Talk:Vladimir Nabokov

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[edit] Death of father? Synaestheisa

Was his father not shot by anarchists (not monarchists)? I do not recall whether Nabokov discusses his and his family's synaesthesia in Strong Opinions but that book is not a memoir as stated in the article. He does indeed talk about synaesthesia in his only autobiographical book, Speak, Memory.

[edit] Nabokov's influences and his literary legacy

It would be good to have a short section on these topics. Although he was always adamant that his work was unique, totally orginal etc. strong claims can be made regarding the influence of certain writers. These include, I believe: Flaubert, Joyce and Kafka, with the last two having major stylistic influence on, in my view, Bend Sinister and Lolita. More obvious, perhaps, are the writers that he has influenced. These include, to my limited knowledge: John Updike, Martin Amis, John Banville, Zadie Smith (perhaps; so far) and undoubtedly others. Someone better informed than I needs to come along and sprinkle a few concise, accurate comments into this solid article.

Just a note, that the bibliography is missing The Enchanter, and The Original of Laura (unpublished). There could be more, that's just from memory and a quick scan. Sorry I'm not just fixing it myself, very tired.

This entry should be disambiguated as there are at least two famous persons of that name (Vladimir Vladimirovitch Nabokov the author, and his father Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, the politician). Unfortunately I am not sure how to do it without messing up things/links. Would anybody please help?

A reasonable way to do it would be to make Nabokov a disambiguation page with links to Vladimir V. Nabokov and Vladimir D. Nabokov as separate entries, then remove the redirect from Nabokov and make the existing Vladimir Nabokov link a redirect to the appropriate page... I'll try it and accept all the blame (and fame).

A disambiguation page would inconvenience 99% of the people who got to it. Why not just add a note and a link at the bottom of this article about the world famous author, critic, and lepidopterist that will send the reader to an article about his less well known father? Indeed, why not write an article about his father first? And then just link it from the text of this article. A disambiguation page is overkill. Ortolan88
I don't totally agree but being totally new to Wikipedia I will, of course, accept your advice and write something along these lines the next days.
And, what's more, I don't know how to handle russian names. A russian name should properly have a patronym in it e.g. "Vladimir Nabokov" is not quite correct without the "Vladimirovich" (or whatever). Is there a policy, rule etc. for this? Kosebamse
For authors at least, there is a clear optimum solution: Use the name under which they published, verbatim - even if it's a pseudonym (e.g. Mark Twain.) Alternate/expanded full names should be mentioned after the common name in the first paragraph of the article. Mkweise 21:47 Jan 26, 2003 (UTC)
I personally agree, but in fact the convention is to use the best-known name for the article title Mark Twain, but to start the article with the real name and then give the pseudonym. Odd, I think, but I just added a rule noting this to the Wikipedia:Manual of Style yesterday, since that is what has traditionally been done since well before I got here. It's usually better to stay with what exists that to do something that requires a lot of changes. Please join in the discussion at the Manual of Style talk page, though. I'm glad there's another person interested. There are a few of us, but always room for one more. Ortolan88
Well, it's a question of choosing between absolutism and relativism :=). In this case, I think relativism (pardon the pun) wins the day. No one who has heard of the father will not have heard of the son; no one who not heard of the father will be looking for his page (still nonexistent). We can always add a disambiguation page later if anyone complains. (In that case, I think your suggestion of making it Nabokov is correct.) In the meantime, the policy on foreign names is in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (anglicization) and there's also a current discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Manual of Style. And, welcome to the Wikipedia. You'll find lots of discussions like this all the time. Your knowledge and interest will be welcome (as will your politeness). Ortolan88

I know that Nabokov used the anagram Vivian Darkbloom somewhere, but I have no idea where. It sounds like a really nifty factoid, but I don't know anything else about it. Can someone confirm/deny this and, if it's for real, include it in the article? Thanks! grendel|khan 04:56, 2004 Jul 6 (UTC)


Vivian Darkbloom is a character in Lolita. And yes, her name is an anagram for Vladimir Nabokov. I think I heard she pops up in another work as well (possibly Ada).Bds yahoo 04:21, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Yeah, Vivian Darkbloom appears as the author of the appendix to Ada (in the versions of the novel that include it). Actually he's used plenty of different anagrams for his name, like Baron Klim Avidov (Ada), Adam von Librikov (Transparent Things), and others. --Shibboleth 01:10, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)
If you or someone else has a full reckoning of such anagrams, it would make an interesting addition to the article. (I know nothing other than what I wrote in the above comment, along with the name 'Vivian Bloodmark'.) grendel|khan 08:52, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)
Don't forget the "Dutch painter" van Bock from Strong Opinions. —Anville 14:45, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hmm...shouldn't we have a disambiguation notice for his pops up top? Something like This article is about the author Vladimir Nabokov. For his father, the politician, see Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. ? john k 12:59, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Done. grendel|khan 08:52, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

Anyone in the US willing to contact Nikki Smith at Smith-Skolnik Literary Management to see wheter they could release a "low-res photo for web use" under GFDL or in the public domain, so we can improve the article? This is the right place to look, but they don't seem to have an email address. There are several snail mail addresses on the web and I have been given another one (which is not to be found on the web)... If someone wants to write a letter, leave me a note. --Glimz 18:07, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Carrousel

Mention of Carrousel seems to have been removed in this edit. Was this just a mistake, or was it removed as a suspected hoax? It's most certainly not a hoax. Of course I can't simply prove to you that I have a copy in front of me now, but you can see a copy of the second edition here. (Yes, there were actually two editions; I have a copy of the first. And every copy I've heard of is numbered [!] "HC", so neither edition was "limited", although both were small.) Googling for "nabokov carrousel" may bring more evidence. -- Hoary 06:50, 2005 Mar 13 (UTC)

  • That was my edit, and it looks like it was an error on my part. Feel free to restore as needed. By the way, thanks for all the good edits you've made on this and the other Nabokov related pages. --Arcadian 21:47, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
    • Spoken like a . . . um, a gentleperson. As for the other edits, I'm glad to read that they went down well. Incidentally, I think we're soon going to run into problems of capitalization. Curiously, Manual of Style (titles) says nothing explicit about them, but its examples suggest to me that, for example, "The Vane Sisters" (with capital "S") is the way to go. Perhaps it would be better to sort this out before writing more articles for what are now red links within, for example, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov; as it is, these links differ from those within Nine Stories. (NB I've no axe to grind here; actually I prefer the minimal use of capitals.) -- Hoary 01:44, 2005 Mar 14 (UTC) ...... PS I created an article for Carrousel, too. And now I'm off, to attend to the (very urgent) demands of the "real world". -- Hoary 02:48, 2005 Mar 14 (UTC) .... PPS the article is now here. -- Hoary 07:54, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] And yet more books

Using Michael Juliar's Vladimir Nabokov: A Descriptive Bibliography and his 1991 "Updates" to this, I've added more books. Note that the contents of the two "Fialta" books really are different.

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/works.htm gives a very simplified list of works. Juliar's 1991 "Updates" list(s) three posthumous (and perhaps unauthorized) Soviet books (A58, A60 and A61) that each contain material not previously published in book form. These deserve to be added to the article, but I don't have enough energy. Moreover, I'm not confident about inputting Cyrillic, and — contravening the spirit of Wikipedia, I know — I'm not going to input stuff that I presume (or merely hope) will be checked by others. Also, I think I remember reading that the more or less authorized Soviet/Russian publications continued after 1991. -- Hoary 11:32, 2005 Mar 15 (UTC)

[edit] Horst Tappe's photo of Nabokov

This version of the article had the photo shown here, with the (boilerplate) comment that

This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. It is believed that the copyright holder has granted permission for use in works such as Wikipedia or, in the alternative, it may be used under the fair use provision of United States copyright law.

The photographer (whose name wasn't mentioned anywhere) was Horst Tappe. No evidence was given that Tappe (specified as copyright holder as well as photographer in Vladimir Nabokov: A Pictorial Biography) had authorized its use here, or, for that matter, that it was a promotional photo. (Offhand I don't know what it was for; I'd guess for one of the various magazine interviews with VN.) So I've replaced it with the older image. This was taken in 1936, and there's no mention of copyright in the "pictorial biography" (which doesn't mean that it's not copyrighted). -- Hoary 02:49, 2005 Apr 16 (UTC)

If you are discussing the picture that used to be at the top of the page (near the first paragraph) then it appears to have been deleted again. I removed the reference to it this evening as it seemed to be pointing to a broken link. I guess another one needs to be found.
Matthew king 15:42, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright of Nabokov's works

Hoary: What's up with that copyright warning? Are you a lawyer entitled to decide what is a violation and what is not? If you feel you are, why link to that site at all? Just FYU, the Moshkow site exists since 1994 and is the most respected Russian online library. Is there a lawsuit related to Nabokov's material on that site? If there's none, your "warning" is just your personal opinion. Wikipedia is not a place for opinions, let alone legal opinions. Trapolator 04:43, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Cryptomnesia" factoid

The article stated:

Recent scholarship has uncovered the fact that Nabokov may have had cryptomnesia (a form of unintentional or unconscious plagiarism) while he was composing his most famous novel, Lolita. There is a German short story also entitled "Lolita" about an older man obsessed with a young girl that was published in 1916. Nabokov lived in the same section of Berlin, Germany as the author, Heinz von Lichberg, and could be familiar with the author's work, which was widely available at that time in Germany. More information regarding this recent controversy can be found here and here. It is still worth mentioning that Nabokov did not know German, so the influence may have not taken place after all.

It is a fact that you, dear reader, may have six fingers on your left hand. (Some people do. For all I know, you're one of them.) Do you actually have six fingers on your left hand? I dunno. And until this "recent scholarship" (actually a single book) has been backed up by e.g. appropriate revisions in a new edition of Boyd's The Russian Years, I submit that this allegation should be treated as interesting speculation, no more. So I'm about to delete it. -- Hoary 06:46, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

I beg to differ with both of you. It is a fact that some people have 6 fingers in their left hand. It is not a fact that Person A may be one of them. If it were established that person A does have 6 fingers on their left hand, then it is a fact that this is so. Until then, it is speculation, rumour, belief, theory, hypothesis or whatever. I have made the appropriate change to the article and also to the cryptomnesia article. Cheers. JackofOz 11:12, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I re-added the cryptomnesia claim with some modifications because it certainly warrants mentioning -- it's still brand new literary news (from 2004), so give it time to develop. Someone added the quip to the original info: "It is still worth mentioning that Nabokov did not know German, so the influence may have not taken place after all." I just want to know: how could Nabokov live in Germany (in Berlin nonetheless, the same city as the author of the 1916 German short-story "Lolita") from 1923 until 1937 and not learn any German? The paragraph should stay here because this news has been spread around within many mainstream news organizations (including The Times Literary Supplement, NPR, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among many others) and thus should receive our attention here in the article.

This is from the TLS's wesite: "Lolita 23 Jul 2004 - Earlier this year, admirers of Vladimir Nabokov and scholars of modern literature were startled by the revelation that the Lolita of Nabokov's great novel was not the first fictional nymphet of that name to have enchanted an older lover: her namesake had appeared in an eighteen-page tale, also called "Lolita", by the obscure German author Heinz von Lichberg, published in 1916. (See the TLS, April 2, and correspondence that followed.) We now publish, for the first time in English, von Lichberg's story, translated by Carolyn Kunin." --152.163.100.130 08:37, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I've rewritten the paragraph so that it makes about the same points as it did before, but mostly confines itself to saying "A said B about C."
It is obviously not a fact that Nabokov read the earlier story and experienced cryptomnesia.
It obviously is a fact that a man named Michael Marr published a book that discusses this possibility.
That the book, and thus Marr's speculation, is reasonably important is shown by whichever editor provided three references to mainstream news sources that ran stories about Marr's book; two of those stories use the word cryptomnesia. Dpbsmith (talk) 11:58, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
P. S. Two points.
First, Cryptomnesia means "hidden memories" in general; not "unconscious plagiarism."
Second, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer story, Marr is at great pains to say this is not a case of plagiarism, unconscious or otherwise. "Stealing ideas" is not plagiarism. "The Seven Per Cent Solution" is not a plagiarism of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. It is of course certainly embarrassing for Nabokov to have used not only the same situation but the same name. But "unoriginal" is not the same as "plagiarism" Dpbsmith (talk) 12:18, 11 February 2006 (UTC)


