Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010506, Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:38:59 -0800

Subject
Re: Fwd: RE: Saint George's Day in VN
Date
Body
Yes, Shakespeare's birthday is just traditionally presumed to be April 23;
all we have to support the presumption is a record of his baptism on April
26, 1564. Nabokov's birthday is, as you know, strictly speaking April 22,
New Style (cf. Speak, Memory)... and VN was probably amused by the way April
23, still St. George's Day in England despite calendar adjustments, was a
"fictional" birthday for both him and Shakespeare. Is VN's recurring
interest in St. George's Day just a secretly embedded signature, sort of
like "Vivian Darkbloom"? Another self-referential joke?

As for Dostoevsky, Alexey, I believe that late in the day of the feast of
St. George, 1849, Dostoevsky was transferred from the Third Section
headquarters to the Peter and Paul Fortress--which was, of course, commanded
by one I.A. Nabokov...

mike donohue



>From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>Reply-To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: Saint George's Day in VN
>Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 07:17:45 -0800
>
>According to the Russian church calendar, the so-called
"svyatsy," St.
>George's Day is celebrated on May 6 (by the new style). It corresponds
to
>April 23 by the Julian calendar that was used in Russia up to 1917.
>In the fourth paragraph of ADA, we learn that Aqua Veen married Walter
D.
>Veen "on April 23, 1869, in drizzly and warm, gauzy and green
Kaluga." Note
>the time (the 19th century) and the place (the Russian town name).
>In the novel's third chapter the date is referred to as St. George's
Day:
>"...in April (my favorite month), 1869 (by no means a mirabilic
year), on
>St. George's Day (according to Mlle Lariviere's maudlin memoirs) Demon
Veen
>married Aqua Veen - out of spite and pity, a not unusual blend."
>Demon certainly marries Aqua on the Russian Yur'ev den' -- which means
that
>the date (April 23) is by the old style here and so doesn't coincide
with
>Nabokov's birthday. Yur'ev den' was the day on which serfs could change
>their lords (and vice versa) in the ancient Russia. It was abolished by
>Boris Godunov (its abolishment is usually considered as the beginning of
>serfdom in Russia). The famous Russian saying: "Vot tebe, babushka,
i Yur'ev
>den'!" (roughly, "here's a fine how-d'ye-do!") originates
in those days. It
>is famously used in Pushkin's drama "Boris Godunov" (the scene
"Korchma na
>litovskoy granitse," the aparte words of Grigoriy Otrepiev).
>When Van contemplates suicide (2.11, end of the novel's Part Two), he
>remembers that his father Demon has once played Boris Godunov "in
an amateur
>parody" [of Pushkin's drama]. Van wants to shoot himself, but his
attempt at
>suicide fails. Or, rather, that attempt proves a parody of suicide when
he
>appears to hold a comb, instead of a pistol, in his hand. Wwe are made
to
>think, though, that it is Aqua's spirit that has somehow saved his life.
>However that may be, I'm quite sure that Aqua loses her freedom on
Yur'ev
>den'. Yur'ev den' played also a fateful role in Dostoevsky's life (he
was
>arrested on that day in 1849). I won't discuss Dostoevsky at length
here,
>just allow me to add that the last words of poor mad Mar'ya Lebyadkin in
>Dostoevsky's novel Besy ("The Devils") that Mar'ya's husband
Stavrogin hears
>her shouting after him are: "Grishka Otrepiev is anathema!"
She accurses him
>(her husband) that way, and, at the end of the novel (when Mar'ya is
already
>dead) Stavrogin commits suicide.
>
>Alexey
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 7:43 AM
>Subject: Fwd: RE: Saint George's Day in VN
>
>
> > I may have missed earlier posts... I assume someone already noted
that St.
> > George's Day is Nabokov's (passport) birthday.
> >
> >
> > &
>
>----- End forwarded message -----

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