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Re: Lem Stanislaw & VN & Americanhood
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I don't think VN read Solaris (1961), but its writer, Lem Stanislaw, has
written an article on Lolita, as D. Barton Johnson pointed out, but the
article is in Polish, so if some kind soul could summarize it, I would be
very grateful.
JM: I think it is fundamental that we recognize an author's various
"voices" and his basic loyalties to country, creed, culture,etc. Isn't that
why people often diminish Ezra Pound, without stopping to examine the
quality of some of his works? In BS Nabokov had Adam Krug philosophize
about time and space before concluding, in a special ivorytower mood, that
"the past is his country".
( By the way, does anyone know if VN appreciated the author of "Solaris",
or Tarkovsky's rendering of his novel?)
Coincidentally, in today's The Guardian there is an article on the position
of British writers in the US with a mention of VN, but more relevant to the
recent discussion is the readers' comments below -please note that the
NakedGenius prefers his own spelling of the subject:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/12/english_novels.html
EqualOpportunity
Comment No. 330561 December 15 17:12
Nabokov may well have wanted to be thought of as an American writer, but
it doesn't change the fact he was Russian.
NakedGenius Comment No. 330596
December 15 17:32
EqualOpportunity (Comment No. 330561 above)
>>> Nabokov may well have wanted to be thought of as an American writer,
but it doesn't change the fact he was Russian. <<<
In America Nabakov could be Russian on his own terms. That's what made him
American.
A. Bouazza.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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written an article on Lolita, as D. Barton Johnson pointed out, but the
article is in Polish, so if some kind soul could summarize it, I would be
very grateful.
JM: I think it is fundamental that we recognize an author's various
"voices" and his basic loyalties to country, creed, culture,etc. Isn't that
why people often diminish Ezra Pound, without stopping to examine the
quality of some of his works? In BS Nabokov had Adam Krug philosophize
about time and space before concluding, in a special ivorytower mood, that
"the past is his country".
( By the way, does anyone know if VN appreciated the author of "Solaris",
or Tarkovsky's rendering of his novel?)
Coincidentally, in today's The Guardian there is an article on the position
of British writers in the US with a mention of VN, but more relevant to the
recent discussion is the readers' comments below -please note that the
NakedGenius prefers his own spelling of the subject:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/12/english_novels.html
EqualOpportunity
Comment No. 330561 December 15 17:12
Nabokov may well have wanted to be thought of as an American writer, but
it doesn't change the fact he was Russian.
NakedGenius Comment No. 330596
December 15 17:32
EqualOpportunity (Comment No. 330561 above)
>>> Nabokov may well have wanted to be thought of as an American writer,
but it doesn't change the fact he was Russian. <<<
In America Nabakov could be Russian on his own terms. That's what made him
American.
A. Bouazza.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm