"Nabokov in Ireland?"

Sir, - I send this by way of a footnote to the correspondence on Lolita (most recently, May 7).  In the 1960s, when he had read my copy of the book, my father was convinced that the author  was the Russian student whom he had spoken to us about. During the summer months his  family took in guests into their home in the Burren near the village of Quilty. On many  occasions he had told us of a student from Cambridge who had stayed for a week or so in the  early 1920s and had come to net butterflies, which activity had caused amazement. Sadly,  because of the rain the poor visitor was frustrated at having to spend so much time indoors.  My father's boast was of having defeated a Russian at chess. He was convinced however that  the student must have been Nabokov because the name of the character Clare Quilty was the  address of their house at Quilty, County Clare.
BRIAN GILMORE  5 Maneagha Court, Corcomroe, County Clare.

Best regards,
Ludger Tolksdorf

P.S.: Perhaps I should point out that my revelations concerning "An Affair of Honour" and "Cloud, Castle, Lake" a few weeks ago were indeed offered in jest. The above letter is not a fabrication of mine: it is currently available at http://www.the-tls.co.uk/letters/.