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Salon Schiff review (fwd)
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From: Suellen Stringer-Hye <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
Here is the URL and text of a review of Stacy Schiff's VERA from the
online journal SALON.
http://www.salonmagazine.com/books/review/1999/04/20/schiff/index.htm
l
BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
April 20, 1999 | Life
as a famous author's
wife is rarely an
endless honeymoon of
poetry and passion.
The rigors of
cohabiting with
brilliance can take a
toll on the soul, and
the annals of literary
matrimony are littered
with such tragic
wrecks as Isabella
Thackeray and Zelda
Fitzgerald. What a
surprise, then, to
read a chronicle of a
bookish marriage that
was an endless
honeymoon, a
harmonious romance of
artist and partner.
And what an even
greater surprise to
find such tender ardor
and respect budding in
the ashes of the
Russian Revolution,
blossoming through the
rise of Nazism and
World War II and
maturing just as half
of the duo was earning
infamy as the most
notorious dirty old
man in the world.
Stacy Schiff's "Vera"
is the first portrait
of Vladimir Nabokov
and his works as seen
through the eyes of
his bride, and the
result is a book
that's as much a love
story as it is a
straightforward
biography. This being
the Nabokovs we're
talking about, though,
it's also a tale of
soul mates who defy
conventional
expectations and
explanations.
Schiff, to her endless
credit, resists any
impulse to turn Mrs.
N. into something she
was not, however nice
a story doing that
might have made. Vera
Nabokov was a gifted
linguist, a voracious
reader, an
organizational dynamo
and a breathtaking
creature to boot. She
was not, however, a
writer or a frustrated
writer (though she
cheerfully penned her
spouse's mundane
correspondence); nor
was she a suffocated
spirit who yearned for
release from the
genius she shared a
bed with. She was, as
Schiff puts it plainly
and firmly in her
introduction, a wife.
The woman who inspired
Nabokov to write the
words "You and I are
entirely special; such
wonders as we know, no
one else knows, and
nobody loves the way
we love" was the same
person he introduced
to his Cornell
students as "my
assistant." For him,
Vera could fulfill
both roles with no
incongruity.
As the author follows
the couple through
their lengthy vagabond
marriage, she reveals
two people fraught
with contradictions --
as witty and
affectionate as they
were severe and
guarded, as drawn to
romping around chasing
butterflies as they
were to sitting at
home and studying
them. Schiff details
grudges, infidelities
and weaknesses, but
she never loses sight
of the sincerity and
beauty of the couple's
love. And she does
such a thorough job of
exposing both the
mundane and the
dramatic aspects of
the duo's relationship
that the intensely
private Mrs. N. would
no doubt be mortified
by the book -- high
praise indeed.
That a woman of
uncommon intelligence
and depth would choose
to devote her life to
the staggering duties
and petty tribulations
of being a helpmate
appears at first to be
a thorny mystery.
Could a remarkable
individual be truly
happy playing such a
seemingly diminished
part? The answer,
Schiff resoundingly
affirms, is yes: "Hers
was not a visible role
but a vast one." Being
Vladimir Nabokov's
wife was what Vera was
born to do, and she
did it with a genius
all her own. It may
not make perfect
sense, but as her
husband, the author of
"Lolita," intuitively
and eloquently
understood, love never
does.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu
Here is the URL and text of a review of Stacy Schiff's VERA from the
online journal SALON.
http://www.salonmagazine.com/books/review/1999/04/20/schiff/index.htm
l
BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
April 20, 1999 | Life
as a famous author's
wife is rarely an
endless honeymoon of
poetry and passion.
The rigors of
cohabiting with
brilliance can take a
toll on the soul, and
the annals of literary
matrimony are littered
with such tragic
wrecks as Isabella
Thackeray and Zelda
Fitzgerald. What a
surprise, then, to
read a chronicle of a
bookish marriage that
was an endless
honeymoon, a
harmonious romance of
artist and partner.
And what an even
greater surprise to
find such tender ardor
and respect budding in
the ashes of the
Russian Revolution,
blossoming through the
rise of Nazism and
World War II and
maturing just as half
of the duo was earning
infamy as the most
notorious dirty old
man in the world.
Stacy Schiff's "Vera"
is the first portrait
of Vladimir Nabokov
and his works as seen
through the eyes of
his bride, and the
result is a book
that's as much a love
story as it is a
straightforward
biography. This being
the Nabokovs we're
talking about, though,
it's also a tale of
soul mates who defy
conventional
expectations and
explanations.
Schiff, to her endless
credit, resists any
impulse to turn Mrs.
N. into something she
was not, however nice
a story doing that
might have made. Vera
Nabokov was a gifted
linguist, a voracious
reader, an
organizational dynamo
and a breathtaking
creature to boot. She
was not, however, a
writer or a frustrated
writer (though she
cheerfully penned her
spouse's mundane
correspondence); nor
was she a suffocated
spirit who yearned for
release from the
genius she shared a
bed with. She was, as
Schiff puts it plainly
and firmly in her
introduction, a wife.
The woman who inspired
Nabokov to write the
words "You and I are
entirely special; such
wonders as we know, no
one else knows, and
nobody loves the way
we love" was the same
person he introduced
to his Cornell
students as "my
assistant." For him,
Vera could fulfill
both roles with no
incongruity.
As the author follows
the couple through
their lengthy vagabond
marriage, she reveals
two people fraught
with contradictions --
as witty and
affectionate as they
were severe and
guarded, as drawn to
romping around chasing
butterflies as they
were to sitting at
home and studying
them. Schiff details
grudges, infidelities
and weaknesses, but
she never loses sight
of the sincerity and
beauty of the couple's
love. And she does
such a thorough job of
exposing both the
mundane and the
dramatic aspects of
the duo's relationship
that the intensely
private Mrs. N. would
no doubt be mortified
by the book -- high
praise indeed.
That a woman of
uncommon intelligence
and depth would choose
to devote her life to
the staggering duties
and petty tribulations
of being a helpmate
appears at first to be
a thorny mystery.
Could a remarkable
individual be truly
happy playing such a
seemingly diminished
part? The answer,
Schiff resoundingly
affirms, is yes: "Hers
was not a visible role
but a vast one." Being
Vladimir Nabokov's
wife was what Vera was
born to do, and she
did it with a genius
all her own. It may
not make perfect
sense, but as her
husband, the author of
"Lolita," intuitively
and eloquently
understood, love never
does.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu