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Fw: Nabokov's Parody of Nekrasov at the Auction
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approval (175 lines)
My thanks to Professor Dolinin for his tactful reminder. Shame on me for
letting this unforgettable passage slip my mind:
"...Nekrasov's iambic pentameter enchants us particularly by its hortatory,
supplicatory and prophetic force and by a very individual caesura after the
second foot, a caesura which in Pushkin, say, is a rudimentary organ insofar
as it controls the melody of the line, but which in Nekrasov becomes a
genuine organ of breathing, as if it had turned from a partition into a pit,
or as if the two-foot part of the line and the three-foot part had moved
asunder, leaving after the second foot an interval full of music. As he
listened these hollow-chested verses, to this guttoral, sobbing articulation
> --
>
> Oh, do not say the life you lead is dismal,
> And do not call a jailer one half-dead!
> Before me Night yawns chilly and abysmal.
> The arms of Love before you are outspread.
>
> I know, to you another is now dearer,
> It irks you now to spare me and to wait.
> Oh, bear with me! My end is drawing nearer,
> Let Fate complete what was begun by Fate!
>
> -- Chernyshevski could not help thinking, etc."
>
> (The Gift, NY: Putnam, 1963 // 4, 263-264)
>
> In his jocular inscription to Vera dated January, 1965, Nabokov parodies
the first of the two quatrains quoted in the novel. (And on a more personal
note: I remember all too well how our Polish teacher would order us to
rewrite our h/w from the beginning to end upon the discovery of some missing
clause from an assigned text. Again, many thanks to my Nabokov 101 professor
for an extra lesson).
>
> Stas Shvabrin.
>
> -----?????????????? ?????????-----
> ??: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> ????: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> ????: 16.04.2004 11:18
> ????: Fw: Fw: Nabokov's Parody of Nekrasov at the Auction
>
> EDNOTE. Alexander A. Dolinin, among VN's most distinguished
> investigators,
> is the author of innumerable articles and a forthcoming monograph on
> VN--as
> well as editor of the splendid "Symposium" edition of the collected
> works.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alexander A. Dolinin" <dolinin@wiscmail.wisc.edu>
> >
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (77
> lines) ------------------
> > A quick addition to Mr Shvabrin's quick note. Nekrasov's poem he
> cites is
> quoted and discussed in Chapter 4 of The Gift
> in connection with Chernyshevsky's poetic tastes. For the narrator,
> these
> very lines are an excellent example of Nekrasov's peculiar music--his
> "gortannyi, rydaiushchii govorok." It is obvious that Nabokov loved this
> poem.
>
> Stas, read The Gift!
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > At 08:36 AM 4/16/2004 -0700, you wrote:
> > >EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Mr. Shvabrin for this most excellent
> contribution.
> > >This is the sort of thing I wished for NABOKV-L when I established it
> a
> > >dozen years ago. I hope others will follow Mr Shvabrin's good
> example.
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> > >
> > >Dear Don,
> > >
> > > May I be permitted to add a quick electronic footnote to the
> message
> > >entitled "Sale of Dmitri Nabokov library"?
> > >
> > > Among the fascinating autographs offered at the auction there is
> one
> whose
> > >description can be slightly modified. It reads: "One of the lots for
> sale
> is
> > >the original Danish edition of "Pnin" with an autograph poem by
> Vladimir
> > >Nabokov to his wife Vera. Estimate 15 000-20 000 euro. Sale 05 May
> 2004."
> > >
> > > The inscription reads (in my transliteration):
> > >
> > > Verochke
> > >
> > > > Ne govori chto dni tvoi - urody,
> > > > Tyuremshchikom Volodyu ne zovi!
> > > > Peredo mnoj - drugie perevody,
> > > > pered toboj - vse babochki moi!
