, to be able to tell why
it is spoiled by a certain line.
best,
Alexey
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 2:51 AM
Subject: Fwd: Ada: ulybnuvshis' slegka (with a slight smile)
>
> While reading Ada and some of VN's early reviews, I stumbled on the
following:
> In Chapter 5 of Ada, Van responds to Marina's remark: "I hope you speak
> Russian?" with the words:
>
> "Neohotno no sovershenno svobodno (reluctantly but quite fluently),"
> replied Van, slegka ulybnuvshis' (with a slight smile).
>
> Darkbloom says this is "a pet formula of Tolstoy's denoting cool
> superiority, if not smugness, in a character's manner of speech.."
>
> Does anyone recall a place in Tolstoy where this formulation occurs? An
> odd thing is that the phrase surfaces in Nabokov's 1928 review of Dovid
> Knut's book of poetry, where it is part of two lines that -- according to
> Nabokov -- ruin an otherwise splendid poem. "zatem, chtob teper' na
> blestiashchem salonnom parkete ia mog poklonit'sia tebe, ulybnuvshis'
> slegka" (slegka!). Nabokov obviously draws particular attention to the
> "slegka" as absurd.
>
> Why exactly does "ulybnushis' slegka" so bad? Is the absurdity
semantic --
> the ridiculousness of doing something in order to do something else w. a
> slight smile -- or stylistic, in which case it undercuts Van as well? (or
> did VN forget he criticized this in Knut when he found in in Tolstoy). Or
> is the whole point that you can add an s to both "legkii" and "light" and
> in either case it works for a description of this smile?
> Eric Naiman
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----