Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001672, Fri, 7 Feb 1997 11:51:01 -0800

Subject
Re: Nova Zembla - info please (fwd)
Date
Body

I'm 100% positive that "Nova Zembla" is not a real place. What is a real place
is an archipelago of the Arctic Ocean, called Novaia (or Novaja, or Novaya)
Zemlia (or Zemlya). This spelling, so close to real Russian toponym, contains,
however, the "blya"-syllable, familiar to all the native speakers, which makes
the word unmistakably Nabokovian. - V.Vainer


> I can't imagine one needs permission to call a store Nova Zembla.
> It's a real place. -C. Nicol
>