Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005575, Sat, 28 Oct 2000 10:53:29 -0700

Subject
Fw: Comments on 'Nabokov and his Fiction,' ed. Julian Connolly
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Kiran Krishna for his comments below. I
suspect the first suggestion is far afield. Nabokvo's father died
protecting Milyukov from an assassins bullet. In re item 3, Rupert Brooke's
"The Great Lover" is not among the dozen or so VN translated for his
Russian article on Brooke. Nor does he mentioned in his article so far as I
recall.
The editor would like to see other commentaries and remarks on the flood of
Nabokov essays occassioned by the 1999 Centenary.

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From: Kiran Krishna <kiran@Physics.usyd.edu.au>

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I have been reading 'Nabokov and his fiction' ed. Julian W. Connolly, and
here are a few observations:

1) Maxim D. Shrayer, Jewish Questions in Nabokov's Art and Life: As I was
reading the brief discussion of 'Conversation Piece, 1945,' it occurred to
me that Colonel Malikov or Melnikov who "adores Stalin" sounds remarkably
like Miliukov. Of course, Miliukov himself, I believe, was definitely not
anti-semitic or pro-bolshevik, but in the second volume of his biography
of Peter Struve, (Struve: Liberal on the Right, Pg 335) Richard Pipes,
talking of the "Democratic Alliance" says:

"Miliukov kept up his reputation for unpredictability first by supporting
Stalin in his struggle against Trotsky, and then, in 1935, by justifying
Stalin's pact with Hitler."

2) D. Barton Johnson, Vladimir Nabokov and Rupert Brooke: This lovely
analysis of the relationship between Brooke's poetry and Nabokov's early
writings makes me wonder whether there is any record of Nabokov's
reaction to the poem I regard as his best, The Great Lover. Also
interesting was the mention of Churchill's orotund speech, which brought
to mind Nabokov's words about the basic roundness of poshlost.

3) Ellen Pifer, His Monster, his nymphet: I liked this essay, but I am not
sure there are any intended correspondences between Frankenstien and
Lolita.

4) Maurice Couturier, The near-tyranny of the author: Pale Fire : I
disagreed with the author's conclusion that Pale Fire is not entirely
self-sufficient, as with just about everything else in this essay.

5)Gavriel Shapiro, Setting his Myraid faces in his text: Nabokov's
authorial presence revisited: This wonderful essay pointed out a number of
things I had missed, and I recommend it (and this volume) to anyone who
can find it.

Cheers!
yours
Kiran