Diane Keaton's boyfriend was saying that Nabokov belonged to the ranks of the over rated, not Allen. Allen's character jumps to his and all the other artist's defense.

--- On Thu, 10/15/09, jansymello <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:

From: jansymello <jansy@AETERN.US>
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] [ NABOKOV-L] [SIGHTING] favorite characters and novels
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009, 9:24 PM

J.Aisenberg: "Speaking of Lolita and Allen..., in his film Manhattan, a scene where he and his girl ...walk down a street talking, Keaton's character declares thinks Allen's going out with a teen is Nabokovian; her boyfriend declares him a candidate for most over rated artists of all time. I guess that's a sighting. Watch it here at youtube."
 
JM: Unfortunately the youtube instructions came out muddled for me.
 
I was curious to confirm if the "over rated artist" in the transcribed dialogue refers to a Woody Allen's momentary self-mockery, or to Nabokov himself.
Allen might have read E.Wilson's angry criticism of Nabokov's "Eugene Onegin" translation ( NYBR 1965). In this case, the choice for "over rated" might enter as a kind of highbrow "quote"...*
 
 
* Wilson noted, about VN, that "his speaking of the eclogues of 'the overrated Virgil' as 'stale  imitations of the idyls of Theocritus'..." would be "the result of his instinct to take digs at great reputations... Balzac's "La Femme de Trente ans"  is a "much overrated vulgar novelette." Dostoevsky is identified as "a much  overrated, sentimental, and Gothic novelist of the time"..." Le Rouge et le Noir, also, is "much overrated" ...
 
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Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.