Brave new world that has such people in it?

Carolyn

By the way, it does make sense - America is certainly a brave new world for the Pnins of the world, full of sound and fury and freedoms that the old world could only dream of.

From: Koen Vanherwegen <koen_vanherwegen@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sat, March 2, 2013 7:36:03 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Pnin's own Vladimir?

What about Miranda? (the Tempest is mentionned somewehere in Pnin as a place called Tempest Point and Miranda is also the name of the hotel of Humbert Humberts father)

No clue though to what that would suggest

Koen Vanherwegen

Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2013 00:07:08 -0500
From: mbutterfly549@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Pnin's own Vladimir?
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

it could myroslava, and the diminutive could be mira or slava, or lubomira, and the diminutive could be mira or luba, etc, etc, these slavs love diminutives....vladimir goes to volodya, vova, or vo, could be mirko too....i have a son sviatoslav, who is called, svieti, slavko, slav, or whatever...my michael volodimir(we are Ukrainian) is vovchick, vo or volodya at home.....nicholas goes to mykolchik, mykola, kolia, or kolchik hard in translating a novel.....all the diminutives make sense to slavs, but not anglophones.

-----Original Message-----
From: Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@ATT.NET>
To: NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Thu, Feb 28, 2013 3:55 pm
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Pnin's own Vladimir?

Thank you, Mary. Belochkin - of course. But what longer name is Mire/Mira short for? Mirabelle? Are you thinking of the first love in Russia?

I wonder if antisemitism & philo-Semitism (a sort of anti-shiksa-appeal) didn't play a role in VN's attraction to Vera Slonim? Perhaps he would never have married his first love, or perhaps she would never have married the son of a 'Jew lover' like Nabokov pere?

By the way, for the remarkable history of philojudaism in Britain, read Barbara Tuchman's The Bible and the Sword.

Carolyn

From: Mary H. Efremov <mbutterfly549@AOL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Wed, February 27, 2013 7:00:18 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Pnin's own Vladimir?

mira belochkin hides a piece of the squirrel motif, and mire is likely a diminutive from a longer name, it was a tender love he cherished his whole life.

-----Original Message-----
From: Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@ATT.NET>
To: NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Wed, Feb 27, 2013 1:18 pm
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Pnin's own Vladimir?

To the List Members,

I think perhaps Pnin is my favorite Nabokov - character and novel. Deceptively simple, devious and beautiful. Victor is a close second. Perhaps being female, I prefer masculine characters.

That having been said, let me also say that the relationship between Pnin and Miss Belkina (her first name escapes me) may very well be similar to that between Vladimir and Vera. Although you wouldn't think so.

That aside, I recently acquired Nabokov's own copy of Pnin - at least that is what it appears to me to be. The inscription reads:

Vladimir Nabokov

March 1957

Simpson Hall

Is there a Simpson Hall at Waindell, I mean, Wellesley?

Carolyn

Google Search the archive

Contact the Editors

Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"

Visit Zembla

View Nabokv-L Policies

Manage subscription options