Subject
Re: Parluggian Owl (fwd)
Date
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EDITOR'S NOTE. My thanks to Alexander Dolinin <dolinin@facstaff.wisc.edu>
for the note below. I would add that the Parluggian Owl (Aegolius
funereus--as VN indicated to his French translator) is indeed found in
the area of the Nabokov family summer homes and across Northern Russian
and through to the East coast of Canada and occasionally in winter along
the Northern border of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Thus its range
includes "Russian" Canady where Ardis Manor is located. A bit like
_Speak, Memory's famous Swallowtail that escapes from Vyra and is
recaptured in Colorado.
The name Luzhin, the landowner from Luga from whose hothouses
Hermann never steals peaches in the Russian version of *Despair*, various
puns on Lugano in *Ada* and so on -- all these refer to Luga (adjective
"luzhskii"), the river and the county (uezd) seat of Nabokov's summer
paradise, about 20 miles from Rozhdestveno. The owl in question might then
have a strong resemblance (par(a)-) to owls common for Luga region.
for the note below. I would add that the Parluggian Owl (Aegolius
funereus--as VN indicated to his French translator) is indeed found in
the area of the Nabokov family summer homes and across Northern Russian
and through to the East coast of Canada and occasionally in winter along
the Northern border of the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Thus its range
includes "Russian" Canady where Ardis Manor is located. A bit like
_Speak, Memory's famous Swallowtail that escapes from Vyra and is
recaptured in Colorado.
The name Luzhin, the landowner from Luga from whose hothouses
Hermann never steals peaches in the Russian version of *Despair*, various
puns on Lugano in *Ada* and so on -- all these refer to Luga (adjective
"luzhskii"), the river and the county (uezd) seat of Nabokov's summer
paradise, about 20 miles from Rozhdestveno. The owl in question might then
have a strong resemblance (par(a)-) to owls common for Luga region.