> > > >
> > > > V. Sirin,
> > > > Montrjo
> > > > Janvar' 1965
> > > >
> > > >
> > > What we have here is not an "original" poem as such, but a
> brilliant
> > >parody of Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov (1821-1877). In his
> inscription
> to
> > >Vera, Nabokov plays with the fifth quatrain of a poem by Nekrasov
> > >"Tyazhyolyj krest dostalsja ey na dolju...," 1855. In this poem
> bed-ridden,
> > >dying
> > >Nekrasov implores his beloved:
> > > >
> > > > Ne govori, chto dni tvoi unyly
> > > > Tyuremshchikom bolnogo ne zovi:
> > > > Peredo mnoj - holodnyj mrak mogily,
> > > > Pered toboj - ob'jatija ljubvi!
> > > >
> > > > We all remember that in his footnote to 'The Paris Poem' Nabokov
> tells
> the
> > >reader of Poems and Problems that a line in his own text "imitates...
> > >closely Nekrasov's line calling the poet away "from those jubilant,
> those
> > >idly babbling". Nabokov goes on to say that Nekrasov was "a famous
> poet
> who
> > >successfully transcended, in a few great poems, the journalist in
> him,
> who
> > > wrote topical jingles" (p. [125]). It seems not improbable to me
> that
> among
> > >such "great poems" Nabokov may well have included this one (he
> translated
> > >"Tyazhyolyy krest..." into in English), and this parody is an
> additional
> > >piece of evidence to support my present attempt to get beyond
> Nabokov's
> > >somewhat elusive message and pin an actual text by Nekrasov alluded
> to,
> but
> > > > not directly referred to by Nabokov in this footnote.
> > > >
> > > > I fear that I won't be able to take part in the upcoming auction,
> but
> I
> > > > would like to think that this bit of information about the
> inscription
> > >makes
> > > > it even more attractive to the potential buyer (as it certainly
> does
> to
> > >me,
> > > > but again, I have to resist the temptation). My only hope (and
> wish)
> that
> > > > they don't hide it in a vault somewhere in Nova Zembla, allowing
> us an
> > > > occasional glimpse of the treasure...
> > > >
> > > > Best wishes,
> > > >
> > > > Stas Shvabrin.
> >
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approval (175 lines)
My thanks to Professor Dolinin for his tactful reminder. Shame on me for
letting this unforgettable passage slip my mind:
"...Nekrasov's iambic pentameter enchants us particularly by its hortatory,
supplicatory and prophetic force and by a very individual caesura after the
second foot, a caesura which in Pushkin, say, is a rudimentary organ insofar
as it controls the melody of the line, but which in Nekrasov becomes a
genuine organ of breathing, as if it had turned from a partition into a pit,
or as if the two-foot part of the line and the three-foot part had moved
asunder, leaving after the second foot an interval full of music. As he
listened these hollow-chested verses, to this guttoral, sobbing articulation
> --
>
> Oh, do not say the life you lead is dismal,
> And do not call a jailer one half-dead!
> Before me Night yawns chilly and abysmal.
> The arms of Love before you are outspread.
>
> I know, to you another is now dearer,
> It irks you now to spare me and to wait.
> Oh, bear with me! My end is drawing nearer,
> Let Fate complete what was begun by Fate!
>
> -- Chernyshevski could not help thinking, etc."
>
> (The Gift, NY: Putnam, 1963 // 4, 263-264)
>
> In his jocular inscription to Vera dated January, 1965, Nabokov parodies
the first of the two quatrains quoted in the novel. (And on a more personal
note: I remember all too well how our Polish teacher would order us to
rewrite our h/w from the beginning to end upon the discovery of some missing
clause from an assigned text. Again, many thanks to my Nabokov 101 professor
for an extra lesson).
>
> Stas Shvabrin.