The following is copied/pasted from the Lolita page, and kept here as a record -- April 16th, 2006

[edit] Heinz von Eschwege's "Lolita"

German academic Michael Marr's book The Two Lolitas (ISBN 1844670384) describes his recent discovery of a 1916 German short story titled "Lolita" about a middle-aged man traveling abroad who takes a room as a lodger and instantly becomes obsessed with the young pre-teen girl (also named Lolita) who lives in the same house. Marr has speculated that Nabokov may have had cryptomnesia (a "hidden memory" of the story that Nabokov was unaware of) while he was composing Lolita during the 1950s. Marr says that until 1937 Nabokov lived in the same section of Berlin as the author, Heinz von Eschwege (nom de plume: Heinz von Lichberg), and was most likely familiar with his work, which was widely available in Germany during Nabokov's time there. [1], [2]. The Philadelphia Inquirer says [3] that, according to Marr, the word "plagiarism" does not apply and quotes him as saying: "Literature has always been a huge crucible in which familiar themes are continually recast...Nothing of what we admire in Lolita is already to be found in the tale; the former is in no way deducible from the latter." --64.12.116.66 02:19, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

In Nabokov's defence, he had no knowledge of German at that time living in Berlin (indeed, he deliberately avoided German to keep his emigre Russian "pure"), and had little even up to his death. Similar claims are made for the "Kafkaesque" quality of Nabokov's early stories - however, he'd only read Kafka in translation once arriving in America.

Interesting info, but identical paragraphs have been added to the main Nabokov page and the novel page for Lolita. Isn't that a bit of a waste of space? I suggest cutting it from the main page and just keeping it on the novel page, where it's more relevant. Unless anyone objects, I'll do that in a couple of days. Dybryd 21:51, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

The IPA pronunciation should reflect vowel reduction. See: "Unstressed vowels" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_phonetics

Is [vlaˈdimir naˈbɔkɔf] the correct pronunciation? JackofOz said I got the stress placements wrong, but in that case they're also wrong in the pseudo-English "vlah-DEE-meer nah-BAWK-awf". Remember that in IPA the stress mark applies to the following syllable. Any other problems? —Keenan Pepper 16:31, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

A thousand pardons if my revert was a foolish and inconsiderate action. I must learn more about IPA conventions. Is the stress mark meant to immediately precede the relevant syllable, or the relevant vowel? The outcome here is that the stress marks seem to come right after the initial 'a' in both words, and are dissociated from the 'i' in Vladimir and the 'o' in Nabokov. To me, it really does look like it's saying VLAD-imir NAB-okov, which is how a lot of people incorrectly pronounce his name. JackofOz 20:28, 29 January 2006 (UTC)
In IPA, stress marks go before the syllable to which they apply, so "VLADimir NABokov" would be [ˈvladimir ˈnabɔkɔf]. —Keenan Pepper 00:30, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Ok, I accept that. One more query, though. The first "o" is stressed but the second should not be. The IPA shows them as being pronounced the same. JackofOz 01:03, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
I think the vowel quality is the same, even though the stress is different. English vowels tend to have different stressed and unstressed versions (allophones?), but many other languages don't. I'm not sure though, and as I said I don't speak Russian, so feel free to change it. —Keenan Pepper 01:51, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
I speak Russian but I know nothing of IPA. We need somebody who's confident with both. And the vowel quality is quite different, btw. Unstressed "o"s in Russian are like schwas, or like "a", depending on the context. JackofOz 02:08, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Oh, well in that case should it be something like [vlaˈdimir naˈbɔkəf]? Just goes to show how useless these pseudo-English pronunciation guides are: "nah-BAWK-awf" suggests the last two vowels are the same. —Keenan Pepper 03:37, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
That looks OK to me. Cheers. JackofOz 04:40, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
I thought it was nah-buh-Kawv
No, that's how some people incorrectly pronounce it. The stress really should be on the second syllable bok. JackofOz 04:38, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Nabokov himself said, in Strong Opinions, that his first name rhymed with "redeemer" and that neither the British "NAB-oh-koff" nor the New England "Nah-BOH-kov" "offended my ear". Fumblebruschi (talk) 22:18, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
How helpful is putting the IPA pronunciation here? All you really need to know is that the first name rhymes with redeemer and the stress in the surname is on the second syllable (with the o pronounced as in knickerbocker) For those of us - i.e. most not familiar with IPA surely this would explain the matter most efficiently. 82.110.248.146 (talk) 10:41, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] overly positive tone?

