----- Original Message -----
From: Jamie L. Olson
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: The Russian Lolita

Our listserv editor is certainly correct in arguing that "the aesthetic effect of the alliterative 'l's and 'f's and the internal rhymes of 'light of my life, fire of my loins'" (much of which derives from the name of Lolita herself: Lo-LIT-a --> light, etc.; the subsequent series of alliterating 't's also stems from her tender name) is absent in the Russian, but I would argue that VN in this passage is coaching his English-speaking readers in Russian pronunciation. 

Further evidence for this can be found in an interview with _Playboy_ in January of 1964, reprinted in _Strong Opionions_: "For my nymphet I needed a diminuitive with a lyrical lilt to it.  One of the most limpid and luminous letters is 'L'.  The suffix '-ita' has a lot of Latin tenderness, and this I required too.  Hence: Lolita.  However, it should not be pronounced as you and most Americans pronounce it: Low-lee-ta, with a heavy, clammy 'L' and a long 'o'.  No, the first syllable should be as in 'lollipop', the 'L' liquid and delicate, the 'lee' not too sharp.  Spaniards and Italians pronounce it, of course, with exactly the necessary note of archness and caress" (SO [Vintage 1990], p. 25).

Though VN calls on latinate languages for the above description, this is his roundabout way of getting his readers to adopt the Russian pronunciation of 'Lolita'.  My own opinion is that the worst sin in mispronouncing her name is the American tendency to convert the light 'T' to a dull 'D'.

For further associative references in this passage, one might look to Alfred Appel's notes in _The Annotated Lolita_.

Jamie L. Olson

At 10:20 AM 08/06/2003 -0700, you wrote:
EDNOTE. As far as the name LOLITA goes, the equivalence is only approximate since the articulatory position of the tongue is slightly different in Russian & English. In the remaining the differences are greater, e.g.,  "svet moei zhizni, ogon' moix chresl"  does not really approach the aesthetic effect of the alliterative "l"s and  "f"s and the internal rhymes of  "light of my life, fire of my loins." Multiply this sort of thing by tens of thousands of cases in comparing original and translated texts and you will see that the aesthetic experience is very different in the two versions.
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Jamie L. Olson
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: The Russian Lolita

As can be seen from a comparison of the opening passages (after Ray's foreword) of _Lolita_ in English and in Russian, the tongue does perform precisely the same tricks for both sets of readers:

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

«Лолита, свет моей жизни, огонь моих чресел. Грех мой, душа моя. Ло-ли-та: кончик языка совершает путь в три шажка вниз по нёбу, чтобы на третьем толкнуться о зубы. Ло. Ли. Та.»

Transcription of Russian: “Lolita, svet moej zhizni, ogon’ moikh chresel.. Grekh moj, dusha moja. Lo-li-ta: konchik jazyka sovershaet put’ v tri shazhka vniz po njobu, chtoby na tret’em tolknut’cja o zuby. Lo. Li. Ta.”

Jamie L. Olson

At 09:03 AM 08/06/2003 -0700, you wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dane Gill" <pennyparkerpark@hotmail.com>
) ------------------
> Here's a question for those of you that speak/read both Russian and
English:
> Is there anything lost in the Russian translation of Lolita? I understand
> that there is always something amiss when a piece of work is translated,
and
> I have read both here and elsewhere that Nabokov's Russian novels are best
> read in their original language. However,as it was Nabokov himself that
did
> the translation of Lolita is the lost cut to minimum, or does Nabokov's
> literal translating practices (a la Eugene Onegin) convert Lolita into a
> mere shade (only a fan of Nabokov would use "shade" instead of "shadow"
> here) of its former self? I once read the opening lines to the Russian
> version typed using non-Rusian letters (forgive me for not using the
proper
> term here) and as I recall the instructonal Lo-lee-ta pronounciation and
> description of the tongue's journey as Lolita's name is said was
completely
> different (more than likely, memory has failed me on this note). This is a
> mere curiousity of mine, as I never plan I reading Russian - 10 years of
> half hearted French schooling and I can hardly scrape through a paragraph
of
> Proust, I can't imagine myself even attempting to learn Russian well
enough
> to read Nabokov - so please feel free to treat it as such. Thank you
----------------------------
EDCOMMENT. Sure. Some things are lost in the Russian --- and some gained.
Even in the hands of a consumate bilingual like VN the same work is
different in each language even over and above deliberately altered bits.
Each language has its own range of associations tied to different roots and
sounds so the English and Russian readers will make different associations.
>
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