>
> -----?????????????? ?????????-----
> ??: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> ????: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> ????: 16.04.2004 11:18
> ????: Fw: Fw: Nabokov's Parody of Nekrasov at the Auction
>
> EDNOTE. Alexander A. Dolinin, among VN's most distinguished
> investigators,
> is the author of innumerable articles and a forthcoming monograph on
> VN--as
> well as editor of the splendid "Symposium" edition of the collected
> works.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alexander A. Dolinin" <dolinin@wiscmail.wisc.edu>
> >
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (77
> lines) ------------------
> > A quick addition to Mr Shvabrin's quick note. Nekrasov's poem he
> cites is
> quoted and discussed in Chapter 4 of The Gift
> in connection with Chernyshevsky's poetic tastes. For the narrator,
> these
> very lines are an excellent example of Nekrasov's peculiar music--his
> "gortannyi, rydaiushchii govorok." It is obvious that Nabokov loved this
> poem.
>
> Stas, read The Gift!
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > At 08:36 AM 4/16/2004 -0700, you wrote:
> > >EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Mr. Shvabrin for this most excellent
> contribution.
> > >This is the sort of thing I wished for NABOKV-L when I established it
> a
> > >dozen years ago. I hope others will follow Mr Shvabrin's good
> example.
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> > >
> > >Dear Don,
> > >
> > > May I be permitted to add a quick electronic footnote to the
> message
> > >entitled "Sale of Dmitri Nabokov library"?
> > >
> > > Among the fascinating autographs offered at the auction there is
> one
> whose
> > >description can be slightly modified. It reads: "One of the lots for
> sale
> is
> > >the original Danish edition of "Pnin" with an autograph poem by
> Vladimir
> > >Nabokov to his wife Vera. Estimate 15 000-20 000 euro. Sale 05 May
> 2004."
> > >
> > > The inscription reads (in my transliteration):
> > >
> > > Verochke
> > >
> > > > Ne govori chto dni tvoi - urody,
> > > > Tyuremshchikom Volodyu ne zovi!
> > > > Peredo mnoj - drugie perevody,
> > > > pered toboj - vse babochki moi!
> > > >
> > > > V. Sirin,
> > > > Montrjo
> > > > Janvar' 1965
> > > >
> > > >
> > > What we have here is not an "original" poem as such, but a
> brilliant
> > >parody of Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov (1821-1877). In his
> inscription
> to
> > >Vera, Nabokov plays with the fifth quatrain of a poem by Nekrasov
> > >"Tyazhyolyj krest dostalsja ey na dolju...," 1855. In this poem
> bed-ridden,
> > >dying
> > >Nekrasov implores his beloved:
> > > >
> > > > Ne govori, chto dni tvoi unyly
> > > > Tyuremshchikom bolnogo ne zovi:
> > > > Peredo mnoj - holodnyj mrak mogily,
> > > > Pered toboj - ob'jatija ljubvi!
> > > >
> > > > We all remember that in his footnote to 'The Paris Poem' Nabokov
> tells
> the
> > >reader of Poems and Problems that a line in his own text "imitates...
> > >closely Nekrasov's line calling the poet away "from those jubilant,
> those
> > >idly babbling". Nabokov goes on to say that Nekrasov was "a famous
> poet
> who
> > >successfully transcended, in a few great poems, the journalist in
> him,
> who
> > > wrote topical jingles" (p. [125]). It seems not improbable to me
> that
> among
> > >such "great poems" Nabokov may well have included this one (he
> translated
> > >"Tyazhyolyy krest..." into in English), and this parody is an
> additional
> > >piece of evidence to support my present attempt to get beyond
> Nabokov's
> > >somewhat elusive message and pin an actual text by Nekrasov alluded
> to,
> but
> > > > not directly referred to by Nabokov in this footnote.
> > > >
> > > > I fear that I won't be able to take part in the upcoming auction,
> but
> I
> > > > would like to think that this bit of information about the
> inscription
> > >makes
> > > > it even more attractive to the potential buyer (as it certainly
> does
> to
> > >me,
> > > > but again, I have to resist the temptation). My only hope (and
> wish)
> that
> > > > they don't hide it in a vault somewhere in Nova Zembla, allowing
> us an
> > > > occasional glimpse of the treasure...
> > > >
> > > > Best wishes,
> > > >
> > > > Stas Shvabrin.
> >