Jerry Friedman:

I'm sure you're right about Vseslav being meant as a given name rather than a  surname (although, as an invention of Kinbote, all of King Charles's names and appellations are ``given'', including the peculiar Xavier--the king is not a Catholic--and, as you've brought out, the  lycanthropic and sorcerous Vseslav).

Matt Roth:

You're right about the inconsistent typography in other index entries. It was carelessness on my part not to check this myself. Perhaps a look at the holograph or publisher's typescript could resolve these questions.

Bearing in mind Matt Roth's correction, I would still call attention to a statement by Shade that Kinbote claims to have overheard:

``That is the wrong word,'' [Shade] said. ``One should not apply it to a person who deliberately peels off a drab and unhappy past and replaces it with a brilliant invention. That's merely turning a new leaf with the left hand.''

We have here a question of identity together with the front and back of a leaf. I'd also note the peculiarity of the gesture described by Shade, which implies hiding the page being turned from others' eyes.

The words of the grotesquely named Eberthella reported by Kinbote in the sequel also contain an implication about Kinbote's identity:

``You must help us, Mr. Kinbote: I maintain that what's his name, old -- the old man, you know, at the Exton railway station, who thought he was God and began redirecting trains, was technically a loony, but John calls him a fellow poet.''

The implication is not in the story of the old man, but rather in Mrs. H's assumption that Kinbote knows the story. She expects Kinbote, who claims to be freshly arrived in New Wye, to recall an incident that seems to go back an indeterminate while. This suggests to me that the recto/verso hypothesis in the ``Botkin, V'' index entry is not without an anchor in the text.


On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Nabokv-L <nabokv-l@utk.edu> wrote:


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] new in Zembla
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 09:17:15 -0800 (PST)
From: Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
CC: jerry_friedman@yahoo.com

Dear Steve Arons,

If you don't mind my disagreeing with something in your
recent post, I interpret "Vseslav" as one of Charles's
given names. In Russian it's a given name, not a surname
(I believe). Charles has several names and no surname,
like Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) or Prince
Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George).

Here's a post of mine from December 2006 on the name
Vseslav (after some other stuff):

http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0612&L=nabokv-l&T=0&P=8245

with a response from Jansy Mello:

http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0612&L=nabokv-l&T=0&P=8557

and one from Victor Fet:

http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0612&L=nabokv-l&T=0&P=8373

This reminded me to check something I wondered in those
posts: whether Russian /vira/, meaning kinbote or weregild,
is related to "weregild" (and "werewolf"). It is. The
Russian etymological dictionary by Max Vasmer (Maks Fasmer)
is available at
http://imwerden.de/pdf/preobrazhensky_etimologihesky_slovar_tom1_1914.pdf
(volume 1), and on p. 318 it says that "vira" is assumed to
be a loanword from the Germanic languages, related to
modern German "Wergeld". (If I'm reading it correctly
with the help of a dictionary.)

This doesn't prove anything, but if Nabokov meant "Vseslav"
and maybe "Kinbote" to suggest werewolves, as I think, then
it may provide a little additional enjoyment.

On your suggestion about the V., I'm with Matt--I enjoy the
idea, but I don't think there's any way to be sure (not
totally different from "vira" and "werewolf"). Now if
Kinbote's first name had begun with an R...

Jerry Friedman

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Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.