Speak, MemoryBeginning of Chapter 4: "Uncle Ruka seems to have led an idle and oddly chaotic life. His diplomatic career was of the vaguest kind. He prided himself, however, on being an expert in decoding ciphered messages in any of the five languages he knew. We subjected him to a test one day, and in a twinkle he turned the sequesnce "5.13 24.11 13.16 9.12.5 5.13 24.11" into the opening words of a famous monologue in Shakespeare" (Nabokov 70).
So in following with Nabokov's love of details, I thought I'd pay attention to this one. Did anyone crack the code? "To be or not to be." I think the words 'famous monologue' gave it away but, it still took me a little bit. I didn't decipher any code, I just guessed. I looked around online to see if anyone had completely broken down the code and Here is a link I found to a forum with many ideas on the code. Appearantly many people have given this some thought.
Nabokov seemed to really like codes as did his Uncle Ruta. An article I found online, Nabokov's Final Riddle: Literary Prank Master's Post-Mortem Novel from Wired Magazine states, "Codes and concealed meanings were central to Nabokov's worldview, says Brian Boyd, an authority on the writer's life and work. 'Nabokov felt that the thrill of discovery was one of the highest things life had to offer,' Boyd says. 'But he also felt that ultimately the whole of reality seemed to be constructed as if by some great cosmic prankster.' "
Click on the above link to read the whole article.There is a lot more going on in Nabokov's novels than we expect. And I think I'll need more help finding the multilayered chess problem in Speak, Memory. Also there is lots to look out for in Pale Fire as the article also mentions.
So in following with Nabokov's love of details, I thought I'd pay attention to this one. Did anyone crack the code? "To be or not to be." I think the words 'famous monologue' gave it away but, it still took me a little bit. I didn't decipher any code, I just guessed. I looked around online to see if anyone had completely broken down the code and Here is a link I found to a forum with many ideas on the code. Appearantly many people have given this some thought.
Nabokov seemed to really like codes as did his Uncle Ruta. An article I found online, Nabokov's Final Riddle: Literary Prank Master's Post-Mortem Novel from Wired Magazine states, "Codes and concealed meanings were central to Nabokov's worldview, says Brian Boyd, an authority on the writer's life and work. 'Nabokov felt that the thrill of discovery was one of the highest things life had to offer,' Boyd says. 'But he also felt that ultimately the whole of reality seemed to be constructed as if by some great cosmic prankster.' "
Click on the above link to read the whole article.There is a lot more going on in Nabokov's novels than we expect. And I think I'll need more help finding the multilayered chess problem in Speak, Memory. Also there is lots to look out for in Pale Fire as the article also mentions.
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