Astute readers will have gathered, not in the Winsletian sense, that I am currently reading And Then There Was No One by Gilbert Adair. (What the cravat is to Pebblehead, and the cape to Tony Buzan, the scarf is to the excellent Mr Adair.) Among the book’s many delights is this list of “adjectival ethereality”, words used by Nabokov in Lolita:
Glossy, furry, honey-coloured, honey-hued, honey-brown, leggy, slender, opalescent, russet, tingling, dreamy, biscuity, pearl-gray, hazy, flurry, dimpled, luminous, moist, silky, downy, shimmering, iridescent, gauzy, fragrant, coltish, nacreous, glistening, fuzzy, leafy, shady, rosy, dolorous, burnished, quivering, plumbacious, stippled…
If nothing else, Mr.Adair ought to be a candidate for sainthood for his translation of George Perec’s ‘La Disparition’ as ‘A Void’.
Translating a novel written in french without the letter ‘e’ into english also without the letter ‘e’and still remaining readable is a remarkable achievement.
Mr J. : I agr
Is one allowed to read Lolita nowadays without getting one’s name on a list..?
Is Lolita txt spk for Laugh Out Loud In The Attic..?
O.S.M.