XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.puzzles   
   From: HenHanna@devnull.tb   
      
   i've been a VN fan for a long time.   
      
                  i've had some interaction with DN  (VN's son).   
      
                        i am related to the Hero of the novel [Lolita].   HH   
      
   ________________________________________________   
   Laughter in the Dark   
              Newsgroups: alt.usage.english   
                     by: Athel Cornish-Bowden - Sat, 6 Apr 2024 02:36   
      
      
   When I were not much more than a lad I read Laughter in the Dark, which   
   I liked a lot better than Lolita. Something I was very struck by was   
   the opening sentence, which summarizes the plot:   
      
      
   "Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus.   
   He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the   
   sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life   
   ended in disaster."   
      
      
   The rest of the book just fills in the details.   
      
      
   I'm not sure I can argue that this has anything to do with English   
   usage, but sobeit. I don't suppose I'm the only person here to be fond   
   of Nabokov, who had strong views about English usage.   
      
      
   --   
   Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly   
   in England until 1987.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)