Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0017638, Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:11:03 +0000

Subject
Re: More comments on Boyd's Annotations: Mascodagama
Date
Body
AS: speaking of word-plays and MONDEGREENS*: reading Brian Boyd¹s wonderful
analysis (Verse & Versions) of Pushkin¹s Ya Vas Lyubil and BB¹s and VN¹s
translations (I Loved You), I was reminded of the YELLOW-BLUE VASE pun (Ya
lyublyu Vas) in Ada. Very well-known, of course, but perhaps new to some
listers.

One thing did strike me about Ya Vas Lyubil, along the lines of ³ditching a
mistress!² Can any woman TRUST these smooth-talking, male-chauvinist,
lying-bastard poets? One thinks of Byron, Pushkin, and esp. his creation
Onegin!

* From the Bonnie Earl o¹ Murray: ³They hae slain the Earl o¹ Murray and
LAID HIM ON THE GREEN ...² Misheard as LADY MONDEGREEN. A simpler instance:
Decca (Jessica Mitford) singing the International¹s line ³¹Tis the final
conflict² as ³¹Tis a fine old conflict.² I¹m allowed to call her Decca ‹ we
dined together in Marin County, CA a few months before she died!

Stan Kelly-Bootle


On 29/01/2009 13:10, "Alexey Sklyarenko" <skylark05@MAIL.RU> wrote:

> ADA's Mascodagama is not the first instance in literature when the name Vasco
> da Gama is played upon. The hero of Skitalets's story Oktava ("The Low Bass,"
> 1900), a possessor of a rare low bass voice who sings in a church choir,
> mispronounces it as Vas'ka-gde-Gamma ("Basil, where is the gamut?").
> //shchnipsky


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/








Attachment