I'm a little concerned that some of Cmulrooney's recent edits make the page seem a bit "fannish." Critical assessment of the work should be either the general consensus or quoted directly from significant critics, not the judgement of the writer. Is it really the critical consensus that Nabokov's Onegin is a "joyous, bitter, modern clarity of attack"? It's also useful to know that N. taught Ulysses by the map in preference to by the usual method of history, rather than simply by the map full stop. Can some of these edits be moderated a bit, rather than simply reverted? Dybryd 08:32, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

His edits are awful -- poorly written, and as Dybryd notes, "fannish." I reversed them. Note that he also removed the only criticism of Nabakov found in this article, the quote by Danilo Kis. Griot 15:44, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Ahem! Nabokov and Kiš, so spelled.
His edits to Carrousel are odd too. -- Hoary 22:07, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "White Russian"?

Does N. really belong in the "White Russian" category? A monarchist killed his dad! Dybryd 18:19, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Family/Sergei

When first reading this page I was a bit surprised to see that there was so little on N.'s family besides his father's murder. I think a full bio including childhood and family would be a good idea. However, just jamming in a bit about Sergei and the gay uncles in the absence of anything else seems kind of weird: why two uncles and not a word about his mom? Does somebody want to incorporate the new Sergei material in a proper "Family and Early Life" section? Dybryd 03:07, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Regarding his supposed "homophobia"...well, of course he was in a way. But so narrowly ideological a word doesn't do justice to the sophistication of his treatment of Kinbote, his uncle in Speak, Memory, and others. I say cut it. Dybryd 03:18, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

The homophobia idea comes from this article. I think it's proposterous. I challenge anybody to cite a passage in one of Nabokov's books that is homophobic, and until somebody can cite the passage, I'm striking the homophobia paragraph out. His brother Sergei didn't figure prominently in this life and probably doesn't deserve mentioning in this article. Moreover, I recall somewhere Nabokov saying that his artistic sensibility was gay. I'm trying to find where that was. Griot 03:40, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
Nabokov may have felt his artistic sensibility was gay, no doubt true subjectively, but he also liked to sprinkle his prose with homophobic jibes. Ada, Part I, Chapter 4, 32:20 http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/ada/index.htm (last visited August 14, 2006):
"That was love, normal and mysterious. Less mysterious and considerably more grotesque were the passions which several generations of schoolmasters had failed to eradicate, and which as late as 1883 still enjoyed an unparalleled vogue at Riverlane. Every dormitory had its catamite. One hysterical lad from Upsala, cross-eyed, loose-lipped, with almost abnormally awkward limbs, but with a wonderfully tender skin texture and the round creamy charms of Bronzino’s Cupid (the big one,whom a delighted satyr discovers in a lady’s bower), was much prized and tortured by a group of foreign boys, mostly Greek and English, led by Cheshire, the rugby ace; and partly out of bravado, partly out of curiosity, Van surmounted his disgust and coldly watched their rough orgies. Soon, however, he abandoned this surrogate for a more natural though equally heartless divertissement."
Of course, the main character Van will come to realize he is reveling in another "grotesque" passion, that of incest. But here, Van is being normal and mysterious with respect to his first heterosexual love, and abnormal and laughable with respect to his "curiosity." No matter Nabokov's nuanced approach, it is arguably homophobic.BorisGleb 20:11, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Of course you can easily find many such passages. Grotesquerie is one color in Nabokov's palette.
Dybryd 18:52, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Christian?

I've deleted "[[Category:Russian Orthodox Christians|Nabokov, Vladimir]]". Nothing in the article says that he was a Christian and I'd be surprised to read convincing evidence that he was one. But I'm open to rational persuasion, backed up with documentary proof. -- Hoary 10:49, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

This could be an issue of definition, couldn't it? Some religious groups define members in terms of whether they were baptized into the faith. I know this is the Catholic rule - anyone baptized a Catholic is a Catholic, whether or not they practice. It would seem plausible if the Orthodox had a similar conception, although I know nothing specific on that front. So while Nabokov may not have been a "Christian" in terms of believing in Jesus, and so forth, he was probably a "Christian" in terms of having been baptized as one. john k 14:19, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

To me, "Russian Orthodox Christian" means a non-trivial allegiance to Russian Orthodox Christianity. If membership of this category merely means baptism, it should be renamed accordingly, and I'll happily vote for its deletion as trivia. -- Hoary 14:28, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

"To me" is the essential phrase in that paragraph. Many religions define their membership culturally and familially as well by doctrine. You may see this as theologically trivial, but that doesn't make groups of cultural but non-observant Jews, Shiites, etc. any less notable from an encyclopedic standpoint. Dybryd 17:41, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
A Category:Christians that included everyone who was baptized would be silly. But indicating the denomination in which someone was baptized seems useful, especially when it's a large, clearly defined institution like the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches. With protestants, things become very confusing, and such a designation is probably pointless, since so many protestants attend churches of different denominations over the course of their lives. I'm not really sure what should be done, but I don't think it's mere trivia that someone was born into a large, historic church. john k 21:20, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

(i) Is any evidence adduced for any claim that VN was baptised into this church?

(ii) If he was so baptised, is any evidence adduced for any claim that the baptism meant anything to him?

(iii) But indicating the denomination in which someone was baptized seems useful, especially when it's a large, clearly defined institution like the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches. (iiia) How is it "useful"? (iiib) Is it really of no concern that the Wikipedia label "Russian Orthodox Christian" may mean no more than a single event in the person's infancy?

(iv) I don't think it's mere trivia that someone was born into a large, historic church. How is it more than mere trivia? -- Hoary 01:01, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Added because of this reference : http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/religion/christianism/orthodox.html

Homagetocatalonia 16:07, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and see the article. While reading a biography from the 60s, found a quote in which he is described as a "non-churchgoing Greek-Catholic."Homagetocatalonia 18:41, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

"Greek...Catholic"? Dybryd 19:34, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Boyd on religion in N's upbringing

From The Russian Years (42)

In late spring 1899 the newborn Nabokov narrowly escaped being christened Victor by a bumbling archpresbyter in a ceremony at 47 Morskaya.

(72):

...once past the stage of children's prayers he always remained completely aloof from "Christianism" as he called it, utterly indifferent "to organized mysticism, to religion, to the church - any church." Because his mother was of Old Believer stock, she had what Nabokov considered "a healthy distaste for the ritual of the Greek Catholic Church and for its priests" but equally imporant for the boy's development was her intense and pure religiousness "equal faith in the existence of another world and the impossibility of comprehending t in terms of earthly life."
V.D. Nabokov was more conventional and would take his children fairly often...to the very select Church of the Twelve Apostles...almost behind their house. [...] Vladimir told his father on the way back from a service, some time before he was ten, that he found it boring. "You don't have to come, then."

(152-153):

The major effort in Nabokov's verse at this time was his "Angel" sequence, nine poems, each devoted to a different order in the celestial hierarchy.... Their angelic imagery has been claimed as proof of Nabokov's supposed religious sensibilities, but he himself later denied any inclination toward Christianity in the occasionally biblical scenes and tropes of his next ten years of voluble verse [...] he was interested not in religion but in developing Byzantine imagery.

