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rvandenboomgaard 's review for:
Pnin
by Vladimir Nabokov
I remain consistently amazed by the capacity of the Russian writers to paint the picture of mundane daily life in a manner that is striking, all of them in their own way. In Pnin, it is — what we call in Dutch — the ‘kneuterigheid’ of academic life in America, the particular brand of ‘kneuterigheid’ exclusive to that sociale caste. Because ‘kneuterig’ we are all, in our own ways.
Just like this translation into Dutch of ‘Pnin’ does not do justice to the wordplay- and jokes that this work abounds with, no translation of the Dutch ‘kneuterig’ into English can do justice to the term. In that regard, it is akin to the (in)famous ‘gezellig’, although I believe that the Dutch do agree on the common meaning of ‘gezellig’, whereas they won’t on any common meaning of ‘kneuterig’.
To me, ‘kneuterig’ combines a sense of cuteness, mainly in innocence, with a sense of awkwardness or dorkiness, mainly in the social sense. Of that domain of unspoken relations that is fundamental to what we might call ‘etiquette’, whether that be of the high or low social standard. Pnin is very well aware of the latter, but that subconscious layer? He’s lost.
But he’s the sweetest man ever, and we can be glad to follow along with his story, to remind ourselves of how human we, too, are.
Although we might have completely forgotten it.
Just like this translation into Dutch of ‘Pnin’ does not do justice to the wordplay- and jokes that this work abounds with, no translation of the Dutch ‘kneuterig’ into English can do justice to the term. In that regard, it is akin to the (in)famous ‘gezellig’, although I believe that the Dutch do agree on the common meaning of ‘gezellig’, whereas they won’t on any common meaning of ‘kneuterig’.
To me, ‘kneuterig’ combines a sense of cuteness, mainly in innocence, with a sense of awkwardness or dorkiness, mainly in the social sense. Of that domain of unspoken relations that is fundamental to what we might call ‘etiquette’, whether that be of the high or low social standard. Pnin is very well aware of the latter, but that subconscious layer? He’s lost.
But he’s the sweetest man ever, and we can be glad to follow along with his story, to remind ourselves of how human we, too, are.
Although we might have completely forgotten it.