Sending this for the second time
----- Original Message -----
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
To: naboKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 2:57 PM
Subject: Meaning of "Enchanter"

Dear Don ( now in NY ) and List
 
A special question for those who have already felt misgivings about how the "enchanters"  are seen by VN.
Although I knew that the character in the pre-Lolita story "The Enchanter" was far from winsome  and  magical, I always considered the meaning of "enchanter" as suggestive of positive qualities.
I had in mind, particularly, VNīs own description of the qualities found in a good writer who had to be, first of all, an enchanter. 
Now, while reading VNīs Lectures on Don Quixote I came across the word "enchanter" used only negatively in association with "mystification and cruelty". The enchanters were those that practiced and enjoyed torturing someone, mainly by causing extreme mental pain. 
I doubt that VN referred to this kind of "enchantment" when speaking about the charms of nymphet Lolita ( although she was a deceiver i.e also an "enchanter" in the second sense of the word )  or even when describing the play about "The enchanted hunters" or...as the principal talent in a good writer.
 
Is there a clear double meaning in the Russian word that may escape the intuitive first grasp of those that donīt speak Russian?