I may have missed a posting. Did anyone report the death on Dec 21, 2009 of Marianne Stone who played the role of Vivian Darkbloom alongside Sue Lyon’s Lolita? The Times obit carried a photo of Marianne with Sue and Peter Sellers. Reminding us, yet again, that Kubrick’s nymph is coyly cast as 2 years older than VN’s nymphet.
The theory that ‘his’ emerged from a computer mistranslation of ‘her’ would be stronger if ‘role,’ ‘career’ and ‘fortune’ were all masculine in the original language. E.g., ‘son role’ in French might trigger the schoolboy/machine error of taking ‘son’ = ‘his.’ On the other hand, we would find ‘sa carriere’ which the same schoolboy/machine might take (correctly!) as ‘her career!’ It’s also ‘sa fortune,’ of course, but the original might have been ‘son bonheur?’ We may never know!
Be-lated Hogmanay greetings.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 04/01/2010 13:28, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
EDNote: Although it is officially against our policy to post witticisms that do not contain a critical argument, new factual information, or other relevant content, Tom Seifrid's quip below is so apt that I have decided to repost it along with the original critique of the Lyon biography review: it is intended for belated New Year's enjoyment, and as a crisp example of exactly the kind of delightful rejoinder that we are nearly always obliged to reject. If ever you are feeling clever and witty, please preserve the results and append them to your juiciest of discoveries! ~SB
Subject:
Re: [NABOKV-L] Sue Lyon biography ...
From:
"Thomas Seifrid" <seifrid@usc.edu> <mailto:seifrid@usc.edu>
Date:
Sun, 3 Jan 2010 19:22:56 -0800
To:
"Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu> <mailto:NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
Perhaps the review should be titled, "A Boy Named Sue."
Cheers,
Tom Seifrid
----- Original Message -----
From: Ari Lieberman <mailto:alieberm@PRINCETON.EDU>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 10:27 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Sue Lyon biography ...
Dear Sandy Klein,
I'm pretty sure this article was translated into English (from what language?) by an electronic translator. Look no further than the first two sentences: "Actress driven to stardom thanks to his [?????] role as the famous Lolita....Acquired star status in her debut was not sustained for long, and his [?????] promising career collapsed"
Other gems:
"Although it was larger than the protagonist of the novel as it had for 15 years, Sue accepted the offer of Kubrick..."
"The marriage lasted less than a year and finally divorced in 1965."
"His fortunes changed cinema in the late 70s, sunset and end of his career..."
"Finally, in 1985 found emotional stability telecommunications engineer Richard Rudman, with whom she lived until his recent divorce."
Yours,
Ari Lieberman