Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000486, Thu, 16 Feb 1995 19:35:56 -0800

Subject
Re: Pnin Proze & Browning's door (fwd)
Date
Body
ATTENTION PNINIST! The editor hardily endorses the following proposal from
Professor Barabtarlo, the World's leading authority on (but by no means to
be confused with) Pnin). My only suugestion would be that the AATSEEL
ticket be one-way. All nominations will be kept in strictest confidence by
the editor. DBJ

-----From: Gene Barabtarlo <GRAGB@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
----------------------
------------------ A chaser to the preceding: I sent it in on the 14th,
and my "tomorrow" for Pnin 's birthday stood for the 15th, of course. . It
has occurred to me in the meantime that it would be jolly to institu te a
Pnin Prize awarded annually, on that day, to a somewhat distinguished
American professor of Russian extraction. The Board of the VN Society's
Direct ors could vote on the nominated. The candidate should be an emigre,
anti- leftist and anti-freudist. A strong English accent is a plus, a
Russian one - a disqualifying fault. Should the recipient be a woman, the
prize could be renamed "The Dr Olga Repnin Award". The awards may range
from a football to a train ticket to the AATSEEL conference (non-stop). I
should write to mitri Nabokov with the idea -- perhaps the Estate will
sponsor it, especially in consideration of the approaching centenary of
the Perpetual Professor-Emeritus. Of course, the best way to commemorate
the event would be to create an "endowed chair" at Cornell or University
of Washington, but for two different reasons that seems unlikely. GB