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Re: Botkin
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In his earlier posting, Sergey translated a fragment of the Russian
annotations to PF in which Nabokov's Botkin was connected to Vasily
Petrovich Botkin who had written, among other things, an essay on
Elizabethean drama published in the third volume of the Russian Collected
Works of Shakespeare. I think everybody should know that in this case the
Russian annotators appropriated, without due reference, observations made
by Priscilla Meyer in her excellent book Find What the Sailor Has Hidden
(115-117). By the way, I have always had some doubts about this connection
as it hinges upon a problematic coincidence of dates. Priscilla claims that
Volume III of Shakespeare's works with Botkin's article was published in
1888, a year that comes up repeatedly in Kinbote's notes. This is correct
but with an important qualification. For the first time, Botkin's article
was published in 1853 and then reprinted at least four times in all the
subsequent editions of Shakespeare's works, starting from 1865. In fact,
the 1887-1888 edition was the standard fourth one and therefore cannot
serve as a marker referring to Vasily Botkin who died in 1869.
There were some other, previously unmentioned Botkins that can have some
relevance to PF. Among them, the most notorious one was Mikhail Botkin
(1839-1914), an unscrupulous, maniacal collector of art and antiquities who
would go to any length to get a desirable object. After his death, Botkin's
renown collection of medieval enamels was discredited in a sensational
public scandal that made the news in the world media when it was proved
beyond any doubt that it consisted mostly of contemporary fakes produced by
a group of St. Petersburg con-men and jewelers. A couple of years ago I was
at an amazing exhibit of the most famous fakes of the 20th century and the
Botkin scandal was presented there as a special treat. I guess Nabokov
could have this story in mind when he chose the Russian name for his
deluded maniac who, like his namesake, craved for "treasures" and could not
tell the real from the "fake".
As for a suggested anagram of "Nikto"(Nobody) in Botkin, I would not
dismiss it without closer consideration because it evokes the story of
Odysseus and Polyphemus, and, hence, the corresponding episode of Ulysses
as well as Innokentii Annensky's pseudonim Nik. T--o. An extra letter "B"
is, of course, a hindrance but the associations are still rather tempting.
Alexander Dolinin
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