Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001602, Tue, 21 Jan 1997 17:05:33 -0800

Subject
VN: Bibliography
Date
Body
A few odds and ends that have crossed my easy chair:

1. The Feb. 1997 _Esquire_ has a longish article "Who's Afraid of
LOLITA?" by Elizabeth Kaye. 50-55 & 104-6. Most of the piece's charm are
in the cover shot of Dominique Swain, the "new" LO, and especially the
picture on P. 51. The article covers a multitude of topics ranging from
the film and its troubles, director Lyne's atitude toward the book and
film, the relationship between Dominique, Lyne, and Jeremy Irons, and
background on the history of the script. (Writer Stephen Schiff has been
interviewed by Suellen Stringer-Hye for ZEMBLA & NABOKV-L. The text may be
recovered either on ZEMBLA (http:
//www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/nsintro.htm).
The only gross error I noticed was assigning the writing of LO to 1953 and
remarking that the book popularized the word "Nabokovian."

2. The Russian journal _Novaia iunost'_ (#4-5, 1995), pp. 271-274)
contains Svetlana Bogdanova's essay "YAd zazerkal'YA" (Poison in the world
behind the Mirror - with a pun since the YA at the start of Yad 'poison'
is reflected in the end of 'zazerkal'YA). The article explores the
relationship between Lewis Carroll's _Alice in Wonderland_ and Nabokov's
_The Luzhin Defense_.

3. The current issue of _The Slavonic and Eest European Review_ vol. 74,
4, pp. 712-716 contains my review of Nina Allan's _Madness, Death
and Disease in the Fiction of Vladimir Nabokov_. Birmingham: Univ. of
Birmingham Press, 1994.

4. Schakovskoy, Zinaida, princesse, 1908-
V tursene na Nabokov / Zinaida Shakhovskaia ; predel ot ruski
Ivan TSvetlov.Sofiia: Universitetsko izd-vo "Sv. Kliment Okhridski", 1995.
(This is a Bulgarian translation of Zinaida Shchakovskaya's
_V poiskax Nabokova_ (In Search of VN) --a highly personal account
of her contacts with VN in the 30s and an interpretation
of some of his work. ALthough the Nabokov family found the book
objectionable, it does contain some useful information, if used
with due discretion. There is no English version.)

D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618