Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000283, Fri, 8 Jul 1994 07:34:05 -0700

Subject
VN, Wilson, Fitzgerald & Meyers
Date
Body
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Date: Thu, 07 Jul 94 16:55:11 CDT
In-Reply-To: Message of Thu, 7 Jul 1994 09:48:23 -0700 from
<chtodel@humanitas.ucsb.edu>

Wilson said it not to FItzgerald but directly to Nabokov, if memory
serves; nor was it merely a sordid joke. W's diaries, which he carefully
prepared for publication himself, reveal a certain streak that is quite
repulsive to some. His wit was never dim; his inwit is another matter, and
it would have been none of anybody's business had he not chosen to make it
public (even though the IRS was his stern and demanding Muse in that and
some other late endeavors).
There is much in the passage quoted by Fitzgerald's new biographer that is
as repulsive to smell and touch as some of the most festering descriptions in
Nabokov's fiction, or indeed in his choreographed memoir (which was the
point of my observation). GB