15
votes
Accepted
Was Nabokov's Pale Fire intended to be read non-linearly, i.e. jumping to each line reference?
This is an interesting question. I don't have a definitive answer, but here is some pertinent information.
In the foreword to the book, the fictional (and pathologically self-important) Kinbote ...
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9
votes
Accepted
How much "self-editing" did Nabokov do when his Russian novels were translated into English?
Nabokov sometimes used translations into English as an opportunity to touch up his work, but sometimes he didn't. Below are a few case studies.
Maybe the best example of Nabokov making changes is ...
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7
votes
Did Vladimir Nabokov know Thomas Mann's Works?
Apparently Nabokov did know of Mann's works. As documented in his Strong Opinions (which I found here and there via a Google search for "nabokov mann"), he held no high opinion of Mann:
Ever ...
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7
votes
Looking for a specific passage by Nabokov
Apart from the quote by Silenus, I can remember two more germanophobic passages. The first one is about Fyodor's student (and it mentions humor):
Он был самодоволен, рассудителен, туп и по-немецки ...
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7
votes
Looking for a specific passage by Nabokov
Here is a passage from The Gift which depicts two Germans as brutish and indifferent to human suffering.
Yasha's death had its most painful effect on his father.... Meanwhile nothing stopped with ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Please explain the reference to Nabokov's 'the terrible turtles who direct learned journals'?
Quote source
In his translation of the short piece "Father's Butterflies" by his father, Vladimir Nabokov, Dmitri Nabokov has a neat little reference to "the terrible turtles who ...
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5
votes
In Lolita, is there any evidence that Humbert committed a second murder?
Maybe what some readers see as suggested foul play is the heavy, reaccuring interpretation that Humbert is responsible for all the events in the story, but only secondary to the will of whatever ...
- 51
3
votes
Original Translation of Camera Obscura by Vladimir Nabokoff-Sirin
Unfortunately, I think it will be difficult to find it. John Colapinto writes in his article for "The New Yorker":
The obvious solution would be to buy or borrow a copy of Roy's translation and ...
- 131
3
votes
Analyzing the alliteration of the first line of Lolita
In poetry, alliteration requires stressed syllables that begin with the same consonant sound. Nabokov's novel Lolita is written in prose, so we don't need to analyse the metre to determine which ...
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3
votes
Allusion in Nabokov's Pnin
It's from a poem of Pushkin's. An English translation is here. The relevant stanza:
И где мне смерть пошлет судьбина?
В бою ли, в странствии, в волнах?
Или соседняя долина
Мой примет охладелый прах?
...
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2
votes
Accepted
What exactly drove Humbert’s preference for preteens?
Humbert is primarily a hebephile, sexually attracted to young pubescent females. His relationships with adult females are entirely to facilitate access to their children, and they are unfulfilling.
As ...
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2
votes
Were the early sexual experiences of Lolita and her classmates inspired by the real experience of children in New England in 1947?
While it's hard to prove a negative, it is extremely unlikely that Nabokov based this passage on any kind of real-world or second-hand knowledge.
As the essay The Long 1950s in the collection Vladimir ...
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