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Fw: Fw: VN Russo-Amer
From
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Nicol" <ejnicol@isugw.indstate.edu>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (55
lines) ------------------
> As one of our correspondents requested more of us to describe our
attitudes towards Nabokov's cultural allegiances, I'll toss in my two bits.
>
> I have only thought of Nabokov as an American novelist in terms of having
an excuse to include him in my American literature classes as > well as my
world literature classes. Certainly LOLITA is an American novel. Just as
certainly, THE GIFT is a Russian novel. But most are not so clear. If you
handed SEBASTIAN KNIGHT to someone who had never
heard of its author, the response would probably be that it was written by
an Englishman. And ADA clearly celebrates its total statelessness.
>
I have always cherished the cultural tradition that Nabokov celebrates,
and over my own life I have learned a lot about it from him. It is a
tradition of art, culture, and civilization that has to do with no
particular country, and includes among its authors Shakespeare, Pushkin,
Gogol, Tolstoi, Flaubert, Carroll, Proust, and Joyce. I am glad that
Melville eventually made VN's list.
>
In another sense Nabokov celebrates and belongs in a particular climate
where particular butterflies are found. This area includes St. Petersburg,
the Rocky Mountains, and the Swiss Alps, with a comfort zone extending to
New England as well. >
> Nabokov embraced America for a long time when he had to turn his face
from Russia. His love for America was clear but not exclusive. At a
particularly happy moment in Pnin's life, Pnin reviews the possibility of
having stayed in Europe and concludes, All for the best.
>
> All for the best.
>
> Chaz
>
>
>
> >>> chtodel@cox.net 3/15/2004 1:49:05 PM >>>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dane Gill" <pennyparkerpark@hotmail.com>
> >
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (13
> lines) ------------------
> > Greetings
> > To add my comment to this mess....VN always struck me as neither a
> Russian
> > nor an American (in Nationality) writer. While writing in Russian he
> was
> an
> > emigre living in Germany and France, while writing in English living
> in
> > America (an Adopted country) and then Switzerland. Always somewhat
> out of
> > place physically/geographically....always remarkable when writing.
> > Dane
> >
> >
From: "Charles Nicol" <ejnicol@isugw.indstate.edu>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (55
lines) ------------------
> As one of our correspondents requested more of us to describe our
attitudes towards Nabokov's cultural allegiances, I'll toss in my two bits.
>
> I have only thought of Nabokov as an American novelist in terms of having
an excuse to include him in my American literature classes as > well as my
world literature classes. Certainly LOLITA is an American novel. Just as
certainly, THE GIFT is a Russian novel. But most are not so clear. If you
handed SEBASTIAN KNIGHT to someone who had never
heard of its author, the response would probably be that it was written by
an Englishman. And ADA clearly celebrates its total statelessness.
>
I have always cherished the cultural tradition that Nabokov celebrates,
and over my own life I have learned a lot about it from him. It is a
tradition of art, culture, and civilization that has to do with no
particular country, and includes among its authors Shakespeare, Pushkin,
Gogol, Tolstoi, Flaubert, Carroll, Proust, and Joyce. I am glad that
Melville eventually made VN's list.
>
In another sense Nabokov celebrates and belongs in a particular climate
where particular butterflies are found. This area includes St. Petersburg,
the Rocky Mountains, and the Swiss Alps, with a comfort zone extending to
New England as well. >
> Nabokov embraced America for a long time when he had to turn his face
from Russia. His love for America was clear but not exclusive. At a
particularly happy moment in Pnin's life, Pnin reviews the possibility of
having stayed in Europe and concludes, All for the best.
>
> All for the best.
>
> Chaz
>
>
>
> >>> chtodel@cox.net 3/15/2004 1:49:05 PM >>>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dane Gill" <pennyparkerpark@hotmail.com>
> >
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (13
> lines) ------------------
> > Greetings
> > To add my comment to this mess....VN always struck me as neither a
> Russian
> > nor an American (in Nationality) writer. While writing in Russian he
> was
> an
> > emigre living in Germany and France, while writing in English living
> in
> > America (an Adopted country) and then Switzerland. Always somewhat
> out of
> > place physically/geographically....always remarkable when writing.
> > Dane
> >
> >