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/lit/ - Literature

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673890 No.673890 [Reply] [Original]

Did you need to check a lot of words in the dictionnary or am I ignorant?

>> No.673899

Words such as?

>> No.673900

>>673899
Well, 'the', for starters.

>> No.673902

>>673901
o rly?

>> No.673901

nymphet: a sexually precocious girl barely in her teens

>> No.673903

>>673901
Isn't that Nabokov's own coinage anyway?

>> No.673904

Also, they misprinted "Humbert" two times.

>> No.673905

>>673903

Yeah he coined it, he had a way with words for sure

>> No.673910

Even people who could reasonably be called highly literate ain't got shit compared to Nabokov's expansive vocabulary. To what extent this is the case will always vary, but it's definitely normal.

What's worse is realizing that for every literary reference you happen to notice, there could have well been ten others on the same page that went straight over your head :(

>> No.673912

>>673899
Well, I'm reading the French translation so you probably won't know what I'm talking about. It's really well written, but I need to check the meaning of some words from time to time. I guess it's a great reading since I'm learning a lot of new words...

>> No.673913

>>673905
Well you probably shouldn't look up coined terms in dictionary because if the author doesn't immediately tell you the definition then he probably doesn't want you to know for a while.

>> No.673915

>>673910
Listen to this man here.

>> No.673916

he had synesthesia, which i imagine contributed to a delightful combination of sounds and meaning.

>> No.673918

>>673910
I guess that's better than the "hurr durr, you're looking into it too much."

>> No.673924

>>673916
I agree

>> No.673926

>>673912
In French? Unless English isn't your first language and you're not advanced enough with it to really understand it in English, then you're doing the book a damn disservice.

>> No.673930

>>673916
I'm so jealous of people with synesthesia. ;__;

>> No.673931

Nabokov is a god when it comes to the choice of words, none is random.
Look at the first sentence : " Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. " In "loins" you have a combination of "Lo" and "Sin", all of this attached to the sexual conotation of the word itself...

>> No.673934

>>673910

Nabakov is like an episode of Big gang theory then! cool!

>> No.673942

>>673926
Do you learn a language every time you want to read a foreign book because you don't want to do the book a "disservice"?

>> No.673953

i didn't have to stop to look up anything, but then again i never do
that's not to say that i understand every word when i read something, but the way i pick up new words is from context
it breaks up the flow to keep stopping to check things, i prefer to just go with it and accept that maybe i'll miss something, but still get a more immersive experience
and on the whole, i have a fucking great vocabulary these days (mainly from reading lots of shit like this) so it all works out in the end

>> No.673956

>>673926
English isn't my first language (why would I red it in French if it was?). I couldn't read this book in its original form, but I must say that it sounds beautifully in French; I'm in love with Nabokov's style.

I wish I could read it in English, but it's better than not reading it at all.
There's a discussion about book translation here >>673040

>> No.673957

>>673942
This is an English board, it's not a bad assumption that they're proficient in English.

>> No.673959

>>673957
It's also an international website.

>> No.673991

>>673942
Nah, it's just particularly important with Nabokov because his use of language is so deliberate and masterful. I would definitely recommend to the OP reading the original if you ever feel you're up to it, though. The problem with that, of course, is that you end up feeling like you have to read everything in the Western canon before you get to Nabokov just so that you can catch maybe half of all the literary references. I've been holding off on Pale Fire for years just for that reason.

As it is, though, it sounds like the translation still captures a lot of that anyway.

>>673956
Um, I hope you don't mind me being a tiny bit straightforward and saying, omg do you want to be penpals????? There was a thread about a week ago or something where people were posting addresses and I was hoping someone fluent in French would post so that I could brush up on my skills. I promise to be interesting and exciting even when I'm not writing in my native tongue, but if you're not into it then that's fair enough. No harm in trying your luck, eh?

>> No.674042

>>673991

I'm not >>673956 but if you still want to practice your french just drop your email / msn and i'll be happy to help!

>> No.674063

I added the dictionary reference website to my opera search engine when reading Lolita.

Nabokov's use of language is simply masterful, and I could only merely wish that I had such a fantastic vocabulary in my native tongue.

>> No.674067

>>674042
Excellent, thanks! The email under my anon title works. I probably won't have much time to write anything for about a week, but I'll be so into that once I have some spare time.

>> No.674088

>>674063
What's your first language?
Did you read Lolita in English?

I'll take Louis-Ferdinand Céline for example. My favorite book is probably Journey to the End of the Night (Voyage au bout de la nuit), his first one. He also uses a lot of words I didn't even know they existed before reading it. My point is that I can't imagine someone reading this masterpiece in another language than French. I guess it's kind of the same thing with Nabokov.

>> No.674100

>>673931
>In "loins" you have a combination of "Lo" and "Sin"

No, you don't.

>> No.674259

>>673931


Very weak language analysis I'd say.

>> No.674263

>>674259

In 'analysis' you have 'anal' and 'sis'

Want to fuck your sister in the ass or what?

>> No.674267

>>674263


that was hilarios.

>> No.674269

>>673901

I mean, I knew that one, but. I usually have to check at least a few when reading good literature.

>> No.674272

Excuse my typo.