Subject
Re: [NABOKOV-L] New words,
archive on prone versus supine and Huxley's cline.
archive on prone versus supine and Huxley's cline.
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In an interview (sorry I can't tell you which one) Nabokov complained that
in Ulysses Joyce uses the word prone when he means supine. Nabokov was
undoubtedly thinking of the sentence "He [Stephen] lies prone, his face to the
sky, his hat rolling to the wall. (15.4748-9)" I think Joyce's use of
prone here is intentional -- earlier in the same hallucinatory chapter Bloom
gives birth to octuplets -- but this remark at least shows that Nabokov knew
and cared about the difference between the two words.
In a message dated 5/14/09 2:38:32 PM, jansy@AETERN.US writes:
> Mike Stauss: "A friend recently made the offhand comment that Vladimir
> Nabokov, though a master of the English language, never observed the
> difference between "supine" and "prostrate". He didn't have any examples to cite.
> Any responses from the list to this charge?"
> B.Boyd: Nonsense. As if someone who a) had an English vocabulary wider
> than any other novelist but Joyce's b) had a particular fascination for the
> accurate rendition of gesture and posture, and their local cultural and
> individual variants, and c) had a lifelong concern for the precise description
> of physiological particularities, arising from, among other things, his
> passion for Lepidoptera, would make this mistake. From the LOLITA SCREENPLAY,
> p. 41: HUMBERT So you are Lolita. LOLITA Yes, that's me. Turns from sea-star
> supine to seal prone."
> Two magnificent metaphors and a fine defamiliarizing description of a
> commonplace action in nine syllables. Tom Stoppard called "(picnic, lightning)"
> the greatest parenthesis in literature. This must rank as one of the
> greatest stage directions in drama."
>
>
>
**************
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in Ulysses Joyce uses the word prone when he means supine. Nabokov was
undoubtedly thinking of the sentence "He [Stephen] lies prone, his face to the
sky, his hat rolling to the wall. (15.4748-9)" I think Joyce's use of
prone here is intentional -- earlier in the same hallucinatory chapter Bloom
gives birth to octuplets -- but this remark at least shows that Nabokov knew
and cared about the difference between the two words.
In a message dated 5/14/09 2:38:32 PM, jansy@AETERN.US writes:
> Mike Stauss: "A friend recently made the offhand comment that Vladimir
> Nabokov, though a master of the English language, never observed the
> difference between "supine" and "prostrate". He didn't have any examples to cite.
> Any responses from the list to this charge?"
> B.Boyd: Nonsense. As if someone who a) had an English vocabulary wider
> than any other novelist but Joyce's b) had a particular fascination for the
> accurate rendition of gesture and posture, and their local cultural and
> individual variants, and c) had a lifelong concern for the precise description
> of physiological particularities, arising from, among other things, his
> passion for Lepidoptera, would make this mistake. From the LOLITA SCREENPLAY,
> p. 41: HUMBERT So you are Lolita. LOLITA Yes, that's me. Turns from sea-star
> supine to seal prone."
> Two magnificent metaphors and a fine defamiliarizing description of a
> commonplace action in nine syllables. Tom Stoppard called "(picnic, lightning)"
> the greatest parenthesis in literature. This must rank as one of the
> greatest stage directions in drama."
>
>
>
**************
Dell Mini Netbooks: Great deals starting at $299 after
instant savings!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222627952x1201458914/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B214819460%3B36680227%3Bi)
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/