Speaking of Anna Vyrubov, the Empress' beloved lady in waiting (1884-1964), her Diary (Dnevnik Anny Vyrubovoy) was fabricated by A. N. Tolstoy and P. E. Shchyogolev (the famous Pushkinist, author of "The Duel and Death of Pushkin"). It seems that Shchyogolev (a talented hoaxer who eventually committed suicide) has also coauthored "The Conspiracy of the Empress." Vyrubov's authentic memoirs, Stranitsy moey zhizni ("Pages of my Life," 1922), appeared in emigration. It seems to me that both genuine and forged memoirs of Vyrubov (née Taneev) are worth looking at.
Once Pushkin is mentioned, let me remind the List that Kinbote finishes his Foreword/Commentary to Pale Fire (and, according to VN, commits suicide) on October 19 (The Lyceum Anniversary). Incidentally, Pushkin (who wrote, while still in the Lyceum, Fonvizin's Shade and, most likely, Barkov's Shade, the obscene poem attributed to him) had a fondness for the word ten' (shade) as meaning "spirit of a deceased person." One particularly remembers Grigoriy Otrep'ev's monologue in Boris Godunov:
 
Ten' Groznogo menya usynovila,
Dimitriem iz groba narekla
 
(The shade of Ivan the Terrible adopted me,
from his grave named me Dimitriy).
 
Alexey Sklyarenko
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.