Dear
Carolyn,
I read Centerwall's article many years ago and did communicate
by letter my dismay that no one has ever attempted to refute it to our very own
Donald B. Johnson (who had read the article as well and did not think much of
it). However, my very first reaction was that the whole thing was meant
tongue-in-cheek, but I was wrong. I do have a xerox copy somewhere in
the attic (I used to xerox any article on VN that seemed worthwhile, with the
result that I have thousands of xeroxed pages on this writer) but my first
attempt to unearth it proved unsuccessful. When Jo Morgan's book was first
announced my memory immediately retrieved the bits that it had retained,
and it struck me that the similarities between both theses were too
strong to be coincidental. Centerwall focuses on the passages in SPEAK, MEMORY
dealing with Uncle Ruka and draws the same conclusions, that young VN must have
been abused by him, and that LOLITA is a disguised "portrait" (my words) of
those experiences. I still recall the odd argument that, given the fact
that the word "molest" does not figure in LOLITA, VN must have been molested by
his uncle; that VN's avoiding that word was a conscious act on his
part.
In
case I succeed in finding the said article during the weekend I will reread it
and share my findings with you.
Kind
regards,
A.
Bouazza.
This is another attempt (first one
on July 27th was not posted) to draw
attention to the fact that same theory
was propounded many years ago:
Centerwall, Brandon S. "Hidden in
Plain Sight: Nabokov and Pedophilia,"
Texas Studies in Literature and
Language 32:3 (Fall 1990), 468ff.
A. Bouazza.
Dear A.
Bouazza,
I take it you have read this article? It will be months before
I can get over to the university library to read it. Could you give us an
abstract? There actually are a few things that seem possible among the murky
improbabilities that appear to predominate in Jo Morgan's book. Perhaps
Centerwell 's is a better-reasoned argument?
thanks,
Carolyn