Subject
Re: Golliwogs
From
Date
Body
In this case it is also of interest to note what Nabokov writes in *Pale
Fire*: *Shade said that more than anything on earth he loathed Vulgarity and
Brutality, and that one found these two ideally united in racial prejudice.
He said, that as a man of letters, he could not help preferring 'is a Jew'
to is 'Jewish' and 'is a Negro' to 'is colored' ; but immediately added
that this way of alluding to two kinds of bias in one breath was a good
example of careless, or demagogic, lumping.*.etc*.*
*
*
I am aware of seeming to defend Nabokov, but - to be quite honest - I don't
like this (search for) political correctness at all; I hate it as much as I
do preventing being political correct and measuring a writer, living or
dead, by changing standards of etiquettes ('cause that's what it is). It
just seems that Nabokov was aware of it.
Best,
Hafid Bouazza * *
2011/8/13 Stan LIOB <stan@bootle.biz>
> It’s vital to know that *Goll[i/y]wog* (the doll and the name) is
> considered racist to many Anglophones. And *Wog *even more so, in the same
> taboo class as the N-word. Context: child-speak doggy-woggy
>
> Of course PC (Politically Correct) fashions vary confusedly over space,
> time and languages. Even sensitive novelists like Nabokov can be caught
> retrospectively ‘out-of-phase,’ as it were. He regularly uses *Negro*where
> *Black* or *African-American* have become more ‘acceptable.’ Blacks
> themselves have long argued over these changing usages. See, e.g., Black
> linguist John McWhorter’s comments at
>
> http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/01/john-mcwhorter-on-the-word-negro/20367/
>
> Growing up in 1930s UK, we found the Golliwog black doll rather cute and
> totally inoffensive. Indeed, until 2002 the Golliwog logo label appeared on
> the jars of Robinson’s most popular jams and marmalades. The current trend
> is that both the name and doll are out of fashion, being widely considered
> as distasteful stereotypes on a par with blacked-up minstrels.
> Stan Kelly-Bootle.
>
>
> On 13/08/2011 04:12, "Jansy" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
>
> *Didier Machu*: Yes, there are traces of Golliwog in Camera Obscura /
> Laughter in the Dark. Margot twice calls Albinus doggy...in the British
> edition but in the American edition (100, 180) woggy is substituted....
>
> *JM*: It would be nice if I were able to retribute DMachu's comprehensive
> information in connection to the golliwoggs, but this kind of doll, or of
> adventure-stories for children is very unfamiliar to me. I would never have
> guessed its presence in "Laughter in the Dark" nor in "KQKn," with the
> unexpected literary pranks it entails.
> I'll check it in the Brazilian-Portuguese edition to find out how the
> translators cope with it or, at least, how they render the "doggy-woggy"
> alusion.
>
>
> Google Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> Visit AdaOnline<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> View
> NSJ Ada Annotations <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> Temporary
> L-Soft Search the archive<https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L&X=58B9943B29972AFF64&Y=nabokv-l%40utk.edu>
>
> ****All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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/
Fire*: *Shade said that more than anything on earth he loathed Vulgarity and
Brutality, and that one found these two ideally united in racial prejudice.
He said, that as a man of letters, he could not help preferring 'is a Jew'
to is 'Jewish' and 'is a Negro' to 'is colored' ; but immediately added
that this way of alluding to two kinds of bias in one breath was a good
example of careless, or demagogic, lumping.*.etc*.*
*
*
I am aware of seeming to defend Nabokov, but - to be quite honest - I don't
like this (search for) political correctness at all; I hate it as much as I
do preventing being political correct and measuring a writer, living or
dead, by changing standards of etiquettes ('cause that's what it is). It
just seems that Nabokov was aware of it.
Best,
Hafid Bouazza * *
2011/8/13 Stan LIOB <stan@bootle.biz>
> It’s vital to know that *Goll[i/y]wog* (the doll and the name) is
> considered racist to many Anglophones. And *Wog *even more so, in the same
> taboo class as the N-word. Context: child-speak doggy-woggy
>
> Of course PC (Politically Correct) fashions vary confusedly over space,
> time and languages. Even sensitive novelists like Nabokov can be caught
> retrospectively ‘out-of-phase,’ as it were. He regularly uses *Negro*where
> *Black* or *African-American* have become more ‘acceptable.’ Blacks
> themselves have long argued over these changing usages. See, e.g., Black
> linguist John McWhorter’s comments at
>
> http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/01/john-mcwhorter-on-the-word-negro/20367/
>
> Growing up in 1930s UK, we found the Golliwog black doll rather cute and
> totally inoffensive. Indeed, until 2002 the Golliwog logo label appeared on
> the jars of Robinson’s most popular jams and marmalades. The current trend
> is that both the name and doll are out of fashion, being widely considered
> as distasteful stereotypes on a par with blacked-up minstrels.
> Stan Kelly-Bootle.
>
>
> On 13/08/2011 04:12, "Jansy" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
>
> *Didier Machu*: Yes, there are traces of Golliwog in Camera Obscura /
> Laughter in the Dark. Margot twice calls Albinus doggy...in the British
> edition but in the American edition (100, 180) woggy is substituted....
>
> *JM*: It would be nice if I were able to retribute DMachu's comprehensive
> information in connection to the golliwoggs, but this kind of doll, or of
> adventure-stories for children is very unfamiliar to me. I would never have
> guessed its presence in "Laughter in the Dark" nor in "KQKn," with the
> unexpected literary pranks it entails.
> I'll check it in the Brazilian-Portuguese edition to find out how the
> translators cope with it or, at least, how they render the "doggy-woggy"
> alusion.
>
>
> Google Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> Visit AdaOnline<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> View
> NSJ Ada Annotations <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> Temporary
> L-Soft Search the archive<https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L&X=58B9943B29972AFF64&Y=nabokv-l%40utk.edu>
>
> ****All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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/