Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0009381, Wed, 3 Mar 2004 08:23:34 -0800

Subject
VN and the Chelsea
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Boyd (FOA ENG)" <b.boyd@auckland.ac.nz>

Dear Dmitri and all,

The appropriate response to this story is to cite Pnin, chapter 5, where on
the lookout tower above Cook's Castle we meet the traces not only of "the
adventurous summer tourist (Miranda or Mary, Tom or Jim, whose penciled
names were almost obliterated on the balustrade)" but also of "Wolfgang von
Goethe, whose name had been carved on the balustrade by some old-fashioned
wag." The "wag" in this case is just a little more "hip."

Brian Boyd



-----Original Message-----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: 3/3/2004 3:51 PM
Subject: Fw: VN and the Chelsea


----- Original Message -----
From: dmitri nabokov
To: 'D. <mailto:chtodel@cox.net> Barton Johnson'
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 5:47 AM
Subject: FW: VN and the Chelsea


-----Original Message-----
From: Dmitri Nabokov Sent: mardi, 2. mars 2004 14:30
Subject: VN and the Chelsea


SEE PS PLEASE

Dear Don (please post),

I suspect VN's doppelgänger had a dinner of canard at the Chelsea. Don't
blame Brian -- this item has popped up now and then in periodicals all
over the globe, but, to the best of my knowledge, it's apocryphal. If
not, I'm open to enlightenment.

DN

PS: Maybe the "new Spanish book" can tell us more.