S.B: It has been one of the list's
most enervating days, I think, and I'm full of admiration, gratitude, and more
than a little envy towards those who've produced the day's discoveries
(especially those heavy, star-produced elements in the scissors!). I'm
particularly intrigued that Richard Burton's translations have come up, since I
offered his translation of Catullus as one possible source of the phrase
"light of my life" in the latest Nabokovian--although I
preferred Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella in the end. But
even there--it's the "star" theme, and one remembers "the star,
the star" from The Gift, Starover Blue in PF, "Gray
Star" and "Stella Fantasia," in Lolita, exploding stars
in "Father's Butterflies", and--what else? I'm sure there's
much more, but these are the ones that come immediately to mind.
JM: Steve,
I
should have remembered to check in The Nabokovian for your article “Notes on
a Famous First Line” (N,no.64, Spring 2010), also for the exciting link with
Sir Philip Sidney. While I was hunting for it I came across Dolinin’s note (N.56,
Spring 2006) on Botkin/Kinbote, passing through O.Henry. The title is “Ods
Bod(t)kins”…
The
cliché “light of my life” is often heard in Brazil, because of the Lebanese
mothers who address their children in that way (more often, it is “light of my
eyes”) I googled and found it confirmed in a malicious Arab proverb and in a
song.
1. 250 Provérbios Árabes:
"Meu amigo, meus olhos, luz da minha vida!, ....
O efeito é tanto mais surpreendente quando, ainda
há um minuto, o camelo estava calmo, ...
www.hottopos.com.br/collat5/250prov.htm - Em cache - Similares
1. CD's
COISAS DA ARÁBIA: Inta Omri - tradução - você é minha vida
27 jul. 2010
... Os meus sonhos se encontraram na luz
dos seus olhos. Oh, luz
da minha vida... você é mais importante que a minha própria existência! ...
cdsdaarabia.blogspot.com/.../inta-omri-traducao-voce-e-minha-vida.html - Em cache
Kouli
farha eshtakha min kablak khayali.
Every happiness I was
longing for before you.
Eltakaha fi nour
a'ainaik kalbi w fikri.
My dreams they found it
in the light of your eyes.
Ya hayat kalbi ya aghla
min hayati.
Oh my heart's life - You
are more precious than my life.
Leih ma kabilni hawak ya
habibi badri?
Why I didn't meet your
love a long time ago?
Btw:
Only after I read Swinburne’s “The Nympholept” did I realize, beyond the
equivalence of words, that Shade must have meant the fusion of earth and sky,
life and death, day and night. After all, “sun and stars” can only mean that
the Sun is the star we find during the day whereas all the other stars become
discernible only after the sun is away…\Nevertheless they are all there… moving…
from night (stars) into day (sun)!