Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004103, Tue, 25 May 1999 16:28:03 -0700

Subject
Re: On pathos (fwd)
Date
Body
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Iíd draw your attention to ìher horrifying deathî (ìeyo ouzhasayuschaya
smertíî - Iíll sure burn in hell for this transliteration alone),
mentioned earlier in the same paragraph - so this particular adjective
here serves as a bridge that embraces the passage and gives a snapshot of
this little story, - one of VNís many structural ìdevicesî that keep this
whole thing going.
Speaking of how ìpateticheskayaî would apply just to ìbespechnostíî as
a stand-alone combination (though you can't do it to Nabokov): ìpathosî
in its Russian meaning is one of the things VN tried to avoid in his work
as well as in his life - itís too close to ìposhlostíî (philistinism) in
its worldly incarnation. So by saying ëPBí he at the same time
1)ìevaluatesî a place that this story has taken in Fyodorís life and 2)
gives this thing a thorough measure of true pathos - VN never dismissed
anything in his work only because a philistine touched it.
And ìPBî sounds great, too.
One more sample of the enchanting web he wove to catch butterflies: it
still works.

Yuri Dashevsky
y600105@erols.com