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[NABOKOV-L][QUERY] Thespionym and Pessoa's literary "heteronyms"
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Dear List,
My search for "Thespionym", such as we find in "Ada", as "Mascodagama," a thespionym that alludes to Vasco da Gama ( a Portuguese navigator) suggests that this word might have been coined by Nabokov. And yet, although I've read references to a dictionarized "nymphet", "Lolita" ( but not "iridule" or "racemosa"), there were none in relation to VN's creating "thespionym".
The Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa invented the literary concept of heteronym. According to Wikipedia a "heteronym" refers to one or more imaginary character(s) created by a poet to write in different styles. Heteronyms differ from nom de plumes (or pseudonyms, from the Greek "False Name") in that the latter are just false names, while the former are characters having their own supposed physiques, biographies and writing styles.In Pessoa's case, there are at least 70 heteronyms (according to the latest count by Pessoa's editor Teresa Rita Lopes); some of them know each other, and criticise and translate each other's works. Pessoa's three chief heteronyms are Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos; the latter two consider the former their master. There are also two whom Pessoa called semi-heteronyms, Bernardo Soares and the Baron of Teive, who are semi-autobiographical characters who write in prose. There is, lastly, an orthonym, Fernando Pessoa, the namesake of the author, who also considers Caeiro his master.
Nabokov's choice of "Mascodagama" has a link with the Portuguese, through both Camoens' epic "The Lusiads" ( it describes the feats of Vasco da Gama) and with "Vasco da Gama" himself. Could it also point to Nabokov's familiarity with Fernando Pessoa's use of "heteronyms"?
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My search for "Thespionym", such as we find in "Ada", as "Mascodagama," a thespionym that alludes to Vasco da Gama ( a Portuguese navigator) suggests that this word might have been coined by Nabokov. And yet, although I've read references to a dictionarized "nymphet", "Lolita" ( but not "iridule" or "racemosa"), there were none in relation to VN's creating "thespionym".
The Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa invented the literary concept of heteronym. According to Wikipedia a "heteronym" refers to one or more imaginary character(s) created by a poet to write in different styles. Heteronyms differ from nom de plumes (or pseudonyms, from the Greek "False Name") in that the latter are just false names, while the former are characters having their own supposed physiques, biographies and writing styles.In Pessoa's case, there are at least 70 heteronyms (according to the latest count by Pessoa's editor Teresa Rita Lopes); some of them know each other, and criticise and translate each other's works. Pessoa's three chief heteronyms are Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos; the latter two consider the former their master. There are also two whom Pessoa called semi-heteronyms, Bernardo Soares and the Baron of Teive, who are semi-autobiographical characters who write in prose. There is, lastly, an orthonym, Fernando Pessoa, the namesake of the author, who also considers Caeiro his master.
Nabokov's choice of "Mascodagama" has a link with the Portuguese, through both Camoens' epic "The Lusiads" ( it describes the feats of Vasco da Gama) and with "Vasco da Gama" himself. Could it also point to Nabokov's familiarity with Fernando Pessoa's use of "heteronyms"?
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/