Dybryd 01:30, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. From all of which I infer that he was primarily Christian in the sense of having been baptized, and secondarily for having had a vaguely Christian background. I have no idea whether this is also true for, say, Richard Dawkins, and until this amusing notion occurred to me a few seconds ago had no interest in the matter; but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he had been baptized etc etc. It would then strike me as ridiculous to call RD a Christian. (We ignore what he says, and merely consider the fact that he had water sloshed over him.) But perhaps that's just me. -- Hoary 06:39, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Categories of this sort seem inherently problematic. Better to actually describe Nabokov's religious background in the article. john k 14:33, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes. But even better to skip it. Boyd devotes a minuscule percentage of his substantial, two-volume biography to the matter; this article is very much shorter, and in the limited space available has much more important matters to deal with. -- Hoary 15:08, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
This discussion was concluded a long time ago, but I disagree with Hoary -- baptism into a church, rejection of its faith but continuing to use its imagery in your adult work, all of this deserves a few sentences -- especially given the prominent place that the idea of the afterlife plays in N's novels. Dybryd 20:25, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "banned writer"?

The page has just been added to the category "banned writers." When was N's work banned? The most obvious candidate is of course Lolita, but as I understand it, the book simply had difficulty finding a publisher and was never actually censored. Has it (or another of bhis books) been banned since? Was he available in Soviet Russia? Dybryd 18:08, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

VN's work was banned in the Soviet Union. Griot 21:36, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
That should go in the article, shouldn't it? I'll check the Boyd index and bang out a brief paragraph. Dybryd 23:20, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Hey! Somebody remind me to actually do this! Dybryd 21:49, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Influences revisited

The matter of alleged influences is brought up near the top of this page. It seems that it's time to revisit it. -- Hoary 04:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Influences on VN

VN certainly had high respect for Bely's work. However, I see no influence whatever. I may be wrong: my knowledge of Bely is cursory. I'd like to see citations of reasoned arguments by recognized scholars for (and not just journalistic recyclings of received ideas about) who influenced VN and how. That is, each name should be accompanied by a note, citing a page-range within Boyd's biography, an essay within the Garland Companion, or similar. -- Hoary 04:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

VN himself claimed to have been influenced by Chekov and Flaubert. I'll see if I can come up with the quotes. He named Bely's "Petersburgh" as one of the five greatest books of the 20th Century. Griot 23:41, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Influence of VN

The list of people allegedly influenced by VN looks very dodgy to me. Some I don't know. One I do know a little is Salinger, for whose work VN had [what is to my mind] an inexplicable high regard. Quite aside from my opinion of Salinger's work (an opinion that, I'll rush to agree, is of no significance here whatever), I see no influence, other perhaps than that of care: VN was a careful writer, Salinger was (is?) I suppose a careful writer, tens of thousands of other authors are careful writers. Significantly, neither the article on VN nor that on Salinger mentions the other writer, other than in this single, unexplained claim for influence, which I've just now deleted.

Any number of writers may have expressed praise, even high praise, of Nabokov's works, or have had their names linked with his in this or that book review, or have said, probably in all sincerity, to have been influenced by this or that aspect of VN's work (or indeed by the man himself). To me, this doesn't imply noteworthy influence. Again, I think each name should be accompanied by a note, citing a reasoned argument for the influence, an argument by a recognized scholar. -- Hoary 04:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I was the one who put the names of White and Updike on the list. You can literally hear Nabokov in White and Updike, and VN praised their works, probably hearing the echo of his own writing in theirs. I think Jeffrey Eugenides should go on the list, again on the basis of his use of alliteration and other literary techniuqes that he had in common with Nabokov. I agree that we should cite an argument for listing writers' names; however, all such citations will be subjective unless the writer him- or herself claims to be influenced by VN. Griot 23:46, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
Yes, all such citations would be subjective, but there's a big difference between (a) subjective judgements for which there is persuasive argument (and not an argument by you or me, but one by a recognized expert) and (b) those which are merely received ideas. Also, I'd be very wary of authorial claims of being influenced: some of the names here are of excellent writers, some mean nothing to me; I don't want to belittle any of them but still say that letting people in by their own say-so is a wonderful invitation for quasi-spamvertising by or on behalf of utter mediocrities. I mean, if I'd written and somehow managed to have published a crummy novel with some fancy turns of phrase, and if the article on myself survived on WP (very easy, of course), what a marvelous way to pump myself up it would be if I linked my article from VN's. -- Hoary 02:27, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lolita

"He gained both fame and notoriety with his novel Lolita (1955), which tells of a grown man's devouring passion for a twelve-year-old girl."

