To dispel DN's disappointment: I for one, and I am
sure many on the list as well, did recognize the
excerpt form FATHER'S BUTTERFLIES; even if one hasn't
read it the style and imagery are unmistakable VN -VN
of DAR (THE GIFT). If I am not mistaken, Mary Grayson
was the first to study and devote an article to the
"Unvollendete", DAR's 2nd part, and how one despaired
to see it ever translated and published, and Brian
Boyd's VN: THE RUSSIAN YEARS both alleviated and
heightened one's melancholy! Apropos this first part
of the biography, I don't think it has been noted
before how Mr. Boyd made VN's occupation with and
writing of DAR the main theme of his biographical
symphony, a theme of Mahlerian magnitude, built up
gradually toward an ineluctable and triumphant climax.

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