Minao, Maya. In Search of a Mailbox: Letters in The Gift. 2007

The purpose of Maya Minao's paper "In Search of a Mailbox: Letters in The Gift," is to reread The Gift by analyzing the letters scattered throughout the novel. First the author studies the main characteristics of letters in Nabokov's other works. Secondly she focuses on the correspondence between Fyodor and his mother. The next subject is Chernyshevski's letters. The last and main concern in this paper is Fyodor's long letter to his mother, which appears towards the end of the novel. Minao establishes the general context of the correspondence motif and clarifies its importance in the novel.