Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010725, Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:22:27 -0800

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Fw: exotic punishments TT-24
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: don barton johnson
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 2:31 AM
Subject: exotic punishments


Dear Don,
Yes, I was over-extending from what you only described as "retribution" or "exotic" chastisements , before going on to Sègur´s "Les Malheurs de Sophie" in Nabokov's Golliwoggs: Lodi Reads English 1899-1909 by D. Barton Johnson.

You were then referring to a child´s dream-states and fantasies being rememebered by adult VN.
Dr.Sig Freud cited this particular book, about four year-old Sophie´s misadventures in one of his articles, probably " A child is being beaten" .Your words concerning these illustrations were:
"Drawn by Carl Schultze, this series too usually featured retribution on its young heroes (...) Corporeal punishment was unknown in the Nabokov household and the sight struck Volodya as scarcely less exotic than the image of "the burying a pop-eyed wretch up to his chin in the torrid sand of a desert," depicted in the frontispiece of Mayne Reid's Wild West adventure novel The Death Shot".

Greetings,
Jansy
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