Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010944, Wed, 19 Jan 2005 19:04:04 -0800

Subject
Fw: Appenzeller Sennenhunde.jpg
Date
Body


----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 14:23:56 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>


Subject: Appenzeller Sennenhunde.jpg

Quoting from ADA:



"After her death in 1883, Van computed that in the course of thirteen years,
counting every presumed moment of presence, counting the dismal visits to her
various hospitals, as well as her sudden tumultuous appearances in the middle
of the night (wrestling with her husband or the frail but agile English
governess all the way upstairs, wildly welcomed by the old appenzeller - and
finally making the nursery, wigless, slipperless, with bloodied fingernails),
he had actually seen her, or been near her, all in all, for a length of time
hardly exceeding that of human gestation."



Concentrating on Appenzeller we may find in this first chapter of Ada a
reference to TT.
The dog that aids Hugh´s blind memory and that belonged to a "vegetable/
appleseller" could be the same "appenzeller dog" of Van´s remembrance of Aqua.

TT Chapter 12: " Person´s power of orientation failed him but a woman selling
apples from a neighboring stall set him straight again. An overaffectionate
large white dog started to frisk unpleasantly in his wake and was called back
by the woman"

TT Chapter 24 ( in fine) " Just beyond it a woman was selling vegetables from a
stall (...) As she spoke, a large, white, shivering dog crawled from behind a
crate and with a shock of futile recognition Hugh remembered that eight years
ago he had stopped right here and had noticed that dog, which was pretty old
even then and had now braved fabulous age to serve his blind memory"


The internet offers us two choices to understand the word 'appenzeller"

two choices: a drink or a kind of dog ( picture appended, but not a white
dog' s...)




Der Flaschengeist aus Appenzell.




Anno 1902 erfand Emil Ebneter den Appenzeller Alpenbitter. Bis heute, nach
über 100 Jahren, ist sein Rezept streng geheim. Ein offenes Geheimnis dagegen
ist, dass nahezu jeder erwachsene Schweizer das unnachahmliche Getränk aus 42
Kräutern und 29% Appenzeller Spirit kennt. So können wir mit gutem Gewissen
behaupten, dass kaum ein anderes alkoholisches Getränk einen solch hohen
Bekanntheitsgrad geniesst. Und wir sind zuversichtlich, dass das auch so
bleibt.

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