Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006343, Tue, 5 Feb 2002 09:04:23 -0800

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[Fwd: Nabokov and Personalist Philosophy]
Date
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Nabokov and Personalist Philosophy
Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 11:05:25 -0500
From: Dana Dragunoiu <ddraguno@Princeton.EDU>
Organization: Princeton University
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>


Dear List:

In response to the query regarding Nabokov's affiliation with
personalist philosophy, my own work links Nabokov's various
philosophical statements with the Russian liberal legal philosophers of
the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Pyotr Struve, Pavel
Novgorodtsev, S.N. Bulgakov, and several others were intent upon
resisting the materialism and positivism of the Russian radical left
with a form of neo-idealism which had much in common with personalist
philosophy. (Struve and Novgorodstev were the close political allies of
Nabokov's father, and the foundational text of the movement, *Problemy
idealizma,* is listed in the catalogue of V.D. Nabokov's library. I
should also add that this collection of essays is due to come out this
year with Yale UP in its first English translation by Randall Poole.)
In my dissertation and an essay forthcoming from *Journal of Modern
Literature,* I have tried to map Nabokov's relationship with this
Russian philosophical tradition, and I would be happy to share my
findings.

Sincerely yours,
Dana

Dana Dragunoiu, Ph.D.
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
Department of English, 22 McCosh Hall
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540
Email: ddraguno@Princeton.EDU
Phone: (609) 688-1999