Like it’s spelt. Although I think it’s more of an “ee”. “Pneen”. Doesn’t the book actually mention this?

You do pronounce the “P”.

I too have wondered this. puh-neen then? I’m not up to reading something I can’t pronounce these days.

Right, but not quite a “puh”. You’re trying to make the space between the P and the N as short as possible.

How not to pronounce it: like that sinus thing Jack Lemmon does in the Odd Couple.

Excellent. Although, I was hoping the ns were silent.

In the book, the American characters pronounce it several different (implicitly wrong) ways (pun-neen, neen). I spent the whole book looking for clues as to the correct pronunciation and never found any.

I finished it last night, with sadness.

I think maybe you did find enough clues, though! The “p” is neither silent nor its own syllable. That’s not an English-acceptable way to start a word, though, so we tend to adapt it to fit our language. Which, of course, has all sorts of resonances in the book.

puh-neen then?

More like p’neen

I think maybe you did find enough clues, though!

Okay, so when I said I was looking for ‘clues’, what I actually meant was I wanted a very definitive and unambiguous statement as to exactly how to say the freaking title.

I know the name was deliberately chosen to be confusing and jarring to readers of English. The whole thing got very confusing by the end, didn’t it—it was fabulous, though.

Oh, god dammit, I tried to make sure that italics thing wouldn’t happen.

But it’s Nabokov! All he’ll ever give you are little clues and expect you to figure the rest out. He’s like a bad boyfriend that way.

I know, I love his little clues, the little ways he’ll refer back to some seemingly insignificant detail from 100 pages ago, as if he’s watching to make sure you’re paying attention. You always feel so proud when you catch them.

The bad boyfriend analogy is right on the money. Although at least with Vlad it’s affectionate.

More like p’neen

that’s more or less how my Nabokov-loving Russian friend pronounces it.

In one of his essays Nabokov said it should be pronounced like “Up, Nina!” without the first and last letters.

That’s EXACTLY the answer I was looking for.

Also, Nuh-BOk-aff. Something like that.

Oh, there must be an easier way to try to explain this!

Mind you, I don’t actually speak Russian, I’m probably a bit off.

how the hell do you pronounce “Succinct”?

suck-sinkt or suss-inked

this is important

i pronounce it suss-sinkt, lavishing attention upon every consonant.

it’s such a princess of a word, i am strongly considering cutting it out of my vocabulary.

in my head, I say it suss-inked. I’ve never tried to say it out loud.

it’s funny, words you know really well, and know the meaning of, but don’t ever say

oh you people.

suhk-singkt (səkˈsɪŋkt)

xp (or always say wrong)

Mr. Jaq and I have had rows over desultory and banal.

I miss our “We love everything VN wrote except Ada” thread on real ILX.

Yep!

actually I don’t like a lot of his novels.

I mean, a half dozen of his short stories and “canonical” novels are all I need.

in an old interview I read of his, nabokov said it’s pronounced like it is when you say “up nina”

the two long ones (ada and the gift) are my least favorites

I didn’t care all that much for Pale Fire or even Lolita. Glory (in translation obv) was ok and there were a couple others I couldn’t really make myself read. Pnin is my favorite—maybe it’s Nabokov for people who don’t love Nabokov, idk.

Pnin is kind of an outlier, it feels warmer and more human and less dense than most of his books—it’s probably my second- or third-favorite Nabokov. I think there is depth there but he doesn’t fuck with his readers as directly as in most of his books.

Yeah, that’s why I like it so much: it’s a victory lap novel.