Subject
VN, DN and literary prejudice (fwd)
Date
Body
From: A BenAmos <abenam@essex.ac.uk>
With all due respect to Dmitri Nabokov's acquaintance with his father
and his works, I do not think that his defense of VN's attitude to
homosexuals is relevant enough. I understand DN's tendency to add the
personal touch none can better provide, yet I think we should - as
readers and critics - concentrate on the works and not on the man who
created them.
VN's treatment of homosexual characters is stereotypical and prejudiced.
I am at the moment especially interested in the case of Moon in _Podvig_
(_Glory_). This character presents a serious question about the
possibility of a non-Russian Slavist to understand Russia, or Russian
culture, or to participate in them. I find the description of this
problem in _Glory_, through Moon and Martin's reactions to him as a
teacher, one of the most brilliant treatments of the subject I ever
came across. It is exactly because of my respect to the creation of
this character that I am dismayed by his unceremonious dismissal as an
homosexual. It seems to me a cheap way to avoid a serious discussion as
to whether Martin, who's born in Russia, or Moon, who studied Russia,
have some similarities between them (even if Martin cannot see these
similarities). To bring the theme of homosexuality in order to make
Moon ridiculous and repulsive (which is the way he is portrayed after
this discovery is made in the novel) seems to me not only prejudiced,
but worse - damaging to the literary quality of the novel.
I would be very happy to have comments on and thoughts about all this.
-----------------------------------
Anat Ben-Amos
Department of Literature
University of Essex
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom
E-mail: abenam@essex.ac.uk
"But Martin in all honesty did not understand
why it was worse to be an expert in Russian letters
than a transportation engineer or a merchant." (Glory)
With all due respect to Dmitri Nabokov's acquaintance with his father
and his works, I do not think that his defense of VN's attitude to
homosexuals is relevant enough. I understand DN's tendency to add the
personal touch none can better provide, yet I think we should - as
readers and critics - concentrate on the works and not on the man who
created them.
VN's treatment of homosexual characters is stereotypical and prejudiced.
I am at the moment especially interested in the case of Moon in _Podvig_
(_Glory_). This character presents a serious question about the
possibility of a non-Russian Slavist to understand Russia, or Russian
culture, or to participate in them. I find the description of this
problem in _Glory_, through Moon and Martin's reactions to him as a
teacher, one of the most brilliant treatments of the subject I ever
came across. It is exactly because of my respect to the creation of
this character that I am dismayed by his unceremonious dismissal as an
homosexual. It seems to me a cheap way to avoid a serious discussion as
to whether Martin, who's born in Russia, or Moon, who studied Russia,
have some similarities between them (even if Martin cannot see these
similarities). To bring the theme of homosexuality in order to make
Moon ridiculous and repulsive (which is the way he is portrayed after
this discovery is made in the novel) seems to me not only prejudiced,
but worse - damaging to the literary quality of the novel.
I would be very happy to have comments on and thoughts about all this.
-----------------------------------
Anat Ben-Amos
Department of Literature
University of Essex
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom
E-mail: abenam@essex.ac.uk
"But Martin in all honesty did not understand
why it was worse to be an expert in Russian letters
than a transportation engineer or a merchant." (Glory)