Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007577, Thu, 13 Feb 2003 09:41:59 -0800

Subject
Re: Don Quixote, Nabokov, and Spanish (fwd)
Date
Body
From: D. Barton Johnson <chtodel@cox.net>

Dear Mikhail Avrekh,

I'm sure VN would not have claimed to"know" Spanish. He did, however,
"lep" in Spain. Among his Wellesley friends was poet Jorge Guillen who
presented a signed copy of his _Cantico_ to his colleague and tennis
partner. See Boyd AY 87-88. VN includes a snippet from _Cantico_ in ADA.
Don Johnson
Original Message -----
From: "Galya Diment" <galya@u.washington.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 3:06 PM
Subject: Don Quixote, Nabokov, and Spanish (fwd)


> From: Mikhail Avrekh <mavrekh@lbl.gov>
>
> I seem to recall that VN indicated somewhere -- in some comment on
> "Lolita", I believe, where he expresses his bewilderment at what Spanish
translators may have
> done to the book, lacking his supervision -- his ignorance of Spanish. Yet
> to someone reading Nabokov's "Lectures on Don Quixote", it becomes
> clear that he had some knowledge of Spanish syntax, grammar, and
> etymology; certainly enough to elucidate the origins and the meanings of
> some words.
>
> I wonder whether he in fact knew some Spanish, or whether he consulted
> someone who did. I apologize if this has been discussed before; I've
> looked in "The American Years", but couldn't find any indications of where
> VN's knowledge of Spanish may have come from.