Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008569, Sun, 14 Sep 2003 10:10:41 -0700

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Linguistic showoffs
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----- Original Message -----
>From Dmitri Nabokov
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2003 9:33 AM



I know we shall all be grateful to David Morris for finally unmasking VN as a liguistic [sic] showoff. I, personally, would be grateful if he would illustrate his vision with a few specific instances. That would help me read my father with a new perspective, and finally give me insight into locutions whose meaning, it seems, has escaped me ever since, when I was fourteen, he first gave me a novel of his to read. It was Bend Sinister and, naïvely, I thought I understood most of it, partly because I was then studying Shakespeare. When I was stumped, he was always ready to expain, but, since Mr. Morris has at last established that Father was little more than a nacissistic nobody, I see now why he never once owned up to having said something for the sake of showing off. Live and learn. While he's at it, Mr. Morris might clarify his assessment of "so many quotes" from VN.

With utmost respect for such perspicacity,

Dmitri Nabokov
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