Subject
VN & Roman s kokainom (fwd)
Date
Body
The VN Bibliography posted on Jul 15 included the item: "Tropoiu tropa, ili
pochemu ne Nabokov byl avtorom 'Romana s kokainom'," ("The Path of the
Trope, or Why It Was Not Nabokov Who Was the Author of 'Novel with
Cocaine'"), by Ivan Tolstoi, published in the Petersburg journal ZVEZDA,
1995, No. 3, 197-204. Since Thomas Urban's note in the last NABOKOVIAN
(No. 38, Spring 1997), "VN, Agheyev and the NOVEL WITH COCAINE" makes no
mention of this article, my curiosity about Tolstoi's arguments for "Not
Nabokov" was aroused. First of all, Tolstoi mentions the same Superfin and
Sorokina article that Urban summarizes: "These notes were already prepared
when Gabriel Superfin's and Marina Sorokina's article, which settles once
and for all the question of authorship, appeared in Vol. 16 of the
miscellany MINUVSHEYE." Tolstoi's aim, then, is not to "prove" that Ageev
was the author rather than Nabokov, but to show by stylistic analysis (e.g.
use of metaphor, hence the article's title) that Nabokov could not have
been the author of this text. In my view, he does this admirably, and if
the external evidence found by Superfin and Sorokina and brought to the
attention of readers of TN by Urban did not exist, his article would be a
powerful argument (if any more were needed) for VN's non-authorship.
Actually, as he points out, his intent is not so much to show that the
style of NOVEL WITH COCAINE is non-Nabokovian, as to use the comparison to
bring out some essential traits of Nabokov's style. If list subscribers
who do not read Russian or do not have access to ZVEZDA express an
interest, I would be happy to post a summary of the article. The article
is preceded by a note: "This article is based on two papers read by the
author, at the Institute des langues orientales (Paris, 1992) and at the
Second Nabokov Conference (Petersburg, 1994)". The latter is presumably
the paper mentioned in the "News" section of TN No. 33 (p. 4). I hope I am
not repeating material already known to TN and NABOKV-L subscribers that I
may have missed or overlooked. ZVEZDA also provides the following
information about the author: "Ivan Nikitich Tolstoi (born 1958) is a
critic, journalist, and literary historian. He has published in the
newspaper RUSSKAIA MYSL, and in the journals ZVEZDA, NEVA, NOVYI MIR, and
others, He is the author of the collection "Italics of the Age" (St.
Petersburg, 1993). He lives in St. Petersburg."
Earl Sampson
Boulder, CO
pochemu ne Nabokov byl avtorom 'Romana s kokainom'," ("The Path of the
Trope, or Why It Was Not Nabokov Who Was the Author of 'Novel with
Cocaine'"), by Ivan Tolstoi, published in the Petersburg journal ZVEZDA,
1995, No. 3, 197-204. Since Thomas Urban's note in the last NABOKOVIAN
(No. 38, Spring 1997), "VN, Agheyev and the NOVEL WITH COCAINE" makes no
mention of this article, my curiosity about Tolstoi's arguments for "Not
Nabokov" was aroused. First of all, Tolstoi mentions the same Superfin and
Sorokina article that Urban summarizes: "These notes were already prepared
when Gabriel Superfin's and Marina Sorokina's article, which settles once
and for all the question of authorship, appeared in Vol. 16 of the
miscellany MINUVSHEYE." Tolstoi's aim, then, is not to "prove" that Ageev
was the author rather than Nabokov, but to show by stylistic analysis (e.g.
use of metaphor, hence the article's title) that Nabokov could not have
been the author of this text. In my view, he does this admirably, and if
the external evidence found by Superfin and Sorokina and brought to the
attention of readers of TN by Urban did not exist, his article would be a
powerful argument (if any more were needed) for VN's non-authorship.
Actually, as he points out, his intent is not so much to show that the
style of NOVEL WITH COCAINE is non-Nabokovian, as to use the comparison to
bring out some essential traits of Nabokov's style. If list subscribers
who do not read Russian or do not have access to ZVEZDA express an
interest, I would be happy to post a summary of the article. The article
is preceded by a note: "This article is based on two papers read by the
author, at the Institute des langues orientales (Paris, 1992) and at the
Second Nabokov Conference (Petersburg, 1994)". The latter is presumably
the paper mentioned in the "News" section of TN No. 33 (p. 4). I hope I am
not repeating material already known to TN and NABOKV-L subscribers that I
may have missed or overlooked. ZVEZDA also provides the following
information about the author: "Ivan Nikitich Tolstoi (born 1958) is a
critic, journalist, and literary historian. He has published in the
newspaper RUSSKAIA MYSL, and in the journals ZVEZDA, NEVA, NOVYI MIR, and
others, He is the author of the collection "Italics of the Age" (St.
Petersburg, 1993). He lives in St. Petersburg."
Earl Sampson
Boulder, CO