Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005701, Wed, 14 Feb 2001 13:20:15 -0800

Subject
VN mentions
Date
Body
In "The Nothing that Is" by Robert Kaplan (Oxford University Press,
1999)
there are two indexed references to "Nabokov, Vladimir" and at least one
implicit reference indexed under "American zero"
" 'Skulls and seeds and all good things are round,' wrote
Nabokov." [p.18]
"([a somewhat far-fetched pun]. Was the spirit of Nabokov
cavorting in Adelard's Bath?)" [p. 208]
"You catch a glimpse of it [the American Zero] in our road
novels:
'Oh look,' says Lolita at the moment of metamorphosis, beside her
Humbert
in their cocoon of a car, 'all the nines are changing into the next
thousand.' " [p. 201]

I do find it interesting that Kaplan assumes that no first name or other
identifier is used with Nabokov. The book is loaded with references to
writers ancient and modern. No actual citations are provided in the book
for any of the references, but notes are given on the web for the
occurrences on pp. 108 and 201.

Mary

mary@krimmel.net