Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014385, Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:53:56 -0500

Subject
Xavier: A. Grin's android
From
Date
Body
One interesting Ksaverij I recall in Russian literature is a remarkable
Ganuver's android in Alexander Grin's "Golden Chain" (1925), very
similar to mechanical mannikins from "King, Queen, Knave" (1928).

I am sure this, and other Grin's novels, was well known to VN, with his
keen interest in 1920s Soviet literature such as Olesha, Zoshenko, Ilf &
Petrov.

I am not sure though that anybody commented on this connection? Of
course Capek's R.U.R. (1921) robots were already around, known to both
AG and VN.

Victor Fet

>From Don Johnson
Just for the record--Victor Fet is right. Both the Il'in and Vera
N. translations have "Karl-Ksaverij" for "Charles Xavier." As I recall,
Sergey Il'in did not have a copy of Vera's earlier translation when he
did his translation.

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