Subject
Beheading query
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. Robert Cook's <rcook@rhi.hi.is> query below is a good
example of the puzzles and pleasures that await the careful reader of
_Invitation to a Beheading_. Since I am currently working on a piece about
that novel, I take the liberty of here (partially) answering the questions
and pointing to some sources. Further information on either point will be
most welcome.
Teaching _Invitation to a Beheading_ for the first time, I need help with at
least two items. First, can any sense be made of the mangled Italian sung
by Marthe's brother in chapter nine, "Mali e trano t'amesti"? Second, who
are "the three merry wayfarers, Tit, Pud, and the Wandering Jew" at the end
of chapter eleven?
Has anyone been making annotations to this novel?
Robert Cook University of Iceland rcook@rhi.hi.is
------------------------------- ------------------------------ 1. Gennady
Barabtarlo has argued that "Mali e trano t'amesti" is a Russian anagram
for "Smert' mila[;] eto taina," i.e., "Death is sweet, [but] it's a
secret." Barabtarlo presents a detailed discussion of this in his 1993
book _AERIAL VIEW. Essays on Nabokov's Art And Metaphysics_, pp. 193-197.
While it is undeniably true that this reading resonates well with IB's
theme and with other VN writings, at least one other specialist, Alexander
Dolinin, questions Barabtarlo's proposal and suggests rather that the
pseudo-Italian operatic phrase encodes a series of thematic key words
including TAM (THERE), TEATR, SMERT' (DEATH), MNIMOST' (imaginariness),
etc. (pp. 509-10)
2. According to Dolinin (p. 510) Tit was an associate of the apostle Paul
and addressee of one of his Epistles. Pud is one of the first Christians,
mentioned in Paul's second Epistle to Timothy 4,21. I (DBJ) am a bit
dubious about these IDs for two reasons. Why would VN leave the names in
their Russian forms "Tit" & "Pud" rather than use the English Bible forms
Titus and Pudens. Further, neither name has obvious (to me) relevance to
what is going on the VN's novel or scene. (These characters, along with
the Wandering Jew, are bit-players in QUERCUS, the literary masterpiece
that Cin. is reading while waiting for the axe to fall.)
----------------------------
While there are no sets of annotations to IB on the scale of Appel's
LOLITA, there are two limited sets of page annotations to IB.
1) Aleksandr Dolinin, _Vladimir Nabokov: rasskazy, Priglashenie na kazn',
esse, interv'iu, retsenzii. Moskva: Kniga, 1989). Annotations: pp. 503-510
2) Dieter Zimmer, editor of the Rowohlt _Vladimir Nabokov. Gesammelte
Werke_, provides annotations to IB in vol. 4: _Einladung zur
Enthauptung_ (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1990), pp. 255-267.
Articles & book sections by Gavriel Shapiro, Gennady Barabtarlo, and D.
Barton Johnson also explicate numerous allusions, although not in
convenient page-by-page foramt.
D. Barton Johnson, Editor
NABOKV-L
example of the puzzles and pleasures that await the careful reader of
_Invitation to a Beheading_. Since I am currently working on a piece about
that novel, I take the liberty of here (partially) answering the questions
and pointing to some sources. Further information on either point will be
most welcome.
Teaching _Invitation to a Beheading_ for the first time, I need help with at
least two items. First, can any sense be made of the mangled Italian sung
by Marthe's brother in chapter nine, "Mali e trano t'amesti"? Second, who
are "the three merry wayfarers, Tit, Pud, and the Wandering Jew" at the end
of chapter eleven?
Has anyone been making annotations to this novel?
Robert Cook University of Iceland rcook@rhi.hi.is
------------------------------- ------------------------------ 1. Gennady
Barabtarlo has argued that "Mali e trano t'amesti" is a Russian anagram
for "Smert' mila[;] eto taina," i.e., "Death is sweet, [but] it's a
secret." Barabtarlo presents a detailed discussion of this in his 1993
book _AERIAL VIEW. Essays on Nabokov's Art And Metaphysics_, pp. 193-197.
While it is undeniably true that this reading resonates well with IB's
theme and with other VN writings, at least one other specialist, Alexander
Dolinin, questions Barabtarlo's proposal and suggests rather that the
pseudo-Italian operatic phrase encodes a series of thematic key words
including TAM (THERE), TEATR, SMERT' (DEATH), MNIMOST' (imaginariness),
etc. (pp. 509-10)
2. According to Dolinin (p. 510) Tit was an associate of the apostle Paul
and addressee of one of his Epistles. Pud is one of the first Christians,
mentioned in Paul's second Epistle to Timothy 4,21. I (DBJ) am a bit
dubious about these IDs for two reasons. Why would VN leave the names in
their Russian forms "Tit" & "Pud" rather than use the English Bible forms
Titus and Pudens. Further, neither name has obvious (to me) relevance to
what is going on the VN's novel or scene. (These characters, along with
the Wandering Jew, are bit-players in QUERCUS, the literary masterpiece
that Cin. is reading while waiting for the axe to fall.)
----------------------------
While there are no sets of annotations to IB on the scale of Appel's
LOLITA, there are two limited sets of page annotations to IB.
1) Aleksandr Dolinin, _Vladimir Nabokov: rasskazy, Priglashenie na kazn',
esse, interv'iu, retsenzii. Moskva: Kniga, 1989). Annotations: pp. 503-510
2) Dieter Zimmer, editor of the Rowohlt _Vladimir Nabokov. Gesammelte
Werke_, provides annotations to IB in vol. 4: _Einladung zur
Enthauptung_ (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1990), pp. 255-267.
Articles & book sections by Gavriel Shapiro, Gennady Barabtarlo, and D.
Barton Johnson also explicate numerous allusions, although not in
convenient page-by-page foramt.
D. Barton Johnson, Editor
NABOKV-L