Subject
Fw: Nabokov's Parody of Nekrasov at the Auction
From
Date
Body
EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Mr. Shvabrin for this most excellent contribution.
This is the sort of thing I wished for NABOKV-L when I established it a
dozen years ago. I hope others will follow Mr Shvabrin's good example.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
Dear Don,
May I be permitted to add a quick electronic footnote to the message
entitled "Sale of Dmitri Nabokov library"?
Among the fascinating autographs offered at the auction there is one whose
description can be slightly modified. It reads: "One of the lots for sale is
the original Danish edition of "Pnin" with an autograph poem by Vladimir
Nabokov to his wife Vera. Estimate 15 000-20 000 euro. Sale 05 May 2004."
The inscription reads (in my transliteration):
Verochke
> Ne govori chto dni tvoi - urody,
> Tyuremshchikom Volodyu ne zovi!
> Peredo mnoj - drugie perevody,
> pered toboj - vse babochki moi!
>
> V. Sirin,
> Montrjo
> Janvar' 1965
>
>
What we have here is not an "original" poem as such, but a brilliant
parody of Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov (1821-1877). In his inscription to
Vera, Nabokov plays with the fifth quatrain of a poem by Nekrasov
"Tyazhyolyj krest dostalsja ey na dolju...," 1855. In this poem bed-ridden,
dying
Nekrasov implores his beloved:
>
> Ne govori, chto dni tvoi unyly
> Tyuremshchikom bolnogo ne zovi:
> Peredo mnoj - holodnyj mrak mogily,
> Pered toboj - ob'jatija ljubvi!
>
> We all remember that in his footnote to 'The Paris Poem' Nabokov tells the
reader of Poems and Problems that a line in his own text "imitates...
closely Nekrasov's line calling the poet away "from those jubilant, those
idly babbling". Nabokov goes on to say that Nekrasov was "a famous poet who
successfully transcended, in a few great poems, the journalist in him, who
wrote topical jingles" (p. [125]). It seems not improbable to me that among
such "great poems" Nabokov may well have included this one (he translated
"Tyazhyolyy krest..." into in English), and this parody is an additional
piece of evidence to support my present attempt to get beyond Nabokov's
somewhat elusive message and pin an actual text by Nekrasov alluded to, but
> not directly referred to by Nabokov in this footnote.
>
> I fear that I won't be able to take part in the upcoming auction, but I
> would like to think that this bit of information about the inscription
makes
> it even more attractive to the potential buyer (as it certainly does to
me,
> but again, I have to resist the temptation). My only hope (and wish) that
> they don't hide it in a vault somewhere in Nova Zembla, allowing us an
> occasional glimpse of the treasure...
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Stas Shvabrin.
This is the sort of thing I wished for NABOKV-L when I established it a
dozen years ago. I hope others will follow Mr Shvabrin's good example.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
Dear Don,
May I be permitted to add a quick electronic footnote to the message
entitled "Sale of Dmitri Nabokov library"?
Among the fascinating autographs offered at the auction there is one whose
description can be slightly modified. It reads: "One of the lots for sale is
the original Danish edition of "Pnin" with an autograph poem by Vladimir
Nabokov to his wife Vera. Estimate 15 000-20 000 euro. Sale 05 May 2004."
The inscription reads (in my transliteration):
Verochke
> Ne govori chto dni tvoi - urody,
> Tyuremshchikom Volodyu ne zovi!
> Peredo mnoj - drugie perevody,
> pered toboj - vse babochki moi!
>
> V. Sirin,
> Montrjo
> Janvar' 1965
>
>
What we have here is not an "original" poem as such, but a brilliant
parody of Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov (1821-1877). In his inscription to
Vera, Nabokov plays with the fifth quatrain of a poem by Nekrasov
"Tyazhyolyj krest dostalsja ey na dolju...," 1855. In this poem bed-ridden,
dying
Nekrasov implores his beloved:
>
> Ne govori, chto dni tvoi unyly
> Tyuremshchikom bolnogo ne zovi:
> Peredo mnoj - holodnyj mrak mogily,
> Pered toboj - ob'jatija ljubvi!
>
> We all remember that in his footnote to 'The Paris Poem' Nabokov tells the
reader of Poems and Problems that a line in his own text "imitates...
closely Nekrasov's line calling the poet away "from those jubilant, those
idly babbling". Nabokov goes on to say that Nekrasov was "a famous poet who
successfully transcended, in a few great poems, the journalist in him, who
wrote topical jingles" (p. [125]). It seems not improbable to me that among
such "great poems" Nabokov may well have included this one (he translated
"Tyazhyolyy krest..." into in English), and this parody is an additional
piece of evidence to support my present attempt to get beyond Nabokov's
somewhat elusive message and pin an actual text by Nekrasov alluded to, but
> not directly referred to by Nabokov in this footnote.
>
> I fear that I won't be able to take part in the upcoming auction, but I
> would like to think that this bit of information about the inscription
makes
> it even more attractive to the potential buyer (as it certainly does to
me,
> but again, I have to resist the temptation). My only hope (and wish) that
> they don't hide it in a vault somewhere in Nova Zembla, allowing us an
> occasional glimpse of the treasure...
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Stas Shvabrin.