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VN as an American writer
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Since I have published three essays on the subject of VN's Americanness, I might as well respond to Charles's remarks. VN certainly identified himself as an American writer (requesting, for example, that all of his books be catalogued as "American Literature," SL 454) and often said so when interviewed in Montreux. He was familiar with, if not necessarily fond of, many canonical and contemporary American writers (including Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, James, Eliot, Pound, Frost, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner), and influenced many others. He set some of his major novels in the United States and published all of his English works, and English translations of his Russian works, there, remarking that “It is in America that I found my best readers” (SO 10). VN also remained an American citizen even after settling in Switzerland—where he still followed national politics, celebrated the moon landing, contemplated moving to California, and paid US taxes. At any rate, American literature includes many immigrants as well as many expatriates.
Having said that, we must also remember that VN, who disliked pigeonholing authors according to national identity, once remarked that "the writer's art is his real passport" (SO 63). Indeed, he seems to have become an "American writer," in part, by deliberately redefining that term.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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Having said that, we must also remember that VN, who disliked pigeonholing authors according to national identity, once remarked that "the writer's art is his real passport" (SO 63). Indeed, he seems to have become an "American writer," in part, by deliberately redefining that term.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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