Subject
Re: The name of Lolita
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Maar's experience calls to mind the plot/premise of VN's "The Admiralty
Spire." The story's narrator finds a historical novel in a backwater
bookstore and believes it to be a fictionalized account of his own love
affair. The story ends with the narrator acknowledging the possibility that
he's mistaken, and that the resemblance is a miraculous coincidence.
Best,
Bruce Stone
On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 8:30 PM, NABOKV-L, English <nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
wrote:
> Michael Maar writes in response:
>
> Dear List,
>
>
>
> To answer Maurice Couturier, let me remind you of some brute facts which
> are developed in my book “The Two Lolitas”. First of all, imagine you
> discover a collection of German short stories of which one, called
> “Atomit”, bears a strange resemblance to the early Nabokov play “The Waltz
> Invention”. Both of them treat the invention of a potentially devastating
> new weapon; both of them begin in the war ministry, and there are lots of
> other similarities. In Nabokov’s play, the grotesque hero (and his cousin
> of the same name) are called Waltz, German “Walzer”. Now, as you start to
> leaf through the German book, strangely so, you hit upon two brothers named
> “Walzer”. Hmm. Coincidence? Then you look at the title of the story with
> those Waltz brothers. And then you pale: The title is “Lolita”. And the
> story in its basic plot is very close to the one we all know. Now, can
> anyone with his right wits deny that this goes far beyond possible
> coincidence? Statistically speaking, there may very well be some other
> Lolitas before Lichberg’s one. But there are no Waltz brothers around. And
> since Nabokov must have read the story “Atomit”, he surely also read the
> story whose subject, elder man falls in love with a premature girl,
> certainly interested him for several years. This denial of simple logic has
> always amazed me. Could it be that any association between Lichberg, who
> later became a Nazi journalist and admirer of Hitler, and the maestro was
> slightly displeasing to the community?
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Maar
>
> --
> Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
> Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
>
> Google Search
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>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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Spire." The story's narrator finds a historical novel in a backwater
bookstore and believes it to be a fictionalized account of his own love
affair. The story ends with the narrator acknowledging the possibility that
he's mistaken, and that the resemblance is a miraculous coincidence.
Best,
Bruce Stone
On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 8:30 PM, NABOKV-L, English <nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
wrote:
> Michael Maar writes in response:
>
> Dear List,
>
>
>
> To answer Maurice Couturier, let me remind you of some brute facts which
> are developed in my book “The Two Lolitas”. First of all, imagine you
> discover a collection of German short stories of which one, called
> “Atomit”, bears a strange resemblance to the early Nabokov play “The Waltz
> Invention”. Both of them treat the invention of a potentially devastating
> new weapon; both of them begin in the war ministry, and there are lots of
> other similarities. In Nabokov’s play, the grotesque hero (and his cousin
> of the same name) are called Waltz, German “Walzer”. Now, as you start to
> leaf through the German book, strangely so, you hit upon two brothers named
> “Walzer”. Hmm. Coincidence? Then you look at the title of the story with
> those Waltz brothers. And then you pale: The title is “Lolita”. And the
> story in its basic plot is very close to the one we all know. Now, can
> anyone with his right wits deny that this goes far beyond possible
> coincidence? Statistically speaking, there may very well be some other
> Lolitas before Lichberg’s one. But there are no Waltz brothers around. And
> since Nabokov must have read the story “Atomit”, he surely also read the
> story whose subject, elder man falls in love with a premature girl,
> certainly interested him for several years. This denial of simple logic has
> always amazed me. Could it be that any association between Lichberg, who
> later became a Nazi journalist and admirer of Hitler, and the maestro was
> slightly displeasing to the community?
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Maar
>
> --
> Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
> Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
>
> Google Search
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> the archive
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> Contact <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> NOJ
> <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Zembla
> <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Nabokv-L
> <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm>
> Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Subscription options
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L> AdaOnline
> <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> NSJ Ada Annotations
> <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> L-Soft Search the archive
> <https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L> VN Bibliography
> Blog <http://vnbiblio.com/>
>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L