Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003177, Fri, 5 Jun 1998 16:01:52 -0700

Subject
Re: Okudzhava on Nabokov and a question to NABOKOV-L (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Yuri Leving <mslyuri@mscc.huji.ac.il>


The homosexuality in VN's _The Eye_ in relation to M. Kuzmin's _Wings_ was
treated by Olga Skonechnaya in her article published in "Nabokov Studies" (1996)
and, in the Russian version, in "Zvezda" (#11, 1996).
See also Brian Boyd "The Russian Years" about Sergey Nabokov's homosexuality.

Somebody asked about _Novel with Cocaine_. In addition to T. Urban's note in
The Nabokovian 38 (1997): three letters by M. L. Levi (Agheyev) to N. Otsup were
published by A. Serkov in _Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie_ (# 24, 1997). Levi
writes to the editor of "CHISLA / NUMBERS" from Istanbul in 1933 discussing the
details of his novel and the pseudonym (it had to be M. Alisin first). He says
there as well that he forgot to envelope the last paragraph of the novel and
sends it to his correspondent; that end has not been published till today.

Yuri Leving
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Galya Diment wrote:

> From: Elena Rudolfovna Rakhimova <eara@uhura.cc..rochester.edu>
>
> Elena Sommers
> University of Rochester
> eara@uhura.cc.rochester.edu
>
> Hi, everyone!
> I came accross something last night , that I think will be
> interesting for some of Okudzhava admirers (to whom I certainly belong):
>
> " I did what I wanted" - Interview with Bulat Okudzhava
>
> - Kstati, -otkuda idet Vasha proza: Pushkin, Paustovskii?
> [By the way, where is your prose from: Pushkin, Paustovsky?]
> - Net, moi uchitelja v proze - eto Goffman, Pushkin, Tolstoy,
> Nabokov.
> [No, my teachers are Hoffmann, Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Nabokov]
> _Gogolja vy ne nazvali?
> [You didn't name Gogol]
> - Net.
> [No]
> - A Nabokova ljubite?
> [And you like nabokov?]
> - Da, pochti vsego.
> [Yes, almost everything]
> - Mne kazhetsja, chto ego jazyk isskustvennyj, ne svjazan s russkoi
> zemlei.
> [I think his language is artificial, not connected to Russian soil]
> _ Eto nevazhno. On menja voskhichaet svoim riskom.
> [It doesn't matter. He thrills me with the risks he takes.]
>
> Then Okudzhava talks a little about his attitude towards Dostoevsky.
>
> I also have a question to the Forum:
>
> Can someone point out an article( or any other material)
> on homosexual characters in
> Nabokov. This question has been asked by someone before, but I did not see
> any replies. May be there there is none.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Lena.