Subject
VN and Heine: a few parallels
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Date
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Lady Mathilde, a character in Heine's Die Baeder von Lucca, exclaims: "wenn Sie vielleicht zweihundert Jahre frueher gelebt haetten, wie es mir mit meinem Freunde Michael de Cervantes Saavedra begegnet, oder gar wenn Sie hundert Jahre spaeter auf die Welt gekommen waeren als ich, wie ein anderer intimer Freund von mir, dessen Namen ich nicht einmal weiss, eben weil er ihn erst by seiner Geburt, Anno 1900, erhalten wird!" (Kapitel I).
VN was born in 1899, a year too early to be Mathilde's intimate friend, but he shares with the author of Don Quixote his birthday (April 23).*
Btw., Doctor, the narrator of Die Baeder von Lucca to whom the above words of Lady Mathilde are addressed, affirms that he was born in the New Year's night, 1800. This allows his friend, Marquis Gumpelino, to joke that he, Doctor, is "one of the first men of our century" (Kapitel VI). Many a VN character, including Lolita and Van Veen, were born on January 1.
Unless I'm deceived by memory, VN says somewhere that his education in Cambridge was paid for with his mother's jewels. In his Memorien Heine says that his mother, who paid for her son's education, das Geld nicht liebte, sondern nur schaetzte (valued money, without being fond of it). And a little further: "Ich war uebrigens nicht der erste in unserer Familie, der auf der Universitaet Edelsteine aufgegessen und Perlen verschlueckt hatte. Der Vater meiner Mutter, wie diese mir einst erzaehlte, erprobte dasselbe Kunststueck. Die Jewelen, welche das Gebetbuch seiner verstorbenen Mutter verzierten, musten die Kosten seines Aufenthalts auf der Universitaet bestreiten, als sein Vater, der alte Lazarus de Geldern... in grosse Armut geraten war".
Cf. Marquis Gumpelino's words in Die Baeder von Lucca (Kapitel III): "Was ist Geld? Geld ist rund und rollt weg, aber die Bildung bleibt" (what is money? Money is round and rolls away, but the education remains).
Geld (money) and Geldern were in my earlier anagrams: Heine + England + Geld + real = Heiland + legend + general; Naechtliche Fahrt + Geldern + e = gefaehrliche Nacht + Eltern + d
Here are several new equations:
Mathilde + Cervantes + intime = almeh + Cid + Van + interest + time
Cervantes + dar = servant + cedar
Mathilde - female given name; the name of Heine's French wife
intime - Fr., intimate
Cid - a legendary Spanish soldier, hero of the wars against the Moors
dar - Russ., gift
A minor correction: neige + land + h (in my earlier Heine + gland anagram) should be changed to hygiene + land - y
*according to a different version, Cervantes (b. 1547) died on April 23, 1616
Alexey Sklyarenko
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VN was born in 1899, a year too early to be Mathilde's intimate friend, but he shares with the author of Don Quixote his birthday (April 23).*
Btw., Doctor, the narrator of Die Baeder von Lucca to whom the above words of Lady Mathilde are addressed, affirms that he was born in the New Year's night, 1800. This allows his friend, Marquis Gumpelino, to joke that he, Doctor, is "one of the first men of our century" (Kapitel VI). Many a VN character, including Lolita and Van Veen, were born on January 1.
Unless I'm deceived by memory, VN says somewhere that his education in Cambridge was paid for with his mother's jewels. In his Memorien Heine says that his mother, who paid for her son's education, das Geld nicht liebte, sondern nur schaetzte (valued money, without being fond of it). And a little further: "Ich war uebrigens nicht der erste in unserer Familie, der auf der Universitaet Edelsteine aufgegessen und Perlen verschlueckt hatte. Der Vater meiner Mutter, wie diese mir einst erzaehlte, erprobte dasselbe Kunststueck. Die Jewelen, welche das Gebetbuch seiner verstorbenen Mutter verzierten, musten die Kosten seines Aufenthalts auf der Universitaet bestreiten, als sein Vater, der alte Lazarus de Geldern... in grosse Armut geraten war".
Cf. Marquis Gumpelino's words in Die Baeder von Lucca (Kapitel III): "Was ist Geld? Geld ist rund und rollt weg, aber die Bildung bleibt" (what is money? Money is round and rolls away, but the education remains).
Geld (money) and Geldern were in my earlier anagrams: Heine + England + Geld + real = Heiland + legend + general; Naechtliche Fahrt + Geldern + e = gefaehrliche Nacht + Eltern + d
Here are several new equations:
Mathilde + Cervantes + intime = almeh + Cid + Van + interest + time
Cervantes + dar = servant + cedar
Mathilde - female given name; the name of Heine's French wife
intime - Fr., intimate
Cid - a legendary Spanish soldier, hero of the wars against the Moors
dar - Russ., gift
A minor correction: neige + land + h (in my earlier Heine + gland anagram) should be changed to hygiene + land - y
*according to a different version, Cervantes (b. 1547) died on April 23, 1616
Alexey Sklyarenko
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/