Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002947, Wed, 18 Mar 1998 10:46:13 -0800

Subject
Re: Nabokov and Pedophilia (fwd)
Date
Body
** It was not my intent to link the two -- I am sorry if my poor phrasing
gave that impression. GD**

From: Alexander Justice <jahvah@empirenet.com>

>** Just to be fair, I do not think anyone on the list said anything about
>VN's "possible sexual disorder." As to the episode with the uncle, it was
>obviously more than mere boredom. It was well known in the family that
>uncle Ruka was gay and liked pretty young boys. When VN was 11-12 and
>went to pick his uncle up from a railway station, the uncle's first
>(disappointed) comment, as found in SM, was "How sallow and plain you have
>become, my poor boy." All that has nothing to do with Freud and it
>also does not negate the fact that VN loved and admired his uncle in
>many ways. He actually appears to have "forgiven" him his homosexuality
>much easier somehow than that of his brother Sergey. GD***

Terms like gay and homosexual can get tricky in cases like this, but it
is worth a note... it would seem to me that Sergey was gay, in that when
an adult he engaged in relationships with other adults. Homosexual is a
poorly constructed neologism that ought to have remained an adjective but
didn't. Uncle Ruka appears to have been a pedophile. The distinction
ought to be made, if only to be fair to gays and lesbians, who are not
aroused almost exclusively by children. In addition, most people whose
sexuality falls in that limited and limiting category may be divided into
those who are aroused by the pre-adolescent and those who are aroused by
the post adolescent. And of course into ever-narrowing ranges of
obsession, as we all know by virtue of our dear Humbert. Personally it
would seem to me that a certain refugee monarch also falls into this
category. Ballet dancers do not. :)

I saw recently on a TV news magazine that obsessions such as anorexia,
and a similar one having to do with body-building, were governed by a
chemical known as seratonin. It will be interesting to learn what the
relation of sexual obsession may be to such chemicals. We may find that
sexual orientation has nothing at all to do with pedophilia. This
knowledge would be very helpful, I should think.

Alexander Justice ***** Redlands, California ***** jahvah@empirenet.com

Among the broad array of delusions dear to modern man, none has more
power, nor less reality, than the notion that there is such a thing as
asparagus.