Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001152, Tue, 25 Jun 1996 10:42:26 -0700

Subject
Naborchid (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE: Pascal PERNOT <per@hp9.gcq.u-psud.fr> raises some
intriguing possibilities. Offhand, the only material that occurs to me on
VN's orchids would be Bobbie Ann Mason's _NABOKOV's Garden_. Brian Boyd's
continuing Annotations to ADA which are running in THE NABOKOVIAN also may
make reference to ORCHIDs.

Dear Nabokoholics Anonymous,

Being new in the list, I would like to introduce myself. I am a 37 years
old French physico-chemist (researcher), hooked by Mac Nab
about 15 years ago. I began with a novel (the french version of Ada), then
another, until I had to read everything Nabokov-related I could put my hands
on... No matter if I did not understand half of it, especially critics'
books. I then had some rest, until I spend 18 months in California for a
post-doc. There, I discovered that it was even infinitely better in English.
Some novels, of which the French translation is quite drab, appeared as
new jewels. Hooked again...

I have to confess I have another defect. I happen to be an orchidomaniac.
I maintain a set of web pages on European orchids
http://hp9.gcq.u-psud.fr:8000
and had the idea to put in there something on my combined passions. I began
to flick over Ada's pages in search of orchids I remembered to be there.
I was struck by the new meaning I found in some scenes when read orchidwise!
At the same time, a lot of questions arise on particular details, as the
choice of some orchid species that we know could have not been done haphazard
by the master.

Although I am not aware of anything published on the subject, I would be
surprised if this were virgin grounds. I would be glad if you could direct
me to some relevent reference. Otherwise, if anybody is interested, I could
develop my findings and questions further in a next posting. In any case,
a Nabokov/Orchids page will appear soon on my website.

Thank you in advance,

Pascal PERNOT
email: per@gcq.u-psud.fr