Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010488, Sun, 31 Oct 2004 16:56:43 -0800

Subject
Saint George's Dat in VN
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 21:00:56 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>


----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn
To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2004 9:05 PM
Subject: Re: Slezak Russian swan joke in Kamera obskura


Isn't St George's Day significant in Ada? Send to the list posthaste!


From: "Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello" <jansy@aetern.us>
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 20:53:40 -0300
To: "Carolyn" <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>



I think Saint George is more important in VN than people care to acknowledge.
I´ve just come across a list of English King George´s in ADA. There´s the
dragon/draconite matter in TT. Now we have St.George in Pnin ( reference
S.Drescher /Van Eyck painting)

----- End forwarded message -----

EDNOTE. As I recall St George has been "delisted" as a mythical figure. I think
he was the patron saint of both England & Russia. VN sometimes used Saints Days
as convenient point for plot timing as as a mnemonic device. Whether its meaning
might necessarily go deeper, I'm not sure. BTW, until recent times the
illiterate peasants marked off the passage of time by selected Saints' Says
rather than numbers,