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FW: [NABOKV-L] Fw: [NABOKV-L] One of Tennyson's translations and
Pale Fire
Pale Fire
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JM: my email was sent before I saw your
Although Nabokov mentions Alfred Tennyson using a "slight of hand" (a
marvellous typo found in an excellent article about glory and fame), I
suppose he must have been quite familiar with his translation.
I now see that you did recognize that slight¹ was a marvellous typo.¹ Do
we both agree that it¹s really VN¹s deliberate PUN, rather than a typo that
happens to work as a pun?
SKB
------ Forwarded Message
From: "stan@bootle.biz" <stan@bootle.biz>
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:40:44 +0100
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Conversation: [NABOKV-L] Fw: [NABOKV-L] One of Tennyson's translations and
Pale Fire
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Fw: [NABOKV-L] One of Tennyson's translations and
Pale Fire
JM: slight (= tiny/small) spelling correction! It¹s SLEIGHT of hand =
cunning, skillful dexterity (Middle English sleghth, cunning/skill). Slight
and Sleight have no semantic or etymological connection. They just happen to
be pronounced the same nowadays, hence the common confusion. Of course, the
words may be switched if a PUN is intended. Does the context indicate such a
deliberate misspelling?
Re-your earlier query on VN¹s I¹ll never surrender¹:
The verb Surrender can be gloriously INTRANSITIVE to Anglophone ears.
Whatever Nabokov is against, he is announcing his eternal opposition. I
don¹t think his meaning needs any special dissection
The cry NO SURRENDER has a searing resonance for me, brought up amidst
Catholic-Green/Protestant-Orange strife. The slogan is embedded in many
protest songs. The following is an Orange chorus, but the sentiments are
shared (each side willing to call the other tyrants¹).
But baffled was the tyrant's wrath,
And vain his hope to bend her.
For still 'mid famine, fire and death
She sang out "No surrender".
Stan Kelly-Bootle.
On 28/09/2011 03:51, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> PS ro "Tennyson's translations and Pale Fire" Sorry for what I fear is a case
> of "dangling participles" (the slight of hand was Nabokov's, not Tennyson's)
> in "Although Nabokov mentions Alfred Tennyson using a 'slight of hand'."
> Besides, the following sentence should have been: "With patience and some
> daring, some of the scattered references to the Slovo, to good or bad
> translations and to battles that are found in PF may be related to Tennyson."
------ End of Forwarded Message
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Although Nabokov mentions Alfred Tennyson using a "slight of hand" (a
marvellous typo found in an excellent article about glory and fame), I
suppose he must have been quite familiar with his translation.
I now see that you did recognize that slight¹ was a marvellous typo.¹ Do
we both agree that it¹s really VN¹s deliberate PUN, rather than a typo that
happens to work as a pun?
SKB
------ Forwarded Message
From: "stan@bootle.biz" <stan@bootle.biz>
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:40:44 +0100
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Conversation: [NABOKV-L] Fw: [NABOKV-L] One of Tennyson's translations and
Pale Fire
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Fw: [NABOKV-L] One of Tennyson's translations and
Pale Fire
JM: slight (= tiny/small) spelling correction! It¹s SLEIGHT of hand =
cunning, skillful dexterity (Middle English sleghth, cunning/skill). Slight
and Sleight have no semantic or etymological connection. They just happen to
be pronounced the same nowadays, hence the common confusion. Of course, the
words may be switched if a PUN is intended. Does the context indicate such a
deliberate misspelling?
Re-your earlier query on VN¹s I¹ll never surrender¹:
The verb Surrender can be gloriously INTRANSITIVE to Anglophone ears.
Whatever Nabokov is against, he is announcing his eternal opposition. I
don¹t think his meaning needs any special dissection
The cry NO SURRENDER has a searing resonance for me, brought up amidst
Catholic-Green/Protestant-Orange strife. The slogan is embedded in many
protest songs. The following is an Orange chorus, but the sentiments are
shared (each side willing to call the other tyrants¹).
But baffled was the tyrant's wrath,
And vain his hope to bend her.
For still 'mid famine, fire and death
She sang out "No surrender".
Stan Kelly-Bootle.
On 28/09/2011 03:51, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> PS ro "Tennyson's translations and Pale Fire" Sorry for what I fear is a case
> of "dangling participles" (the slight of hand was Nabokov's, not Tennyson's)
> in "Although Nabokov mentions Alfred Tennyson using a 'slight of hand'."
> Besides, the following sentence should have been: "With patience and some
> daring, some of the scattered references to the Slovo, to good or bad
> translations and to battles that are found in PF may be related to Tennyson."
------ End of Forwarded Message
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Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
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