First, he publicly implied very strongly that it would be burnt, then changed his mind, then threatened to burn it anyway after a nobody claimed to have detected in Lolita signs that Vladimir had been abused by his uncle.

Since this has been repeated, can we get clear that VN tells us in "Speak, Memory" that he was fondled by his uncle in a way that he implies was abusive and hence upsetting to the servants? What is dubious is the possibility of deducing further degrees of abuse from VN's fiction.

 

Anthony Stadlen