Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010848, Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:39:40 -0800

Subject
Fwd: Mrs. Sol Dr. Solov Soloveichik "Signs & Symbols"
Date
Body
As a widespread Jewish last name, Soloveichiks may
lead to numerous traps, but there are some mnemonic
knots to be considered:

1) A certain Soloveichik was among NabokovÂ’s real
classmates. Sergei Soloveichik was born in 1896, and
we know for sure that he studied at Tenishev at least
until 1914 (Nabokov started on 7 January, 1910).
SoloveichikÂ’s father, Solomon Mikhailovich, was a
DOCTOR (Doctor Solov?), and his mother, Vera LÂ’vovna,
is mentioned as a “free artist” [from personal file at
the Tenishev school archive, St. Petersburg].

2) Dr. Mark Soloveichik was a member of Russian
Zionist Organization along with Israel Rozov, the
father of another NabokovÂ’s classmate and best friend
at Tenishev, Samuil Rozov.

3) Yet another well-known in the Russian émigré
circles S. M. Soloveichik was a secretary of the
Berlin based newspaper “Days” [Dni]. This edition,
with A. Kerensky as an editor-in-chief, was
ideologically close to V. D. Nabokov’s newspaper “The
Rudder” [Rul’]. Later S. M. Soloveichik moved to
America where he became a professor at the university
in Kansas City and continued writing for the New York
“New Russian Word” [Novoe russkoe slovo].

4) Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is the one who
probably embodies NabokovÂ’s net of references most
perfectly. He was one of the 20th centuryÂ’s most
preeminent and influential Jewish scholars. Born in
1903 in Belarus, to a family renowned for its Talmudic
genius, and a graduate of the University of Berlin
with a doctorate in philosophy, in the early 1930s,
Soloveitchik accepted the position of Chief Rabbi of
Boston – the same city where Nabokov’s “Signs and
Symbols” was written. Soloveitchik wrote numerous
highly influential essays and Torah discourses. His
essay, “American Jewish Experience,” describes the
kind of choices Nabokov’s elderly parents of “Signs
and Symbols” dealt with: the great traumatic
experience of the European Holocaust and its impact on
American Jews (Rabbi Soloveitchik: “Man becomes aware
of the Finite only when he is confronted with death”).


5) Finally, I would not exclude the philosopher and
poet Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900). As a founder of
the Russian Symbolist movement (bringing an additional
poetic flavor to the very title of NabokovÂ’s story) he
became famous for such poems as “Memory” (1892)
containing a curious call: “Go on, Memory!” (“Dalee,
pamiat’!”), and lines in tune with Nabokovian Muse:
“Life – is a game of shadows” or “My dear friend,
don’t you see, / All that is visible – / Is just a
reflection, mere shadows / Of something that no eye
can catch?” (cf: “Clouds in the starring sky transmit
to one another, by means of slow signs…”)

Yuri Leving

--------------------------------------------
Yuri Leving’s book “Train Station Garage Hangar (Vladimir Nabokov
> > and Poetics of Russian Urbanism)” [in Russian: Vokzal-Garazh-Angar:
> > Vladimir Nabokov i poetika russkogo urbanizma] is published by Ivan
> > Limbakh Publishing House (St. Petersburg, 2004. 400 pp., illustrations,
> > hard cover. ISBN 5-89059-057-X). See the picture of the book cover
> > attached below.
> >
> > NabokovÂ’s works are examined from the specific point of view of poetics
> > of urbanism, a phenomenon that the author examines within the context of
> > Russian and European literature of the XIX ? beginning of the XX
> > century. The book encompasses a broad territory of literary modernism,
> > exploring three major motifs: train, automobile, and airplane. The
> > book contains a number of previouslly unpublished photographs and
> > drawings by Vladimir Nabokov, printed by special arrangement with The
> > Estate of Vladimir Nabokov and by courtesy of Berg Collection, The New
> > York Public Library.
> >
> > The book may be purchased on-line at www.esterum.com (Price: $29.90),
> > http://www.esterum.com/search.aspx?id=3776c2d151934896abeeea71cf7378cc&
> > mo de=quick&section=store&query=leving&submit.x=32&submit.y=7
> >
> > Or at www.ozon.com (Price: 455 rubles, about $15.99).
> > http://www.ozon.ru/?context=detail&id=1818971


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