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Re: Erlkoenig in "The Event"
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Alexey Sklyarenko: ...In his article Suvorin and Chekhov (1914) Merezhkovsky quotes practically the full text of "Лесной царь" (Zhukovsky's version of Goethe's Erlkoenig): Какое-то наваждение, злая чара, колдовство проклятое, напоминающее сказку о «Лесном царе» [...] According to Antonina Pavlovna..., the night is wild and windy. But Troshcheykin finds it odd: there is no wind at all.(**) Antonina Pavlovna: "then it is the hum in my ears." Troshcheykin sarcastically suggests that it is the Muse's whisper. // (**) cf. Goethe's Wanderers Nachtlied (1780): "Kaum einen Hauch"
JM: Following Alexey Sklyarenko's quotes from Zhukovsky's version, it should be possible to check if Charles Kinbote is referring to a special Russian translation, or if he, Shade and Nabokov read Goethe in the original. This interests me because CK's commentary sustains that "Goethe's two lines opening the poem come out... with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme"*. After all, in Goethe's original rhymes ("Wind/Kind") are to be expected.
Kinbote seems inclined to deny his familiarity with German and only mentions Zemblan "vett/dett," and the French "vent/enfant." His commentary can make readers uncertain if he is referring to the German Erlkonig (even though, later on, he'll praise Shade's rendering of its rythm**).
CK indicates that he works for a distinguished Zemblan scholar, Oscar Nattochdag but can we be sure that Zembla is a real fictional place in Nabokov's novel?
What do Nattochdag, Kinbote and Botkin teach? to what departments do they belong?
We know that Prof. V. Botkin, "an American scholar of Russian descent," doesn't work under Prof. Pnin, who is Head of the Russian Department.
On re-reading Goethe's poem I noticed that the boy's complaints about eerie noises and rappings are explained away by his father and that this dynamic is repeated two times in John Shade's poem in his contact with his wife. Sybil is the one who is behaving like the frightened boy. Her husband, like the sick boy's father, ignores her ominous intuitions and offers only trivial explanations. The association of the Erlkonig with Hazel is equally misplaced.
btw: the link to Goethe's Wanderers Nachtlied ("kaum einen Hauch") is not directly related to the Erlkonig poem and, even more so, to its use by Shade and Kinbote in Pale Fire. However, just like in the exchanges bt. the Shade couple, Antonina Pavolovna complains about the wind, admits it might come from a hum in her ears, but receives a sarcastic answer about a whispering muse...
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* (Note to line 662) "Goethe’s two lines opening the poem come out most exactly and beautifully, with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme (also in French: vent-enfant), in my own language."
** (idem):"This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler. One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballad (a trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse..".
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JM: Following Alexey Sklyarenko's quotes from Zhukovsky's version, it should be possible to check if Charles Kinbote is referring to a special Russian translation, or if he, Shade and Nabokov read Goethe in the original. This interests me because CK's commentary sustains that "Goethe's two lines opening the poem come out... with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme"*. After all, in Goethe's original rhymes ("Wind/Kind") are to be expected.
Kinbote seems inclined to deny his familiarity with German and only mentions Zemblan "vett/dett," and the French "vent/enfant." His commentary can make readers uncertain if he is referring to the German Erlkonig (even though, later on, he'll praise Shade's rendering of its rythm**).
CK indicates that he works for a distinguished Zemblan scholar, Oscar Nattochdag but can we be sure that Zembla is a real fictional place in Nabokov's novel?
What do Nattochdag, Kinbote and Botkin teach? to what departments do they belong?
We know that Prof. V. Botkin, "an American scholar of Russian descent," doesn't work under Prof. Pnin, who is Head of the Russian Department.
On re-reading Goethe's poem I noticed that the boy's complaints about eerie noises and rappings are explained away by his father and that this dynamic is repeated two times in John Shade's poem in his contact with his wife. Sybil is the one who is behaving like the frightened boy. Her husband, like the sick boy's father, ignores her ominous intuitions and offers only trivial explanations. The association of the Erlkonig with Hazel is equally misplaced.
btw: the link to Goethe's Wanderers Nachtlied ("kaum einen Hauch") is not directly related to the Erlkonig poem and, even more so, to its use by Shade and Kinbote in Pale Fire. However, just like in the exchanges bt. the Shade couple, Antonina Pavolovna complains about the wind, admits it might come from a hum in her ears, but receives a sarcastic answer about a whispering muse...
...........................................................................................
* (Note to line 662) "Goethe’s two lines opening the poem come out most exactly and beautifully, with the bonus of an unexpected rhyme (also in French: vent-enfant), in my own language."
** (idem):"This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler. One cannot sufficiently admire the ingenious way in which Shade manages to transfer something of the broken rhythm of the ballad (a trisyllabic meter at heart) into his iambic verse..".
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/