I know this is nit-picking, but shouldn't this read: "it tells the story of a pedophile's devouring passion for a twelve-year-old girl? Lolita doesn't turn him into one, and art considerations shouldn't change what he is/how he is seen, especially in an article entry. I like Nabokov's characters as much as anyone, but as written the article seems to fall into the same whimsical romanticizing/rationalizing that Humbert does to justify himself to himself. He is not just a grown man with a passion, but a pedophile who has acted upon it...

I wanted to see what people thought of this...

I think it's ridiculous. Griot 20:09, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
Pedophile is an inaccurate word, because it describes someone who is attracted to pre-pubescent children. Anchoress 20:33, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
I don't think "devouring passion" is the kind of phrase a Wikipedia editor should use unless he's quoting someone - it's too subjective and highly colored.
Obviously Humbert is a pedophile - he defines the limits of his attraction as being to children between the ages of nine and fourteen. Dybryd 08:41, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pronounciation

wtf, that is not how one pronounces nabokov, you pronounce it na-bo-k-o-v not nabak-a-v as the IPA of his name seems to suggest.--Greg.loutsenko 22:34, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Styles & Themes section?

Should this article have a "Style & Themes" section, given Nabokov's objection to the themes in literature. In one of his essays (wish I could remember which) he pokes fun of literature professors and their obsession with "themes." I think this Themes section is purely subjective and should go anyway. And at least for God's sakes remove the ampersand. This section was introduced by Sirin97 (cute, that) on August 13, 2006. I'm surprised it's lasted this long and does anyone object if I remove it? Griot 17:09, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Personal opinion here

"Perhaps his defining work, which met with a mixed response, is his longest novel, Ada (1969)." -- This should be changed, per guidelines WP:WEASEL and Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view#A_simple_formulation. -- 201.19.20.38 14:11, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree. Dybryd 18:19, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move Lolita-specific links to Lolita?

A couple of the entries in External Links refer only to Lolita, no N. or his work in general. I think they should be moved to the article for that novel, or just deleted if they are already duplicated there. Okay?

Dybryd 06:18, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay, going ahead and doing this apparently non-controversial thing. Dybryd 15:20, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Help with sources on censorship?

I had assumed that Boyd's biography would give me plenty on the censorship of Nabokov, but it doesn't. Although I haven't re-read the whole thing, Boyd seems to just assume Soviet censorship, and only gives a brief mention to its relaxation in the 1980s.

Can someone suggest another source for this info, or have I just not gone deeply enough into Boyd? (I have just been fishing about using the index.)

Dybryd 03:29, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Irrelevantly: While I realize that it's most unusual to delete talk page contributions, I've taken the liberty of deleting this one (placed here) as it was verbose yet obviously added nothing. -- Hoary (talk) 07:07, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Nabokov book cover.jpg

Image:Nabokov book cover.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:14, 2 January 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Death

There is no mention of his death other than the date it happened. I'm at least a little curious about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.216.28.85 (talk) 21:51, 10 February 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Googlized book

I note that Boyd, Brian, Vladimir Nabokov: The American years is on Google Books. 201.9.185.130 (talk) 01:49, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Biography typo

Besides the bad punctuation, there's a missing word here that makes it impossible to understand the sentence: "In 1936, when Vera lost her job due to the antisemitic environment, and the assassin of his father was appointed second-in-command of the Russian émigré group, Nabokov started to look for jobs in the English-speaking world." —Preceding unsigned comment added by JO 24 (talk • contribs) 07:07, 2 June 2008 (UTC)