Talk:incubus

There is apparently another meaning of the word (although, given the author, this may be a unique instance of usage or a creation specifically for this book). Vladimir Nabokov uses the word in at least two places (page numbers refer to the Vintage International paperback version):

Pg. 160 - "I saw a world-famous old writer, bent under the incubus of literary honors and his own prolific mediocrity, arrive in a taxi out of the dim times of yore when Shade and he had been joint editors of a little review" -- Note to line 181.

Pg. 161 - "I bent towards them under the incubus of curiosity: they were mostly by Mr. Faulkner; and the next moment Sybil was back, her tires scrunching on the gravel right behind me." -- Note to line 181.

It is obvious that the proper synonym here would be 'influence', however this is not referenced anywhere. Does anyone have any referential material to shed light on this? --Yuu.david 12:13, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

The first of these quotes is a use of sense 3, ‘burden’. The second is along those lines too –– there is the underlying sense of an incubus being a ‘spirit’ too. Nabokov is sometimes a dodgy writer to cite because he can use words in very unusual ways. It is good to have these cites here on the Talk Page though. Which book are they taken from? It looks like Pale Fire? Widsith 12:20, 4 August 2007 (UTC)