"Oh, yes, let people compare me to Joyce by all means, but my English is patball to Joyce's champion game." (SO, p. 56)
「是啊，大家儘可以拿我和喬艾斯相提並論，但跟喬艾斯卓絕的球藝比較起來，我的英文只不過是胡拍亂打。」*
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"What I object to is Mr. Rowe's manipulating my most innocent words so as to introduce sexual 'symbols' into them. The notion of symbol itself has always been abhorrent to me, and I never tire of retelling how I once failed a student -- the dupe, alas, of an earlier teacher -- for writing that Jane Austen describes leaves as 'green' because Fanny is hopeful, and 'green' is the color of hope. The symbolism racket in schools attracts computerized minds but destroys plain intelligence as well as poetical sense. It bleaches the soul. It numbs all capacity to enjoy the fun and enchantment of art...'Wickedly folded moth' suggests 'wick' to Mr. Rowe, and 'wick,' as we Freudians know, is the Male Organ. 'I' stands for 'eye,' and 'eye' stands for the Female Organ. Pencil licking is always a reference to you know what. A soccer goal hints at the vulval orifice (which Mr. Rowe evidently sees as square)...No less ludicrous is his examination of Lolita's tennis and his claim that the tennis balls represent testicles (those of a giant albino, no doubt)." (OP, pp. 304-306)
「我反對的是，羅君扭曲了我最天真的字詞，而在其中引入了性的『象徵』。我向來憎惡這個象徵的概念，也常津津樂道自己如何不讓一名學生過關的故事——可嘆他上了前一位老師的當——因為他曾說珍‧奧斯登描述樹葉之『綠』是因為范妮充滿了希望，而『綠』又是希望的顏色。存在於學校中的象徵主義詐騙集團，吸引了計算機式的腦袋，卻摧毀了詩歌的感覺與平實的智慧。它漂白了靈魂。它痲痺了享受藝術樂趣與迷魅的能力。……對羅君而言，『兇惡地闔起翅翼的蛾』（wickedly folded moth）意指著『燈蕊』（wick），而我們弗洛伊德派都知道，『燈蕊』就是雄性性器。『我』（I）代表的是『眼睛』（eye），而『眼睛』又代表了雌性性器。舔鉛筆喻指的總是你我皆知的動作。足球球門暗示的是陰戶（在羅君眼裡顯然是方型的）……。同樣荒謬的，是他對婁麗塔打網球的研究，和他那網球即睾丸（無疑是個白化症巨人的睾丸）的聲稱。」**
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【摘自《Strong Opinions》】
* 1920-30 年代，據稱具有準職業水準的 VN 曾在柏林以教授網球維生。所有談論網球與文學的書籍，大概總少不了要提到他的文字，譬如 Jay Jennings 所編的《Tennis and the Meaning of Life: A Literary Anthology of the Game》（Breakaway Books，1995）。英國作家 Martin Amis 也曾以網球之喻，比較過 Joyce 與 VN：「喬艾斯彷彿滿場飛馳，無所不在，雖是緊要關頭，還不斷賣弄他的花招——他的急墜殺球，他貼地短擊的側旋吊球——而令人捏把冷汗。納博考夫卻是一本正經上場應戰，只見柔勁、力道、與巧妙。」（Martin Amis, "Lolita Reconsidered," Atlantic, September 1992, 119-20 頁）。
** 范妮出自 Jane Austen 的《Mansfield Park》。VN 這段文字是駁斥 William Woodin Rowe 的《Nabokov's Deceptive World》（New York University Press, 1971）一書。所謂「兇惡地闔起翅翼的蛾」是指闔起時翅翼斑紋酷似眼鏡蛇之烏柏大蠶蛾（Atlas Moth，學名 Attacus atlas，鱗翅目大蠶蛾科）。又當時的網球，尚無今日這種鮮明的顏色，故有「白化症巨人的睾丸」之謔。
【圖：1922 in Berlin】
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